Make me special: Gender differences in consumers’ responses to loyalty programs

Abstract

Current literature on loyalty programs emphasizes the importance of psychological rewards and special treatment. However, it is not clear if male and female customers respond to these incentives in a similar way. We explore the differential effect for female versus male consumers of two psychological rewards that are provided through a loyalty program (a) high status (e.g., Gold membership), and (b) personalization, at different levels of visibility to other consumers. Across three experiments and a field study, we find a coherent pattern of gender differences in the way customers respond to different types of psychological rewards in the context of loyalty programs. The results show that men respond more positively than women to loyalty programs that emphasize status, but only when their higher status is highly visible to others. In contrast, women respond more positively than men to loyalty programs that emphasize personalization, but only for personalization in private settings. We discuss managerial implications for the design of loyalty programs.

Loyalty as a matter of principle: the influence of standards of judgment on customer loyalty

“…In much the same way as Melnyk and Osselaer (2012) identified genderbased differences in how consumers respond to types of incentives in loyalty programs, it seems likely that deontologists and utilitarians would respond favorably to different incentives. When people disagree over ethical matters, I strive for workable compromises.…”

Fairness management

“…Meeting customer needs will require firms to think in terms of creating superior value (Luo, Wieseke, & Homburg, 2012). Firms must consider how they can tailor and personalise offerings for the individual customer, ensuring that they remain loyal to the firm's activities (Melnyk & Osselaer, 2012). Over the past decades, managers have pursued this relational approach in an attempt to create competitive advantages, by facilitating customised solutions to customers on an individual basis, most notably in segmentation (Dibb & Simkin, 2009) and relationship building schemes such as CRM (Nguyen & Mutum, 2012) and customer experiences (Klaus & Maklan, 2012).…”

Fairness management

“…For example, scholars note that marketing aimed at children, is subversive and destructive to healthy development, as it promotes excessive materialism, the consumption of inappropriate products (such as video games with inappropriate content deliberately marketed to young children). Meeting customer needs requires firms to think in terms of creating superior value (Luo, Wieseke, & Homburg, 2012) by tailoring and personalising offerings for the individual customer, making s/he remain loyal to their activities (Melnyk & Osselaer, 2012). 2.…”