A Foolish Customer Program

When I was a kid, I loved Mallo Cups. My siblings and I consumed more of them than I care to admit, and we religiously collected the “Mallo Cup Play Money” on the cards inside each one. Most had five or ten points. Sometimes we stumbled across a one. Rarely, we discovered a 50 or 100, which always was very exciting!

My roommate recently began buying Mallo Cups and enjoying them again as she had when she was young. Yesterday, she handed me a “Play Money Card” from the one that she was eating and asked me what to do with it. “Can you recycle this?”

I reverted back to being a collector of Mallo Cup Money and recoiled at the thought of tossing away any of it. As I looked at the card, I realized that it appeared identical to those I collected many years ago. I peered at it closely, reading the fine print. Collect 500 points, send them in, and receive $1 rebate check. “One dollar,” I thought, “for 500? Are they kidding? Who would save that many, put them together into an envelope, and apply a $.44 stamp to receive one dollar?”

Are today’s Mallo Cup eaters that foolish?

I can’t answer that question. However, I can tell you that Boyer’s marketing is foolish. The company has trashed a program which encouraged repeat purchases and rewarded profitable customers. Think about it. If the average Mallo Cup Money card from a purchase is ten points, you must purchase fifty Mallo Cups to reach 500 points. If the average is five points, you must buy one hundred to reach 500. If a customer bought fifty to one hundred of your product, wouldn’t you reward them with more than a buck?

Oh, that’s right; there‘s more. You also can save additional points for valuable prizes. Send in for your prize catalog to the above address.

Send in for a catalog? Why not go online? Today, why not have a Web site or Facebook page that involves Mallo Cup customers with Boyer? In what century does Boyer dwell?

Perhaps the last century. These cards looked just the same as those that I collected as a kid with one exception. Those that I collected offered free product sent to your door when 500 points were reached. That program truly rewarded its customers, and that kept us buying Mallo Cups.

Take a lesson from Boyer. If you offer your customers a rewards program, make it worth their time to participate. Tie their reward to enjoying more of what your business offers.