Every merchant seems to have a loyalty program these days. It makes sense to reward customers for their patronage and encourage even greater frequency. But, it appears there’s one kind of loyalty reward that may be more effective. One study showed that “irrelevant information” (in this case, largely valueless loyalty points) changed consumer buying decisions.

What the researchers identified in their experiments was went beyond the logical and expected effect of a loyalty program: the mere presence of point values influenced customer buying decisions. Even when the value of loyalty points was less than the value of a real-money price difference, they were swayed by the loyalty points:

The Neuromarketing takeaway from this research is that exposing customers to point values at the time of purchase can amplify the effectiveness of the loyalty program. Want to encourage sampling of a new product, or drive upgrades? Or get a customer to visit you instead of your competitor? Try something along the lines of, “100 extra Rewards Points with every purchase!” Read more at www.neurosciencemarketing.com

As smartphones and the mobile internet increase penetration among Americans, shoppers are relying more on their phones while out and about to get product, store and price information to help them make decisions. Loyalty programs can also be tied to mobile, giving customers an easy way to access points and coupons—and retailers an easy way to capture customer data. When Zoomerang surveyed US mobile phone owners on behalf of mobile marketing firm Hipcricket in October 2010, more than a third of respondents said they would be interested in a mobile loyalty program from a trusted brand. But just 9% were already participating in such a program. There was even greater interest in a loyalty program members could join via a brand’s page on a mobile social networking application like Facebook. But a majority of respondents said their favorite brands did not market to them at all on their mobile phone, suggesting companies may be leaving valuable opportunities on the table. Shoppers already involved in mobile loyalty programs were highly satisfied: 90% said they had gotten value from being a member. Overall, interest in mobile loyalty programs was about the same as Hipcricket found in 2009, but respondents’ desire for mobile coupons had gone up over the same period. Nearly two in five US mobile phone owners were at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile coupons, up from 18% the year before. And nearly half were at least somewhat likely to redeem them, a rise of 3 percentage points. A September 2010 survey of US shoppers by the In-Store Marketing Institute found a similar level of interest, with 34% of respondents interested in mobile coupons—likely somewhat lower because the survey included consumers who were not mobile users. That poll also found a third of shoppers were interested in mobile coupons that could be sent to their loyalty card, and half wanted coupons that could be sent to their loyalty card in general.

See more at www.emarketer.com