Show Your Card & Save is the benefit program adopted by Australian Auto Clubs over the last few years, apparently lifted from a scheme set up in the
I was intrigued by the long list of benefits on offer when it was first spruiked by RACV, the automobile club to which I belong. Certainly in terms of volume it seems to beat any similar offering I've seen.
And yet there is something intrinsically frustrating about this benefit program. And that is, I just can’t remember who the benefit providers are. The only one I've been able to commit to memory is Rebel Sport, 5% discount there, quite useful. But of all the rest, I just can’t recall. At one stage I kept the page out of the RACV mag that has the list of participants, but it’s not as if I’m going to carry it with me.
Yet here’s the rub. You can bet that nearly all the benefit providers won’t be putting up in lights that they’re part of the Show Your Card & Save program. After all, what’s in it for them, once you're in the store? They’d be hoping that before I set out to purchase an item, I’d check out the list and head their way, but I'm afraid it’s just not going to happen that way. And they’re not about to ask me at the check-out if I'm an RACV member – it would be akin to them asking me “how would you like to claim 5% of my margin that you weren’t really expecting as a discount?”
So I see it as a bit of a loyalty program with your hands tied behind your back. For the participating retailer, they’ll be handing out the occasional discount, but it’s hard to see members seeking them out, if like me they suffer from the can’t-remember-who’s-in-it problem. For an RACV member like me, there’s the frustration of finding out some time later that I had foregone a discount, if only I’d remembered to show my card and saved. And what’s in it for RACV? Well, maybe they’re the winner in all of this – they get to paint the picture to members that there’s a world of discounts waiting for them. Maybe only the astute (or anal) member will delve deep into the list and find out that some of the participants are giants of commerce like Wombat Gully Plant Farm or Wooling Hill Memorial Garden Estate.
1 comment:
Great blog Murtoa!
I love your point about the RACV offering .. I see it as another example of emotional response trumping intelligent response. People FEEL like they are getting a good deal across a hundred retailers, even though they are likely to only benefit from one or two. My guess would be that the majority of users see one retailer that they frequent on the list, and that triggers a real connection for them - then they just feel good about the rest being on the list, even though they will never go there (or to your point, will forget that they are on the list)!
One other thought - how many customers would be just too embarrassed to ask for the 5% off if the store was void of signage or other prompts guaranteeing them that they wouldn't meet a blank stare or some other form of rejection?! And how many times do you find that each franchise has a completely different set of rules for their own offers (i.e. try getting the same deal at two different subways) let alone getting it right for a sub-offering from a partnership deal with someone like RACV.
For me, it's all emotional - but good on RACV for creating such a feel-good (cost-effective) offering :)
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