What are brand loyalty programs?

Brand loyalty programs are systems implemented by businesses to incentivize repeated purchases. Studies show that it can cost five times as much to keep an existing customer as it can to acquire a new customer in the first place, so companies use loyalty programs as a cost-effective retention strategy. The idea is to reward consumers with “loyalty points” which they can use to redeem discounts, benefits, or merchandise as they continue to shop with the brand. A recent study by Accenture found that 77% of consumers participate in some kind of a retail loyalty program, 46% have joined a hotel program, and 40% are part of an airline program– up from 72%, 36%, and 31% over the last year, respectively.

The problem with the current system

As brand loyalty programs rise in popularity each year, more of these points and rewards are going unclaimed. It is no surprise that a few points go unredeemed here and there, given that the average household has 18 loyalty program memberships, but you might be surprised to know that the amount of unclaimed rewards surpasses $100 Billion per year. That is more than $300 for every person in the United States!

Why is all of this money going to waste?

Loyalty program rewards are often tedious to claim, or they have an ephemeral lifespan, and purposefully so. Businesses benefit from a consumer’s loyalty whether they redeem their rewards or not. As long as the consumer perceives that he is racking up loyalty programs, he will continue showing loyalty to the brand. So, brands add rules, expiration dates, and other inconveniences to their loyalty programs to limit the amount of value that consumers are actually able to get out of it.

What is the solution?

Rewards.com is aiming to solve this issue and help consumers claim the entirety of the $100 Billion in lost rewards with their blockchain project, Rewardstoken.io (RWRD). The RWRD token is a decentralized cryptocurrency that acts as a universal loyalty point, redeemable for discounts and rewards from many top merchants. To use RWRD tokens, consumers will need a single Ethereum wallet. Gone are the days of keychain loyalty cards and mountains of coupons. Rewardstoken makes it incredibly easy to track and manage loyalty programs, therefore allowing consumers to easily redeem all of their benefits.