PDI Marketing Cloud Solutions’ Fuel Rewards program is celebrating two major milestones: The program has grown from 10 million members in 2017 to over 20 million members today and has helped U.S. consumers save more than $1.7 billion on the cost of fuel.
The Fuel Rewards program is a national loyalty program that connects national and regional brands with millions of consumers who enjoy earning cents-per-gallon savings at the pump.
As a national coalition loyalty program, Fuel Rewards members earn rewards on everyday purchases from a variety of retailers and can redeem cents-per-gallon rewards at over 13,000 Shell locations across the U.S.
“Consumers have shown their preference for cents-per-gallon rewards time and again through changes in their spending behaviors,” said PDI Marketing Cloud Solutions Senior Vice President Brandon Logsdon. “The brands that participate in the program see the power of the currency and the flexibility of the platform to meet their specific marketing goals. Our 20 million Fuel Rewards members are a testament to the success of Instant Gold Status that launched at Shell in June 2017 and the program’s ability to drive consumer participation, which translates to incremental revenue for participating brands.”
Consumer membership and engagement in the Fuel Rewards program has grown each year since it was launched by Excentus in 2012. Excentus was acquired by PDI in 2018, and the Fuel Rewards program is now powered and run by PDI Marketing Cloud Solutions.
The Fuel Rewards program’s popularity among consumers has attracted brands across different categories to become participating merchants. And with more fuel savings passed on to loyal customers, brands and retailers benefit from a growing member base, ongoing loyalty and increased brand awareness.
The Fuel Rewards program also leverages its substantial investment in marketing technology — including next-generation customer relationship management (CRM), data analytics, mobile app development, geotargeting and dynamic digital customer engagement tools — to help brands meet their marketing objectives by participating in the Fuel Rewards program.
As 89% of consumers have visited a convenience store in the last six months, the c-store customer is the American shopper, making the Fuel Rewards program a natural fit across both national brands and consumers. Even more, the c-store loyalty member is proven to be more valuable than non-members because they spend more and visit more. The upcoming PDI 2019 C-Store Shopper Report reveals the value of c-store loyalty members and demonstrates why brands should actively engage this market.
Membership in the Fuel Rewards program continued to grow at a time when average per-gallon gas prices fluctuated from $3.99 in early 2012 to the current U.S. average of $2.72. According to the Road to Rewards survey, consumers say it’s important to them to save on fuel costs both when gas prices are rising (73%) and falling (58%), reinforcing the power of Fuel Rewards’ cents-per-gallon savings and consumer preference for this loyalty currency.