Mary Pilecki

VP, Principal Analyst

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Blog

If You Want Customer Loyalty, You Need A Value Exchange

Mary Pilecki February 13, 2024
I regularly have discussions with clients who want to create a loyalty program. But when we dig deeper into their approach, their answers to critical questions often indicate that the client hasn’t fully considered the implications of a program: Many brands jump into a structured loyalty program (the tactic) before they have defined the strategy […]
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Retailers, Take A Reindeer’s Eye View Of Loyalty This Holiday Season

Mary Pilecki November 9, 2023
Here’s how brands should infuse loyalty throughout the customer lifecycle this holiday season.
Blog

Improve Your Loyalty Results With A Loyalty Services Provider

Mary Pilecki August 16, 2023
Does your brand employ a loyalty services provider in addition to a loyalty technology provider? If not, you should consider it. Brands continue to increase spend on loyalty technology and programs, but they often don’t tie their loyalty initiatives to broader corporate goals, negatively impacting their success. Services providers help here. This blog answers key […]
Blog

Paid Loyalty Programs Pique Premium Interest

Mary Pilecki May 19, 2023
Premium loyalty programs charge a fee for access to membership or a program tier. These can be one-time fees (REI — $30 once for a lifetime) or monthly/annual fees (Amazon Prime, Walmart +). In recent weeks, we’ve seen several new premium loyalty programs or tiers announced: Sweetgreen announced a two-tiered program in April with a […]
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Flexible Loyalty Technology Solutions Power Profitable Loyalty Programs

Mary Pilecki March 14, 2023
As brands contend with rising media costs, changing consumer behavior, and, for some, lackluster sales results, they continue to invest in consumer loyalty programs and technology solutions to help them engage and retain consumers. In fact, 53% of B2C marketing decision-makers plan to increase their spend on loyalty technology this year. But economic uncertainty adds […]
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It Pays To Share: Refer-A-Friend Programs Boost Customer Acquisition And Engagement

Mary Pilecki March 7, 2023
We’ll let you in on a secret: Cometeer coffee keeps Forrester’s B2C marketing research team running. When our colleague evangelized the innovative coffee company in a team meeting last year, the brand quickly found its way into many of our team members’ daily routines — and it’s not just because we like really good coffee. […]
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Order Up: Starbucks Rewards Changes Signal A Renewed Focus On Profitable Loyalty

Mary Pilecki January 31, 2023
As one of the most popular loyalty programs in the world, the stakes for the Starbucks Rewards program are high. Today, the program boasts nearly 29 million active members, and over half of Starbucks sales are driven through the program. Starbucks Rewards members collect “stars” for every purchase they make, redeemable for free drinks, food, […]
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Unlock Loyalty Throughout The Customer Lifecycle

Mary Pilecki November 17, 2022
Loyalty marketers, the scope of your job just expanded. And before you panic, it’s a good thing. Loyalty marketers have conventionally focused their efforts on customers post-purchase: increasing customer retention, enrichment, and advocacy. But brands and customers alike have faced unprecedented challenges over the last few years, including a pandemic, supply chain issues, and social […]
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Prepare For 2023: Sharpen Your Loyalty Data Collection This Holiday Season

Mary Pilecki November 1, 2022
Use your loyalty program to collect consumer data and boost B2C sales this holiday season.
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Changing Your Loyalty Program? Here’s What To Consider

Mary Pilecki October 25, 2022
Today, brands leverage loyalty programs to acquire and retain customers, particularly those they lost during the height of the pandemic. But loyalty programs are a symbiotic relationship: Consumers look to programs for better experiences and cost savings, especially in light of the current economic crisis. As both customer and business needs change, programs are evolving […]
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Clean Up Your Martech And Loyalty Tech Ecosystem

Mary Pilecki October 3, 2022
We all know that there is a big difference between working hard and working smart. And specifically for marketers, the status quo often makes working smart impossible — functional silos inhibit internal efficiencies and negatively impact the overall customer experience. Some of today’s biggest marketing silos are technology-based — different platforms for different functions. Let’s […]
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Level Up Your Loyalty Marketing With Zero-Party Data

Mary Pilecki September 14, 2022
Loyalty programs, rife with first-party data, are seemingly a salve to the challenges posed by the forces of data deprecation. But even loyalty marketers struggle to effectively collect and use data. Whether it be a lack of respect for customer privacy, data sets saturated with useless information, or an inability to make customer insights actionable, […]
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This Back-To-School Season, Learn To Evolve Your Loyalty Strategy

Mary Pilecki August 16, 2022
Despite the heat wave across the United States, summer is quickly coming to a close. In just a few weeks, kids around the globe will be back in the classroom for a new year of learning. Loyalty marketers, you might consider joining them! Since early 2020, concerns for health and safety, supply chain issues, and […]
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Loyalty Is A Lifeline During The Inflation Crisis

Mary Pilecki March 14, 2022
Last week, consumers in the United States woke up to a grim statistic from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index: Consumer prices rose 7.9% in February, the highest rate of annual inflation in 40 years. This rise is not unexpected if you’ve read the news headlines over the past couple of months. […]
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Choose Your Loyalty Service Provider Based On Three Capabilities

Mary Pilecki August 25, 2021
Globally, we’re seeing a proliferation of brands that are investing in loyalty — whether for the first time or to revamp their existing strategy and programs. In fact, 83% of the brands we surveyed for our new Forrester Wave™ evaluation on loyalty service providers are increasing their investment in loyalty by 5% or more this […]
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Promotions And Offer Management Providers Want To Help You Deliver Personalized And Compelling Incentives

Mary Pilecki August 11, 2021
Have you noticed the growing link between commerce and loyalty? Forrester has, and we’ve set out to explore it. Our first deep dive was into promotions and offer management tools, which we define as: Software that helps businesses personalize, distribute, automate, and track promotions, incentives, and other offers across digital and physical touchpoints. We included […]
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Worried About Losing Cookie Tracking? Look To Your Loyalty Program

Mary Pilecki August 4, 2021
A loyalty program is a great way to collect zero-party data. Read how your loyalty program can be a powerful tool in the post-cookie world.
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CX Is A Critical Driver Of Emotional Loyalty

Mary Pilecki April 26, 2021
Emotion metrics can be a measure of a customer’s actual loyalty. But only when they're placed in a larger context of customer loyalty metrics. Read more.
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Introducing: Your New Loyalty Analyst And A Forrester Wave™ On Loyalty Solutions

Mary Pilecki April 5, 2021
Hi there! Mary Pilecki here, reintroducing myself as your Forrester analyst covering loyalty marketing. During the 10 years I’ve been at Forrester, I’ve worn a few different hats: financial services analyst, research director for our customer insights and B2C marketing teams, and, perhaps most importantly, unofficial “snack drawer fulfillment manager” back when we were still […]
Blog

How PCC Turned Its Undifferentiated Rewards Program Into A Loyalty And Engagement Driver

Emily Collins February 19, 2021
Another undifferentiated loyalty program focused on cookie-cutter transactional rewards and lacking in customer insights. Does it sound familiar? Programs like this saturate the market even when retaining customers and earning their loyalty is more important than ever. Our data shows that even though nearly 90% of US online adults belong to a loyalty program, only […]
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