Brands are continually seeking innovative ways to enhance member engagement and provide additional value through their customer loyalty strategies. Integrating travel experiences into rewards portfolios has emerged as a compelling strategy to achieve these goals.
In this edition of Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Industry Voices, Loyalty360’s Ethan Perry speaks with Nowell Outlaw, CEO of Switchfly, a travel experience platform that assists companies in creating memorable moments for their customers and employees. Outlaw discusses Switchfly's role in enhancing loyalty and rewards programs, its expansion into employee recognition solutions, and the impact of personalization and AI on the future of customer loyalty. Read the excerpt below and hear the whole interview on the Leaders in Customer Loyalty Podcast.
Loyalty360: For those unfamiliar with Switchfly, can you explain what your company does and where you fit within the customer loyalty ecosystem?
Nowell Outlaw: “I tell people jokingly that Switchfly is the silent, silent partner that you've never heard of. Switchfly is a 20-year-old company, and we have been in the loyalty space for 21 years, primarily servicing travel. We are a completely white labeled engine that is sitting behind the scenes, but also in front of the scene. So, we are the user experience, we are the booking engine for everything from flights to hotels, to car rentals, to activities.”
He continues, “We power some kind of key brands like airlines, JetBlue Airlines vacation products, and also American Express on a global scale internationally.”
L360: What does customer loyalty mean to you and how has Switchfly’s approach evolved?
Outlaw: “We actually transitioned the company about two and a half years ago so that we're actually beyond just a travel company. We’re also a travel agency. So now we're the seller of record for travel as well.”
He explains that customers can now “reward themselves with travel, as well as using your points. If I have points on American Airlines, I can cash those points in, as well as add additional funds in order to buy my vacation to Hawaii.”
L360: What do you think will have the biggest impact on loyalty in 2025?
Outlaw: “I think it's AI, and understand I spent five years running an AI company, so I have a background in this. I think the thing that loyalty programs will start to learn is they will start to learn the persona, really the persona of who their consumer really is.”
He adds, “If you think about Netflix, it isn't a loyalty program, but boy, consumers sure are loyal to Netflix. It's smart enough to know in a lot of ways what you want next. I think that as loyalty engages in some of these models and as things get smarter, what you're going to see is “Here's a vacation package to Hawaii!”, and you were just thinking about the vacation package to going to Hawaii.”
L360: Integrating physical and digital experiences remains a major challenge. How should brands approach this?
Outlaw: “One of our customers is a hotel and they are working on this. It is extremely hard. When you go to their resort the reader boards are offering you things that are specific to you.”
He offers a practical example from travel: “You're a points consumer, right? You have a three-hour layover. What are the recommendations that I could make to you? Okay, here's a $5 off coupon to go to Elways at DIA, or cash in your points at Snooze in the Denver Airport.”
L360: Are there loyalty programs you admire?
Outlaw: “I think that the airlines do a great job at customer loyalty. They really pay attention to their high value customers. I was on a flight back from from Germany about a month ago and I was sitting up in the front of the plane. It's a long trip, I was asleep, and the flight attendant leaves me a note. ‘Dear Mr. Outlaw, Happy Birthday!’ because it was my birthday. It was signed by the captain with a card. Let me tell you, that level of attention to a consumer sitting on your airplane, that's great customer service.”
L360: Any final advice for brands rethinking their loyalty strategies?
Outlaw: “Travel loyalty is an important segment of the market, and it doesn't matter if you're an airline, hotel, a rewards and recognition company, or just a general loyalty program because what we've seen is the gift card reward and the merchandise reward is not as encouraging to the consumer as travel is.”
To hear the full conversation and gain more expert perspectives,
listen to the complete episode of Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Industry Voices—available now on your favorite podcast platform.