Loyalty To AARP
The Agitator has reported before on AARP (American Assn of Retired Persons) and its various marketing endeavours, simply because AARP, with more than 37 million members, is one of the 800 pound gorillas in the nonprofit advocacy and service sector.
AARP has the resources to experiment and innovate … and hopefully get things right. And teach the rest of us a thing or two.
Here — from loyalty360 (sort of a trade association for loyalty marketers) — is an update on AARP’s elaborate loyalty program, called ‘Rewards for Good’.
In a nutshell, through this program AARP members earn points for exploring aarp.org and engaging with the organization — signing up for newsletters, playing brain health games, taking quizzes, using retirement and savings calculators, and more. Over 5 million are presently earning points.
A key part of AARP’s mission — to say nothing of its value-add — is to equip members to make better decisions about things like retirement planning, finances and healthcare. And the organisation offers plenty of tools to help do so.
‘Rewards for Good’ is about encouraging the use of these tools — and incidentally, winning the loyalty that supports renewals. And it seems to work well.
All of this is especially worth looking at if your organization includes service delivery and education as core to its mission.
Of course AARP is also an advocacy group, and surely it is not lost on AARP execs that satisfied warriors are likely to be energetic warriors!
While this report notes a number of process measures that certainly speak well of the program, I was disappointed that no data was provided with respect to membership renewal or fundraising.
I would be stunned — and hugely disappointed — if AARP, with its sophistication and resources, cannot say whether members who are active in ‘Rewards for Good’ are more valuable members in financial terms — do they renew and contribute more, and do they more often use other revenue-generating services provided by AARP as well?
The Agitator wants to know!
Tom
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