Top 5 customer loyalty programmes and why they work

Published by Matt Brown on 15th Sep 2016

Consumers in 2016 are spoiled for choice when it comes to where to spend their hard-earned cash, which is why customer loyalty programmes have become so important. We decided to take a look at some of the most successful programmes around and why our own JAC Pack is designed to suit you.

McDonalds Monopoly

We're starting off with a bit of a left-field example. McDonalds, a mainstay of the fast food industry across the world, might not be the first company you'd associate with a loyalty programme, but it certainly has one, and a very successful one at that.

If you pop into your local McDonald's at certain times of the year, you'll be presented with a Monopoly game to play. Certain menu items are supplied with a Monopoly tile to collect - once you've collected a complete set, you can redeem them for a prize.

Why this works for McDonalds is that as it's not available year round, it encourages customers to keep coming back while the promotion is ongoing in the hopes of scooping the grand prize. From a customer's point of view, it's a great way of earning free rewards just for visiting somewhere they would anyway.

Nectar Card

The ubiquitous Nectar card has been a fixture in British shops for over a decade, offering consumers an easy way to earn and spend loyalty points with a huge number of companies.

Nectar has been so successful mainly because of how easy it is to use. Whether you're in Sainsburys, a BP garage, or even shopping on eBay, you can earn points on everything you buy. Once you've earned enough points you can trade them in for money-off or even redeem them against special rewards.

Boots Advantage Card

Many of you will already know about the Boots Advantage Card. It's a simple system - like many others it lets you earn points as you spend, which can later be turned in against future orders or special rewards.

What Boots does a bit differently is to offer very specific reward options tailored to you. The over 60s earn more points for purchasing certain products, and if you've got a baby on the way, there's even special deals to be found there.

Boots is able to offer tailored rewards thanks to the wealth of information on its customers that it holds, making the loyalty system that much more personal.

Virgin Flying Club

For the jet set, loyalty schemes are a fact of life, and most of the big airlines operate some sort of programme for their valued customers.

For our money, one of the best around is the Virgin Flying Club, which is an exclusive programme which lets travellers earn airmiles to spend on their next holiday.

It's not just about getting money off, though. Becoming a member of the Virgin Flying Club also grants access to a number of added benefits which increases the value of membership even further.

Their tiered programme offers a variety of rewards to customers, with more and more deals opening up as you spend. For their top flight (see what we did there?) Gold customers, priority access to check-in and members clubs all help to increase the overall value of their membership.

JAC Pack

Taking inspiration from some of the most popular programmes around, we've carefully crafted the JAC Pack to offer the best value possible. All of our customers automatically earn points to spend simply by shopping with us, but for those looking to earn a little extra, we also reward activities like sharing a product on Facebook, or participating in our regular polls.

Spend enough with us in a year, and you'll be upgraded into the upper tiers of the JAC Pack, unlocking access to a variety of bonus rewards, such as free gifts, early access to new products and other special promotions.

We've got some exciting plans for the JAC Pack coming down the pipeline at present, which we can't wait to share with you.