For Adam Salamon, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Perk, there were a few “big considerations” that led to the development and April 17 launch of a web browser – touted as the first of its kind -- that rewards users for surfing, searching, and shopping online.
“First, we hated most every browser in the market,” Salamon told Loyalty 360. “It was a commoditized market and the only way we decided to choose one browser over another was which browser sucked less. We thought users would be willing to switch to a browser that gave them something tangible in value over a standard browser, which looked exactly like the others.”
Second, Salamon said Perk officials evaluated the loyalty market and concluded that “the really good ones made a consumer’s life easier and didn't force them to change their habits just for the reward.”
For example, he said loyalty programs like airline miles or credit card points let users earn points from all the same things they normally do like fly or shop with their credit card.
“On the web, nothing like this really existed,” Salamon explained. “Most loyalty programs were created as web portals, where consumers had to visit those sites before they went and took an action. We looked at how we could apply the credit card model to the web, and the only logical technology that made sense was to build a loyalty program within the browser.”
Web surfers can now earn "Perk Points" when they use their browser as they normally would to surf, search, and shop. Perk Points can then be redeemed for actual products and services. Rewards include gift cards, airline miles, and social gaming currency. Users can also donate their Perk Points to some of their favorite causes including the American Cancer Society, Autism Speaks, ASPCA, and more.
Perk launched with more than 2,000 merchant partners, including 1-800-Flowers.com, BestBuy.com, Urban Outfitters, Apple's iTunes, Starbucks Store, Dell.com, MLB.TV, Kohl's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Sports Authority, and drugstore.com. Perk was conceived and developed by Jutera Labs, an Austin, Texas-based technology incubator focused on developing new digital media, retail and advertising platforms and services. Perk is powered with top tier search capabilities and is built on the open source project, Chromium, the technology behind Google Chrome.
Salamon said what makes Perk unique is that the web browser is an incredible technology to grab a consumer's attention when they are looking at where to spend their time or which actions to take.
“Whether they've just fired up their browser, are searching for a vacation, or even visiting a website, Perk will have a unique ability to have a relationship with our customers, to offer them relevant earning opportunities based on their intent,” he said. “We look at this as loyalty as a service.”
Salamon believes loyalty can save online advertising.
“We think the value to both consumers and advertisers is massive, especially in the light of the questions that the industry has around consumer privacy,” Salamon explained. “We believe that loyalty and rewards are a great exchange to the consumer as the advertiser can now give the consumer something of actual value versus the options they currently have today. The pitch to merchants is that Perk drives traffic to a shopping site. And the merchant can also offer coupons to customers as incentives that might lead to a purchase.”
The reward points accumulated from patronizing shopping destinations vary by retailer. For instance, at PetSmart, customers earn up to four “Perk Points” for every dollar spent. At Walgreens, they earn three points for every dollar spent. Customers earn 50 points for signing up with Perk using their email address and they receive an extra 50 points for signing up with their Facebook credentials.
Some of the big-ticket rewards include a 16GB iPad (55,000 points), a Kindle Fire (22,000 points), or smaller items like a $10 gift card from Target (1,000 points) or a $25 iTunes gift card (2,750).
Less than one week after the Perk launch, Salamon harbors one major goal – “Our goal is to make the world more rewarding and awesome. We hope to reach as many people as we can with our world-class technology and program.”