Canadians covet small rewards from their loyalty programs: Research

Scotiabank Scene and PC Optimum rank highest with consumers

David Brown

3/9/2018

Argyle Public Relationships-In loyalty programs- Canadians happi

The little things mean a lot
to Canadians, at least when it comes to loyalty programs.

Scotiabank Scene and PC Optimum came out one and two in new research from Leger Research and Argyle Public Relationships that evaluated Canadian loyalty programs. The strong showing for Scene and PC Optimum suggests Canadians are predisposed to small rewards such as free groceries or movie tickets rather than holding out for bigger returns, according to Argyle.

"While Canadians are loyal to their loyalty programs, the ready reward of the free movie or groceries seems to be winning our hearts more than the elusive dream vacation," says Argyle CEO Daniel Tisch, in a release. "The recent controversies about the future of Air Miles points, and about Aeroplan's future, may also be factors in the slight edge gained by those offering smaller, simpler rewards." However, the study was also conducted in January, before Loblaw merged its Optimum and PC programs, a process that frustrated some customers.

READ: PC Optimum launch hits technical snafu

Canadians are well-known for their love of loyalty programs. Other research last year from Colloquy showed Canadians hold 175 million loyalty program memberships and 51% of those memberships are with retail brands.

READ: Which grocery retailers do Canadian shoppers trust most?

Argyle evaluates brands based on their relationship to customers in six categories: trust, satisfaction, perceived commitment to meeting expectations, caring for customers, concern for people like me, and perception of the ability to influence a brand. Ratings for each of those categories are used to create an overall score out of 100.

Scotiabank scored 70 while PC Optimum was just behind at 69. Not far behind were Air Miles (67), RBC Avion (67), TD Rewards (66) and Aeroplan (64).

Overall, Canadians feel positively about their loyalty programs, with 79% saying they are very or somewhat satisfied with the program they use the most, and 76% saying they trust their loyalty program.

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