“We want Prime to be such good value you’d be irresponsible NOT to be a member”
Jeff Bezos in his letter to Amazon shareholders following the 2015 fiscal year[1]
Belief from the leader
This statement in my view is the most powerful proof point of belief a CEO has in their member program (aka loyalty program, subscription program, member benefits program, VIP program etc)
When a CEO believes in their program to such an extent to say publically “…you’d be irresponsible NOT to be a member”, then success will knock on the front door (literally).
In February 2005, Amazon launched their Prime subscription[2]
In January 2020, Amazon Prime is reported to have over 150 million paid prime members worldwide.[3]
15 years, 150 million members. That’s a bucketload of members and a $h_t load of dollars!
Value: “…such good value…”
There are multiple and varied layers to these words and you’d need to dig through how the program has evolved over the years (here’s a timeline that will help), to see how value has been relentlessly added.
What’s clear is the customer is at the epicentre of it all.
The Inc article says it beautifully… It can be tempting to gloss over the sentence (as above) as puffery. Don't. The philosophy behind those words is a major driver to Amazon's rapid growth with revenues exceeding $100 billion a year. The more value your business adds, the more customers you will win. And not just new customers. This approach will help you earn the loyalty of your existing customers over and over again. Loyal customers are exactly what you want. They buy more, tell others about you, and they cost less to service and maintain. It's a win all around.
Is your loyalty program worth the call-out to customers “…you’d be irresponsible not to be a member”?
If your program is worth this call to action – well done!
If it isn’t, then ask yourself and your team – why not and how can we?
2021 has just started. There’s time now.
Start today. (Day one. Thanks Jeff Bezos)
Have a happy loyalty day.
[1] https://www.inc.com/sonia-thompson/in-1-sentence-jeff-bezos-explains-the-philosophy-e.html
[2] https://pattern.com/blog/amazon-prime-a-timeline-from-2005-to-2020/
[3] https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-now-has-over-150-million-paid-prime-members-worldwide/
