Loyalty card
I've been thinking about how Easyjet has changed its market positioning from a cheap-as-chips airline to a company that is capable of rivalling major network carriers for business travel and become acceptable for shorthaul to those who want a basic level of creature comforts.
As a company that has a large customer base, it's presumably keen to hang onto the most profitable customers. Large Oneworld, Star and Skyteam carriers all have their loyalty schemes, and I was wondering why Easyjet doesn't want to do their own. Presumably BA's loyalty scheme is a big draw keeping UK business people returning regularly to BA.
I realise that the Plus card is a nod in this direction, but this is really about upselling perks for a fee, rather than giving a passenger a reason to choose Easyjet over another carrier. Yes, there is also Nectar, but it seems fairly UK centric and the £9 booking fee on rewards is offputting. Yes, I also know that running loyalty schemes has a large overhead of management time and expense but is presumably worth it to the largest of companies. I'm guessing also that by encouraging customers to log in to make bookings or retrieve boarding cards and also using the mobile app, much of the customer data capture for subsequent data analysis is already achieved.
I also realise that a loyalty scheme has to both boost and reward profitability - US carriers were absolutely right to kill off long haul mileage runs by taking monetary spend into account.
So, is there a sufficiently large benefit to Easyjet running a loyalty scheme or is Nectar along with existing infrastructure good enough given a cost-benefit analysis ?
Comments from those with inside knowledge of frequent flyer and loyalty marketing would be gratefully received. Tedious drivel about how many points you have on your Tesco clubcard is less welcome.