Omni Core · Loyalty Programs · Module
The mechanism
What the programme actually does — what earns, what is earned, and what it can be exchanged for.
The idea
How it works
The design determines everything downstream. What earns decides which behaviour is rewarded; what is earned decides the liability; how it is redeemed decides whether members feel it was worth participating.
Complexity is the common failure. A programme members cannot explain is a programme that does not change behaviour, because behaviour changes only when someone can see the consequence of their choice.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Reward the behaviour you actually want
Spend, frequency, referral or breadth. Each produces different behaviour and most programmes reward spend by default.
- 02
Keep it explainable in a sentence
If a member cannot say how it works, it will not influence a decision.
- 03
Design the redemption first
What people can get, and whether it feels worth the accumulation. Earning is easy to design and redemption is what determines perceived value.
- 04
Check the member can see their position
Progress towards something is what changes behaviour; an opaque balance does not.
One level in
The components of the mechanism
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
A programme members cannot explain does not change behaviour, because they cannot see the consequence of a choice.
The other modules in loyalty programs
The economics
What the programme costs, including the liability that accumulates, and what it returns.
LearnBehaviour change
Whether members actually behave differently because of the programme, established by comparison rather than by assumption.
LearnWinding down
How a programme ends or changes without the change being experienced as a betrayal.
Learn