The Loyalty Leap

by Bryan Pearson

How willing are you to offer your personal information to a big company? What about letting them send you emails and promotional messages? Most consumers no longer trust companies like they used to. So how then has Bryan Pearson convinced 99.99% of his 10 million customers in LoyaltyOne’s AIR MILES Rewards Program to willingly share their personal information?

Companies often make the mistake of assuming that consumers trust an abstract brand when in fact the opposite is true; the true face of an organization is the human behind the counter or on the other end of the phone. Improving those interactions is the key to developing strong, long-term customer relationships.

THE LOYALTY LEAP shows readers how to build the unwavering consumer loyalty needed for a subsequent long-term relationship and how to do so without infringing on the privacy of their consumers.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 8, 2012

About the author

With more than two decades of experience developing meaningful customer relationships for some of the world’s leading companies, Bryan Pearson is an internationally recognized expert and author in the fields of enterprise loyalty and coalition marketing. As President of LoyaltyOne, a pioneer in loyalty strategies and measured marketing, Bryan heads six global enterprises, leveraging the knowledge of 120 million customer relationships over 20 years to create relevant communications and enhanced shopper experiences.

A sought-after speaker and author of the bestselling book: The Loyalty Leap: Turning Customer Information into Customer Intimacy, Bryan has presented around the world at such well-known events as The Art of Marketing, Loyalty World, Card Forum and the Economic Club of Canada. He also is a frequent speaker at conferences hosted by the Direct Marketing Association and the Canadian Marketing Association.

In 2012, Bryan was selected to be among SmartMoney’s “Power 30,” an annual list of leaders who shape worldwide economic currents and the consumer experience. He is often quoted by news outlets including: The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, BusinessWeek, the Los Angeles Times, the Vancouver Sun, the National Post, Globe and Mail, the Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press and MSNBC. He is a regular contributor to Fast Company, Retail Customer Experience, Customer Think, Creative Match and COLLOQUY.

The Loyalty Leap: Turning Customer Information into Customer Intimacy was published in May 2012 by the Portfolio imprint of Penguin Group in both the US and Canada and became a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller in its first week. The book draws on Pearson’s first-hand experience in building emotional loyalty in an information age, with insightful stories from the trenches of the data-gathering and marketing communications fields. The Loyalty Leap details strategies for building unwavering customer loyalty while also navigating the minefields of privacy. More information is available at www.pearson4loyalty.com.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Loyalty Leap is an interesting high-level read providing insight into the benefits, huge positive potential, and risks of companies using customer data to interact in a more intimate and, Brian argues, more effective way with their customers. To a customer, this is a great book to see how your data is used and managed. To a business, it provides valuable insights into the benefits of good data management.

Consumer insights are blended with marketing concepts to create a clear, well-rounded view of customer loyalty. To cement these concepts, Brian uses several clear examples to show real triumphs and failures in this area. His long-standing tenure with Loyalty One, and experience in the loyalty marketing space overall, is visible in the depth within clear, simply explained insights. An easy, concise and interesting read.

This book seems to be geared towards the larger corporation. The limited examples of tools for small businesses, and methods for producing customer insights without “big data” may leave the over two-million small businesses in Canada feeling a little excluded, despite there being a lot to learn from the customer intimacy in a well-run small business. Having said that, the concepts discussed are generally universal, despite the logistics and examples being primarily ‘bigger-business’ focused.

The views expressed in this book are well balanced overall, however Brian Pearson’s (in many ways justified) devotion to Loyalty One may leave the reader wondering if descriptions of Loyalty One and his experiences may be influenced by where his own loyalty lies. This is not a bad thing, but rather further demonstrates the effectiveness of the concepts in The Loyalty Leap. After all, Brian’s loyalty shows his own practical belief in the tools discussed in his book.

[Kirsten · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know when exactly I started this book, but I can tell you I'm happy it's over. I read this one for work at the suggestion of a coworker who indicated it might be a good way to gain some background knowledge on the loyalty industry in general. This book thoroughly introduces its reader to the same concept at least 50 times, with little to no variation in how its described or presented. Chapters felt overly long and didn't provide any new insight that couldn't have been covered in 50 pages or less. Giving chapters different titles is not enough to trick me into believing it's new information, and this attempt at pulling the wool over my eyes just annoyed me from start to finish. Pearson's tone of voice was relatable, but the content was so dull it didn't even matter.

The only leap this book prompted me to take was off the couch to go get a different book, because this was really quite unbearable.

[Stephanie]

A giant in the customer loyalty industry, LoyaltyOne CEO Bryan Pearson not only helps the reader understand what loyalty means; and, the critical importance of turning customer information into customer intimacy. Being data-driven by nature, I was excited to see how data can be used to create not just loyalty, but also intimacy between businesses and their customers. A great read for anyone interested in customer loyalty.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very interested in reading about loyalty marketing and how companies may use the data they collect to enhance their relationships with customers. I had often wondered why the loyalty cards that I use market certain things to me, and I found the information in this book revealing.

Due to the nature of my work I was particularly intrigued by the chapters on privacy. I appreciated the 5 principles that the author mentioned for using information responsibly while still being able to create a positive customer experience. Customers will always have privacy concerns and companies must address them so that they can keep their business.

I would recommend this book to marketers, managers, and to people curious about loyalty programs. I learned a lot by reading this book.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Thank you!

[Sven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading up quite a bit on customer loyalty and from that perspective didn't get that much more out of this book. As other reviewers have stated it is a quite high level read allowing you to dip your toes in the subject matter if you are just getting started on these topics.

This book could have gone a lot deeper into the inter merchant, inter brand mechanics of the cooperative loyalty models. Similarly the approaches to customer segmentation and targeting could have been elaborated to greater detail.

I've also read the Tesco book (Scoring Points), these two are very similar but the Tesco one does lift the veil a bit more on how all this is done in the real world. If you have to pick one of these two, I'd recommend going with that one.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bryan Pearson has elevated the abstract business concept of loyalty marketing into a consumer service of real emotional value. In The Loyalty Leap, he describes, through insightful first-hand accounts and behind-the-curtainstories, just how the responsible use of data can result in customer intimacy.

It is a must-read for any business trying to better understand its often-capricious customers—for anyone with customers.

[George Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from Stephen Lake before I took the Greyhound to Toronto for something to read on the bus.

Although dry at times, this book does offer some very interesting insight into developing loyalty among your customers. The concepts from the book are focused in the context of business-customer relationships. Unlike many other books I read, the concepts are not transferable between different contexts eg. the professional and personal lives.

[Alexander K]

I took extra care when reading this book. I ended up taking 11 single spaced pages of notes!
Highly recommend if you are a Canadian company looking to improve your current, or launch a new, loyalty program.
This book explores loyalty programs directed at the general population. I am about to launch one for a contained community; a university with approximately 34,000 potential customers. It will be interesting to see what completely applies and what may need to be altered.

[JILL MCBRIDE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bryan Pearson has transformed our soulless data warehouses into depositories of human aspirations, where every piece of seemingly impersonal information is a window into a person’s needs, inspirations, and lifestyle. Through this window, The Loyalty Leap shows us how to go beyond offering mere products and instead offer solutions to what the consumer requires—whenever, wherever.

[Michael Leander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bryan Pearson did not deliver on the promise of the book: "Turning Customer Information into Customer Intimacy". The book is too much all over the place covering far too many aspects of customer (loyalty) management.

Given his expertise and long experience in the field, I had expected more from Bryan, but at least he did make an effort and for that he deserves kudos.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many good ideas ... world of "loyalty" programs now moving so quickly that some of the basics expressed in this should be required reading. The underlying "why" and "how" a brand may be able to motivate fans, advocates and loyal customers is still of value - even as tactics and delivery systems evolve oh so quickly ...

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the book is not very old, it already feels quite dated. Although AIRMILES is certainly one of the largest loyalty programs in the world, hearing some case studies from other programs would have be interesting.

[Marie]

As a working individual I was intrugued by the discription of this book so I decided to enter the first-reads giveaway and to my surprise I was a winner! Looking forward to reading this book.