A very insightful article was posted recently at PYMNTS.COM discussing the slippery slide down the slope for loyalty points programs.

Some highlights:

Points-based programs aren’t very effective at building loyalty because they don’t provide what customers say they need to become loyal.

According to a recent Mastercard/Harvard Business Review study, 72 percent of survey respondents say optimizing customer loyalty is a top-five priority of senior management at their organization this year, and more than half have updated or refreshed their loyalty strategy within the past two years, including 30 percent who did so in the last year.

The customer is constantly in flux, as is what they value. Building a loyalty program that speaks to those values, the first step is “being continuously in the know.”

You can read the entire article here.