Customer appreciation cards do not build loyalty.

I know I’m throwing away potential savings, but I really don’t care about the cards that stores give you that build points towards some benefit to me real or perceived. The cynic in me sees it as much more a benefit to the store than to myself. At best, the cards will save me pennies on the dollar or give me a free meal… sometime. That doesn’t make me loyal. That makes me cheap. Think Elaine from Seinfeld, “I’ve eaten a lot of crappy subs to get my free crappy sub and hat.”

There are places that I will alter my path to patronize. They may or may not have cards but that’s not why I’m there. It’s the relationship with the staff that brings me to their doors. Sometimes the staff knows me by name and knows what I’ll be looking for before I come in the door. Sometimes the staff do not know me but I have seen that they can relate to me in a way that I want due to their expertise or manner. Could I get the good or service from somewhere else cheaper, sure. But what good is a cheap item if it doesn’t fit the application? Good staff will guide and challenge the customer to go the right direction for the customer. Cards can’t do that.

As an example, there are two auto part stores that are near my house. One’s fairly new and much easier to get to but I still went to the one that was farther away because I felt like I knew who to ask what questions there and they knew me enough to greet me in a more familiar way than “welcome to ****.” It wasn’t until they kept loosing staff that I realized that there was no longer any reason to continue going to the more difficult store so I switched. The new store has some turnover but not near as much as the other store. I was willing to act in a way that was not in my best interest due to relationships that were formed. But wait, you say, there isn’t anything about cards in this example. Exactly. Cards are irrelevant.

I know that the corporate world is looking to try to build a relationship directly with the customer instead of relying on variable staff to build and maintain something in their stead. And I know that building an email list is money in the bank for advertising. But at some point management should begin to notice that the way to really keep customers is through staff training and retention. If corporate managers continue to train customers to look for the best “deals” with cards then the relationship is about money not value and there will always be someone willing to offer the same good or service for a cheaper price.