ABSTRACT
This chapter describes 'customer clubs' as a convenient shorthand for value-oriented loyalty programmes. While a customer club might share some of these characteristics with other customer loyalty programmes, it is the combination of these characteristics that clearly distinguishes a customer club. Customer clubs want to encourage members to communicate actively with the club, since more data can then be obtained which is of much better quality. The club benefits, special services, the different ways of communicating or special pricing aim to create value on top of the actual products the sponsoring company sells. Although in some cases a customer club might be a legal organization separate from the sponsoring company, it is oriented towards a particular purpose: fulfilling certain marketing goals, rather than financial or membership goals. Members of a customer club receive the benefits regardless of their current purchase level.
