SURVEY | A survey commissioned by Malaysiakini shows that most Malaysian consumers are willing to participate in rewards and loyalty programmes developed by news outlets.

In total, 87 percent of respondents said they would participate in such a programme organised by a news outlet or an online news portal.

These programmes would be part of a larger effort by news organisations to find ways to increase engagement with readers and create a loyal membership base in an era of shrinking advertising revenue amidst the need for a sustainable digital business model.

The survey was conducted by market research company Vase.ai in collaboration with Malaysiakini, which is creating its own rewards and loyalty programme for readers.

The project is being developed with support from a Google News Initiative grant which Malaysiakini won in March this year.

The survey was conducted in order to gain an understanding of Malaysian consumer behaviour regarding rewards and loyalty programmes.

According to the survey results, the greatest attraction of such programmes for the majority of respondents (76 percent) is to redeem points for tangible benefits, such as free hotel stays and discounts.

The survey also indicated that rewards and loyalty programmes could influence consumers’ loyalty to a particular brand or shop. Firstly, most respondents (85 percent) said they were willing to shop at the same online store consistently just to collect and redeem loyalty points.

Additionally, more than half of respondents said they would be willing to shop in a store that offered items at a higher price, but which also offered attractive rewards that were relevant to them.

Terms and conditions most frequently encountered by respondents included a long duration needed to collect points; a high number of points needed to redeem rewards; and rewards which could only be redeemed within a certain period of time.

The most common gripes respondents had about rewards and loyalty programmes were rewards which were out of stock, rewards which took a long time to arrive and rewards for which the terms and conditions changed, often without prior notice.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (92 percent) said they had indeed signed up for loyalty and rewards programmes and were currently using them.

Just over half of respondents said they currently participated in two to three programmes.

The top three businesses in which respondents had signed up for rewards and loyalty programmes were fuel stations (69 percent), followed by e-wallets (46 percent) and retail outlets (36 percent).

Most respondents learned about such programmes through social media (61 percent). Two options tied for the second-most popular way of learning about such programmes - through family and friends and being physically approached to join such programmes in stores or by salespersons.

A total of 1,029 respondents across Malaysia were polled for the survey. About a quarter of the respondents live in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor while the rest were distributed across other states and territories. Most respondents (73 percent) were below the age of 40.

Respondents were asked to fill out an online survey between July 17 and 19 this year. They were recruited by Vase.ai through online marketing methods from various sources and screened beforehand.

A representative sample of respondents which reflected official census statistics was selected through an algorithm which combined aggregation based on screening criteria and random sampling. 

Learn more about the survey and explore the data here.