B2B marketers ‘underestimate’ value of reward scheme participation
Poll looks at top business priorities for business-to-business marketing professionals in 2011
Almost two thirds (63%) of senior business-to-business (B2B) marketing professionals have never considered implementing or joining a loyalty programme, new research has claimed.
The research from UK B2B coalition programme Nectar Business, found that 21% claim it would be difficult to demonstrate return on investment or that it would be too expensive, given the strain on marketing budgets in the current climate.
The research was carried out to gauge marketing professionals’ priorities for 2011.
The top marketing objective for over half of those polled (53%) was the acquisition of new customers with almost a quarter of marketers (24%) saying that customer retention was of most importance. A similar proportion (26%) rated understanding customers better as a key priority.
Two out of five marketers (39%) are aware that access to data through a loyalty scheme can help to retain customers and one in five (19%) know that loyalty benefits are a useful way of attracting new customers, despite the fact that the majority of those polled have never investigated whether participation in a loyalty scheme would be right for their business.
Of those who do use some form of loyalty scheme, a quarter (25%) say that exploiting the data they get from their programme has enabled them to carry out new research into customer behaviour and develop new segmentation, as well as proving acquisition, retention and spend stretch.
Three in five (62%) of those surveyed said that they believe loyalty schemes are of more use to B2C rather than B2B companies and almost twice as many of those polled would choose an ad campaign, over a loyalty scheme (29%).
Louise Isaacs, head of Nectar Business, commented on the findings: “Marketing professionals who have written off being part of a loyalty scheme thinking it’s expensive or not as worthy an investment as an ATL campaign are missing a trick. In the consumer space, the sustainable value of the data gleaned from loyalty schemes is increasingly being understood not just by marketers, but by customer insight specialists, buying teams and CEOs, all of whom make hugely important and effective daily business decisions based on this information.”