Loyalty program benefits cut across every business industry, and giant Entertainment company, Disney, uses this knowledge to its advantage. The Disney Movie Insiders Loyalty program is not just another customer acquisition tool for the company but an effective strategy to groom the brand’s most dedicated fans into life-long loyal customers. Previously known as the Disney Movie Rewards Program, the revamped version offers valuable rewards to fans for watching movies either at home or in theaters.

This article will examine the Disney Movie Insiders program in full detail and highlight why the program has seen immense success and some of the areas it could improve in its loyalty program.

How does this program work?

With the Disney Movie Insiders Loyalty program, members can earn reward points for watching and purchasing tickets for Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel Studios movies. The loyalty program is free to join; members only need to sign at Disneymovieinsiders.com to open an Insider account. In addition, customers can earn additional rewards by linking their Insider accounts to existing ones, such as a Fandango account or their Disney Movie Club account.

The points earned can be redeemed for rewards such as Disney gift cards, Movie ticket vouchers and concessions, collectibles, and discounts. Members can also enjoy playing their favorite movie games and Augmented Reality when they download the Disney Movie Insiders app.

Members earn 25 points for linking their accounts with participating partners, including Regal Crown Club, Fandango, and Atom Rewards. In addition, they earn 100 points for purchasing a Standard Movie Ticket and 150 points for purchasing a Select Movie Ticket.

Members are also eligible to earn 25 points for linking to Movies Anywhere, 75 points per DVD, 100 points for Standard Definition, 150 points for Blu-ray, HD & Multi-Screen Editions, 200 points for 4K UHD & 4K Ultra HD, and 300 points for a Disney and Premier Access Purchase while at home.

Aside from redeeming tickets and entering movie codes, Disney offers other opportunities for customers to earn points. On the Disney Movie Insiders social media pages, the company announces special codes throughout the year for members to redeem. These announcements are usually unplanned and often expire within a day. Hence, it will require that Insiders consistently follow and engage on their social media platforms. The codes are often announced during holidays and festive seasons such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas.

Members are also rewarded with Birthday and Anniversary bonus points, App Download bonus points, Games & Interactive Experiences bonus points, and Disney Movie Club Enrollment bonus points.

What are the good things about the rewards program?

Attractive Rewards and Experiences

The Disney Movie Insiders loyalty program has successfully established loyalty among its customers because of the attractive and compelling nature of the rewards it offers. Its most dominant attribute is exclusivity, which is very attractive to most customers. Even the ‘Insider’ tag and the access given to program members denotes exclusivity and makes customers feel special. The program is also free to join, and members have the added benefit of earning rewards for purchasing movie tickets they would buy anyway. Again, rewards and experiences such as movie vouchers, Gift Cards, Exclusive discounts, Collectibles, Gaming, and Augmented Reality experiences are of high value to movie fans. Knowing that one can earn all these rewards, enjoy exclusive access and be a part of a huge fandom community is enough to solidify the customer’s relationship with the brand and build loyalty.

Increased Gift Card Values

Disney did an excellent job upgrading its Disney Movie Insider program by adding several gift card values to the reward offers. Thus, insiders can redeem their reward points for cards totaling either $5, $10, $25, $50, or up to $100 on the website. This increases members’ chances of benefitting from the reward points, increasing the perceived value attached to the entire rewards program.

Multichannel Experience

One of the key characteristics of a good rewards program is its ability to be accessible on multiple channels, and the Disney Movie Insiders program is no exception. Customers have access to its dedicated mobile app, which offers a wide range of new features. For instance, you can scan purchased movie tickets with the app to earn reward points. Customers can also take photos of their movie tickets and upload them through the app or their website. These features are an improvement from Disney’s previous rewards system, where members had to manually enter some information about the movie they saw and the number of tickets they bought. They then had to generate a code, write that code on all the movie tickets, snap a picture before uploading it. Disney continues to improve the experience for customers and make it more enjoyable for them to earn rewards with an easy system.

How could they have made the rewards program more attractive to its customers?

While the Disney Movie Insiders Loyalty Program is well appreciated by its members, like many other loyalty programs, some improvements could be made to make the program more attractive.

More Costly to earn Rewards

Though we listed an increase in the gift card values as a benefit for this loyalty program, it appears that customers have to put in a great deal of effort before they can accumulate enough points to redeem those gift cards. For instance, in the previous version of the Disney rewards program, one could access free movies, collectibles, toys, and mailed gift cards. However, with the Disney Movie Insiders program, it costs members more points to redeem gift cards. An upwards of 575 points is needed to redeem most of the gift card values. Atop that, customers need to garner or redeem points at least once within a calendar year to avoid their points expiring. This can be frustrating for members who cannot accumulate enough points to earn a significant reward within the year.

Disney could make the loyalty program more attractive by reducing the number of points needed to earn a reward, say by 10% for each equivalent gift card value. Giving customers a head start will encourage them to purchase more tickets and earn more points to redeem additional rewards.