B2B marketers underestimate value of loyalty

WM Circle Logo

By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on January 24, 2011

B2B marketers underestimate value of loyalty

Almost two thirds (63%) of senior business to business (B2B) marketing professionals have never considered implementing or joining a loyalty programme, according to research from UK-based B2B coalition loyalty programme, Nectar Business.

One in five marketers (21%) claimed that it would be difficult to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) or that it would be too expensive, given the strain on marketing budgets in the current climate.

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 their second highest priority for the year ahead.

Only two out of five marketers who are not engaged in a loyalty scheme at present (39%) believe that access to data through a loyalty scheme can help to retain customers and one in five (19%) believe that loyalty benefits are a useful way of attracting new customers.

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 (49%), over a loyalty scheme (29%).

Louise Isaacs, head of Nectar Business, concluded: "B2B Marketing professionals who have written off being part of a loyalty scheme thinking it's expensive or not as worthy an investment are missing a trick. However, looking to the B2C space, the value of the data from loyalty schemes is increasingly being understood not only by marketers but also by customer insight specialists, buying teams and CEOs, all of whom make much more effective decisions based on those insights."

More Info: 

http://www.nectar.com/business