The folks over at Green Giant Fresh have been busy. After their initial promotional period, they’re rolling the program out across their entire distribution base. Coverage in Mashable and The New York Times has increased their profile, which is great for the promotion itself.

We helped put the pieces together and power the website and technology for the program. We see it as the first of many interesting intersections between real world companies and social experiences of all types. This one was a lot of fun for us, and we are excited about doing many more.

Retailers are often loathe to make significant changes to their loyalty programs for fear of customer backlash. However, with recessionary times and the tough retail climate, more and more retailers are taking advantage of the opportunity to introduce changes. The Wall Street Journal’s SmartMoney has a good breakdown of some, and what the changes will mean. Worth a read.

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.

One of the more controversial aspects of a retail loyalty program is around the concept that a customer is made aware that you, as a retailer, are gathering their purchase information. For some privacy advocates, this seems intrusive, which is why loyalty programs are always opt-in. However, in recent months, some retailers are turning that aspect into a benefit to the customer; recent examples include food retailers being able to contact customers who purchased items that were subject to a recall.

Safeway has decided to add some significant value to their loyalty program, the Safeway Club, by unveiling a special site called FoodFlex.  You sign up, input your Club Card number, and within 6 hours they import your last 6 months of shopping data. Once the data is imported, you can then use a series of reporting tools to analyze your purchase history for cholesterol, protein, and more. Best of all, you can then see healthier alternatives to the items you have been purchasing, all without the customer having to enter in a single receipt or write down anything. In addition, the site supports goal setting, as well as advice.

This type of complimentary service allows customers to truly appreciate a retailer as not just a purveyor of goods, but as a partner, and recasts a loyalty program as a two way communication strategy.

Our clients often ask for some tips on what simple tactics they can use to emphasize the value of their loyalty programs. One of the simplest? Wish your best customers a happy birthday. Here’s some examples:

Polo Factory Stores: they make a point of capturing this information at the point of sale. The integrated e-mail program is excellent, and this reinforces it. After all, who deletes an e-mail that offers you a birthday gifts? Note how the communication is reflective of their brand, but also reinforces a sense of personalization. The time that it’s triggered is interesting: it comes on the first day of the month your birthday falls in. If they were even smarter, they could time it on the day or week of your birthday.

Friday’s:  Clever use of the birthday cake idea. Their Give Me More Stripes program is nicely woven in, as is the clear benefit and fun nature of their program; plays well to their brand.

It may be a tough time to tell someone they need to buy more with you, but everyone has a birthday, and everyone loves getting birthday presents. Make sure you are on their birthday list!

Dave Friedman at Razorfish speaks succinctly when he says ‘the home page really doesn’t matter’. This may be really important for Marketers to understand and track over the short term. With the rise of cross-linking, social media and brand name recognition, authorities or friends you trust now recommend (or syndicate or digg) you interesting information. Home pages are but a billboard to anyone who doesn’t know you, or if they are finding you in an offline environment.

Read this carefully.

There are certain things that amaze me are still prevalent in this e-commerce/multi-channel Web 2.0 world.  The frustration of some e-commerce checkouts. The occasional lack of integration between a retailer’s web, direct and retail channels. But nothing amazes me more than the lack of good, relevant information in my order confirmation emails. This is prime real estate, folks! The customer just told you they like you, they like your products, and more! Upsell! Cross Sell! Introduce new brands or channels! Use less exclamation points!

Luckily, calmer minds than mine at DM News are laying out good roadmaps on how to really leverage your transactional emails. Some of the points I found myself simultaneously nodding in agreement and shaking my head in amazement: use HTML instead of text, for instance. As we say here: Ready, Aim…Engage.

Those little red carpets at the jet bridge have become the new symbol of elite flyers: if you are a loyal traveler, and have accumulated miles, it’s not about the free flights as much as its about making the flying experience as easy as possible with those little perks. Let’s face it: the travel industry has this approach down. Now imagine you could offer the same with your dining experience!

TGI Fridays is doing just that with it’s  Give Me More Stripes program. Join, and get a one time pass to skip to the front of the line. Get a free dessert or appetizer with your meal. And earn those points for dining more frequently. While I don’t particularly care for the physical card that they require, they offset it with the ability to personalize the card around your favorite adult beverage.

What’s really great about this program is that it distinguishes from your standard points program: it’s about eliminating the hassles of going out to eat, rather than just earning and burning.  I’d love to see other industries adopt similar approaches: retailers could offer dedicated checkout lines at key holidays and complimentary gift wrap; service providers could offer expedited appointments and guaranteed completion times; fitness providers could offer reserved times for uses of particular facilities or equipment.

It’s not about the points; it’s about the perks.

Re-engagement and inactivity campaigns are a huge part of any customer loyalty or retention management solution. Companies usually target customers who have been inactive for 90-180 days with a “we miss” you message and aggressive limited-time offer. I thought the email below from eBags (after 6-months of inactivity) was particularly good. It uses the touch-point to not only drive me back with a 20% offer but also as an opportunity to identify any problems with product/service.

Good point raised in today’s Orlando Sentinel article about loyalty programs, and how some shoppers are missing out on their rewards because they don’t keep track of their earning and burning opportunities. One of the salient points: “But the majority of users are in the middle, accumulating points and not tracking them closely. That can lead to the unintended loss of points when they expire.”

This argument directly leads to ensuring that you have the most relevant creative program design that speaks to your customers. Just Another Points Program will not do; you need to have a good “hook,” and excellent, relevant benefits. Otherwise, fatigue sets in and the program loses its relevancy.

Hey, American Express’ Membership Rewards program has been around for years, and is still highly used, so no reason yours can’t be, too.

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