Loyalty for the modern banking customer.
A strong base of happy, loyal customers is essential to business success. With it being proven that loyal customers spend 2.5 times more¹, loyalty is a top priority today in Banks’ boardrooms
So, what trends are affecting the current loyalty landscape? What do consumers in the GCC expect from the brands they engage with? How can technology improve customer experience, enhance customer engagement, and increase customer loyalty?
Today’s banking customers demand personalised engagement, fast response to requests, real-time access to information, services, and more. When it comes to loyalty programmes, they expect more than simply points-based rewards or discounts. They want their loyalty recognised and rewarded in ways that suit their modern lifestyles and meet their modern expectations.
An age of understanding.
According to Capgemini, consumers with high emotional engagement will choose a brand 82% of the time. But this falls to just 38% when emotional engagement is low². In an age of digitised communications and services, banks will build true, long-term loyalty by engaging with customers on their terms.
In the GCC, price sensitivity among consumers is increasing, forcing banks to evolve their loyalty programmes. Spend-based incentives no longer go far enough. Banking customers—a large part of whom are millennials—demand more; expecting their bank to understand and engage with them as individuals.
An Infosys study reveals that 31% of consumers wish their buying experiences were more personalised³.
A survey commissioned by Accenture Pulse shows that 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers specific and relevant to them⁴, as a result it is now more important than ever to think of the person before the transaction. Loyalty programmes that are engagement, or usage-driven are more relevant to the customer today, not to forget incorporating recognition of non-transactional behaviour. This is particularly true for banks.
Sustainable rewards build sustainable loyalty.
Sustainable rewards build sustainable loyalty.
Consumers aren’t just looking for rewards that align with their buying habits and engagement with their bank. Today’s socially conscious banking customers are more aware of environmental issues, with as many as 48% of millennials across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) stating they will only buy from socially responsible brands⁵.
For banks to retain, or even attract new customers, in the current climate of rising competition, economic and geopolitical uncertainty, it’s essential that they offer a reason to stay, that’s more substantial than ‘points-based’ loyalty. Today, thriving businesses rely on building relationships that help consumers make a positive impact on the world.
Omnichannel engagement drives the loyalty revolution.
Customer loyalty is evolving, driven by new technologies, customer data, and measurability. According to a recent report on key mobile trends in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, 90% of organisations in the GCC now offer mobile apps⁶, putting them at the heart of the modern customer experience. As a result, banks must consider embedding loyalty programmes deep within their app, to reach customers and maximise the engagement opportunity.
A survey of loyalty trends to look out for⁷ revealed that businesses with omnichannel engagement strategies using the latest loyalty technologies see 91% higher customer-retention rates than those choosing not to evolve. With brands analysing data relating to customers’ behaviour more closely, they’ll find new ways to apply CRM, loyalty tech, AI analytics, and Machine Learning technologies to hyper-personalise their engagement models.
Unlocking data delivers
meaningful experiences.
Data-driven, engagement-based loyalty programmes enable banks to understand their customers as individuals and engage in ways customers want. By offering customers rewards they’ll appreciate, banks can drive customer life-time value.
1: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/industries/retail/467982-rethinking-customer-loyalty-for-the-post-pandemic-retail-market
2: https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/dti_loyalty-deciphered_29nov17_final.pdf
3: https://www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Documents/genome-research-report.pdf
4: https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-77/Accenture-Pulse-Survey.pdf
5: https://www.capillarytech.com/blog/loyalty/customer-loyalty-program-middle-east/
6: https://www.appsflyer.com/resources/reports/mideast-mobile-app-strategies/
7: https://stampme.com/top-7-customer-loyalty-trends-to-look-out-for-in-2020/
Loyalty, the Collinson way.
About Collinson.
At Collinson, our years of experience working with banks and financial institutions gives us unique insight into how they can upgrade loyalty programmes to deliver first-class loyalty experiences. We work with the largest banks, processors, and retailers across the GCC; designing, defining, and delivering their loyalty visions suited to the growing expectations of modern banking customers.
Our global team of experts work with heads of loyalty, customer experience, and marketing leaders to transform reward programmes. Our award-winning loyalty technology makes it easier to analyse customer behaviour in real-time, so banks can deliver hyper-personalised loyalty experiences. Our platforms integrate securely with banking systems, databases, and 3rd-party CRM platforms to develop customer journeys that align with today’s digital world.
Our interactive insights paper—Why first-class loyalty matters to a new class of banking customer in the GCC—explores banking customers’ changing behaviour in the region, looks at the current and future loyalty landscape, and how Collinson can help banks upgrade to first-class loyalty.
At Collinson, we work tirelessly with customers to unlock the magic within their business, to design, build, and deliver the best loyalty programmes that set them apart from their competition, drive desired change – more mindshare, wallet share, advocacy, and Loyalty. Our customer benefits products also include the original, market-leading airport experiences programme, Priority Pass.
For over 35 years, we’ve been chosen by the world’s leading payment networks, 1,400+ banks, 90+ airlines, and 20+ hotel groups to craft customer experiences that win a competitive edge.
This enables them to acquire, engage and retain the most profitable, but most demanding customers. Our extensive list of clients includes FAB, Saudi National Bank, American Express, Commonwealth Bank (Australia), Diners Club, JCB, Mastercard, UBS, UnionPay, and Visa.
To learn more about our work with businesses like yours and how we can help you achieve your customer vision by upgrading you to first-class loyalty, please get in touch.
Visit our first-class loyalty hub to access our interactive insights and other information to inspire you to upgrade
to first-class loyalty.
For more information, contact:
Soukalin Ghosh
Loyalty for the modern banking customer.
This enables them to acquire, engage and retain the most profitable, but most demanding customers. Our extensive list of clients includes FAB, Saudi National Bank, American Express, Commonwealth Bank (Australia), Diners Club, JCB, Mastercard, UBS, UnionPay, and Visa.
To learn more about our work with businesses like yours and how we can help you achieve your customer vision by upgrading you to first-class loyalty, please get in touch.
An Infosys study reveals that 31% of consumers wish their buying experiences were more personalised³.
A survey commissioned by Accenture Pulse shows that 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers specific and relevant to them⁴, as a result it is now more important than ever to think of the person before the transaction. Loyalty programmes that are engagement, or usage-driven are more relevant to the customer today, not to forget incorporating recognition of non-transactional behaviour. This is particularly true for banks.