The Importance of Automatic Crediting

Having spent the last several years building and managing loyalty programs, one would think that I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to participate in one – especially with businesses that I frequently visit. Unfortunately, this is not true. I’ve come to realize that I’m lazy and that I want the company to do all the work of keeping track of transactions for me. Even at my local coffee shop where I could easily get a free cup of coffee every 2-3 weeks, I don’t pull out my frequency card to get it stamped. I have a hard enough time getting my money out of my purse while juggling my briefcase and anything else I happen to be carrying.

 
While it isn’t easy for every business to automatically identify loyalty program members and keep track of their transactions, I’ve realized that it is critical to the success of the program. At the very least, the responsibility needs to reside with the employees to ask the customer for their member number to be sure to give them the credit they deserve.