The COLLOQUY loyalty marketing census: sizing up the US loyalty marketing industry
Purpose This article aims to examine US loyalty marketing industry size and analyzes growth trends.Design/methodology/approach The article provides a discussion on COLLOQUY's benchmark setting measurement.Findings US loyalty rewards program membership has reached 1.3 billion, according to COLLOQUY research that provides the first comprehensive census taking of loyalty marketing since the modern loyalty era began with frequent flyer incentives in 1981. COLLOQUY's benchmark setting measurement, based on a fourth quarter 2006 analysis of a dozen business sectors, reveals that the average US household belongs to 12 loyalty programs. In a key finding, the COLLOQUY census shows that "active participation" in loyalty programs is a blended average of 39.5 percent across all sectors analyzed, a number that COLLOQUY experts characterized as "dismal." Of the 12 programs per average household, 4.7 yield active participation. The census results raise a major question. Does the participation data mean the loyalty.