by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services 

One thing loyalty programs try to do best is identify customers; many times, that can be the sole purpose of them. Why? To ensure that the company can better understand each person as an individual, and reward them for their ongoing patronage. In the quest to get better usage by customers, companies employ technology to make it easier for customers: key fobs, using your phone number, even simply waving your cellphone at a pad…all in the name of better identifying customers.

Now comes a new approach being discussed: what about using a license plate as a loyalty card? Seems crazy, but for large loyalty programs, at destination retailers, it may make financial sense. Imagine not having to carry anything into your favorite store, but still getting credit for your purchases. Convenience, taken to the extreme.

by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services

It always intrigues me what some folks consider will motivate customers to remain loyalty to their brands. In many cases, it depends on a combination of the brand’s value proposition, the kind of customer they attract, and the uniqueness of their offering. Yet some of the programs brands launch make me scratch my head as to why they consider them “loyalty” programs, vs. traditional acquisition marketing techniques.

Take, for example, the Tallahassee Airport. Like many regional airports, its in tough competition with other local and large airports for those tough to find traveler dollars. Recognizing this, they launched Runway Rewards, a fairly unique concept that rewards flyers for choosing Tallahassee for their travel. Now, remember, this is a program that is ostensibly designed to retain travelers. Yet the mechanism they choose to do this? A monthly sweepstakes entry. Not a “the more you visit the airport, the more you earn,” nor a “spend a certain amount at Tallahassee Airport and get a day of free parking.” No, instead a sweepstakes that awards 6 people a month. So, for those lucky 72 people a year, they will truly be loyal. The other thousands of travelers? Not so much.

Sometimes, people get caught up in the technology vs. the goal, and confuse one for the other. As a former New Englander, I love living in CA, but often miss summer East Coast seafood. Luckily, there are a few restaurants competing for my nostalgic dollars who specialize in such. One, called Yankee Pier in Larkspur, CA, recently used their Twitter account to unveil a “Guest Rewards” program, which you sent a text message to a special number to sign up. What were you signing up for? Special coupons and advanced notice of nightly specials. While I appreciate the information, how is this a “Guest Rewards” program? Are you rewarding me for dining often with you (I try to at least once a month)? Are you giving me, as a loyal customer, special access to dishes the regular public cannot have?

Look, I love using Twitter and SMS to communciate with customers wherever they may be, and mobile is a great platform for local content, but this is not rewarding me; it’s just discounting. That’s acquisition, not retention. For 1/3 the cost, you could set up a great program that tracks how often I dine or how much I spend, and offer me benefits like Chef’s Dinner nights, or member-only bottles of wine from the wine list. Make me a VIP, and I’ll spend more with you, more often.

Rewards Programs are the #1 tool to combat tough times in a recession; don’t disappoint your customers by repackaging sweepstakes and coupons and calling them a loyalty program. Think of your customer, and what they want from you. If you don’t know, ask them! Trust us, they will be more than happy to tell you what they like and don’t like…and you win as a result.

by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services

When you say the term “loyalty program,” most people think of one thing: frequent flyer programs.  In comparison to, say, a retailer’s loyalty program, most people think that’s another type that’s much smaller. Yet word comes today of a surprise: Retailers are now the top loyalty marketers, according to DIRECT magazine.

How big is the divide? According to the study quoted:

“…across-the-board retail loyalty program memberships now number 701 million, representing 39% of the U.S. loyalty market. That compares to 556 million in travel-hospitality, which includes airline, hotel, gambling, car rental and cruise programs, representing 31% of the market, and financial services credit card programs at 422 million for 23% of the market.”

In these challenging economic times, there’s clearly an upward trend here, and Loyalty Lab is proud to work with the lion’s share of retailers, including Sears, Kmart, Nike, Nine West and more. Of course, since we also provide services for travel-hospitality (Virgin America) and financial services (HSBC), we seem to have a well-rounded sampling, and we learn from all of them, and they learn from us. Nice to see a fresh segment atop the loyalty pyramid!

by Michael Greenberg | COO

If you go back and read The Loyalty Effect there’s a lot of reference to the referral value of customers as one of the 4 incremental sources of value from customer loyalty. Referral value has been very tough to measure in the 13 years since the book was published…until now. Social media provides an excellent view of the influence of a customer, plus new value from content contribution.

Connecting relevant social media to your customer data is increasingly possible and provides many benefits. We’ll be covering this topic from many directions over the coming months. Learn much more from our white paper, available for download here.

by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services

A controversial post out of Harvard Business today, as the authors ask the question if customer loyalty can be a bad thing. While the statement, on it’s surface, is outlandish, the authors make a well reasoned case that it’s equally as important that you set up the economics of a loyalty program to reward the best customers who’s behavior you want to encourage, while not making the program reward those that are perhaps less profitable customers or worse, encouraging profitable customers to become less so.

Thought provoking, and worth a read.

by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services

When we founded Loyalty Lab years ago, we made a few basic assumptions about the customers that would use our software:

• A significant portion of our clients’ customers would have broadband Internet access.
• Customers would want to be able to manage their loyalty program accounts on a web-based portal
• Customers would each have a unique e-mail address, which would help us recognize them and communicate personalized content to them.

This last one occasionally gets challenged. In many of our clients, less than 1% of the customers share an e-mail address , usually with a spouse or other family member. When anyone raises a concern about one “member” of the e-mail address being able to see loyalty information on another “member,” we usually point out that they already see sensitive e-mail communications, and that there are a plethora of free e-mail address options that they can get their own.

This week, AMC, the large movie theater chain, has decided to echo this same behavior in their MovieWatcher rewards program. They informed the members of the program via an e-mail, which is the most efficient way to communicate e-mail address policy changes. It is interesting that this change was important enough to communicate to their customers clearly; I wonder if this was a policy change or a software one?

In any case, it’s a change for the best for all involved.

by Matt Howland | President

Our Free Trial Offer to qualified companies kicked off yesterday. Since most (if not all) SaaS companies offer a “try before you buy” option we decided it was time for us to do the same. The trial includes bringing real data so companies can see how it would look using real information, run real reports, and segment and message to real customers.

Part of what makes this so interesting is our ad hoc reporting capabilities. We’ve figured out how to turn client data into a scalable, incredibly powerful reporting environment, and we think a lot of people will find it a huge upgrade over existing options.

When you get down to it, the companies we talk to want to collect customer information, understand cross-channel behavior, actively engage, segment intelligently, and automate outbound messaging. That’s what we do, with a loyalty management option for those who want it. Enjoy.

by Mickey Neuberger | VP Loyalty Strategy

One of the best marketing examples I’ve seen for driving that next visit.

After my meal at CPK the server handed everyone in my party a secret envelope thank you card BUT DON’T OPEN IT. On your next visit to CPK, a manager will open it for you and you win the prize inside for being a loyal customer … EVERY CARD IS A WINNER. And some envelopes contain $50k prize.  Mine contained a 20% off discount (yeah I opened it).

As if the great Sicilian pizza and BBQ chicken salad weren’t enough.

by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services

Continuing the trend of manufacturers realizing just how important Moms are in determining household purchase decisions, Huggies introduces us to Enjoy The Ride Rewards. Not just a simple points program, it also offers the added benefit of built-in sweepstakes entries to win a year of diapers, on top of the traditional “earn and burn” of most of these programs. The creative is bright and colorful, and looks to be a good program that clients can easily use as a template.

by Joshua Tretakoff | EVP, Services

A lot of clients we’ve worked with focus on rewarding customer shopping behavior. Some are starting to go outside that, broadening the appeal of their programs to award customers for reviews and social networking. H-E-B, a San Antonio-based market chain, decided to increase the appeal of its program by focusing on some issues that are important to its customer: reducing traffic and waste.

Starting tomorrow, Houston residents who sign up with H-E-B for the Commuter Challenge will be able to earn $5 off every $50 in groceries when they earn points by “taking cars off the road.” They’ve teamed up with a third-party company, NuRide, to track the points earnings, and will be encouraging all shoppers to earn jointly towards the goal of “conserving” 15 million miles.

A revision to a loyalty strategy that involves tangible earnings, core customer values, and a joint participation goal? Sounds like a winner to me.