UBM Medica US has launched the UBM Medica Loyalty Program on the primary care-focused medical website -- www.ConsultantLive.com. The program will allow physicians and healthcare providers to convert their online interactions with each other into rewards and donations to international charitable organizations.
The UBM Medica loyalty program offers members the opportunity to earn points -- by completing specific onsite social tasks such as profile updates or commenting -- that can then be redeemed for various rewards, including donations to micro-loan organization Kiva or Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the international medical care provider for victims of war and disaster.
Brian Field, EVP/Managing Director, UBM Medica US, told Loyalty 360 that the “goals of our online communities are sharing knowledge, inspiring debate and discussion that together help improve the quality of healthcare and ultimately saves lives. Our communities are vibrant places already with ever-increasing visitor retention” with a large amount of community interactions.
With the launch of the loyalty program, Field said UBM Medica US can provide its community an incentive to interact more frequently and in such a way that can allow them - and UBM Medica – a means to “give back” via organizations that “do good” throughout the world.
“Practically, certain social actions in our online communities – updating profile information or commenting on articles and posts – garner loyalty points for members who participate in the program,” Field said. “Our loyalty program has additional focus on helping others and enriching communities around the world by allowing members to donate their earned points to charitable organizations such as micro-loan organization Kiva, or Doctors Without Borders /Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an organization that provides assistance and medical care in more than 60 countries to those whose survival and basic wellness is threatened by armed conflict, malnutrition, lack of health care, and natural disasters.”
In an increasingly crowded digital landscape, where loyalty programs frequently provide only direct financial benefits to members, Field sees the philanthropic elements of the UBM Medica Loyalty Program both as a “social differentiator for our members and aligned with UBM plc’s overarching corporate responsibility and global sustainability programs. UBM is deeply committed to doing greater global good – whether partnering with non-profit organizations, selecting eco-friendly tradeshow suppliers, or in this case, offering our community members an easy and direct way to help others in a way that is both profitable and provides long-term benefit to our global environment and citizens.”
The UBM Medica Loyalty Program will shortly be available across UBM Medica’s entire network of healthcare websites -- including PhysiciansPractice.com, PsychiatricTimes.com, CancerNetwork.com, DiagnosticImaging.com, PediatricsConsultantLive.com, RheumatologyNetwork.com, and ObGyn.net.
UBM Medica US provides unbiased clinical, practical, and business information for physicians, providers, payers, and patients around the world.
A San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, Kiva is the world's first and largest micro-lending website. Working to alleviate poverty, Kiva connects people worldwide through micro-lending -- having already helped create economic opportunity for more than 1 million borrowers, with more than $400 million in loans and a 99.1% repayment rate.