Who said, "Money Can’t Buy You Love"? A useful metaphor, though, to help understand the true concept behind customer loyalty. Loyalty programs are about developing sustainable, mutually beneficial relationships. Price incentives can generate a short-term sales uplift but will not engender long-term loyalty.

Customer loyalty has long been recognized as essential, whereas (electronic) customer loyalty systems are still relatively young. The man in the corner shop has practiced the art all his life; the electronic version was invented to overcome the limitations of the human brain to remember more than a few hundred customers personally.