HBR on new research about customer loyalty programs. “Customer loyalty programs are ubiquitous, accounting for more than 3.3 billion memberships in the United States alone…New research, conducted by professors at the Wharton School along with the customer experience consultancy the Verde Group, reveals an important downside of loyalty programs. When loyal members encounter service failures—shipping issues, problems with returns, stockouts, and the like—they get more upset than customers who are not members of the program…The researchers call this the boomerang effect, because the very loyalty a brand engenders comes back to hurt it.”
Covid and India’s Middle Class: by Udit Misra. “In 2020, Covid disruption resulted in reducing India’s vibrant middle class by one-third. “Prior to the pandemic, it was anticipated that 99 million people in India would belong in the global middle class in 2020. A year into the pandemic, this number is estimated to be 66 million, cut by a third. Meanwhile, the number of poor in India is projected to have reached 134 million, more than double the 59 million expected prior to the recession,” stated the Pew report.”
Make Time for “Me Time”: from HBR. “you can take steps to make sure that you put focus and attention on taking care of yourself each day. “Always on” doesn’t have to mean you must sacrifice your needs. It just means sometimes finding the time to make sure that your focus is on yourself.”
