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About This StudyIn February 2017, GasBuddy surveyed its users to learn what drives participation in fuel loyalty programs. Nearly 11,000 GasBuddies responded to nine questions. These are not your “average” gas consumers, but rather some of the most avid drivers, the most frequent purchasers of fuel, and the most selective when it comes to filling up. The following data and analysis offers insight into how to use loyalty programs to attract and retain this critical segment.

No incentives were offered to GasBuddy users for their participation in this survey.

GasBuddy and CSP collaborated on this study to provide the fuel industry with insights to launch, improve or revamp their loyalty programs.

FUEL LOYALTY REPORT, 2017

Key Insights

Brand loyalty does not exist yet; loyalty programs have yet to create it.

You may be in trouble if your program does not leverage mobile or broad earn-and-use opportunities.

Loyalty works. The best programs listen and respond to consumer feedback.

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LOYALTY REPORT 2017

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10%

20

30%

40

50%

60

70%

80

Many Consumers Don't Belong to a Loyalty ProgramThere are several common types of loyalty programs in the fuel space today. The variation in programs is driven mainly by the different types of retail models. While some fuel brands are wholesalers with no ownership over the stations selling their fuel, other brands own and operate chains of fuel and convenience stores. The loyalty programs for national big brands are more likely to be focused on payment card offers, supermarket partnerships, and simple cents-off programs, with reward points programs showing the highest adoption among survey respondents (Figure 1). The owned and operated convenience store chains typically show more integration between pump and store with integrated coupons and spontaneous offers.

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21.45%

64.91%

56.01%

6.20%

Fuel-branded credit or debit card

Reward pointsprogram

Grocery pointsprogram

Other

Figure 1: Reward points and grocery points programs are the most popular fuel loyalty programs among survey respondents.

Large Market Opportunity for Fuel RetailersSince the GasBuddy audience is primarily comprised of people who drive frequently and are cost-conscious, it is not surprising that many of them are interested in being rewarded for their fuel-related purchases. What is surprising is that 46% of GasBuddies do not belong to a fuel-related loyalty program (Figure 2). These users represent an untapped opportunity. We asked this group what would convince them to use a fuel-based loyalty program. Most users cite higher rewards or the benefit of not being tied to a single brand, as shown in Figure 3. Beyond those, the next most common responses all relate to convenience. Consumers want easy-to-use programs and the ability to transact without additional steps, such as remembering/typing in their membership number at the pump.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Easy-to-useprograms

Higher rewardfor participation

The ability to usethe card at more

locations/withmore brands

More convenientlocations

A reminder touse my card

36.03%

63.89%

53.54%

35.88%

13.22%

7.29%Other

Figure 3: The results of this survey question provide good market intelligence into what would

incent prospects to join a loyalty program.

YesNo46.06% 53.94%

Figure 2: This chart demonstrates there’s a sizeable market opportunity—nearly half

of respondents aren’t yet in a program but do have interest in fuel-related programs by virtue

of being GasBuddies.

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Strong ConsumerLoyalty Demonstratedby Frequency of UseIn general, Gasbuddies report being extremely loyal to the programs in which they participate. Nearly 90% use a loyalty program at least once a month and 55% use them weekly (Figure 4). Since most people fill up their tanks once a week, these results depict strong consumer loyalty.

In addition, 85% of respondents report being very or somewhat influenced by their loyalty membership in their choice of where to fill up.

With an average of 3-4 fill-ups per month, fuel matches grocery as the most frequent local retail visit. It is no surprise that many programs, such as Kroger Fuel Points and Ahold Gas Rewards, combine fuel and supermarket savings. Additional ways to increase convenience (and therefore likelihood of use) include integration with mobile wallets, place-based reminders, coalition programs like Plenti and Shell Fuel Rewards, and integration with card networks such as BP’s partnership with Visa to link Driver Rewards to the consumer’s payment card of choice.

Consumers need convenience.The most successful programs o�er great

mobile apps, choice, and convenience.

Figure 4: Fuel loyalty program members take advantage of their program’s rewards by using their

program of choice often.

Weekly

Monthly

Once everyfour months

Annually

Almost never

55.1%33.5%

5.8%

4.7%0.9%

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Shell and Speedwayare Driving Share Gains

0.000.050.100.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

27.4%

12.6%

6.6%

2% 1.9% 1.9% 1.9% 1.4%1.1%

11% 10%

5% 4%2% 2% 2% 2%

1%

The fuel category winners in our survey are:

Top National Big Brand

2nd

PLACE

3rd

PLACE

BP Driver Rewards

ExxonMobilSpeedpass & Plenti

Top Regional Brand

1st

PLACEShell Fuel Rewards

Speedway

Top C-Store Brand

Kroger

Top Grocery Brand

Top Loyalty Programs

1st PLACE 2nd PLACEThornton’s Sheetz

Shell ValeroCITGOPhillips 66/76/Conoco

MarathonChevron/Texaco

SunocoExxon/Mobile

BP

Figure 5: The Shell loyalty program was the overwhelming favorite among national big brands, while BP has a strong ratio of adoption to number of stations.

Total ResponsesAdoption per station

Aside from the grocery category, Shell and Speedway are the most-used programs by GasBuddy respondents. They are also big winners in the national big brand and convenience store brand categories, respectively. As it happens, Shell and Speedway both have 5-star rated mobile apps. As the largest mobile fuel and convenience app, GasBuddy knows that a well-designed mobile user experience can make all the difference.

Speedway is somewhat of an anomaly. It’s the most popular fuel loyalty program in our survey (28% of our users with a loyalty program belong to it). While the other most popular loyalty programs are national brands, Speedway, with a more regional footprint, drives unmatched intensity with a mobile-first offering combining generous benefits with the occasional moments of “surprise and delight.”

This pattern continues with other owned and operated convenience retailers. What they lack in footprint as compared to national brands they make up for with intensity of use on a per-store basis.

For regional brands, GasBuddy respondents favored Thornton’s, followed by Sheetz. This category represents regional chains of 150 or more locations.

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The adoption rate was calculated by determining the percentage of respondents who are in a brand's loyalty program and multiplying it by that brand's total number of stations.

Summary and Recommendations

Key Ingredients of Successful Fuel Loyalty Programs

Cater to MobileWhile many popular loyalty programs have a mobile app component, not every consumer is willing to allocate space on their mobile phone. Increasingly, loyalty providers are partnering with companies to go beyond mobile and into a larger distribution model (Apple Wallet, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and GasBuddy’s own wallet) to provide the greatest level of utility, storing the loyalty program membership information where it’s easy to access and transact with.

Rewards Have to be RewardingCompanies should be strategic and ensure that their programs offer enough incentive and the right incentives to drive specific behaviors. Consumers need to feel the company’s commitment to retaining their business.

It’s Not Too LateNearly 50% of the fuel-conscious consumers who responded to the survey do not belong to any loyalty program. These are the perfect targets for fuel loyalty programs to go after due to their interest in fuel-related programs and communications. The insights and analysis uncovered by the survey provide fuel wholesalers and retailers in all categories with the key ingredients for success.

Choice

Convenience

Surprise Rewards1

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