Why Enrollment Automation and Operational Excellence Win in Customer Loyalty

Criteria to Determine My Favorite Loyalty Program

When I’m asked to name my favorite loyalty program, the answer is always met with surprise. Most people posing the question anticipate the response to be a leading frequent flyer or hotel program, or possibly one of the fully configured and complex cobrand credit card programs.

That would make sense if my criteria for a “favorite” program were a massive volume of features, redemption options, and sizzling options like being able to swap points into my favorite cryptocurrency or at least use them in an online shopping cart to reduce the price of my next online purchase.

However, with time and convenience as my most valuable loyalty “currencies” today, I tend to give highest praise in recognition of programs that work, day in and day out. You see, with loyalty programs everywhere you turn, consumers become accustomed to value propositions that sound similar and, in many cases, are undifferentiated. People also become weary of having to jump multiple hurdles just to enroll and participate in programs. Those hurdles range from having to download a mobile app to join the program and be able to earn equity, or having to complete lengthy enrollment forms, essentially being extorted by brands to overshare personal information just to qualify to play the game.

My bet is that if you surveyed a broad range of consumers about their wants and needs for a loyalty program, you would probably hear about their favorite earning features and redemption options. But I’ve never seen a survey that asked, “Would you give up most of these features in exchange for operational reliability?” In plain English, what matters more, features or reliability?

Importance of Loyalty Program Automation

In research The Wise Marketer did in 2024 in partnership with vLoyalty, we learned that the state of loyalty program automation left much to be desired. The work was conducted using a secret shopper methodology, and we visited 15 of the top 30 QSR chains in the US at locations in 5 distinct regional markets.  The report is titled “Automation Gaps in QSR Loyalty Programs – Quick to Serve, but Not All are Quick to Automate,” and you can download your copy here.

To our surprise, we found that only 8% of QSRs use payment terminals or point-of-sale systems to automatically prompt customers to join, missing a key opportunity to streamline enrollment. The study revealed that 60.7% of QSR loyalty programs require a mobile app for enrollment, placing a barrier between customers and easy participation. And only 6.1% of QSR counterpersons ask customers, “Are you in our loyalty program?” This manual process limits customer participation and engagement.

Not all Favorites Stand the Test of Time

Back to the question of my “favorite” loyalty program. It has been Cumberland Farms Smart Pay for the past two years, and the reason is simple. It’s convenient, has a simple, easy-to-understand value proposition, saves me time, and is iron-clad in its operational reliability. Smart Pay offers a $.10/gallon discount when customers link their checking account to the loyalty account. The cost savings on merchant acceptance funds the majority of the fuel discount, and the mobile app provided by Cumberland not only activates the pump but is enhanced by CPG coupons that bring value way beyond the limits of what points and cents off the gallon can allow.

Until the summer of 2024, I emphasized with anyone interested to listen that it was the time savings and operational stability of SmartPay that made it my favorite. Even in the tropical climate where I reside, fraught with thunderstorms and hurricanes, I could always trust that the mobile app would work, the pump would activate, and I would receive my fuel discount along with an occasional free beverage of my choice. The Cumberland Farms program hurdled a simple but crucial bar, it worked consistently.

That is, until Cumberland Farms, now part of EG America started to tinker with its mobile app. On two occasions in the past 6 months, I had pulled up to the pump and engaged my normal routine only to receive a message that “payment was declined”.

To make a very long story manageable for this article (but I’m happy to elaborate for anyone interested in the details) I learned after multiple calls to customer support and more than one reset of my PIN and Password, that EG/Cumberland had issued an “app upgrade” that impacted the customer’s ability to access the pump. The app upgrade required a security reset, but the brand neglected to message program members with information on that topic. The result was pure frustration and massive time wasted in troubleshooting the issue.

The Tale of 3 Fuel Retailers

This brings me full circle to the title of this article. On one sunny day in Florida recently, I had a series of experiences in the frontcourt of three major fuel retailers, all of which led to reinforcement of my belief that program technology must work and loyalty program automation must be available at a high level, for consumers to tolerate the requirements of playing today’s loyalty game.

My first stop was Cumberland Farms. And, for the third time in the past 6-9 months, I encountered the same problem: my app would not complete payment as intended. When I realized this was related to yet another “app update,” I did what most consumers would do in 2025: I drove away and went to the next closest fuel retailer down the street (and on the right-hand side of the street).

That retailer happened to be Race Trac. I had been a member of Race Trac Rewards for some time, and even though the points I had accumulated seemed to have questionable value (multiple fuel-ups and in-store purchases with no meaningful rewards earned), I was willing to give them another try. To my surprise, it wasn’t a good day at RaceTrac as the majority of fuel pumps were capped off or not working. I loaded up once again and drove further down the street, this time stopping at a new retailer to me.

My Third Stop Was the Charm

My third stop was at the Marathon Oil store. My recollection as a “local” was that this location generally had higher-than-average gas prices, but my price sensitivity was on the wane on this increasingly frustrating day. I was greeted by a pump topper that shouted, “Never lose rewards.”

And when I dipped my payment card to initiate a fuel purchase, I was greeted with the most pleasing and convenient automated enrollment process I had seen in a long time. The screen offered me three options: “Join Rewards,” “Existing Member,” and “Pay Here.”

I was able to enroll in the program using my “alt ID” and received an SMS with terms and conditions, a link to complete my enrollment, and a notice that I had earned rewards in my first transaction.

What Can We Learn from This Story?

I can’t say that this story means I have found my new “favorite” program. I can say that the winner’s circle is open, and that Marathon has a chance to take the gold medal, at least in the Retail Fuel Category.

I need time to revisit more Marathon stores to test the reliability of the pumps and the value of the reward program to make that decision. Operational consistency is a key element of my criteria, so time will tell the full story here.

The key takeaway is that my experience with three separate fuel retailers on this day served to reinforce the validity of my criteria. Brands can “feature-load” loyalty programs as a means to engage and enroll new members, but they must provide time-saving enrollment automation, clear value propositions, and operational reliability to win in 2025.

Cumberland Farms had met these criteria originally, but over time allowed hiccups to creep into their operating standards, eroding the value of the program. Mobile app upgrades are a normal part of the development cycle, but better attention to customer communications is needed to ensure that customers are aware of changes and have easy points-of-contact to resolve service interruptions.

As seen in this story, there are many options in today’s competitive market, and virtually every brand has a loyalty program. The differentiator is which one works consistently and delivers on the promises of convenience, time savings, and value. That combination will always top off my tank!