Courtney Cunnane

The customer expectation is changing and developing lasting relationships with clients is only getting harder. Much is being written about customer loyalty, but many programs are still missing the mark. Until now, customer experience best practices have focused on product differentiation, special offers and customer service. However, most of these practices don't change or adjust…

The majority of retailers have loyalty programs to drive customer engagement and additional purchases. In fact, 90-plus percent of retailers have loyalty programs. The explosion of these programs is driven by today's empowered consumer. In the era of the consumer review, an ever-increasing number of digital channels and a 24/7 shopping cycle, retailers have less control over consumer shopping behavior than ever before.

Retailers struggle to provide a meaningful, consistent customer experience as the number of channels continues to grow. The increase in infrastructure and interaction points has led to separation in management, for example, for in-store and online programs. This results in various messaging distributed to customers at ill-coordinated times. Unfortunately, that's not how customers wish to interact in today's environment.