The sixth annual loyalty research study for love or money 2018 reveals Australian Millennial’s are the most interested in earning cryptocurrency rewards instead of loyalty points.

Commissioned by The Point of Loyalty, for love or money 2018 – the Australian research study on customer loyalty and loyalty programs, highlights that 36 per cent of members of loyalty programs express an interest in being rewarded with cryptocurrency instead of points. This interest increases to 55 per cent for Millennials.

Report author and CEO of The Point of Loyalty, Adam Posner said that the loyalty program landscape is at a pivotal point of change due to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

“With cryptocurency being a topic of intense conversation these days, I was keen to understand consumers’ and specifically loyalty program members’ attitude towards being rewarded in these digital currencies” Posner said.

“While knowledge is low, with only 14 per cent indicating a good to excellent knowledge of cryptocurrencies, there is still an appetite to be rewarded with these new digital assets” he added.

The research also identifies members’ view on the collection of their loyalty program data and whether it is used to enhance their shopping experience or invade their privacy.

“Data collection, protection and use, is on the radar of all loyalty program members,” Posner said.

The research highlights that 50 per cnet of members are okay with sharing their information with a loyalty program, knowing that it is used to enhance their shopping experience.

However, the research also reveals that 23 per cent of members feel that information collected is an invasion of their privacy even if it is used to enhance their shopping experience.

“It is clear that no matter how loyalty program information is used, the utmost respect, relevance and sensitivity must be maintained when using the information collected,” he said.

Other key findings the report reveals:

• Are loyalty programs improving and where? 59 per cent of members agree that loyalty programs have improved in recent years (up from 51 per cent in 2017). The three key areas of improvement have been
  1) Earn rate: rewards are more achievable
  2) Simplicity: programs are simpler and easier to interact with and
  3) Technology: use of enhanced technology such as mobile apps and mobile payments

• Woolworths Rewards make a remarkable improvement since 2017: Coles flybuys retained first place in the ranking of programs mentioned the most as ‘doing a very good job’ (35 per cent). However, Woolworths Rewards in second place has improved significantly, up from 13.4 per cent in 2017, to 20.2 per cent in 2018.

2018 Australia’s top most mentioned programs (unprompted) as ‘doing a very good job’:

1. Coles flybuys
2. Woolworths Rewards
3. Qantas Frequent Flyer
4. Virgin Velocity
5. Priceline Sister Club
6. MyDanMurphy’s
7. MYER one
8. CommBank Awards
9. Boost Vibe Club