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Research question:  

How certain characteristics of SME loyalty programs can play a role in increasing customer retention and establishing more trust and commitment of customers?

Purpose:   

Authors are aiming  to investigate how loyalty programs can boost trust and commitment of the brands and contribute to better customer retention rates. Hence, authors will scrutinize some of the loyalty program characteristics and analyze their impacts on brand trust and commitment from a customer perspective. The authors eventually foresee to expand the literature, bring attention and open a door for further research in this yet narrow area of study.

Method: A deductive research method approach was employed through administering questionnaires to a number of consumers to test pre constructed hypotheses, and data was later analyzed through regression and correlations calculation tables. 

Conclusion:  Many SMEs managers devise competitive loyalty programs to increase customer retention and enhance the brand’s reputation, however , there is a controversial view on how effective these programs are on the customer’s trust and commitment to the brand.

This study aimed to examine a research question, which is  to what degree certain loyalty program characteristics (high rewards, satisfaction, and involvement), influence the trust and commitment of the brand. Findings from surveys distributed to 132 respondents suggest a significant impact of these characteristics on the commitment and the trust of customers with the brand. Discussion of these results and practical implications are provided, as well recommendation for future studies.