In the fiercely competitive travel industry, loyalty programs are essential for brands aiming to retain customers and build lasting relationships. However, implementing and maintaining an effective loyalty program comes with its own set of challenges. 

From optimizing the log-in experience to unifying separate booking sites and ensuring robust reporting mechanisms, brands must navigate a complex landscape to deliver a seamless and rewarding experience for their customers. The good news? There are solutions brands can implement before they become bigger issues. 

Let’s explore the common challenges brands see in their loyalty programs, the pain points they can create for customers, and how to solve for them. 

The log-in experience is the first entry point for customers utilizing a loyalty platform. When not properly optimized, brands can miss out on valuable insights and even lose customers in the process. 

Pain point 

Loyalty programs often involve multiple touchpoints, including websites, mobile apps, and primary websites. While single-sign-on (SSO) allows users to log in once and gain access to multiple platforms or services without needing to re-enter credentials, some brands lack the technology to implement it. 

Solution 

Brands need to identify what is best for their customers based on the amount of touchpoints they have. If there is a primary site, a loyalty platform, and mobile app, it may be necessary to invest in a SSO solution. 

This seamless experience is particularly important in loyalty programs because it reduces friction and makes it easier for members to engage with the program. For example, on two of our partners who have both keyless earn (where they have to manually type in their reward account number) and SSO, the keyless earn success rate hovers around 80% compared to a 98-99% success rate with SSO. By reducing the number of errors in delivering rewards to the customer, we are able to provide a better experience and reduce the number of customers that need to contact support for help. 

SSO also creates a unified login framework, which helps in gathering comprehensive data about user behavior across multiple platforms. This, in turn, can provide valuable insights for improving the loyalty program. 

How customers book travel and utilize loyalty programs has a lot to do with the user experience on the booking site. Making it as simple and seamless as possible is an imperative for brands looking to grow their platforms.  

Pain point 

Some brands have separate sites to book different parts of the travel experience, be it flights, hotels, or car rentals. In some cases, there are different sites to book travel and earn rewards, and redeem that travel.  

Solution 

Transitioning to a single platform where customers can both earn and redeem travel can increase bookings and revenue. One of our partners sawa 37% increase in bookings, and a 53% increase in travel spend after they transitioned to a unified platform. For brands that want to unify the customer experience, collaborating with a strategic partner that has those technology capabilities can help make that transition.

Understanding booking performance trends is a critical component of elevating your loyalty program. Having the proper reporting in place can help leaders make strategic decisions to better the customer experience. 

Pain point for customers

The quality and kind of data can vary based on a variety of factors: whether customers are logged in to browse, how clean the data collection is set up, and what reporting resources are available. Brands may struggle to obtain the right kind of data and reports necessary in order to make productive changes. 

Solution 

Brands should first identify what they want to prioritize in data collection. Some brands allow customers to browse without signing in, others require sign-in. Requiring customers to sign in can allow data to be collected on their browsing habits so brands can continually optimize their platform. 

Brands then can decide what kind of data is valuable for them to have to make strategic decisions, and how often they need it. Then, they can work with their partner on obtaining that information and decide how frequently they receive it and what insights the reports should contain. 

Having the right kind of data can drive major improvements. In a usability test to streamline conversion on checkout pages, our team was able to optimize the user experience to create a 67% confidence rating based on the results of our research. 

A partner that understands and acts on data can also help brands spot trends that may become issues down the line. When the pandemic kickstarted a rental car crisis that led to a shortage of cars of more than 50% in some areas, the Rocket Travel by Agoda team responded by quickly adapting our partners’ platforms. Our technology teams updated the platforms to deliver a clear distinction between “pay later” and “pay now” rental car options, often with added rewards for booking ahead. This helped control inventory, encourage additional bookings, and ensure that customers’ journeys remained uninterrupted. 

While loyalty programs have the potential to deeply engage and retain customers, they come with their own set of hurdles. By focusing on optimizing the log-in experience with SSO solutions, unifying separate booking sites, and implementing effective reporting mechanisms, brands can significantly enhance the customer experience and drive loyalty. 

Ultimately, strong collaboration between partners and providers is essential to overcoming these challenges and implementing solutions that resonate with the customer base. By honing in on these key areas, brands can create a more cohesive and rewarding loyalty program that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations.