Attending the Asia Pacific loyalty conference in August was an exceptional experience, made even more special by the opportunity to deliver one of my favourite keynotes. I opened the conference with a deep dive into Loyalty KPIs and how to radically simplify loyalty, based on my book Blind Loyalty – 101 Loyalty Concepts Radically Simplified.
The conference was packed with over 300 attendees and remarkable loyalty speakers from around the world. A standout moment for me was listening to my co-partner at the Customer Strategy Network, Yuping Liu-Thompkins. Yuping is a Professor of Marketing at Strome College of Business, USA, and shared insights on optimising loyalty through psychological drivers. She explained how consumer psychology plays a pivotal role in how members engage and interact with a loyalty programme. We apply these theories when creating the critical member engagement plan, which forms the foundation of how loyalty members interact with your programme once they’ve signed up.
Paula Thomas, Founder of Let’s Talk Loyalty & Loyalty TV (for which I’m a guest host of a monthly loyalty podcast), interviewed Emma Porter from the Adairs loyalty programme in Australia. Listening to a Let’s Talk Loyalty episode live was incredibly impactful, and Paula’s panel at our South African International Leaders in Loyalty Summit on 12 September will mark her first live stream Loyalty TV event. We’re thrilled and can’t wait!
One of my favourite loyalty discussions is about loyalty fraud. The Asia Pacific conference also featured a powerful conversation between Michael Smith—whom I call the ‘Chief Loyalty Officer of the World’—and Luke Dynan from Accertify. They shared remarkable case studies of how loyalty fraud occurs among consumers, staff, and even criminal groups worldwide. No loyalty professional can afford to ignore this compelling and increasingly challenging issue.
Lastly, I want to highlight a keynote from Professor Cristina Ziliani, who discussed how loyalty programme operators are supporting meaningful sustainability. Is this just greenwashing, or does it actually make a difference? Cristina, a Professor at the University of Parma, Italy, shared incredible case studies around the psychological factors that facilitate the adoption of sustainable behaviours within the loyalty industry.
Highlighting just a few keynotes feels unfair to every loyalty professional who took the stage. The insights were remarkable, and the loyalty industry in Australia and the Asia Pacific region is booming. I see many similarities between the southern hemisphere industries (Australia and South Africa), where the loyalty community is a close-knit group of professionals sharing insights to empower the broader delivery of loyalty excellence to consumers. As a result, everyone benefits from this transparent approach to elevating the loyalty game. I was honoured to be part of this remarkable gathering of loyalty minds, organised by the Australian Loyalty Association.
