There have been a few milestones in the annals of customer-centric marketing and customer loyalty. Unfortunately a lot of them have been milestones of bad behavior. In fact I would put Facebook’s recent trampling of customer data rights as a bad one. I would put Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol recall in the 80s as a good milestone. And looking back, I see the airline industry as the first to have put in place customer centric programs with a very clear and compelling customer value exchange. The way I saw it: you traveled, you were rewarded; the more you did it the bigger the reward with free flights, better seats and perhaps even a cocktail along the way.
It was easy to understand and it influenced my behavior and purchases. It was a strategic approach that many have since followed, including hotels, credit cards, retailers and more. The airlines certainly did not invent this, yet they perhaps were the first to package it up on an international enterprise scale along with significant rewards that translated into big bucks.
But what are they doing now? Have they forgotten me, the customer? Gone is the customer centric program that was initially introduced. Frequent flyer programs have been diluted, complicated, and stretched to the point that they are completely different product that what they started with.
An article in the NYTimes on May 11th detailed the convoluted rules, black outs, and hoops that a customer needs to do today to be able to redeem and get a reward. The article, The Calculus Of Upgrades, makes it clear that the airlines customer centric points program have degenerated into a massive customer disenfranchise initiative.
The airlines need to pause and become the customer again. Perhaps it is time for them to stop looking at the customer metrics that show a downturn in seats, a bigger competitive set from low-cost carriers and look at frequent flyer programs as if they were a member. If they do, I’m sure we will all be much happier and less grumpy when we next have to bring our own peanuts along on the flight.
It was easy to understand and it influenced my behavior and purchases. It was a strategic approach that many have since followed, including hotels, credit cards, retailers and more. The airlines certainly did not invent this, yet they perhaps were the first to package it up on an international enterprise scale along with significant rewards that translated into big bucks.
But what are they doing now? Have they forgotten me, the customer? Gone is the customer centric program that was initially introduced. Frequent flyer programs have been diluted, complicated, and stretched to the point that they are completely different product that what they started with.
An article in the NYTimes on May 11th detailed the convoluted rules, black outs, and hoops that a customer needs to do today to be able to redeem and get a reward. The article, The Calculus Of Upgrades, makes it clear that the airlines customer centric points program have degenerated into a massive customer disenfranchise initiative.
The airlines need to pause and become the customer again. Perhaps it is time for them to stop looking at the customer metrics that show a downturn in seats, a bigger competitive set from low-cost carriers and look at frequent flyer programs as if they were a member. If they do, I’m sure we will all be much happier and less grumpy when we next have to bring our own peanuts along on the flight.
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