Subway Rewards Card: A Quick Study of a Clunky Loyalty Program
Posted on | February 24, 2011 | 9 Comments
In growing list of national food establishments offering customer rewards program, the Subway® program would have to rank near or at the bottom of the list in user-friendliness. I say this as a loyal customer who would visit the establishment even if they had no rewards program to offer.
Here is the Subway Rewards program, in a nutshell:
- Pick up a card at any participating Subway restaurant
- Register the card online by signing in at mysubwaycard.com
- Get the card swiped whenever you make a purchase at Subway
- Collect points for each purchase
- As you accumulate points, use them for future purchases.
Here are the flaws in the Subway Rewards program:
- There is no easy way to identify what your card balance equates to in food items, The only place I’ve found that information is in their FAQ on their mysubwaycard.com site.
- Right away, upon logging in, I expect to see my current rewards balance and what food items I’ve earned. Instead, what I see is my card number, and a number that must be my rewards balance. I can click that card number, but nothing informative appears, like what food items I can get for free in exchange for my past loyalty.
- I shouldn’t have to log in with an email address and password to check my balance. Subway makes me log in to see my card balance, just like Starbucks does on their site. But I prefer the Barnes & Noble experience for balance-checking. All a card holder should need to do is type in the card number and maybe the PIN.
- How about giving the option for a keychain tag, instead of the card that is adding to my wallet’s double-digit weight (picture George Costanza’s exploding wallet!).
Finally, I don’t believe that your Rewards balance appears on your receipt after the Subway sandwich artist swipes your card. I will confirm that today, when I show my loyalty again to my nearby Subway.
UPDATE: I checked my Subway receipt today, and I can give some kudos back to Subway for putting my rewards card balance on the receipt.
Tags: loyalty program > marketing > rewards program > Subway
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9 Responses to “Subway Rewards Card: A Quick Study of a Clunky Loyalty Program”
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April 18th, 2011 @ 2:32 PM
I actually think the rewards program might be a joke. Only participating stores give reward points. I mailed my receipts because I thought I was getting points according to the information on the website. I recieved a response only “Participating Stores” give points. I therefore went to store locator to find a store in my area the forth largest city in the US. I search a 50 mile radius and zero stores participate in the program. Check your area and I bet you find the same results. Subway advertises a reward program but has no participants in the program in Houston TX!
April 18th, 2011 @ 5:16 PM
Thanks for the comment, Robert. Yes, rewards programs should really be rolled out consistently across locations. Strange that they would take the approach they have.
May 13th, 2011 @ 6:13 AM
I found no participating on the website but ALL the local subway stores near me participate. I collect and use points all the time! Most stores have a little business card size card that tells how many points for each item. I love their rewards program and was surprised to see you ranked it low.
August 14th, 2011 @ 11:33 AM
I have a card with 200 points got from florida, I move to Virginia and find out Id have to travel across 2 states just to use the card. From what I read on their website, about 10 states participate which is ridiculous. I emailed em to see if they could help me out somehow, doubt it but well see.
August 26th, 2011 @ 5:09 PM
I believe Robert was right…this whole thing is some elaborate joke perpetrated on us by Jarod. I’ve had my card for over a year and I eat at Subway once or twice a month. I don’t check my points online, but the last time I asked what I could get for my points I was told a cookie or a drink. Really??? Last month I purchased a sub platter for a family gathering. The platter was well over $40, so I thought I would surely have enough points for a sandwich…WRONG!!! I bought a foot long tonight, which finally gave me enough points for a six-inch sandwich. The card isn’t worth the space it’s taking up in my wallet. Norma must be eating there every day to be getting any kind of benefit from it.
January 3rd, 2012 @ 8:32 PM
It’s definitely a joke. Thought it would be fun to see if anyone else was ranting about this, and sure enough. They gave me this card in Winter Haven, FL and I was like “awesome”. Too bad my hometown has no participating locations. So instead, I eat at Panera, where my card is good everywhere and they tell me right away what free stuff I have.
May 21st, 2012 @ 8:01 AM
I have no issues with participating stores but I have a issue with the point system and think it is a joke. I usually buy a 12″ Ham&Cheese and get 5 points. After 13 (THIRTEEEN !!!)visits I get a free 12″ Ham for 75 (13×5) points.
August 17th, 2012 @ 6:33 AM
[...] While detailed reviews applaud Subway’s program for its integration of payment, loyalty, and CRM in one plastic device, other reviews point out the lack of a clear value proposition, calling Subway Card a “clunky loyalty program”. [...]
February 12th, 2013 @ 10:06 AM
The problem with subways reward program is that subway are all franchises. Each store is owned by someone else and that is why only certain stores except the subway card. I worked at a subway and we didn’t take the subway car bc the owner of the store had it own card and the system could only except the one card.