While B2B customer loyalty programs have existed for decades, many businesses have not yet explored the opportunity. In today’s market, B2B companies experience a number of issues when exploring or implementing channel incentive programs. But with the proper technology...Read More

How can you know where there are opportunities for growth if you’re not sure where you stand right now? Analyzing your customer database can reveal opportunities for implementing changes that produce positive results. Plus, establishing a baseline will help you measure ROI as you implement...Read More

Most brands dream of creating customer loyalty programs that stack up to the likes of Starbucks, Sephora, United Airlines, and Amazon. These loyalty-leading brands build deep relationships with customers by offering them exactly what they’re demanding from modern loyalty programs, and...Read More

The demand for cruise travel is regaining momentum as passengers plan to set sail after two-years. As the surge in cruise bookings continues, what is the key priority among consumers as they plan a trip? Value for money.In his recent column in The Wise Marketer, arrivia’s Chief...Read More

Have you ever shopped for something online and then, moments later, found yourself inundated with ads for an eerily similar product? These are third-party cookies (tiny invisible bits of ad-tracking code that record our activity) in action. But the cookie was originally meant to facilitate...Read More

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues have been moving upward on senior executive agendas even before the Covid-19 pandemic. The past two years have accelerated that movement, particularly for consumer products and services companies.ESG concerns find expression in consumer...Read More

Think about your lifestyle, needs, and interests. Now, think about the same for others, like your friends or family. Even though you may share a few common traits or interests, odds are you're not the exact same in every way, even with those people whom you are closest to.And because you aren...Read More

Financial models are only as good as the educated guesses that inform them. If the underlying assumptions are on target, an economic model can be an incredibly useful tool. If the assumptions are off, you can miss the mark by overestimating—or underestimating, for that matter—your...Read More

If you asked any of your customers what their most memorable moment was while interacting with your brand, they would never say something like, “That time I swiped my credit card on the counter” or “Clicking on the checkout button for my online order was so memorable”. It...Read More

Dynamic Segmentation is the process of identifying a group of people within your target audience who share common attributes based on real-time data and behaviors. Dynamic groups are constantly adding and subtracting members based on criteria.Our SVP of Strategy and Design Chris...Read More

Benefits that resonate with workers todayCOVID-19 ushered in a fundamental transformation to the workplace. But it’s not just commuting that has changed. Faced with rising burnout and the knowledge that work no longer must center around the physical office, worker priorities and motivations...Read More

What Is Borderless Working? The world of work is becoming bigger and smaller at the same time.Bigger because the talent pool available to businesses has increased. Smaller because the concept of geography defining how and where people work is being removed.Welcome to borderless working. ...Read More

Your customers have heard about cryptocurrency in the news. They're intrigued, yet perhaps cautious. They could use your trusted brand to help them connect to this exciting new financial world.Could it be your brand?Bakkt's report, Creating Your Business's Crypto Strategy ...Read More

Formation surveyed 500 US adult consumers to see where they feel current loyalty programs are falling short and what they actually want out of their loyalty programs.What are the Downfalls of Current Loyalty Programs?Good interactions between a brand and a consumer put a smile on the consumers...Read More

As gamification rises in popularity, successful development and implementation are critical to gaining value for brands. Gamification is part of the human experience. Even as toddlers, learning how to walk is gamified—beginning with walking to a parent, then a little further to the couch...Read More

Loyalty programs cannot rely on earn-and-burn tactics, like mass offers, if they want to become revenue powerhouses. Customers today expect engaging, relevant, and personalized interactions. And with plenty of options at their fingertips, if a loyalty program is static, they’ll leave for a...Read More

Retail has faced some serious challenges over the last few years. Make 2022 the year you shake up your marketing strategies and find effective ways to pull in new customers and re-engage inactive existing customers. Let’s look at five retail marketing strategies that can help you meet your...Read More

Understanding the changing, and in many cases, new preferences of their customers is critical for travel brands and marketers as they adjust to returning demand. But it’s only by utilizing data to better understand the types of travel experiences customers are now looking for that travel...Read More

It might seem early to be thinking about implementing a holiday rewards program already, but whether you manage a brick-and-mortar or an online store, the holiday season is a great opportunity to connect with your customers and drive more revenue. This time of the year, in particular, customers...Read More

Digital optimization has become table stakes for brands. As the pandemic forced technology to adapt or be left behind, Kobie experts looked back at the brands who crushed it with digital enhancements, fulfilling member needs and bridging the online vs. offline gap. 1. Venmo: Let’s talk...Read More

Ignorance is not bliss. Academic research shows that barely 10% of CEOs are selected from marketing’s ranks and, even in top CPG companies, less than 20% of CEOs rise from marketing. Worse, less than 3% of a company’s board roles are filled by people with a marketing background...Read More

According to our 2022 Customer Loyalty Data Study, less than one-third (32%) of loyal customers are members of loyalty programs. So, what can you do to incentivize more of your customers to join your loyalty program? Seventy-one percent of consumers in 2021 belonged to traditional...Read More

Privacy is a major concern for all of us—brands and consumers alike—and increasingly so, highlighted by recent government legislation, data breaches, and revelations about everyone’s favorite love-to-hate internet F word (so meta). This has consumers protecting their personal...Read More

Across every industry, hiring and retaining workers has never been more challenging. A positive company culture, strong values, better wages, more flexibility, and clear advancement opportunities all play an important role in employee acquisition and retention. But what else can companies offer...Read More

Making customers feel truly exceptional and appreciated is no longer a simple task. So, adding that little extra special something, like a surprise and delight element, to your loyalty program can renew interest, boost purchases and make customers more loyal. Unexpected perks can result in an...Read More

In the modern consumer world, new customers and existing customers are redefining their expectations from brands and their loyalty program. No longer impressed by the one-size-fits-all model, customers are now craving personalization, relevancy, and emotional connections from brands as part of...Read More

Businesses worldwide are scrambling to grow and maintain their workforce as they face historic pandemic-driven labor shortages. To combat the growing resignation surge and a highly competitive labor market, employers are restructuring their talent retention programs to go above and beyond...Read More

Channel engagement is a hot topic of discussion among B2B marketers for good reason. Quality channel partner and customer engagement is proven to have a positive impact on brand-customer relationships that leads to increased sales and stronger loyalty. However the key to success isn't just...Read More

Your brand is always looking for ways to increase loyalty program membership, customer engagement, and gather more quality data. Incentives can help you achieve those goals. Consider 81% of consumers say they’re more likely to engage with a brand if it offers an incentive...Read More

Did you know that marketers who conduct audience research are 3X more likely to achieve their marketing goals? And that a whopping 65% of marketers report doing audience research “rarely or never?’ Today’s consumers, especially parents, demand that brands not only...Read More

Despite the fact that acquiring new customers costs 5 to 10 times more than selling to a current customer — and current customers spend 67% more on average than those who are new to your business – customer retention in marketing has long taken a back seat to...Read More

Travel loyalty is a complicated business to get into. To be successful, you need the technology and staff to support your consumers through their entire redemption journeys, from booking to boarding. You also need to offer travel products that engage your customers on an individual level.In a...Read More

B2B loyalty and incentive programs depend on member participation in order to be successful both from a financial perspective and to accomplish key business goals. Depending on when you launched your program and the make-up of your program you might be finding that your partner participation...Read More

While the notion of 1:1 personalization is enchanting, scalable loyalty strategies are built around sizeable loyalty segments that share common needs and hold potential for the organization. The fun, but the maddening challenge with loyalty segmentation is that the options seem endless,...Read More

Credit unions depend on face-to-face interactions to bring in new members. The pandemic has upended this model by limiting those opportunities and many credit unions have seen a dip in their membership growth. American Banker recently interviewed arrivia Chief Product Officer, Alan Josephs...Read More

The challenge for any loyalty program is keeping your members engaged. The early excitement of enrolling and participating in new programs can sometimes wane as members repeat the same earning actions to try and earn the same rewards. And promotion overlays increase customer...Read More

The loyalty landscape continues to evolve and brands are flexing in new ways to differentiate from the pack. This is leading to a resurgence in rethinking loyalty programs and an ongoing focus on creating more compelling offers to drive deeper customer engagement with brands. We’re excited...Read More

With leisure travel driving the current travel rebound, companies with travel rewards programs will need to pivot their loyalty focus to cater to this clientele. Whether their loyalty members are high-frequency travelers or occasional vacationers, reward programs should emphasize value, options...Read More

Nearly 90% of consumers expect brands to accommodate their preferences. One of the ways marketers understand consumer preferences is through consumer insights. Qualitative research has been a long-standing pillar in forming a holistic picture of what a brand’s differentiators are...Read More

Reflect for a moment on why you buy from certain retailers or have preferences for brands and products. What makes you purchase a pair of New Balance trainers over a Nike pair? What is driving you to empty your wallet for the latest Apple iPhone as opposed to a cheaper and potentially better...Read More

You want to get an edge on your competition, increase customer engagement, build brand loyalty, and collect zero-party data. Creative promotions can help you achieve these goals, especially ones with attractive prizing structures.  An optimal prizing structure combines a sense of...Read More

How to attract and retain employees with unique benefits that inspire and reward Businesses in the United States and worldwide are scrambling to attract and retain employees as they face historic pandemic-related labor shortages. Many have increased wages to incentivize their workforce. On...Read More

Level up your loyalty marketing with the latest insights to keep customers coming back. 100% data-backed with 157 customer loyalty statistics.  Let’s take a deep dive into customer loyalty statistics to find out what metrics are set to shape the coming years. Because MarketsandMarkets...Read More

In the past couple years companies have seen an increase in people spending more time shopping online. This is a great opportunity to implement incentives and rewards through loyalty programs. There isn’t a playbook out there that tells you exactly how to go about starting your own loyalty...Read More

Across the travel sector, there’s more positivity in the air – at last. More travelers are taking to the skies and the seas, and many are already planning their 2022 and even 2023 adventures. As airlines, hotels, travel brands, and all the intermediaries in between embrace the...Read More

As the US begins its return to normality, many citizens have a pent up desire to travel. Financial services companies must understand that this desire is driven by leisure travellers, not business ones, meaning the best immediate course of action for the company to be successful is to tailor...Read More

Many titans of the Web 1.0 and 2.0 eras have been relegated to the dustbin of history, rendered irrelevant or knocked out altogether for failing to evolve and give consumers what they want. As we sit on the precipice of the more decentralized and immersive Web 3.0, more commonly known as ...Read More

Are you making the most of your customer data, or are you leaving this goldmine untapped? Leveraging customer data can help you acquire more customers, reactivate inactive customers, retain customers, and enhance the overall customer experience. Learn how you can use data to implement...Read More

The years following the pandemic have brought digital transformation to an unprecedented level, prompting businesses all around the world to rethink how they are interacting with their customers. And due to the rekindled interest in innovative customer engagement solutions, loyalty programs are...Read More

With global travel depressed by the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly eighteen months, demand for mainstream and niche travel options is forecast to surge this year and next. The impact of the Delta coronavirus variant will likely determine whether the majority of the surge occurs in 2021 or 2022, but...Read More

In today’s competitive marketplace, it is becoming increasingly difficult for employers to find and retain quality employees. Some employers are looking to hire prospective and keep current employees by expanding their benefit offerings to include more out-of-the-box perks. Many employees...Read More

Loyalty is an attribute we highly prize in our personal and professional relationships. And companies value customer loyalty through loyalty programs, which boast a long record of helping companies of all kinds achieve growth and revenue goals.In brief: A loyalty program builds brand engagement...Read More

Flexa, the world’s leading pure-digital payments network, today introduced Flexa Payments, a new set of tools for merchants to simply and instantly accept 99 different digital currencies from any app or wallet. Flexa Payments provides merchants with all of the...Read More

With evolving customer expectations of how data is collected and used, customer data platforms (CDP) are playing a key role in the future of customer experience and data management. Businesses are gaining access to more and more data, whether that's from their own customer relationship...Read More

What makes customers truly loyal? The key lies not in sales and discounts, but in customer satisfaction and long-term engagement. According to Salesforce, 91% of customers say they’re more likely to make another purchase after a great service experience. In the world of loyalty...Read More

Gamification is a strategic element business’ use to enhance their systems, services, organizations, and activities. They want their customers to feel as though they are playing a game as a way to motivate and encourage participation. Gamifying a loyalty program will automatically make it...Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone and all businesses in the past two-plus years. One segment that has become more relevant to consumers during this time has been pharmacies. Consumers have reshaped their relationships with pharmacies, from buying more online and picking up in-store...Read More

It’s no secret: COVID-19 (aka coronavirus) has disrupted lives, livelihoods, communities, and businesses across the globe. With business storefronts temporarily shut down, 7.14 million Americans filing for unemployment, and the rise of coronavirus-related scams, it’s more...Read More

Iris has been appointed as the global lead strategic and creative agency for beer brand Grolsch.The agency will be tasked with reigniting the brand and asserting it as a global beer icon. Iris’ remit is fully integrated, spanning from ATL with brand strategy and TV, OOH and Radio, to...Read More

As everyone enjoys the early days of spring amid falling COVID-19 numbers, we wanted to learn how consumers are feeling about shopping for Mother’s Day (May 8) this year.  Last year global spending for Mother’s Day was expected to reach a record-breaking $28.1 billion...Read More

Learn how Kobie’s data scientists used data analysis to prove that reward choice keeps members engaged in the program more than a single reward offering.CHALLENGE​A national Client with a membership-based program wanted to reduce churn and explore cost-effective redemption options...Read More

If any of you already watched ‘Ready Player One’, then buckle up because we are about to make the science-fiction of this movie a reality. The Metaverse has been a hot topic in the recent months since Facebook or rather Meta, announced that they were going to shift their vision in the...Read More

Some say you shouldn’t compare yourself to others. This may be true in your personal life, but when it comes to your business, if you don’t know where you stand, how can you begin to get better?Brands that are unclear about what their competitors are doing are operating in the dark...Read More

It’s the paradox all marketers face: a strong brand makes everything you need to do easier, but building a strong brand isn’t easy.It takes hard work and persistence to develop a brand worthy of devotion, that drives lasting loyalty and passionate advocacy. Not to mention the right...Read More

Intermediaries have always been a vital part of the consumer’s experience with products. Consumers are loyal to brands, but rarely interact with the companies that produce those brands. Instead, intermediaries (such as distributors or retailers) act as the...Read More

Services & Benefits That Build Employee Loyalty and Customer SatisfactionSmart companies understand that keeping both employees and customers happy are key to overall business success.Positive employee experiences are deeply connected to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Engaged...Read More

Marketers are challenged today to deliver amazing digital experiences. The bar has been set by companies like Chewy, Etsy, USAA, and Costco (all in the top 5% of the Forrester CX Index 2021). To create these experiences, you need technology that can talk to one another, provide insights, and...Read More

Using past years gathered statistics is a crucial part of making your marketing plan for the upcoming year. Looking through the numbers and data collected will help your team know what trends are out and what’s new to implement into your program. There are three different ways to look at...Read More

Although Mother’s Day is less than two months away, there are things your brand can do to spark customer engagement and capture those special moments. Offering an incentive appeals to consumer emotion and can positively impact customer engagement. Incentivized promotions can help...Read More

We get it. The idea of building an online community can feel daunting. Hear us out, though: The benefits of an online brand community are numerous, and the ROI from a thriving community is unmatched. You’re also not starting from scratch. You’ve already got an...Read More

Most businesses collect data on diversity in their ranks, and more of them are publicizing their efforts to improve it. But to keep diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts on track in a work-from-anywhere era, measuring the D alone may not be enough. More companies need to start...Read More

Forty-five percent of consumers have made a first-time purchase because of participating in a sweepstakes campaign. And 72% of consumers would share personal information to participate in a sweepstakes. These statistics show how impactful and engaging sweepstakes campaigns can...Read More

The field of customer loyalty is an extremely competitive area in marketing business. All companies have the same target in mind: to link as many customers as possible to their brand for the long term. But the strategies to achieve this goal...Read More

Partnerships continue to be an important tool for deepening customer loyalty. The right partners give users a reason to engage on a more regular basis with your brand. Thoughtfully chosen partnerships also provide opportunities to align with industry leaders to reach new audiences.However...Read More

When market dynamics shift, brands face a domino effect. Market changes force technology to adapt, and technology changes force loyalty strategies to adapt. At the receiving end of this chain is the customer, who may have lost, changed, or gained emotional loyalty along...Read More

For years now, publications have been declaring that the era of brand loyalty is long gone. Consumers jump from brand to brand to purchase products and are easily convinced to switch brands at the drop of a hat. While it’s true that winning customer loyalty is a greater challenge today, it...Read More

Pretty much everyone is familiar with the concept of loyalty programs, but not everyone is as aware of the different ways they can positively affect a brand's business success. Especially for B2B companies who deal with long buying cycles, complex decision-making processes, procurement issues...Read More

What constitutes a loyal customer? Increased spend? Order frequency? Brand advocacy? While our new 2022 Customer Loyalty Data Study showed that 67% of loyal customers buy from their favorite brands at least once a month, and what happens in between purchases is just as...Read More

The mobile user is on their phone just over 4 hours every single day. Mobile phones are checked upwards of 96 times a day. Mobile is becoming an extension of the consumer, as every part of their daily lives becomes interconnected with these devices. To reach today’s consumer, brands must...Read More

Loyalty programs are the name of the game for marketers today since keeping a customer is 5x less costly than acquiring new ones, and nearly half of a brand's revenue is created by only about 8% of their most loyal customers.As transactional offers - like coupons and generic...Read More

Flexible teleworking options have been trending in the workplace for years now, and many experts predicted this perk will one day become obligatory for organizations that wish to remain face-to-face five days a week. The rapid global spread of COVID-19 fast tracked its necessity – and in a...Read More

Curious to know more about who your customers are and where they’re at? They’re online, telling you all about themselves. Now more than ever, consumers want a unique experience as part of their customer journey. They expect personalized content and offers, providing...Read More

Health, fitness, mindfulness and wellness have taken center stage during a global pandemic. Brands across all industries have had to address the table stakes issues for how they are keeping the buying experience safe – from digital orders to contactless payments to curbside pick-up or...Read More

You’ve seen them around. You’ve been invited to them. Maybe you’re a part of one right now. We’re talking about an online community.Online communities are a valuable tool in a marketer’s arsenal. The question is: How do you create an online community?Our guide...Read More

Customer retention can be the key to growing your revenue because existing customers are known to spend more than new customers, and convincing customers to stick around tends to cost less than acquiring new customers. Holding onto existing customers is easier said than done, though&mdash...Read More

You have a loyalty program and your customers are engaged, are earning and redeeming rewards, and are pretty satisfied with the program.  Still, you may be asking yourself (or maybe your CFO is asking), what is my program truly contributing to our bottom line? After all, your loyalty program...Read More

Loyalty programs have long been a popular marketing strategy, allowing brands to identify, recognize, and reward customers for desired engagement. The most significant benefits of loyalty programs include increased brand consideration, deepened customer insight, and incremental revenue. Studies...Read More

Quick-to-market promotions help brands be in the moment with their loyal customers. These incentivized engagement solutions often coincide with specific current events or special brand occasions. Incentive-based programs such as sweepstakes, UGC contests, rebates, and loyalty programs...Read More

No customer wants to feel like a brand just doesn’t get them. Customer segmentation analysis allows brands to better understand and categorize their customer base according to factors like demographics and interests. Better understanding your customers can help you appeal to each group...Read More

Providing a great customer experience (CX) has long been prioritized by brands wanting to differentiate from the competition. Companies that continue to recognize the importance of customer experience—and prioritize investments and actions that generate high customer satisfaction and...Read More

Visual marketing materials like in-store signage play a critical role in shaping customers’ buying decisions, so having the right signs at the right time is crucial. Signage that has been on display for months on end will become like white noise to regular shoppers, and even new customers...Read More

According to research by Salesforce, 73% of customers say one extraordinary experience with one company raises their expectations for engagement with other companies. The same report also shows 54% of customers believe companies need to “fundamentally transform” how they...Read More

Any effective employee value proposition (EVP) should provide a compelling basis for employees to commit to your organization.And yet, the pandemic has prompted many employees to reassess what is most important to them. What do people truly value: Family and flexibility? Remote working? ...Read More

Loyalty programs should be one of the cornerstones of any effective marketing strategy. According to Accenture's recent study, “members of loyalty programs generate between 12 to 18% [higher] incremental revenue growth per year than non-members.” But not all loyalty...Read More

Customer loyalty programs are a great way for companies to build long-lasting relationships with their customers and reward them for being repeat buyers of their products. After developing a loyalty program for customers the last thing brands want to see is a lack of results. Loyalty programs...Read More

You probably already know all too well the critical role that customer retention plays in your brand’s success. It’s not enough to attract new customers to your business—in order to be successful, you need to keep existing customers coming back.When you retain current customers,...Read More

When brands evaluate their business success, they look at metrics like net promoter score, customer satisfaction, and customer effort score. But perhaps one of the most important metrics these days is the customer lifetime value (LTV), which highlights the strength of customer loyalty.In...Read More

For any size of brand, working at any scale, personalization is table stakes. And that doesn’t just mean a name in an email. Personalization should reflect what you know about your customers, and this should be present across any communication channel, during any experience they...Read More

Retailers are facing some real challenges, but customer marketing can play a major role in helping retailers thrive despite the challenges. Learn how to usher in a bright future with effective customer marketing programs.Why Retail Needs a HeroThe retail industry has been scrambling as it faces...Read More

Customer loyalty is one of the most widely talked about topics today, and for good reason. When it comes to where to buy products or services, your customers have unlimited choices at their fingertips. It’s tougher than ever to acquire and retain customers, but loyalty programs can be...Read More

In light of the ongoing pandemic, the increased focus on privacy that has resulted in a crackdown on third-party cookies, and the emergence of increasingly powerful “walled gardens” around data, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are redefining their relationships with...Read More

A record-shattering 4.5 million Americans left their jobs in November 2021, part of an exodus known as The Great Resignation. That trend is expected to continue this year, posing big questions and even bigger implications for sales leaders.What happens when your top sales rep &mdash...Read More

Some media pundits forecasted that a new ‘Roaring 20s’ with a sustained consumer spending boom and ‘party’ mentality lay ahead once we emerged from Covid. However, the only roar so far is that of rising inflation.Inflation has hit 5.4%, its highest level in...Read More

As we learned in the last blog post, it’s key to kill breakage (=points not used/expired) by increasing the liquidity of your rewards. Why? McKinsey found that the top-performing loyalty programs profit from customers who redeem their points since these customers either purchase more...Read More

What do today's consumers want – and need - when it comes to travel? Answering this question is a challenge at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic. Regardless of market conditions, however, travel marketers must rise to the occasion. That means abandoning the spray and...Read More

Customer loyalty can be measured in many ways. By transactions, brand engagement, advocacy, social media sharing, or through unique experiences. But loyalty isn’t earned overnight, so it’s important for brands to nurture their best customer relationships through positive...Read More

When I’m meeting with prospective customers who are exploring their cybersecurity options, they often begin the conversation by asking how much they need to do to become compliant. Especially in the QSR industry, that question typically revolves around PCI compliance and being...Read More

What is brand advocacy? Simply put, brand advocacy is a fancy term for good ol word-of-mouth. When you have a cohort of satisfied consumers advocating for other consumers to buy your product or service, you’ve got brand advocacy. These actions then influence brand awareness, brand...Read More

In recent years, customer experience has become more important within the buying journey. In order to provide better customer experiences, companies have to understand different elements such as how customers use their products, where they purchase the products, and the multiple factors that...Read More

When brands evaluate their business success, they look at metrics like net promoter score, customer satisfaction, and customer effort score. But perhaps one of the most important metrics these days is the customer lifetime value (LTV), which highlights the strength of customer loyalty.In...Read More

You probably know how to build trust with your stakeholders, but do you know how to measure and quantify it? You’re not alone if the answer is no. Most business leaders would agree that trust in all its forms — physical, digital, emotional, financial, and ethical — is...Read More

Maybe you’ve heard of variable data printing (VDP)—the print technology that automatically customizes printed materials like direct mail based on customer data. If you’ve never used variable data printing, though, or even if you have, you may not know everything about this...Read More

If any of you already watched ‘Ready Player One’, then buckle up because we are about to make the science-fiction of this movie a reality. The Metaverse has been a hot topic in the recent months since Facebook or rather Meta, announced that they were going to shift their vision in the...Read More

B2B brands are not held up as marketing innovators as much as they should be. It is B2B brands who are embracing and driving forward the strategic idea of being a ‘Participation Brand’.What’s that? Quite simply it means a brand that has created a valuable role for itself in its...Read More

Break through a crowded market with tips for creating an innovative program. Loyalty programs have been around for decades, permeating almost every consumer sector. In fact, brands that do not offer programs now stand out more than those that do. The benefits of a program are obvious: they...Read More

Ask 10 marketers to tell you how they calculate customer lifetime value (CLV), and you'll likely get 10 different answers. It's a tricky metric to assess, even though at its core, it's a simple equation: CLV is the sum of each customer's total value of purchases over the course of...Read More

What is variable data printing (VDP)? Maybe you’ve heard this term thrown around in marketing circles, but you’re foggy on the details or don’t have the first idea what it means. Let’s define this technology and work through an example to show how you can use VDP for...Read More

How do brands drive customer loyalty and engagement? By consistently delivering outstanding service that customers expect and by understanding their intent. Implementing dedicated member engagement groups, integrating new listening posts like social media, and listening to nontraditional channels...Read More

With a large population of part-time workers, multiple remote sites, and a high number of payment transactions processed each day, the QSR industry presents a target-rich environment for cybercriminals. Unfortunately, just like many other highly distributed businesses, QSRs usually don’t...Read More

Using Flexa, Regal patrons can buy tickets and concessions today using dozens of digital currencies at over 500 theatres.NEW YORK — Regal, a subsidiary of Cineworld Group and the operator of one of the largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuits in the United...Read More

When it seems as though a customer is starting to distance themselves, there are still things that you can do to re-engage them and make them a more active customer. A very important aspect is to make sure that your re-engagement tactics are personalized to the customer as an individual, such as...Read More

Retailers are facing some real challenges, but customer marketing can play a major role in helping retailers thrive despite the challenges. Learn how to usher in a bright future with effective customer marketing programs. Why Retail Needs a HeroThe retail industry has been scrambling as it faces...Read More

It’s critical that brands measure how valuable their loyal customers are, but this can be a challenge. Measuring purchase data is easy to do: AOV, frequency, and yearly transactions. In that sense, brands can measure the success of loyalty programs and other engagement tactics...Read More

Just because an aspiring writer has a new Word document open right in front of them doesn’t mean they will, without any doubts, create a gripping, larger-than-life story within that space. Don’t get us wrong – it is possible, but whether the young writer will tell such a story...Read More

Extended reality (XR) experiences first hit the mainstream as an innovation of video game technology. Now marketers are leveraging XR’s potential—including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)—to increase consumer engagement with their brands. Immersive XR campaigns...Read More

Making the return to travel memorable and delivering on rising expectations post-pandemic The pandemic forced brands to shift how they deliver products and services to customers, resulting in ever-increasing expectations for consumers on their experiences with brands. Meeting those expectations...Read More

As we look ahead at what to expect across the cybersecurity landscape in 2022, we’ll continue to see some familiar threats along with the escalation of those threats into something much more significant.Ransomware should remain at the top of everyone’s list of concerns, because it...Read More

Investing in a customer experience management platform is a significant investment both financially and, if done correctly, in commitment of company logistics and personnel. To maximize your ROI and ensure your customer experience (CX) program has the best possible impact on your organization...Read More

You’ll never hear me describe the fuel logistics industry as boring, and 2021 was no exception. In addition to facing all the ongoing pandemic-related impacts, labor shortages remained a big challenge for many businesses.So, what can we expect in 2022? We’ll most likely see similar...Read More

MarTech stacks can enhance customer experiences when strategically adopted, but a lack of focus and governance can lead to internal strife and customer churn. As the age of digital continues to accelerate at a breakneck speed, it’s time for organizations to step back and ask themselves a...Read More

Roaring high this 2022 is definitely the festive spirit of people celebrating the Lunar New Year (aka the Chinese New Year) across the world. After all this year is all about the year of the Tiger. Knowing that the past two years have been tumultuous, the year of tiger reminds people to...Read More

When the world’s leading biscuit brand (Parle Products) increased the price of its crowd favorite- Parle G by 6-7% in 2021, marketers sensed seismic shifts burgeoning in the CPG industry. As much as the hike is owing to the rising input cost, it is also because of the volatility...Read More

A gap exists between what consumers want from brands and how they feel those brands deliver. The missing piece is often simple—emotional connection. According to our Humanizing Loyalty Report, this is the most common key driver of loyalty outcomes, not just a points program. As the...Read More

Now’s the time for loyalty marketers to take actionLast year at this time, the business landscape looked promising with easing COVID restrictions, emerging vaccines, and revving consumer demand. As 2021 continued, however, the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 dented that optimism. And...Read More

A sense of community is a powerful feeling for people sharing any common bond. And the same is true for brand communities.  If your brand instills a sense of community and exclusivity for your customers, chances are they will wind up being your best customers and strongest advocates...Read More

It has been nearly 2 years since the pandemic struck and world economies have settled in for the new normal, let alone Saudi Arabia. Consumers from the kingdom are warming up to get back to normal spending levels, to make consumption choices based on aspirations rather than necessity. But amidst...Read More

While rewarding profitable customers with experiential rewards isn’t a new concept, customers’ mindsets and commerce habits have changed immensely since the COVID pandemic hit. This new paradigm has motivated many companies to change not only day-to-day commerce but customer reward...Read More

Leading organizations embrace change. They recognize and appreciate the value of a diverse workforce—creating employee experiences to fit the individual needs of employees.But those needs aren’t static. They’re constantly shifting and evolving, impacted by...Read More

All signs point to 2022 as being a critical year for fuel and convenience retailers to strengthen their relationships with consumers. To accomplish this, you’ll need to leverage a variety of new and emerging consumer engagement technologies. Building longer-lasting and more meaningful...Read More

The market largely perceives loyalty as a promotional stunt that offers customers only points’ redemption. But this is not the absolute truth.Much to naysayers’ chagrin, loyalty is a larger canvas for brands to reap benefits from. Loyalty is about how well you understand your customer...Read More

In 2020, we launched our first annual Generation Pay Report, which touched on evolving attitudes towards payments along generational lines. For 2021, we took a similar approach, surveying more than 4,000 consumers in five regions across 4 generations – Generation Y, Millennials, Generation...Read More

There isn’t a single marketing solution for every business, but powerful reporting can bridge knowledge gaps, inform goal success, and deliver measurable returns for your business.   In a previous post, "The future of marketing analytics—driven by strategy," we...Read More

Here is a list of some incredible growth hacks and examples to increase your sales using AARRR Metrics framework. Keep your prospects excited throughout the funnel and acquire more customers. Let’s dig in some gold today!  Amazon - 100 million prime customers worldwide, Grammarly...Read More

Your customers spend more time online than ever. According to Pew Research, almost a third of adults say they are online almost constantly, flitting between devices throughout the day. Your customers, and your competitors' customers live in a digital world, generating two megabytes of...Read More

Business leaders continue to face tremendous uncertainty. As the new Omicron variant has shown, the pandemic still has the capacity to surprise, even as positive developments with vaccines and treatments emerge. Border controls are tightening, energy prices are rising, supply chains are...Read More

To gain the loyalty of your customers, you may feel rewarding is your way out. However, if you start your reward point system with this notion, you are probably beginning on the wrong note.‍So, how do you retain customers? How do you gain their loyalty?To gain the loyalty of your customers...Read More

The Bizrate Insights team has exciting news! For the fourth year in a row, Bizrate Insights has been recognized as a leading vendor to the top 1000 ecommerce retailers in North America. Digital Commerce 360 recently released its annual report which ranks the top 10 vendors that support ecommerce...Read More

The term “collaboration” is becoming as overused and generic as “innovation.” It’s no secret that remote and hybrid environments require more intentional approaches to encourage collaboration. Many of our clients are asking the same question: How do I get...Read More

PrizeLogic, the leading incentivized engagement company whose clients include PepsiCo, Molson Coors, Lowe’s and Samsung, today announced the selection of Cloudflare to provide its industry leading bot management solutions for enhanced protection against undesirable and malicious...Read More

Imagine when your brand’s network of distributing partners and customers is sprawled across 6000 islands! Reaching out to them isn’t really a welcoming task by marketers. And now imagine the mammoth task of CPG brand marketers who not only have to navigate through the populous...Read More

The probability of selling to an existing customer is 3x to 35x higher than selling to a new one. Yet the focus tends to be on acquiring new customers, simply for the reason that looks better on paper. Positive numbers for new customers is always a fun thing to see on your spreadsheets....Read More

“Handshakes have given way to fist bumps, and sanitizers have found residence with the humble pen in every pocket. And while the masks remain, the eyes still smile. On-ground events are back with a bang!”After almost 24 months of the world living in sealed pockets, we are now...Read More

Whether you already have a loyalty program, are considering revamping yours, or are launching one for the first time, you need to set clear goals from the start if you want it to be successful. While it can be tempting to dive right in, without goals, it’s difficult ...Read More

Humor is the language of culture change, and at Cheetah we don’t do boring. So we recruited Tom Fishburne aka the Marketoonist - one of the funniest people in marketing, to deliver a session that will leave you laughing out loud, but also thinking about how you can implement cultural change...Read More

People love to talk and share about food (who hasn’t had to scroll through 5 pages of a gushing food blog to get to the recipe?)! That’s what makes food and beverage brands such a natural fit for an online brand community.Offering consumers a “home” to dish on their...Read More

Over the last year, loyalty members have changed – they have new habits, new expectations, and new needs. For brands, relearning who their member is, and how they want to engage with a program is critical.Engaging members between transactions – whether it is to complete their profile,...Read More

Even with global supply chain issues expected to continue into the new year, Adobe Analytics forecasts online holiday sales will top $200 billion for the first time, including $9.5 billion in Black Friday 2021 sales. We put together a list of four consumer insights using data from a recent...Read More

Virtual onboarding can be challenging but applying lean manufacturing principles can accelerate the ability of new hires to provide substantial value.  The pandemic has changed employee onboarding—particularly in the technology industry—forever. Previously, onboarding would...Read More

At Cheetah we’re committed to helping enterprise marketers keep their customers engaged, retained, and loyal in a world full of infinite choice. This week we sat down with leading brands to discuss how they have reimagined loyalty - going beyond point-win-prizes and using it to...Read More

Loneliness and isolation have become growing workplace concerns as more people work remotely for at least part of the week. Thirty-six percent of Americans report feeling serious loneliness, and 65% of people who switched to remote work during the pandemic said they felt...Read More

Sustainability has been increasingly top of mind for many organizations across all industries. Companies the world over have made commitments to meet decarbonization goals and are looking inward, reviewing their operations and processes all in a quest to reduce emissions.For technology companies,...Read More

Upon the launch of the Vans Family loyalty program, it was an immediate hit. They asked their members, known as their “family,” to share photos and memories of their very first pair of Vans. Pretty soon, members were sharing stories of the first time they put those shoes on, flooding...Read More

Establishing a set of customer segments is the first step to strategic, impactful marketing. Beyond personalization, segments can be used to manage churn, increase margin, optimize engagement, and even mitigate fraud. If you are just starting out or want to get more advanced with your use of...Read More

Earning customer loyalty is harder than ever because consumers have more options, are trying new brands, accessing more channels, using more devices and have quickly evolving shopping habits. To be successful, brands must authentically and relevantly connect with consumers.But with numerous...Read More

The industry has seen a growing opportunity for pump-to-store conversion where c-store locations also sell fuel. This has especially been the case during the last few years as fuel demand has fluctuated.Consumers increasingly plan their shopping trips, often resulting in fewer overall trips...Read More

Just like a pre-flight checklist a pilot and co-pilot might review before takeoff, it’s critical to have a loyalty program pre-launch checklist. Once it launches, your loyalty program becomes an ongoing entity within your company and ...Read More

With the holidays just behind us, it’s time for the next and final inevitable phase of the shopping season:  The post-holiday returns period. Each of the past couple years has been very different and this year is no exception. With some stores reopening after COVID closures...Read More

The challenging dynamics created by COVID-19, has destabilized the demand in oil and gas industry, along with the supply shock due to Saudi Arabia and Russia’s disagreement on production costs which has initiated a price war, further reducing the prices. This could negatively impact...Read More

Customer churn is one of the most important things to understand when you are growing your business. It is the percentage of your consumers that have stopped using your products and services during a specific time frame. While it can be discouraging, it will help your company understand where you...Read More

Marketers have been focused on engaging between the transactions for the better part of this century – whether they realize it or not. For many brands, it has been no small feat. By itself, getting customers to change behaviors can be challenging enough; however, when you add in the task of...Read More

Today we hear from Jami Ferguson—Director, Product Management—to learn which SMG tech enhancements she’s most excited about, why successful companies put product at the forefront, and how Wayne Gretzky impacts her team’s work philosophy.You have a wealth of experience and...Read More

Gathering customer data is an important starting point, but it’s not enough—you have to know what to do with that data. Unfortunately, data can be messy and confusing on its own. That’s why you need a strong strategy in place to make your data work for you.Why a Customer...Read More

For many organizations, DevOps is often thought of as simply a technology-centered transformation focused on integrating the development and operations teams. While that is a core element of adopting DevOps, the benefits extend far beyond team integration.Properly leveraged DevOps methodologies...Read More

Driven by marketing and analytics leaders, SaaS experienced explosive growth over the past decade, with market revenue estimated to exceed $2 billion. When it comes to the age-old challenge of strategically allocating a marketing budget while ensuring your mix of channels remains agile...Read More

From Fossils to OilJust over fifty years ago, on October 29, 1969, ARPANET—the precursor to the internet as we know it today—was born. At its inception, ARPANET involved four machines across four locations in California and Utah, and it was primarily used for academic research...Read More

While the majority of retailers recognize the importance of their gift card business – a $160 billion business with double-digit growth since 2015, according to Incisiv – 93 percent of retailers admit they have low gift card integration with their digital systems, according...Read More

Monolithic solutions aren't necessarily the answer. As we briefly discussed in our previous blog about managing the supply chain, here at Evolving Systems we think that the unique inventory challenges facing MNOs demand immediate and expert attention.Inadequate approaches, for instance...Read More

Customer experience (CX) leaders understand the importance of demonstrating financial impact, but 50% aren’t confident in their ability to do so. On top of that existing pressure, timing is of the essence with more than half of leaders expected to connect CX investments to...Read More

The most successful businesses (regardless of industry) all have one thing in common: They put the customer first. Their products and services are customer-centric. Their customer experience is seamless and top-notch. And they develop marketing strategies around the trends of their audiences...Read More

Throughout the pandemic, brands across industries that have prioritized the health + safety of their customers and employees have seen higher satisfaction and an increase in loyalty. This is in large part due to their dedication to providing contactless experiences.  Though health + safety...Read More

Several online retailers, including the big ones such as Amazon, offer digital gift cards as a way to shop or give rewards to employees, partners, and customers alike.Why do people opt for digital retail cards such as Amazon?Traditional physical gift cards have enjoyed a long run of popularity...Read More

Some people enter the technology world and often start coding or forging a path to work in that industry at a young age. But that’s not the case for everyone. Some people have a total career change to tech and start working after having a job that has absolutely nothing to do with...Read More

This year’s record-breaking rise in job vacancies is forcing organizations to work even harder to provide appealing opportunities to attract and retain employees.With labor shortages impacting brands across industries, we wanted to get a better...Read More

Over the last year, loyalty members have changed – they have new habits, new expectations, and new needs. For brands, relearning who their member is, and how they want to engage with a program is critical.Engaging members between transactions – whether it is to complete their profile,...Read More

Does your customer loyalty program achieve its intended objectives?If you had to think twice about your response, it’s probably time to make improvements.Customer loyalty best practices constantly evolve. So even if your program previously achieved great results, failing to update it...Read More

If the last year and a half has taught promotion law attorneys anything, it’s that there really are world events that can affect our promotions on a very large scale.  COVID 19, had a big impact on many promotions and on many levels all at once. It has been unprecedented and...Read More

Personalization of the customer experience has become a driving factor in promoting engagement and interaction beyond the point of sale. Companies have been adopting digital technologies to help bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping, while also working to improve consumer...Read More

With today’s desire to create customer-obsessed, hyper-personalized experiences, it’s getting harder to deliver value to our best consumers. The challenge is in aligning customer needs to business objectives, which requires prioritizing a digital transformation from within and...Read More

As data privacy concerns push third-party cookies into the past, marketers have the opportunity to create deeper connections with customers. As data privacy concerns rise, third-party cookies will soon be a thing of the past. The crumbling of third-party cookies will require agility and patience...Read More

This Is an OpportunityA great deal of the discussion around digital transformation has focused on retail banking. But commercial banking is just as important. In wake of the pandemic, many commercial banks are keen to accelerate progress to catch up. Here we consider how corporate banking can...Read More

Last month at T2RL Conference,  Stuart Barwood, Director Airline Strategy at Forter was joined by Cory Garner, a former 20-year veteran of American Airlines and current Co-CEO & President Distribution at T2RL Conference to discuss how the airline industry is building trust in eCommerce...Read More

Last year, daily online spending throughout the holiday shopping season surpassed $1 billion for the first time. Now, even during a global supply chain crisis, continued online spending and a surge in demand has Adobe predicting holiday ecommerce retail spending to top $200 billion.With...Read More

Data is the key to building a loyalty program that will create true value and resonate with your customers.A loyalty program is a great asset for brands because it gives them tons of valuable customer data that can be leveraged in the future to personalize communications.But customer data is...Read More

Consumer trends are shifting more quickly than ever.And businesses are shifting with them, focusing on keeping aligned with their consumers. After all, it’s all about the customer.But what implications does this have for brands?To future proof your business and continue to stay relevant...Read More

Contact centers represent a key touchpoint for brands—often at an especially critical time when the customer relationship is stressed—but these interactions are notoriously difficult to assess in real time. Data silos, departmental ownership that limits visibility, and the...Read More

Consumer distrust at an all-time high. The modern consumer finds personalization initiatives derived from cookie tracking, location data or social media activity to be creepy, not cool. Vast swathes are turning away from brands due to ethical reasons, like environmental, corporate, or political...Read More

Globally, the evolution in the Fuel, Oil and Gas industry has begun. Marketers have adapted their brand and business strategies to the shifting fuel retail paradigm between drivers and forecourts.Accelerating this change, the non-fuel retail business took the lead this year exhibiting potential...Read More

Being a brand that people trust is a key component to building brand loyalty- a survey states that 83% of customers will happily recommend a brand to others if they trust it. If people do not trust a brand then they are less likely to become returning customers and promote your brand to...Read More

47% Indian consumers remain loyal to a favorite brand even after a bad experience, reveals a study by KPMG.Indeed, India hails with sheer loyalists – an untapped and remarkable consumer market for brands to build a strong ground for loyalty. Marketers! Read through this blog to know...Read More

Brand partnerships are often framed as business opportunities or a way to solve a pain point in the customer journey. Both are true.But partnerships also provide powerful value that drives both business growth and customer loyalty.So let’s dig in!In this presentation, we’ll cover the...Read More

There’s a new sensation that’s causing quite a stir: NFT art. From a cute pop-tart cat meme that was sold for $590,000 to the almost $3 million spent on the first-ever tweet from back in 2006, people are definitely going crazy for NFT. However, the booming...Read More

By now, many retailers have included brand loyalty into their marketing mix. Today’s retailers develop programs that not only acquire, retain, and reactivate consumers, they go a step further to build brand-specific loyalty programs aspiring to increase repeat purchases and the...Read More

Retailers understand the challenges that come with attracting and ultimately retaining customers—especially in today’s competitive climate. That’s why customer loyalty programs are as crucial as ever when it comes to creating a meaningful connection with your customers and...Read More

Gathering customer data is an important starting point, but it’s not enough—you have to know what to do with that data. Unfortunately, data can be messy and confusing on its own. That’s why you need a strong strategy in place to make your data work for you.Why a Customer...Read More

Within the loyalty and marketing industry, there is a growing concern regarding customer loyalty fraud and program gaming. Loyalty programs have become an attractive target of digital fraudsters. Loyalty Program Fraud is, of course, not a new issue. It’s...Read More

Much has been written about acquisition and retention in the loyalty industry. Which strategy should you focus on more as it relates to your loyalty program? You can make solid cases for prioritizing acquisition or retention as a loyalty strategy....Read More

The last 18 months have created unprecedented challenges for the healthcare industry, and the ramifications are likely to be lasting. Given the challenges at hand, it has never been more important for healthcare organizations to give a voice to the human experiences happening within their systems...Read More

The pandemic didn’t just disrupt sales. It caused a seismic shift.Before 2020, sales teams hummed on leads in pipe, one-off sales (digital and in-person), and pipeline velocity. Success metrics, like quotas, reflected these topline goals.But in the wake of COVID-19, digital adoption...Read More

Chargebacks cost e-commerce businesses billions every year, and a rapidly growing percentage of them are due to chargeback fraud. So, today we’re looking at what chargeback fraud is and steps you can take to prevent it.What Is a Chargeback?A chargeback is a reversal of a payment...Read More

Managing the Supply Chain is EvolvingWhatever issues lie in and around the supply chain, it’s safe to say that there isn’t much glamour about any of them. Managing warehouse inventory is “the weeds” of any business; knowing where stock is (and where it’s going...Read More

While some might say that the future is now, others would argue that the future is just beginning to unravel itself. I’m not much of a crystal ball reader, but I can look through the risk lens to tell you that technology is going to fuel a future that is even more connected, agile, and...Read More

When done correctly, loyalty programs are full-time jobs for marketers. But even though marketers are actively engrossed in running their program, certain features and functionalities can fall into disuse.This tends to happen when those features land outside the normal day-to-day workings of a...Read More

Nearly two-thirds of consumers say their loyalty is more difficult for retailers to maintain than ever before. Retailers realize this and know consumers have infinite options. The urgency to differentiate your loyalty program has hit an all-time high. A great...Read More

What Is Loyalty Fraud?Loyalty fraud is the act of cheating in a loyalty program to unfairly earn points or benefits. There are a few different categories of loyalty fraud that might occur at your brand, based on who is committing the fraud and how they are achieving it. You can see a breakdown of...Read More

Thanks to the ever-changing consumer landscape, coupled with the global pandemic, the number of brands launching subscription programs skyrocketed, fueling explosive growth. In fact, the UBS financial services firm coined this the “subscription economy.” It predicts that...Read More

This episode features loyalty strategy celebrity Paula Thomas, host of the “Let’s Talk Loyalty” podcast and strategic consulting expert. Watch now to discover the importance of paid loyalty programs, innovative ways to communicate with your customers, and what is the most...Read More

Every e-commerce business must deal with chargebacks, also known as disputes. But some companies have a much higher chargeback rate than others. A higher chargeback rate means you pay more in fees and spend more time collecting evidence to defend your business. However, you can purchase...Read More

Employee wellness is becoming increasingly important to companies’ success. Managers may even start to be held accountable for it. Frank DeMaria was never the kind of leader who organized virtual happy hours, pumpkin carvings, gingerbread house making, or open office hours for...Read More

Several online retailers, including the big ones such as Amazon, offer digital gift cards as a way to shop or give rewards to employees, partners, and customers alike. Why do people opt for digital retail cards such as Amazon?Traditional physical gift cards have enjoyed a long run of...Read More

Consumers always want choices. When giving your loyalty program members options, adding a premium loyalty tier is a great complement to your existing traditional loyalty program. For a fee, these programs offer enhanced benefits and experiences to your best...Read More

“Without Big Data Analytics, companies are blind and deaf, wandering out onto the web like deer on a freeway.” Geoffrey Moore, organizational theorist.Imagine the retail world without customer data – shopping aisles would be filled with irrelevant products, and customers...Read More

Understanding how to create a lasting relationship with your customers is a key part of running and growing your business. A key step is to understand and evaluate the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) which represents the total amount of money a customer is expected to spend in your business, or on...Read More

Customers engaged in a paid loyalty program are 59% more likely to choose a brand over its competitors and 62% more likely to spend more with that brand. Unlike a free rewards program with little to no commitment, a premium loyalty program must meet several criteria to justify the upfront...Read More

The holiday shopping season in 2020 was unlike any other, and retailers have reason to be optimistic about this year’s shopping season. KPMG predicts a historic 7% growth in holiday sales in 2021 and many retail executives are anticipating a 35% increase in online sales over last year....Read More

If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, it’s difficult to stay engaged. In fact, 83% of employees who undergo gamified training are more motivated at work.All work and no play can make work … somewhat dull. We know that’s not the most delicate way to put it (or...Read More

For large hotelier and travel brands, financial settlement and reporting are one of the most crucial aspects of operations. Not only does it keep the business moving, but it’s also what funds and fuels other critical efforts, including marketing and customer care. And for larger enterprises...Read More

Personalization is one of the most essential elements of a successful customer loyalty program for several reasons. The primary goal of most loyalty programs is to incentivize customer behavior in ways that benefit both the company and the customer.Not all customers will value various incentives...Read More

Loyalty programs are everywhere these days and in every industry, from restaurants to beauty brands, to travel and B2B businesses, and the numbers keep growing. This isn’t a coincidence - loyalty programs are having a bigger impact than ever on attracting and retaining customers.  With...Read More

Loyalty programs are good business—and they’re everywhere. They’re often free to join and begin with a simple and free registration process. Sometimes your telephone number or email address is all you need to provide to start enjoying program benefits. Other programs require a...Read More

As in-store experiences become few and far between, consumers must be empowered with all the information they need at their fingertips. One of the most powerful ways retailers can provide customers with up-to-date, relevant information is through their loyalty programs, which is why many...Read More

As a modern marketer up to date with the latest trends in strengthening your brand, you’ve probably heard about online brand communities. A destination where consumers can come together with a shared interest in a brand, whether it’s an interest in products and services or the...Read More

In the first part of this two-part blog series, we touched upon why CPG loyalty is important and what are the latest trends to keep in mind for CMOs while executing brand marketing strategy. In this part, we take a deeper look at the challenges that marketers must address while building a...Read More

There's a lot that goes into a purchase decision.How, what, where, when, and who are all questions customers encounter when they're looking to buy a product or choose a retailer. So what are some of the factors that influence customer purchasing decisions, and how can your brand use them...Read More

By now, many retailers have included brand loyalty into their marketing mix. Today’s retailers develop programs that not only acquire, retain, and reactivate consumers, they go a step further to build brand-specific loyalty programs aspiring to increase repeat purchases and the...Read More

Did you know that 90% of retailers say expanding their respective loyalty programs is a priority for 2021?There has been plenty of change in the past year, thanks to COVID-19 and its massive impact on consumer behavior and retailers themselves.Consider that nearly two-thirds of...Read More

Channel partner incentives are due for a change - in fact, they are already innovating. So what does the ‘next’ channel ecosystem look, feel and smell like? Let's explore the channel incentive picture of the future.  Synergy, co-creation, and rewards are the pillars of a...Read More

Although most business leaders say it’s critical to demonstrate the financial impact of the customer experience, many don’t know how to quantify ROI. And to add even more pressure, time is of the essence with 52% saying they have less than a year to meet demands of their...Read More

We’re in a new pandemic world. While we’ve made significant progress in developing vaccines and understanding COVID-19, the Delta variant has dragged us all back to an uncomfortably high degree of uncertainty about how the virus will continue to impact our lives and livelihoods.When...Read More

Is the constantly changing consumer journey throwing you in too many directions? You may struggle with maintaining loyalty among existing consumers. You are likely challenged in achieving efficient consumer acquisition. And you are almost assuredly under constant pressure to keep up with a...Read More

Recently, PDI and GasBuddy issued their first joint report analyzing how the pandemic has influenced shopping behavior in the $650 billion fuel and convenience industry. The “Buddy Up: C-Store Shopper Insights” report combines GasBuddy consumer survey data from more than 15...Read More

Your brand is one of the most important assets your business owns (no pressure).   What are you doing today to strengthen it for tomorrow?There’s a good chance you’ve already spent a significant amount of time trying to achieve this goal.  From logos and brand...Read More

Increasing utility company focus on emerging technologies leads to future DSM program successes. Follow these three steps to educate and support your customers.  LED bulbs have been an important demand-side management (DSM) savings measure that have played a big role in helping customers...Read More

More retailers are spending the time to find creative ways to reach new markets. Have you noticed some big box retailers with specialty retailer mini shops inside their locations? These strategic partnerships are becoming more common. Why? What’s in...Read More

The core purpose of CRM is to improve a brand’s business relationship with its customers.CRM achieves this by analyzing a brand’s existing customer interactions throughout the purchase journey. These customer interactions are captured in one place to evaluate data and offer...Read More

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel” – Carl W. BuehnerIn our industry, we are introduced to new technologies & innovations regularly.  Most of these stick around as ongoing components within our strategic arsenal.  We...Read More

Email marketing is still considered a powerful driver of customer engagement and lead nurturing by the majority of companies. Loyalty programs of every shape and size can benefit from utilizing a strong email strategy not only to acquire new customers, but to stay connected and engaged with...Read More

Retail has some troubling storms brewing for the future.It’s hard to say it could get much worse than the last couple of years, but it looks like the industry hasn’t hit rock-bottom quite yet.And it might take rock-bottom for the industry to realize they need to take a serious look at...Read More

Innovative payment services such as Patm in India and Transfiya in Columbia would not have seen the light of day if their respective financial ecosystems hadn’t been open for new players. It’s difficult for anyone to be able to foresee what the market will demand in terms of financial...Read More

Running a sweepstakes or contest on social media is an easy way to connect with your customers in a medium they’re already frequenting. According the Pew Research Center, around seven in ten Americans say they use a social media site, and that number has been consisitent over the past five...Read More

As marketing and sales professionals, one of your foremost goals would be to increase customers and to ensure that your existing customers stay with you. In fact, a number of businesses combine the two goals. How? Through customer referral programs. The most significant revenue drivers of...Read More

Supply-chain challenges, microchip shortages, and the continued threat of COVID-19 have changed the automotive industry over the last 18 months. With millennial and Gen-Z consumers overtaking the market, there is more upheaval ahead. While the ripple effects of the pandemic will...Read More

I was recently asked an impossible question during a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) webcast. “What is the reputational risk of not moving to a hybrid way of working?”It was an interesting query from a nervous HR professional and not a particularly easy one to answer...Read More

This interview is part of our Moving Forward Blog Series, where we ask major brands how they’re adapting to changing consumer expectations from a loyalty perspective post-pandemic.    It’s amazing how so many brands prioritized their customer loyalty efforts, refined...Read More

Learning is a rewarding experience. But only when teaching is, too. It’s time to engage, recognize and reward our teacher leaders so that they can transfer the spark forward - to the leaders of tomorrow.“The only superhero Marvel’s Avenger team is missing is in a classroom...Read More

Foodservice in c-stores is performing a great deal better than in the not-so-distant past. However, the category still has some ground to make up for a full recovery. All the while, according to NPD Group advisor, David Portalatin, “The QSR (restaurant) segment, ideally suited for...Read More

Migrating a complex, enterprise-level loyalty platform can be an overwhelming, lengthy, and costly process, deterring—or at least postponing—many large travel brands from re-platforming and updating their loyalty technology and supporting ecosystem sooner. However, despite the massive...Read More

According to our 2021 Premium Loyalty Data Study, 76% of consumers would pay to join a premium loyalty program.  These programs are becoming more popular with consumers because they provide them with instant, 24/7 access to top-tier benefits. ...Read More

In the 1970s, Stanford researchers ran a series of psychological studies revealing that human beings are mostly irrational thinkers. From the perspective of confirmation bias (the behavior of accepting ideas that support existing beliefs and rejecting ideas that contradict them), the researchers...Read More

E-commerce continues to grow in popularity year after year, reaching new heights during the pandemic situation in 2020.With this increase in popularity comes a harsh reality: More opportunities for fraud.Many types of e-commerce fraud exist, all of which can cause significant issues for...Read More

If you’re like most people, you probably think there’s a good chance that AI or robots will have a significant impact on the global job market. Yet surveys also show that most of us think that these disruptive technologies are primarily going to affect someone elseーsomeone with a...Read More

This article below was written by our CEO, Tom Caporaso, and originally published as part of the Retail TouchPoints Customer Loyalty Benchmark Report in June 2021. Even before the height of the pandemic, nearly ...Read More

Machine learning has been around for more than 70 years and has come a long way since the late 1950s when Frank Rosenblatt paved the way with his design for the first artificial neural network that implemented patterns and shapes recognition. And while machine learning hasn’t been around...Read More

To thrive in today's fast-paced digital world, companies need innovative strategies to grab the attention of audiences exposed to massive amounts of media daily. But it's not enough to simply connect. That next level of engagement is participation—and developing and...Read More

Abuse is growing in volume and attentionPolicy abuse is a recurring topic in my recent conversations. As eCommerce has grown rapidly, so have the types and amount of abuse.Gartner identified policy abuse as a key differentiator of platform solutions in their just published Market Guide on...Read More

This interview is part of our Moving Forward Blog Series, where we ask major brands how they’re adapting to changing consumer expectations from a loyalty perspective post-pandemic.   Customer loyalty has always been a top priority at Foot Locker. It focuses on four things...Read More

Although online brand communities are rapidly growing in popularity, we know there’s a burning question many of you still need answered.“How is an online brand community any different from a Facebook group? Do I need one if I’ve already got a large following on social...Read More

The troubling trend of dispassionate automationHistorically one of the core marketing strategies in the United States for driving long-term growth has been retaining high-value customers loyal to your brand—in other words ‘hugging your heavies.’ The art and science of engaging...Read More

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are dealing with a hiring crunch. Though U.S. unemployment rates are still high compared to pre-pandemic levels, employers are also facing a shortage of applicants. The result is plenty of “Help Wanted” ads, but not enough...Read More

“Sustainability” isn’t just a buzzword brands can throw around without taking action or factoring it in to the customer experience. Today’s consumers are more environmentally conscious and are awarding their business + loyalty to organizations prioritizing sustainability...Read More

Convenience stores have notoriously been data deserts for consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers. C-stores have typically only made weekly sales data by region available to CPG distributors and manufacturers and not at the store level. Historically, c-stores haven’t been at the...Read More

Building a successful premium loyalty program is rewarding for your members and your brand because it forms strong, sustainable relationships. What benefits will provide the most value and resonate with your customers? How do you find a compatible loyalty partner? ...Read More

It seems that fraudsters are more prevalent than ever these days, with tons of different types of fraud that exist.From broad types such as credit card fraud to more specific types such as worker’s compensation fraud, businesses need to be vigilant in their fraud prevention efforts.One type...Read More

By 2030, all the baby boomers will be 65 or older and joining the ranks of being a senior right along with their parents.Per the U.S. Census Bureau, many of those who reach age 65 will likely live an additional 10-20 years, and 13% of us can expect to live to the age of 85 or beyond. The...Read More

As customer feedback methods evolve alongside cross-channel interactions, it’s no longer enough to rely on printed invitations from your POS or EHR systems. Consumers are continuing to turn to digital touchpoints, and brands must adopt innovative engagement methods to collect feedback...Read More

If you feel like you’re not getting the full value out of your investment in technology, you’re not alone. According to Gartner, the majority of marketers across the US and UK are only using 58% of their martech stack’s full capabilities. So, are marketers being sold more...Read More

We know that you, like every marketer, would love to strengthen your brand. From increasing brand awareness to building a group of die-hard raving fans of your product or service, building your brand is a crucial component of an effective marketing strategy. The question is, how do you...Read More

We live in an instant society where consumers want and expect everything now, but most traditional loyalty programs make members wait too long to receive benefits.That’s because they’re based on accumulating points through purchases, where members earn rewards at an indefinite point...Read More

An experience management (XM) program can drive changes across your business that increase loyalty, reduce churn, and generate revenue—and even the smallest changes can have a major impact on your bottom line.In their brief, How Customer Experience Drives Business Growth, 2020, ...Read More

While June 2020 marked the emergence of a new normal, June 2021 was marked by dollar sales that were flat compared to the previous year. Although year-over-year growth is an important measure of performance, the pandemic-influenced 2020 results were so different that there are still questions...Read More

Personalization of the customer experience has become a driving factor in promoting engagement and interaction beyond the point of sale. Companies have been adopting digital technologies to help bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping, while also working to improve consumer...Read More

Gamify to Boost Customer EngagementEvery parent knows a contest or game can transform many situations by redirecting kids’ unruly energy. “Who can sit still the longest?” Counting backward from 100. Twenty questions. These are just a few of the go-to, often impromptu, games that...Read More

Online sales were up 32.4% in 2020 over the previous year.This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering the pandemic situation we found ourselves in.However, even as the pandemic began to subside and restrictions were loosened, it’s likely that online shopping will continue to remain...Read More

Customer loyalty is a high-priority goal for companies seeking sustainable, long-term growth. But traditional loyalty programs can come with a hefty price tag. And despite all the benefits of a traditional loyalty solution, sometimes cost can impede an organization’s ability to move beyond...Read More

Earn and burn has become a passé. Personalization is hygiene.In a world where dynamic consumer behavior has become the deal breaker for brands to set their marketing strategy, gamification might just be the secret ingredient that Indian brands should watch out for next.Coined in 2003...Read More

You don’t necessarily need to channel your inner Jeff Foxworthy, but as marketers, there are some telltale signs to look out for. And if at least one of these signs applies to you, a loyalty program might help. Here are 3 signs, or at least strong indicators:You are competing in a &ldquo...Read More

Seventy-six percent of consumers would pay to join a premium loyalty program, according to our 2021 Premium Loyalty Data Study.That’s because a premium loyalty program offers benefits that extend beyond traditional points. These benefits can take many forms, including...Read More

All year, the Cheetah Digital product teams have been laser-focused on delivering a unified platform to drive revenue, building lasting customer relationships, and creating a unique value exchange throughout the entire customer lifecycle. In June, we introduced exciting updates to the Customer...Read More

‘CUSTO-MORE’ IS ALWAYS RIGHT.  That shot of happiness that courses through your veins everytime you tuck into a cup of Starbucks? It could be more than just caffeine. After all, the ‘rewards’ you pick up with every sip can produce an equally heady feeling. That...Read More

Keeping up with cybersecurity is a challenge for every organization. It’s an ongoing investment that requires constant monitoring, a multitude of safeguards, and myriad other requirements to ensure your systems, customer data, assets, and intellectual property are protected—both...Read More

“So, who needs a customer loyalty program?” Seems like a pretty basic question, doesn’t it? It’s hard to believe that any successful enterprise today doesn’t already have one. And it’s also a reality that many enterprises already do, but could do better. With...Read More

Even though it’s sunny and humid outside, it’s time for marketers to shift our thinking to the days growing ever shorter, the leaves beginning to brown and pumpkin-spiced everything hitting our shelves. The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for the beloved...Read More

In an ultra-competitive marketplace, how do you turn the need to protect sensitive cardholder data into a business advantage? You can start by following these six steps from the PCI Security Standards Council to simplify PCI DSS compliance and streamline your business operations.  ...Read More

COVID-19 changed everything for retail and pushed consumers online.Earning customer loyalty is harder than ever because consumers are trying new brands and changed shopping habits. In fact, nearly two-thirds of consumers say their loyalty is more difficult for retailers to maintain than...Read More

Have you been relying on basic anti-virus and anti-malware tools to protect your business? What if you could get the robust, round-the-clock protection you deserve—at a price you can afford?If you’re in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry, protecting your business just got a...Read More

The pandemic heavily impacted employment across industries, with many companies resorting to layoffs and furloughs to stay afloat. Today, with a record-high increase in job openings and a tight labor market, many organizations are facing a critical challenge as they struggle to hire new...Read More

Of the many different types of fraud that exist, return fraud can be one of the most difficult to track and prevent.This is largely due to the fact that there are many different tactics used by criminals to commit return fraud. It can be difficult to know what to look out for.That...Read More

When pandemic lockdowns took full effect in March 2020, almost every company selling to consumers had to become expert in building engagement between transactions. As restrictions for in-person interactions, travel and gathering in groups were repeatedly extended, the need for innovation became...Read More

Millennials have shown to be one of the most brand-loyal generations.In fact, only 1% of Millennials are impacted by advertising. Instead, they are drawn to memorable customer experiences. They have heightened expectations around customer service and make decisions based...Read More

It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through 2021. As some semblance of normalcy is returning, it feels like many of the unknowns of 2020 are in the rearview mirror. In the past 18 months, we saw the world through a lens we never thought possible. Social media engagement surged...Read More

The sweeping and large-scale impact of pandemic has caused consumers to reduce their outlets for spending. While some of this scaling back is caused by limited financial flexibility, a lot of it is because customers don’t have many avenues to spend. Travel has taken a back seat and work...Read More

The past year reshaped everything about our lives, including how we live, work, and eat. Different brands from across all industries were forced to design new ways of reaching their now home-based customers. Interestingly, fast food restaurant chains like Burger King and McDonald's are...Read More

With the battle for share of wallet more fierce than ever, retailers have to ensure that loyalty and commerce programs are performing at a consistently high level. To drive better business outcomes in this competitive environment, retailers need aggressive goals paired with an effective...Read More

Here’s our second set of notes from Mobile World Congress 2021, to give you a general update on what we learned from attending various sessions at the event.One particularly interesting session explored the immersive world of AR. One panelist suggested that it looks like finally AR is...Read More

It’s July, Mobile World Congress has just ended, and I haven’t left my desk. Welcome to the future? Perhaps.From a strictly personal perspective, I enjoyed the virtual event. The online conference platform was user-friendly, sessions were easy to identify and attend, there was no...Read More

Journey mapping is the process of understanding the experience of loyalty program members, identifying barriers, and focusing on solutions.  For instance, many retailers or merchants are surprised to discover that members have issues with managing their accounts or completing the onboarding...Read More

Customer rewards programs are the point-based loyalty programs to boost sales, customer engagement, build loyal customers and convert casual buyers into brand advocates.It is no secret that today’s customers love reward programs. The question is, what kind of reward system are they truly...Read More

Customers are turning to digital touchpoints more frequently than ever—in fact, 87% of customers begin product searches online. But brands are struggling to advance their customer experience (CX) strategies to keep pace.This has a lot to do with rapid changes in the customer journey...Read More

Health, fitness, mindfulness and wellness have taken center stage during the global pandemic. Brands across all industries have had to address the table stakes issues for how they are keeping the buying experience safe – from digital orders to contactless payments to curbside pick-up or...Read More

When most merchants think of fraud prevention, they concentrate on managing risk and minimizing costs. They don’t consider how fraud prevention can serve as a driver for growth. Fraud prevention is about far more than minimizing risk and cutting costs. It’s also about finding...Read More

PCI-DSS compliance and loyalty programs aren’t usually mentioned in the same breath. But with 90% of retailers thinking about launching premium loyalty programs, where your customers pay for membership, understanding how PCI-DSS compliance impacts your loyalty program has...Read More

The concept of loyalty in healthcare started popping up in niche publications around 2016 and soon gained traction in more mainstream healthcare media, including JAMA and Advisory Board. Most articles suggested looking at loyalty programs in direct-to-consumer industries as guideposts...Read More

The troubling trend of dispassionate automationHistorically one of the core marketing strategies in the United States for driving long-term growth has been retaining high-value customers loyal to your brand—in other words ‘hugging your heavies.’ The art and science of engaging...Read More

During Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference a few weeks ago (WWDC ‘21 6/7-11), the company announced its new “Mail Privacy Protection” (MPP) feature which will be implemented on the Apple Mail app in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey coming this fall. Senders are...Read More

Fast escalating membership to its Loyalty Program membership was making the Founders of this one startup very happy. Till the day the penny dropped. And they realized that the only reason members were growing in number, was that no one could figure out how to exit the “damn” app. Yes,...Read More

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic drove millions of consumers online. People needed a convenient and safe way to buy essential products, and shopping online was the way to go. Today, data shows  that those online shopping behaviors aren’t going anywhere. Consumers will continue to shop...Read More

Strong basket spend and steady, albeit slow, trip return during 2H 2020 ultimately helped “save” 2020 for C-stores and a wide range of categories. In the past six months we’ve seen trips continue to lag 2019 levels, but it appears shoppers are continuing to return and/or...Read More

Empathetic marketing means truly understanding your audience. It’s marketing that knows exactly who the customer or prospect is, what they’re going through, and what they need. It can make that person feel like they’re corresponding with a close friend, family member...Read More

Enjoy your vacation all the more when you earn and redeem loyalty points wherever you go.Grab your free Big Gulp (or perhaps a free Starbucks Venti iced coffee), thanks to your membership rewards, and buckle up! We're going on a loyalty road trip. This cross-country fantasy takes place all...Read More

In the last year, as brands adapted to better meet their customers’ needs, so too did the consumer mindset evolve. Think of your consumer habits before the pandemic. How many stores did you peruse on an errand-packed day? Did you plan ahead and order online, or wing it, hoping for the...Read More

What was that one thing that most brands focused most during last year?Brand Loyalty.Indeed, it has come a long way. In the world of retail, loyalty was often considered as an underdog. The broadcast commercials, promotional offers and print advertisements ruled the roost. Cut to the...Read More

Return fraud can be a scary thing for businesses to deal with.How do you know if you’re dealing with it? What are the signs? How many different types of return fraud are out there?We’ve talked about return fraud in general before and highlighted everything from how it...Read More

Amazon continues to break sales records every year and Prime Day 2021 will likely follow the trend.  Since 2015, Prime Day has grown to become one of Amazon’s most important events. And while COVID-19 turned retail on its head...Read More

Loyalty programs have typically relied on a core value proposition around earning points – the basic “do-get” concept.  Members earn based on their spending and receive some sort of reward.  But today’s customers expect more in return for their loyalty.  ...Read More

Convenience was already top of mind for most consumers. But a global pandemic has only heightened the focus on convenient choices—and restaurants are meeting that demand with expanded in-house delivery options and delivery partnerships.Yet third-party delivery on its own remains prevalent...Read More

Loyalty programs are important to brands for many reasons.They make your customers feel special and valued, and successful ones improve your bottom line.Rewarding your customers for their loyalty with valuable and unique benefits can set you apart from the competition.According to our 2020...Read More

What is your “go to” to incentivize your loyalty program, rewards program, or community members to engage and act? Is it free samples? A branded experience? VIP treatment? A discount offer?Marketers are challenged with striking the right balance between transactional engagement and...Read More

As a Salesforce MVP and Vice President of Product at 7Summits, a Salesforce integration partner, I live and breathe Salesforce. I know how to build amazing digital experiences on the Salesforce platform that leverage innovative components, apps, and Lightning bolts. I’ve authored a few...Read More

Consumers are gearing up for a more “normal”-looking summer—one that involves traveling, getting food from restaurants, and shopping in-store. However, while people are feeling more comfortable resuming pre-COVID activities, elevated health + safety expectations are here to stay...Read More

Like most industries, banking and insurance were already undergoing a shift to serving customers through digital channels, but in 2020, the shift to all-digital went into overdrive almost overnight. This was a huge wakeup call for the financial services industry to focus not only on digital...Read More

Shopping for technology is a process. At last check, there were over 8,000 different marketing technologies available to businesses. From data, to content and experience, to commerce and sales, it can be downright overwhelming assessing everything that’s available out...Read More

Prime Day’s sales have increased significantly each year, including last year’s event held in October due to the pandemic. Typically held in July, this year’s Prime Day is set for June 21-22.Besides recording massive sales during the annual two-day shopping...Read More

Marketers have been focused on engaging between the transactions for the better part of this century – whether they realize it or not. For many brands, it has been no small feat. By itself, getting customers to change behaviors can be challenging enough; however, when you add in the task of...Read More

As retailers reopen during the back half of 2020, they face the unique challenge of ensuring customers feel comfortable with the return to in-person shopping. Businesses across the board have been forced to reimagine the entire in-store experience to meet social distancing and hygiene standards...Read More

If you have a store on the Adobe Commerce platform then you know how difficult it is to balance fraud prevention and a fast and seamless shopping experience. Maybe you’re struggling with a legacy fraud prevention system that falsely declines legitimate customers and adds unnecessary...Read More

Did you know there are regulations and restrictions when using images of currency in advertising?  The law regulating currency images is called the Counterfeit Detection Act of 1992 and is administered by the Department of Treasury.  The law sets forth rules for how advertisers can use...Read More

This post was originally published in June 2019 and was updated in April 2021 with additional data points, updated survey results, and new information.These days, you don’t order takeout, book a hotel, or buy a product without reading a few reviews first. In fact, 91% of our 2021 survey...Read More

A launch needs to tell a story about how it is solving the end user’s problem, even if the problem they are solving is not one that users were previously aware they had.  Recently, our client Miller Brewing Co., pulled off a deliciously fun little stunt at the expense of its...Read More

Whether it’s visiting your website to research and purchase products or engaging with your mobile app, customers are turning to digital channels more frequently than ever.In their June 2020 report, Envisioning The Future of Omnichannel Commerce, Forrester states, “It...Read More

The world is no longer the same. Masks and hand sterilizers are the bare minima for social acceptance at the outset until the world gets vaccinated. People tried their best to transform from meeting rooms to Zoom meetings and office desks to couch-beds, but that’s not all that changed.Let...Read More

It’s more essential than ever that marketers take a step back from tracking and stalking consumers across the internet — and take a step forward into building actual relationships with them. However, this is easier said than done. Together with Raconteur, Cheetah Digital has...Read More

Premium loyalty programs are becoming best practice for some retailers because they increase engagement with your best customers and build emotional loyalty.These programs offer instant, 24/7 access to top-tier benefits like free shipping and immediate discounts in exchange for a membership fee...Read More

When the same old discounts aren’t helping brands sell anymore, a click to claim campaign can help track down the reason why — and give their customers an extra incentive to buy as well. The opportunity for experimentation, segmentation, analytics, and enhanced customer experience...Read More

Fuel operators face all kinds of new challenge today due to lack of time, resources, automation and tools needed to deliver on-demand insights and provide visibility to make sound decisions that have major impact on a business’ bottom line. If we shine a spotlight on one area, Terminal...Read More

The race between competitor brands in the Middle East has recently become very intense. Almost 70% of the population is less than 30 years of age with a dynamic purchase behavior. Unless brands build a robust feedback system to understand customers’ needs, buyers could easily jump to...Read More

Fraud is a persistent issue causing great harm to businesses regardless of industry.From basic lost revenue to the damage caused by different aspects such as false declines, it’s in everyone’s best interest to take preventative measures and minimize fraud in all of its forms.The...Read More

A successful loyalty program has three equally important parts: a compelling value proposition, operational feasibility, and financial viability. While loyalty clients frequently focus on developing a clever or unique value proposition, it’s important to balance that with the two other...Read More

Retailers have spent the last year adjusting their operations to accommodate new consumer shopping behaviors. From investing in buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) offerings to premium loyalty programs, ecommerce retailers are doing all they can to retain customers.Despite the many changes to...Read More

Two customers A and B walk into a grocery store. Customer A visits the store every first week of the month, and shops with an organized list. They stick to previously used brands or opts for a product with the most discounted price. Meanwhile, Customer B is a frequent visitor...Read More

This interview is part of our Moving Forward Blog Series, where we ask major brands how they’re adapting to changing consumer expectations from a loyalty perspective post-pandemic. As the nation’s leading bridal and special occasion brand, David’s Bridal has made the most...Read More

Shoppers’ priorities and expectations have changed throughout 2020, but one constant has been the desire for a safe and convenient shopping experience. Whether you’ve recently implemented a BOPIS program or have been offering it in some form for years, there is always room...Read More

If you have been following our blog, you may have heard us speak about “value exchange” which is a big driver of what we do at Cheetah Digital. Cheetah Experiences isn’t any different and it has always had a clear vision to enable marketers to create beautiful...Read More

Thanks to social media and third-party review sites, the customer relationship hasn’t been private for decades. Instead of an unsatisfied consumer quietly choosing to walk away after a negative interaction, they can write a review to share their negative experience with the world and...Read More

There is a lot of discussion on the “death of the cookie” and what it means for marketers – the questions swirl:How will we connect with our customers if we can’t track them across touchpoints and platforms?How will we talk to them in meaningful and relevant ways?How will...Read More

Ninety percent of retailers say expanding their respective loyalty programs is a priority for 2021.The days of “set it and forget it” loyalty programs are over. Consumers have too many choices today and, if they don’t see any value from your loyalty program, they will...Read More

Last month PDI completed its twentieth acquisition, and if that sounds like a lot, it is. It’s great to work for a company that’s growing so quickly, but I’ll bet you’re wondering what’s in it for you.For starters, we’re not making acquisitions just for the...Read More

As leaders finalize plans for hybrid work environments and/or returning employees to the workplace, what’s key is to not set that date and see it as a finish line for the organization. Instead, see it as a milestone to continuing the transformation. Now is an opportunity to improve the...Read More

This episode of Coffee with Comarch Loyalty features Devin Miller, who has been creating amazing digital experiences at ExxonMobil for the past 15 years. Watch the episode now to discover how the brand pivoted its loyalty strategy, how customer experience trends in fuel retail are inspiring their...Read More

With coronavirus case numbers declining in the U.S., the retail industry has reached the beginning of the end to one of its most hectic periods in recent memory. But even as public health restrictions across the country continue to ease, retailers should not be so quick to abandon all of the...Read More

The B2B industry saw a bit of a reckoning in 2020. The industry that historically focused on product attributes and lead attribution was forced to reset during a year full of crises. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated new marketing trends, and traditional means of engaging, selling to, retaining...Read More

Striking a balance between your local and corporate marketing goals can be intricate. Constant brand messaging is an essential part of your marketing duties, and you must ensure that all teams receive the right message. Conflicting messaging can do more harm than good. Ultimately, all marketing...Read More

The beer category boomed in 2020, with a large positive shift at the start of the pandemic. However, more recently beer sales are down versus a year ago, as are trips. Immediate questions rise to the surface:Have beer sales returned to their pre-pandemic levels?Should we expect to lose additional...Read More

The pre-Covid levels of retail revenue in India seem farther away now. While many retailers hoped that 2021 would be the year of recovery, the second wave of infections have dampened their pace. Even the financial services company Nomura has revised its growth expectations for India...Read More

In the first two parts of this series, we looked at ‘Understand your Objectives’, and ‘Program Characteristics’. In the final part of the series, we now take those two steps and look at what they mean for you.Firstly, it’s important to understand that your brand is a...Read More

Just when many brands thought they had customer loyalty figured out with new technology and the ability to capture data, Dave Andreadakis, Kobie’s Chief Innovation Officer, suggests there may be something just as important that marketers need to do. Kobie is a recognized industry leader in...Read More

Brand partnerships are often framed as business opportunities or a way to solve a pain point in the customer journey. Both are true.But partnerships also provide powerful value that drives both business growth and customer loyalty.So let’s dig in!In this presentation, we’ll cover the...Read More

With the nature of the program settled (read the first blog in this series, here), what about program characteristics, specifically those beyond the standard transactional and emotional engagement vectors? There are a number of other characteristics worth considering when comparing concept types...Read More

Research shows 72% of all ecommerce transactions are expected to come from mobile this year. While this is a significant number, is it really that much of a surprise given how much we rely on our devices? Mobile digital experiences answer our questions, show us the latest sale...Read More

In the latest version of our COVID-19 Monitor Survey, U.S. consumers report how the pandemic has impacted their personal finances and financial behaviors.Editor’s Note (5/25/2021): This article includes findings from ICF’s eleventh wave of data collection that was fielded April...Read More

As more consumers begin to make in-store visits again, retailers must continue to focus on health + safety measures to ensure customers feel comfortable with their experience. To get a better understanding of what those expectations look like and how they’re impacting consumer behavior, we...Read More

If you’re on our website and reading this blog, the chances are that either now or at one time or another in the past, you’ve been faced with the task of designing an effective Customer Value Management or Loyalty program. The question’s an obvious one; arriving at the right...Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the way people carry out normal life and more specifically the way that they shop.By the end of the first quarter of 2020, the ecommerce market experienced 10 years’ worth of growth, according to data from McKinsey & Company. This...Read More

When your brand launches or revamps a loyalty program, you hope it will be attractive to consumers and elevate their engagement and spending frequency.The main attraction of any loyalty program is your benefits.From our research, the quicker you provide benefits to members of your loyalty...Read More

At PDI Security Solutions, we see ransomware attacks on a daily basis. However, those attacks typically don’t show up as news alerts or headlines in national news media. That’s where the attack on the Colonial Pipeline stands out. Yet the underlying issues of all ransomware...Read More

Spicy salsa, rich ranch, or gratifyingly good guac, just what is the perfect dip to plunge a Lay’s Bugles® cone into? Well, rather than merely guess, or commission a costly and time-consuming focus group, the Lay’s Bugles® team (a Lay’s® crisp brand and part of the...Read More

There are lots of loyalty stats out there from a consumer perspective, including our 2020 Premium Loyalty Data Study.But if you’re looking for statistics from retailers, read on.Based on a national survey of 300 marketing and loyalty professionals, our 2021 Loyalty Industry Data...Read More

Gas stations can close or run out of fuel after a natural disaster or a crisis. GasBuddy’s Fuel Availability Tracker helps drivers in affected areas find fuel if stations run out. GasBuddy’s free app can tell you which stations have no gasoline, no diesel, or no power so you can try...Read More

When doctors, nurses and other frontline healthcare warriors feel the heat of stress and adversary, leaders must step in to help them recuperate - by unleashing the tonic of genuine recognition, generous appreciation and meaningful rewards. While the healthcare warriors are doing so much for...Read More

Background Three Ireland is the number two mobile service provider in its domestic market with an approximately 35% market share. With 2.4 million customers, its 4G network covers 99% of the population, of whom 37.5% presently have 5G coverage. 68% of Ireland’s mobile data traffic is...Read More

Jersey Mike’s, the nation’s leading fast casual sub sandwich franchise, wanted to reconnect with their lapsed customers and acquire new ones. Jeff Hemschoot, Marketing Director at Jersey Mike’s, explains, “Our goal was to test if digital could help us reactivate...Read More

SHIFTING CONSUMER NEEDS DISRUPTED THE RETAIL STATUS QUO.In the direct-to-consumer (DTC) category, brands are adapting their e-commerce strategies and capabilities to keep pace with consumer preferences. Those changes are happening at digital-first brands (e.g., men’s wellness site Hims and...Read More

Unified data is the key tool in a marketer’s arsenal to personalize at scale. In a digital-first world, consumers are engaging brands and consuming media at the time and place of their choosing, across multiple channels. Building that one-to-one relationship has become the way to delight...Read More

While most brands understand the importance of customer + employee feedback and have some sort of experience management (XM) solution in place, many lack the actionable insights necessary to create meaningful, systemwide change.For large organizations, this is often due to an XM provider...Read More

Did you know that there is a better way to make your new customers behave like they have been buying your product for 10 years?Yes, you read it right! Your brand can attain this from refining customer experiences through an accessible rewards program. A good reward’s program can become the...Read More

The holiday shopping season is the most crucial time of the year for retailers. Your brand’s sales in the final quarter of the fiscal year can determine whether you blast through your yearly sales goals or miss the mark by a longshot. Last year’s unprecedented holiday season brought...Read More

When you offer a premium loyalty program, there is an extra layer of customer service that members expect. After all, they’re paying to be members and they’re your best customers.Whether you manage your premium loyalty program in-house or work with a loyalty partner...Read More

Most often, disruption in the fuel supply chain comes with little warning, as it did this week with the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline system. While the magnitude of the impact on this critical supply artery isn’t fully clear, there are already localized outages and reports of long...Read More

Apple plans to start rolling out its long-awaited App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework on April 26. This new development requires active and explicit consent for access to a device’s identifier for advertisers (IDFA), meaning publishers need permission before using a device ID or any...Read More

Background The Cambodian mobile market is extremely competitive with three main service providers, including Cellcard, battling for market share. Their fight has to date been characterized by an ongoing price war in which the cost of data has dropped precipitously ($10 buys 10GBs across all...Read More

With apologies to my favorite wildlife creature/meme/video/viral sensation over the last decade, I’d like to talk about ransomware.If you think “honey badger don’t care,” wait until your first experience with ransomware. Because ransomware definitely don’t care. (And...Read More

In the latest version of our COVID-19 Monitor Survey, hard-hit consumers look likely to return to pre-pandemic habits in retail.Editor’s Note (5/13/2021):This article includes findings from ICF’s eleventh wave of data collection that was fielded April 15 – 22. This wave...Read More

As COVID-19 cases continue to decline across the country, more consumers are starting to feel comfortable shopping in-store again. And while e-commerce and digital sales will continue to grow long after the pandemic is over, the current increase in foot traffic is a great opportunity...Read More

Look-alike models can be used to expand a brand’s target audience. These models analyze a small dataset of consumers and identify desirable characteristics. The model is then used to find more people who share those traits in a larger set of data, providing access to an otherwise unknown...Read More

There has been a lot of talk in the marketing world about Google's plans to eradicate third-party cookies. The Chrome browser, which houses about two-thirds of the online market, will no longer host third-party cookies. It comes as a massive blow for marketers considering ...Read More

This episode of Coffee with Comarch Loyalty features Patsy Rey, who has spent nearly 30 years fostering customer loyalty at Enterprise Holdings. From the resurgence of the road trip to communicating with customers and “future-proofing” loyalty programs, listen in to discover how...Read More

Customers today are hyper-aware and engaging them is a tough task for businesses. But through numerous customer engagement strategies and techniques it is possible to make a real connection with customers that extends beyond selling.‍What is Customer Engagement?Gallup’s definition...Read More

After analyzing over 400 million checkouts, Bed Bath and Beyond announced last fall that it would be cutting back on its infamous coupon strategy, deeming 40% of them “ineffective.”“Ineffective at what?” you might ask. And that is a great question! When it comes to...Read More

Earning customer loyalty was hard before COVID-19.Now, it’s even harder.In fact, nearly two-thirds of consumers say their loyalty is more difficult for retailers to maintain than ever before.There are so many loyalty programs out there (90% of companies offer either a loyalty...Read More

The past year saw retail brands move faster than ever to embrace digital transformation. Today’s challenge is driving customers back in-store while also retaining strong online engagement. As long-held marketing practices continue to be disrupted, now is the time for bold action supported...Read More

An Inhospitable LandscapeWe recently hosted a webinar with NCR, a global leader in banking and commerce solutions, that focused on creating Human Centered Experiences in restaurants and hospitality. A relevant topic in any market, the past year has introduced new challenges for...Read More

Your business-to-business (B2B) customers are used to doing business with your sales reps over the phone. Will they adopt a digital commerce substitute? Only if you help them make the change from phone to storefront. If you’ve already taken the steps to launch your digital...Read More

It is an open secret that brands invest significant revenue to nurture loyal customers (research shows over 70% of brands invest more than 2% of total revenue)— after all, a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75 percent.  Today...Read More

There’s no doubt that false declines can be a confusing problem to deal with.On the one hand, fraud prevention is necessary. Fraudsters are more prevalent than ever, using stolen credit card credentials to make illegitimate purchases.However, this same net also manages to capture genuine...Read More

If there’s one thing this last year has taught us, it’s that consumer behavior has changed drastically. And brands who have pivoted to meet changing expectations are those who will build even stronger relationships with their customers...Read More

Online shopping has exploded over the last year, due to both convenience and necessity. While this has been a struggle for some brick-and-mortar retailers, it has been a boon for those who have a robust online presence. As we deal with the fallout of the last year, Gartner notes...Read More

The past year has been an emotional rollercoaster—you would be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t been on a ride. In times like these, we turn to the things that comfort us. It could be a favorite video game, a bit of online shopping, or a favorite food or drink. For me, it&rsquo...Read More

Brands that drive the most meaningful customer loyalty find ways to connect their products and services so that customers gain added value.  Traditional financial institutions have been chipping away at digital transformation roadmaps, but most are still playing catch-up due to internal...Read More

Business owners are juggling a lot – from managing employees to meeting customer expectations – they are constantly focused on problem-solving multiple issues at once.However, one issue that may fly under the radar for businesses is false declines.A  false decline is a...Read More

In our recent Loyalty Industry Data Study, we talked to 300 retail marketers and found that 95% of them said one mega-retailer influenced their decision to consider a premium loyalty program by the end of 2021.This retailer has hundreds of millions of customers globally and offers things...Read More

C-store trips have been increasing steadily and catching up to pre-pandemic levels. This is good news, but c-Stores still have to recapture all of their lost trips, as shoppers have not resumed all their previous habits.  A steady climb in trips, combined with a record-high spend per trip...Read More

If the number of new management books, conferences, and executive education programs are any indication, senior leaders and team managers are going to need a whole new set of skills to succeed in the new model of company culture — hybrid work.  ...Read More

DEVELOPING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS HAS ALWAYS BEEN CRITICAL FOR BRANDS TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS, AND THIS BECOMES EVEN MORE VITAL IN A PRIVACY-FIRST WORLD.—David Temkin, Google’s Director of Product Management, Ads Privacy and User TrustFor decades digital...Read More

Long before the onset of COVID-19, organizations were prioritizing digital transformation efforts and opening up more channels + touchpoints for customers and employees to engage with their brand. But the pandemic only exacerbated the need, forcing more aggressive digital expansions...Read More

It’s been a little over a year since our team started working remotely.While we’ve always had a work-from-home policy in place, none of us were truly prepared for the shift that came on March 13th, 2020.This quickly threw a curveball at our highly collaborative, in-person culture. So,...Read More

There’s a coherent argument that presently, we are in the middle of a seismic shift in terms of what brands are doing with their customer loyalty and engagement initiatives.This shift has been accelerated by the worldwide pandemic, in the wake of which digital disruption is forcing brands...Read More

Given their superpowers of organizing and accelerating business outcomes, implementing a CRM is often its own reward. And while your teams will agree with the spirit of the expression, you can’t blame them for wanting to be rewarded a little more ‘tangibly’ for little and big...Read More

In order to deliver effective customer engagement strategies, brands and marketers often need to look beyond the technology, and ensure that the people, process, and strategy elements within are sound, well-articulated, and well communicated in an organization. According to Gartner, modern...Read More

Creating customer value and cultivating customer relationships has never been more important—or complicated. Consumer expectations are high, business models have changed, and it’s essential for brands to communicate value in everything they do.This is especially important for loyalty...Read More

As we emerge from the pandemic, the once “new normal” is becoming a bit more normal. We’ve adapted to new procedures, social distancing, and changed our shopping behaviors.Amid changes in consumer behavior last year, retailers were forced to reactively respond quickly making...Read More

With every new year, you can look forward to a list of creative trends that will define it, or try to. Some are spot-on, and some are just ideas that never take off. But in the last calendar year, a lot in the world has changed and our design communications have evolved with it. ...Read More

DIGITAL MARKETING NEEDS TO ACCOMMODATE CONSUMERS’ POST-PANDEMIC OUTLOOK.During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home orders, The Harris Poll determined that between 46% and 51% of U.S. adults reported using social media more since the outbreak began. Among the...Read More

With last year’s accelerated surge in digital and cross-channel shopping—which included 146% growth in all online retail orders in the U.S. and Canada alone—brands were forced to take a critical eye to theirdigital transformation maturityand work quickly to evolve...Read More

Recent research from Statista projects that the total eCommerce revenue in Africa will be close to $25 billion in 2021 and with a projected annual growth rate of more than 13% could reach $40 billion by 2025. This growth potential not only provides domestic and cross-border eCommerce...Read More

In today’s highly competitive digital landscape, brands have to balance between retaining customers and acquiring new ones to continue growth in both business and customer base. In fact, what hurts brands most is losing existing customers instead of vying for new ones. As per one study...Read More

In this week’s episode of the #loyaltyexpertsvoice video series, Sami Nachawati, Consulting Director at Comarch, presents a few numbers that show the scale of the global mobile payments revolution happening right now. Focusing primarily on the #oil&gas industry and retail, Sami reveals...Read More

Identity resolution was a major challenge for marketers even before they were confronted with the phase-out of third-party cookies and mobile ad IDs. It’s increasingly important to construct a single, coherent, actionable view of customers across online and offline...Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the travel and tourism sector. In 2019, 330 million jobs were supported by travel and tourism. The novel coronavirus has impacted over 120 million of those jobs and livelihoods, and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates a loss of $3.4...Read More

Ninety-five percent of retailers with only traditional loyalty programs have discussed launching a premium loyalty program in 2021 and Best Buy’s new Beta membership program is the latest example.It’s no secret that Best Buy saw increased sales since the pandemic started as...Read More

It’s a hot buzzword these days - but you might be left wondering what does customer advocacy mean? You’re not alone if you’re feeling a bit confused, as customer advocacy actually comes in different forms. Making your customers into more than just purchasers - into advocates...Read More

There’s no doubt that fraudulent transactions end up costing businesses money. With fraudsters targeting businesses at alarmingly high rates, it’s become more important than ever to protect yourself across every stage of the purchasing journey.However, this very same protection...Read More

Why should employee engagement efforts be at the top of your organization’s priority list? Engaged employees are more loyal, helping create highly satisfied and loyal customers. And highly satisfied, loyal customers lead directly to growth in sales and profits. This progression is...Read More

In this episode of the #loyaltyexpertsvoice series, Aleksandra Sasińska, Product Manager at Comarch, talks about #gamification, explaining why loyalty programs thrive on game-like mechanics. Watch the video to learn why most of today’s loyalty programs are not strictly about loyalty and how...Read More

When the pandemic hit, Marriott had to rethink how it approached customers. For many, leaving their homes and traveling in general gave consumers pause. Sure, people’s day-to-day changed, but their mindsets changed as well. This was uncharted territory.No matter what industry you’re...Read More

Marketers have always been at the precipice of change and innovation, yet the vicissitude of the past year has tested those skills to the limit. With bricks-and-mortar stores largely closed for business, digital natives have been joined online by swathes of digital newbies. However, these...Read More

Membership loyalty programs, also known as premium loyalty programs, have been around for quite some time.But they’re growing in popularity. Why is that?In these programs, your customers pay a fee in exchange for enhanced benefits that traditional free loyalty programs can’t...Read More

The world expected a better 2021 with vaccination and a hope for a brighter tomorrow! And here we are, yet again standing still amidst chaos in the second quarter of the year. There are fresh guidelines being issued everyday on travel, lockdown, opening of schools, malls with the second wave of...Read More

Consider that it takes five to seven times more money to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one. What’s more, the average, loyal customer is worth at least 10 times as much as their first purchase and 50% more likely to try out new products from your company....Read More

You’ve found yourself at step four of our Personalization Engine Series. So far we’ve introduced the importance of a personalization engine. We’ve connected the dots, explaining how data curation via four distinct lenses (customer identification, customer preference, behavioral...Read More

Loyalty programs are a central component of many convenience retailers’ marketing and customer engagement strategies, and for good reason. They collect vital customer data and insights into member behaviors, provide value to members through the accrual and redemption of rewards, and...Read More

On March 3, Google published its position on user-level identifiers, and some likened it to dropping a bomb on the ad-tech community. Google shared that it does not intend to directly use alternative authenticated user-level identifiers after deprecating third-party...Read More

While the purchasing journey presents many opportunities for fraudsters to target your business, you may be surprised to learn that false declines are often even more damaging.Merchants can lose up to 75x more revenue to false declines than they do to fraud.However...Read More

Our Founder, CEO, and Community Powered Marketing pioneer Susan Frech shared how to build lasting bonds that create authentic brand advocacy in a recent article for Forbes. The following article was originally published here. Every brand has its best customers. The definition of ride-or...Read More

It was a heck of a 2020.  But, as 2020 was more a reactive year for retailers due to COVID-19, the first three months of 2021 have been more proactive.  Retail is starting to reopen.  Last year 35% of U.S. consumers tried a new brand since the COVID-19 pandemic began...Read More

All brands vie to target customers with intelligent marketing, but a few get it right.  Imagine if at the height of the pandemic, after spending a week browsing for a bigger apartment to shift into, you come across your dream house through a Facebook ad—a classic scenario when you...Read More

There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives and changed everything about how we go about our day to day business. How we work, how we play, how we educate, how we dine and so much more. But it has been particularly impactful on how we bank.Almost from the start, the...Read More

To remain relevant and grow as a business, a vast majority of leaders say their company will fundamentally change how it engages with customersFirst came customer experience. The much-needed employee experience followed. The next frontier CEOs need to conquer? The business of experience. ...Read More

“It all began in the markets of Provence. With nothing but an alembic, a small truck and a solid knowledge of plants…” is L’Occitane’s humble origin story. Since then, the brand has grown to sell luxurious skincare and beauty products in stores across the...Read More

As paid loyalty programs continue to gain popularity, many retailers are asking themselves if they should consider offering one to their customers.This approach takes the traditional loyalty model of transactions first for benefits later and completely turns it upside down. In a paid loyalty...Read More

Measurement is paramount in marketing today. Every decision we make as marketers to enhance efficiency and effectiveness must be measured before it can be assessed, either directly or indirectly. Without measurements, we wouldn’t know whether our decisions yielded the actions and results we...Read More

Consumers demand experiences that speak to their deepest emotions and true feelings. Yet we all know that data is drying up and trends are moving faster then ever. How can you stay on top of key decision-making factors that traditional research measures might miss?Discover Vesta’s New...Read More

As an e-commerce business owner, there’s a good chance that you’re missing out on more potential business than you might think.Why is this?Two words: False declines.We’ve previously gone in-depth explaining what false declines are.  However, for those...Read More

Even though the California Consumer Protection Act (the “CCPA”) is still wet behind the ears – only becoming effective on January 1, 2020 – California voters decided in November 2020 to amend and expand the CCPA by passing the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA...Read More

In today’s “smart,” connected world, cybercriminals and their tools are having a field day. Anything connected to the internet is within reach as bad actors execute phishing campaigns and malware strains that are increasingly sophisticated and diverse. This means that...Read More

As we move deeper into 2021, many of us will be encountering a changed landscape, especially retailers and retail marketers. In a recent survey done by Gartner, analysts found that CMOs are more likely to be looking inward in the coming months, focusing their efforts on their already existing...Read More

When it comes to garnering customer loyalty, Oil and Gas Retail companies face unique challenges. For one, fuel prices are highly regulated by the government and fluctuate with changes in the global crude oil prices, and so profit margins on fuel sales are slim when compared to other sectors...Read More

Not so long ago, "bleisure"—a term coined about a decade ago to describe the combining of business and leisure travel—was hot. Travel marketers everywhere were talking about the trend, and for good reason: Cheaper airfare, increasingly distributed workforces and an era of...Read More

While brand marketers understand the importance of customer loyalty, there is significant difficulty navigating the complex MarTech landscape.In its assessment of the MarTech landscape, Loyalty360 recently released its first-ever Technology Today Industry report, which recognized Clarus Commerce...Read More

Making a decision can be a simple task, like what to eat for dinner, or a monumental choice, like finding a spouse.Decisioning, on the other hand, is decision-making by means of computational methodology. These days decisioning is more high-tech than ever, perhaps especially in marketing. That...Read More

Often overlooked, line managers play a crucial role in mitigating negative employee sentiment while fostering an inclusive and strong workforce culture.As more people are vaccinated against COVID-19, most companies are preparing to—once again—readjust approaches to where and how...Read More

In this episode of the #loyaltyexpertsvoice series, we’ve got Christopher Sandstrom, Director of Marketing at Comarch North America, talking about building a strong #community of brand advocates using the so-called “4 Ls” (Locate, Listen, Leverage, Learn) model. Enjoy this 3...Read More

Today, we're featuring a guest post from Dan Greenberg of Skipify. When a customer makes a decision to purchase something, you have a very brief window of time where that decision is fresh in their mind. The longer you wait, and the more distractions that get in the way...Read More

Tracking your loyalty program KPIs and optimizing your program over time to keep it fresh and relevant is crucial to its long-term success.After all, launching a loyalty program is a huge feat in itself, but you can’t stop there.That’s just the beginning.For example, how often is it...Read More

Remember that old connect-the-dots game—the one a parent or friend likely taught you as a kid? You draw a bunch of dots in a pattern of squares and then take turns connecting one dot to another. If you make a box with your line, you get to place your initial inside the box and then draw...Read More

The human mind loves games.Around us, from millennials playing CandyCrush for hours on social media to gamblers losing all their money in casinos, there are plenty of examples of how games can be addicting. In fact, gaming is the most popular habit of the digital age. A report by Statista...Read More

Since the pandemic began, many brands have been playing from behind due to store closings, a massive shift to online purchases, and limitless consumer options.While loyalty was hard for brands in the past, it’s even harder now.At Best Western, listening to customer voices and issues...Read More

While most brands have adapted and stood up multiple listening points for feedback and engagement across the ever-growing network of customer touchpoints, this information is often disparate and disjointed.But when you eliminate those silos and integrate datasets, you stand to gain big. As...Read More

Remember those old geometry proofs you hated in high school? Or maybe you liked them like I did. Regardless, a geometry proof is a pretty good metaphor for the conundrum that marketers are finding themselves in:If you’re a marketer today, you must build and deepen your brand’s...Read More

With every brand trying to sell you something, it’s no surprise that the Internet is chock full of content and marketing messages.But which messages or ads do you really remember?If you spend some time thinking about it, you’ll notice that it’s usually something that you...Read More

Last week, Google published a blog post detailing their position on leveraging alternative user-level identifiers once third-party cookies are deprecated, noting their consumer privacy concerns and how such an identifier would be used in...Read More

The COVID climate has prompted more shoppers than ever before to shift to digital channels. Today’s volume of new online shoppers is 2x greater than pre COVID-19 levels. However, these new online shoppers are 5-7x more likely to be declined by current fraud systems than returning...Read More

Unleashing the full potential of mobile With smartphones accounting for 84% of the 2019 holiday season shopping, mobile loyalty programs present a clear and present opportunity for American retailers to increase sales, conversions, and overall customer experience...Read More

2021 has travel and hospitality brands poised for a long-awaited recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. But this promised recovery will not look like anything that came before. Consumer habits and preferences have been rewired by the pandemic, forcing brands to dig deeper to connect with and...Read More

Fourth-quarter sales at Urban Outfitters fell 7%, prompting company officials to find a way to spark sales growth and increase customer engagement.Along with the drop in sales, Urban Outfitters temporarily closed stores after the pandemic began. Although sales decreased, the number of...Read More

Zero-party data is heating up.Google the term and you’ll find thousands of results, from simple definitions to “complete” guides, and even an article calling zero-party data the “holy grail” of consumer information. Meanwhile, research companies are cranking out...Read More

What can ecommerce browsing and buying habits in 51 countries tell us about the digital surge – and what’s next for brands?2020 was the year digital transformation became more than a distant ambition, and everything we thought we knew about online shopping statistics flew out the...Read More

Every organization that conducts transactions online battles fraud. However, not every organization faces the same types of fraud nor do they approach fraud prevention in the same way. Some businesses present a higher value target for fraudsters, so they deal with more risks and get hit by a...Read More

Did you know that 90% of retailers say expanding their respective loyalty programs is a priority for 2021?There has been plenty of change in the past year, thanks to COVID-19 and its massive impact on consumer behavior and retailers themselves.Consider that nearly two-thirds of...Read More

No man is an islandCommunity & connections are integral to humans and we tend to do badly when isolated from each other.The irony is that it took us a pandemic to realize the need for building and maintaining strong relationships.With social distancing in place, we have realized how much we...Read More

Identity. It’s the holy grail sitting at the core of digital advertising and powering personalization, measurement and efficiency. With third-party cookie deprecation looming and Apple’s pending IDFA changes this spring, marketers are preparing for a future where identity resolution...Read More

The White ElephantWe are referring to the (erstwhile) frequent traveler’s elite status in glitzy hotel chains worldwide. If you have been a busy business traveler or a globe trotter, you will agree to this. COVID-19 made your top-tier memberships with hotel brands practically useless...Read More

The Pain in Payments TodayIn the payments process today, both merchants and issuing banks need to perform risk evaluations on every transaction to reduce fraud. However, these decisions are made independently, with merchants and issuers using different sets of data and insights to evaluate risk...Read More

There’s one mode of transport that’s no stranger to the loyalty program. From frequent flyer miles to members’ only lounges, airline schemes are abundant, driving both profit and customer affinity. But for on-the-ground transit operators, loyalty programs are few and far...Read More

With mobile ecosystems rapidly evolving, challenges and opportunities are being presented at equal pace. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) accumulating a raft of new applications central to delivering advanced networks is now a commonplace strategy; the result being that remote SIM configuration...Read More

Lots of consumers belong to loyalty programs. That may make it seem like there are a lot of loyal customers out there, but these 17 customer loyalty stats say otherwise.Just about every retailer has a loyalty program and chances are, you’re a member of at least a few of them.Purchase a...Read More

In the latest episode of the #loyaltyexpertsvoice series, Maciej Tyczyński, Head of Data Analytics & Machine Learning Team at Comarch, explains what the term "loyaltyfraud" really means. He discusses some of the most common types of fraudulent activities and reveals how they can...Read More

In 2021, brands are prioritizing customer retention. And in order to know how well your business is doing at maintaining customers, you must measure your success with customer retention metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). These measurements track how successful your business is at...Read More

The core of optimized marketing relies on attracting high-value, targeted demographics. The key to this strategy is reliable customer data, which allows a business to vet qualified customers as well as enhance its products and services.   This has led to an increase in...Read More

This scenario is much more common than it should be: you’re checking the monthly channel sales numbers and the results are disappointing. The rebate program you put in place to incentivize partners to sell more isn’t helping. In fact, some partners aren’t even entering the sales...Read More

The number of online transactions has risen dramatically in recent months as a vast majority of consumers shifted from shopping primarily in-store to shopping online. Fraudsters have noticed the rise in digital transactions and merchants expanding to new channels, services, and markets.As more...Read More

We’re all ready for GOOD NEWS, aren’t we? As COVID-19 vaccines become available and the pandemic starts to recede, you can expect more opportunities to enjoy travel again. This year also marks a milestone for EA+, as it is our 25th Anniversary. For the past quarter-century, ...Read More

Less than a third of global marketing leaders were satisfied with their ability to measure ROI last year. How is 2021 flipping the script?Chief marketing officers (CMOs) have faced an uphill battle delivering premium customer experiences while driving business in the last year. Not only do they...Read More

Stuzo congratulates Murphy USA on its incredible achievement wherein its Murphy Drive Rewards program was ranked the #1 Gas Station loyalty program in Newsweek’s “America’s Best Loyalty Programs 2021” report. With a score of 8.2, Murphy Drive Rewards ranked #1 in...Read More

We’ve already seen how COVID-19 has changed consumer behaviors and business outcomes in the short term, but what about the long term? The constant fluctuation of case rates, openings and shutdowns makes that hard to determine, but there is one change that’s likely to have...Read More

Is it only a game?     As a young graduate student at Harvard in the 60s, the psychologist and behaviorist B.F Skinner devised an experiment. It involved putting pigeons in a box that issued a pellet of food whenever the pigeons pushed a lever. Skinner varied the pellets such that...Read More

Defining success for any vision begins with asking, “What does success look like?” As with any good strategy, we begin the year with a clear set of objectives and key results to measure along the way. When change happens, whether through unforeseen circumstances like COVID-19 or...Read More

Veggies Made Great Senior Brand Manager, Christine Luongo, contributed insights into building customer loyalty in a recent article for Loyalty360. The following article was originally published here. Veggies Made Great makes a bold statement in how they make their products: the first...Read More

Comarch’s new vodcast series: "Coffee with Comarch Loyalty" will feature brand and retail loyalty experts from both household-name brands and up-and-coming companies. Take a quick coffee break and tune in to hear from experts at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Redbox, 4th Ave...Read More

Have you ever wondered what makes customers willing to pay for a loyalty program?Our 2020 Premium Loyalty Data Study found that 70% of consumers would be willing to join a premium loyalty program if their favorite retailers offered them and the benefits were valuable to them.Amazon...Read More

Even before COVID-19 shook the world and forever transformed customer behavior and the digital landscape, Customer Data Platforms were generating quite a lot of interest. *Google Trends snapshot of the surge in search levels for the term ‘Customer Data Platform’This is hardly...Read More

Ecommerce Marketers Can Now Create Beautiful Custom Quizzes in their Shopify Storefronts and Automate Email Personalization Fueled By First-Party Data.View the original press release here. Keep reading to learn how brands can enhance their eCommerce Marketing strategy with the...Read More

Stop and Shop has been a neighborhood grocer across the Northeast for more than a century. Known for its convenient locations, it leads in market share among its traditional competitors with 413 stores in 5 states along with more than 100 gas stations. But with a rapidly changing grocery...Read More

Learn best practices to navigate new fraud trends and maintain business growth while enhancing the customer journey.Discussion topics will include how to:Protect and accelerate contactless commercePersonalize customer experiences to increase loyalty and wallet shareMitigate fraud and establish...Read More

As part of the Suite Talks series, Forter CEO and Co-Founder Michael Reitblat recently sat down with Edible Arrangements President and COO Cheikh Mboup to discuss how Edible Arrangements shifted its approach to business during COVID.Like many businesses, Edible Arrangements struggled when COVID...Read More

Let’s Talk About Brand Loyalty And CVML Programs That Help To Build Long-Term Relationships  In marketing, brand loyalty consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase products or services and thus to continue to use a brand.It can be demonstrated by actions like repeated...Read More

Everyone loves moments when a family member or friend remembers something about you and shares that with you, like a birthday, anniversary, or memory. Those moments are meaningful ways to connect authentically, inspire, and create positive energy.For a marketer, it isn’t any different. The...Read More

A new year is always a good time to make a resolution and deliver on it.As 2020 slowly fades in everyone’s collective memory, the impact from it is real.From a customer loyalty perspective, you want your brand to leave a sea of sameness and emerge with something unique and memorable for...Read More

Giving your loyal customers the experience they deserveWith a shifting global commerce climate, flexible returns policies are no longer the exception, but the rule. Merchant returns policies help determine how and where customers shop.With the volume of new online shoppers at 2x greater than...Read More

We live in a world of clickbait and algorithms that favor the most extreme titles, opinions and content. Add in the real challenges individuals and corporations faced over the last 12 months, and we may be tempted to ignore certain big stories in the news. But sometimes a “chicken little...Read More

This #loyaltyexpertsvoice episode features Bartosz Demczuk, Comarch's Consulting Director for the Middle East & Asia markets, explaining why collecting #customerdata is so important these days. Additionally, Bart reveals what you can learn by analyzing non-transactional customer behaviors...Read More

At Cheetah Digital, we’re fortunate to work with some of the biggest and most respected names in the travel and hospitality industry, including brands located all across the seven seas.   One of our favorites, Norwegian Cruise Line, recently invited us to speak at their &ldquo...Read More

As early as the 1700s, retailers started implementing programs to create loyal customers. Today, technology has empowered the customer with more information, choice, and flexibility than ever before, and created a retail climate in which customers demand more than just “perks” to...Read More

Customers interact with merchants in numerous ways – through websites, mobile apps, and brick and mortar stores.Today, the purchasing journey spans across devices, platforms, and locations as more consumers demand omnichannel options from merchants. With the huge demand for...Read More

Brands spend a tremendous amount of time and money on differentiation.From product to price point to marketing to customer experience, it’s one of the biggest topics in retail.So, what about your loyalty program?In a world where nearly 70% of consumers agree their loyalty is more...Read More

The coronavirus pandemic has changed businesses forever. Companies have been pushed to the brink of crisis, resorting to cutting staff and budgets if they were unable to adapt to the new digital-first environment quickly enough. Consumer expectations and behaviors have also been...Read More

The Unilever U.S. team had identity challenges: For years customers received emails and visited the website, but not always by clicking through Unilever’s emails. Those website visits were being read as net-new interactions with the brand, even though many were from loyal customers across...Read More

In this week’s episode of #loyaltyexpertsvoice, Katarzyna Włodarczyk, Business Development Manager at Comarch Spain, explains how you can build personalized customer journeys. Not only does she provide some thought-provoking stats along the way, but she also reveals what tools can be used...Read More

If you want to embed loyalty into your brand as a standard behavior the first step isn’t simply the fine-tuning of your existing Customer Value and Loyalty programs.That would amount to flying blind, albeit with good intentions. Rather, it’s breaking down loyalty into its component...Read More

Let me recap the last 20 years of evolution in the European Supermarket Loyalty sector for you:2000: Swipe/scan a card, get some points, redeem them for a voucher you can use in-store.2020: Swipe a card/scan a mobile barcode, get some points, redeem them for a voucher you can use in...Read More

Premium loyalty programs aren’t new, but they’ve been on the rise for the past few years, and for good reason.Customer loyalty is harder than ever, and many traditional loyalty programs aren’t differentiated enough.This is an especially important point as retailers get proactive...Read More

Going Digital and Thriving During COVIDForter Chief Marketing Officer Angela Whiteford recently sat down with Christina Callas EVP, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) from Total Wine & More, to discuss how Total Wine has shifted their business approach amid COVID and positioned themselves,...Read More

Starbucks and Chipotle have created millions of brand advocates through their respective loyalty programs.Starbucks Rewards has nearly 20 million members while Chipotle Rewards has nearly the same amount.Now, two of the largest fast-food chains in the U.S. – McDonald’s and Burger King...Read More

The heightened expectation for a safe + clean experience has left brands across industries questioning: Do customers still want in-person assistance?Recent SMG research confirms: Yes, they do—but with one major factor. Assistance must be delivered in the safest way possible...Read More

In this week’s episode of #loyaltyexpertsvoice​, @Jakub Dembiński, Head of Business Development at Comarch, talks about “the loyalty effect,” specifically how today’s companies can generate revenue using immersive, personalized loyalty programs. Also in this video, Jakub...Read More

When customers are passionate about you, they’re more likely to choose you over competitors and stick with you (in good times and bad). If you offer them personalized, individualized messaging and loyalty offers based on each customer’s unique needs, desires and preferences, you can...Read More

Earning customer loyalty has gotten harder for retailers.Consider that nearly two-thirds of consumers say their loyalty is more difficult for retailers to maintain than ever before.COVID-19 has changed consumer behavior significantly in the past 11 months and, maybe, forever.The task of...Read More

When a global pandemic made the world wary of being indoors amongst strangers in 2020, merchants everywhere took stock and reassessed how to get their goods to consumers.Once thriving brick-and-mortar restaurants became gourmet food purveyors, adding free and contactless delivery, curbside pickup...Read More

The outdoor sports and recreation vertical is an ultra-competitive space. Leading brands typically spend millions on "feature wars" to differentiate their products and services from their rivals. However, fundamentally, it’s a vertical hallmarked with brands using similar...Read More

As of last June, 81% of Americans owned a smartphone. In the throes of this convenience revolution—as more consumers turn to their phones for research and to make purchases—the pressure for brands to provide a seamless and simple mobile experience has never been higher.This trend...Read More

No one could have predicted that the marketing strategies presented in January 2020 would become obsolete in March as businesses executed a quick pivot to digital experiences due to COVID-19.Retailers had to quickly adapt to the accelerated trend of e-commerce that the pandemic brought on.Loyalty...Read More

For marketers, there’s no bigger bet than a Super Bowl ad.This year, advertisers will reportedly pay $5.5 million for 30 seconds of airtime, a massive investment justified by an audience that’s many times larger than that of the next biggest live event. Not only is the audience huge...Read More

With the added impact of the pandemic, consumers today are looking to manage everything digitally if they can, including their finances. Bank marketers need to rapidly transition to a digital-first mindset to grow deposits—both with existing and net-new customers.Bank marketers are ...Read More

As we enter into a new phase of the pandemic—one of colder temperatures, a potential third wave, and the added threat of cold + flu season—businesses relying on outside service will once again have to adjust operational procedures. This is especially pertinent to the restaurant...Read More

Being a material girl was much easier in 1985; the recent global pandemic has steered people away from brick-and-mortar shops and into the socially distanced eCommerce arms, and the Revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2) has challenged online payments, adding friction, decreasing conversion...Read More

The pandemic drastically changed retail and consumer behavior last year and, maybe, forever.Those new behaviors, along with magnified expectations, have led to a laser focus on loyalty.What does the loyalty landscape look like in 2021?How do current loyalty programs stand up to new consumer...Read More

Customer behavioral data has become a high-value asset to marketing teams, brands and companies large and small. But what exactly are they all doing with this data? One common use is behavioral segmentation, a segmentation strategy that enables marketing to customers based on their...Read More

How can organizations stay nimble while making sense of all the latest products, methodologies, and technologies?Our Web Hosting Maturity Scale can help you determine where you are today, where you want to go, and what the value is to all parties involved. It provides a single purpose—and...Read More

While most brands understand the importance of customer + employee feedback and have some sort of experience management (XM) solution in place, many lack the actionable insights necessary to create meaningful, system-wide change. For large organizations, this is often due to an XM provider...Read More

The eCommerce world is increasingly competitive, especially as more and more consumers turn to online shopping due to Covid-19 and the need to socially distance.Businesses that want to maintain a competitive advantage during this time are investing heavily to understand their customers&rsquo...Read More

You heard it here first: 2021 will be the year email marketing steps back into the spotlight.In a report released in November 2020, eMarketer shared that “there is ample evidence that the pandemic actually grew email’s prominence as a touchpoint between brands and their...Read More

This interview is part of a series where we ask different thought leaders in the loyalty and retail space to get their perspectives on where we are, where things are headed, and what you should be thinking about next.The purpose is to provide you with many different perspectives that can help you...Read More

What is love? (…baby don’t hurt me…) But really, what is showing or receiving love for a marketer?We won’t pretend that brand love can ever replace actual human love, although I’m sure some could argue their relationship to a brand is healthier and longer-lasting...Read More

From the emphasis on contactless experiences to the mass migration to new-and-evolving digital channels, it’s impossible to overstate the magnitude of change that took place in 2020. To help brands ensure their experience management (XM) strategies were keeping pace, SMG fielded more than...Read More

Loyalty has long been an industry that shifts based on business trends, new technologies and market disruptions. But one thing remains the same, consumer loyalty relies on a seamless customer experience. Multiple industries inform and teach others how to keep pace with the expectations and needs...Read More

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the early months of 2020, the world has gone through one of the most dramatic shake-ups in recent memory. Global panic, government-enforced lockdowns, combined with social distancing practices, have resulted in drastic changes to the global economy and...Read More

2021 is the year to focus on the ways that broadening your loyalty aperture can drive COVID-19 business recovery.Now that we’re a few weeks into 2021, you’ve probably had your fill of predictions from marketing experts, consultants, and agencies. I’ll confess I enjoy these posts...Read More

There's no doubt that 2020 threw some curveballs at your marketing efforts. First there was the global pandemic that changed how and where people buy. Then came an economic crisis that made consumers more cautious about who they purchase from, and how much they're willing to spend...Read More

It’s the time of year when people are thinking about cutting carbs, reading more books, and trying to become the best versions of themselves – But have you thought about your 2021 loyalty resolutions?Loyalty is becoming a lot harder.Two-thirds of consumers agree their loyalty is more...Read More

While the curveball that was 2020 is behind us, many of us in the experience management (XM) space are still getting our arms around the magnitude of change in our programs as we rapidly adapted to meet evolving customer, patient, and employee behaviors and expectations.I’m very proud to...Read More

Forter Director of Customer Marketing, David Coates, recently sat down with Janelle Spatz, Director of Digital Operations, PVH as part of the NRF 2021 Conference to discuss how one of the world’s leading apparel companies adapted to the dynamic conditions of 2020 and how they plan to...Read More

Now, more than ever, it’s important to connect with your customers with timely, personalized content. And to think about how your marketing strategy will support the objectives of your company in the months ahead. So if someone told you that you were ignoring a $42 billion...Read More

In this #loyaltyexpertsvoice episode, Katarzyna Kulczycka, Senior Strategy & Loyalty Consultant at Comarch, takes the virtual stage to discuss the most common mistake #loyaltyprogram owners make when they design their #rewardsstrategy, namely, setting the threshold for receiving a reward way...Read More

You may be thinking, “age restricted products, don’t those items sell themselves?” And while it may seem as though items such as cigarettes and beer sell themselves at your convenience store, it’s important to find ways to keep them in front of your consumer’s eyes...Read More

I’m not the first person to be ecstatic about leaving 2020 behind us and moving forward to brighter days in 2021. The global pandemic tested our will, forced us to change how we work and live, and really opened up new opportunities to focus on digital transformation and re-write the...Read More

For many of you, 2020 posed never-before-seen challenges that impacted almost every aspect of life.Retail included.Due to the pandemic, consumer behavior significantly shifted which led to increased online spending.From a loyalty perspective, in the fourth quarter we saw:The first-ever Prime Day...Read More

Understanding and messaging who is quarantining versus not is vastly important and doable. Simply put, pairing behavioral patterns with personalized messaging, typically observes 200% - 300% lift in response. That’s a number you don’t want to overlook!  At...Read More

Beginning in March 2020, rather than driving to the grocery store, families loaded up their online carts with bananas and bagels, and waited for delivery. Instead of heading to their favorite big box outdoor retailer, those in search of backyard relaxation hopped online and ordered the best...Read More

Most retailers have adapted to the most pressing challenges of COVID-19, finding impressive ways to pivot and stay afloat. However, not every business is adapting to the changed state of the market, or they’re focusing on acquisition and forgetting about current customer retention.Despite...Read More

These premium loyalty stats may come as a surprise, but this recent trend isn’t a new concept.People have been paying to be members of Amazon Prime since 2005. And they’ve loved the special benefits that come with membership.Although Amazon started the trend, premium loyalty...Read More

Artificial intelligence (AI) is growing in importance in the digital advertising world. According to Forbes, in 2019, the majority of marketers either planned to or used AI in their audience targeting (81%) and in their audience segmentation (80%). And for good reason: AI-supported media...Read More

Going into 2021, B2C companies are aware of the importance of using data to inform their marketing decisions, but might not know how to go about doing this. One of the first steps needs to be measuring the success of current marketing programs. Even this initial step can be daunting, which is why...Read More

The Internet of Things (IoT), at the heart of which sits any number of connected devices, presents new revenue opportunities for the telecoms industry. This presents a new challenge because capitalizing on it is exclusively a matter of generating revenue from data.While this isn’t complex...Read More

For over half a century, Les Mills has been on a mission to create a fitter planet. Yet rather than shaming people into fitness, its ethos is about helping people fall in love with activity and movement. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant treadmills have been turned off, spin bikes...Read More

It makes sense that we would want to understand who is out shopping versus who are quarantining and message them accordingly, but it’s not enough to have the data to do that. Follow these four tips to help ensure your campaign is COVID proof: Use Recent Data: First...Read More

For many of you, 2020 posed never-before-seen challenges that impacted almost every aspect of life.Retail included.Due to the pandemic, consumer behavior significantly shifted which led to increased online spending.From a loyalty perspective, in the fourth quarter we saw:The first-ever Prime Day...Read More

Last year we launched a Moving Forward Blog Series, where we asked major brands how they adapted to changing consumer expectations and how it impacted their perspective on customer loyalty during the pandemic.Here are the biggest takeaways from brands like The Giant Company, 1-800...Read More

To remain afloat in the midst of COVID-19, companies had no other choice but to make significant changes. This included accelerating their digital transformation so they could better address the needs of the market. As dramatic as these initial moves may have been, for many companies they...Read More

Forter Chief Marketing Officer Angela Whiteford recently sat down with Christina Callas, EVP, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) from Total Wine & More, to discuss how Total Wine has shifted their business approach amid COVID and positioned themselves, with help from Forter, for continued...Read More

Customer acquisition is all about getting as many high-value, in-market consumers in the door as possible and is arguably one of the most important initiatives for any business. It allows brands to build a client base, enable customer loyalty programs and minimize costs to increase...Read More

The idea of AIDA was immortalized by E. St. Elmo Lewis sometime in 1898. It was in that year that this Advertising Hall of Fame inductee first drew the world’s attention to the four fundamental mind-states that most buyers experience as they travel down marketing’s most sacrosanct...Read More

It's time to reflect on an unexpected year. Find highlights from 2020 below and here's looking forward to 2021!Read More

Even in the best of times, customers are capricious. Then throw in a pandemic to the mix…As restrictions waver and realities change, what an individual felt comfortable doing in the summer may not be an option now. Consequently, marketers have had to pivot on a moment’s notice...Read More

Fueled by accelerated digital transformation, the COVID-19 crisis has shifted CMOs’ focus on customer loyalty into overdrive. While Forrester predicts that spending on loyalty and retention marketing will increase by 30% in 2021.But the environment in which CMOs operate...Read More

Why is it so difficult to toss that dress or the shirt that you know you are not going to wear? Or give away that book that has been on the shelf forever, and you haven’t read? Why is it not easy to give up that job that you absolutely hate doing? Though you know that giving them up is the...Read More

By all accounts, it would make sense that when online shopping increases—as it’s currently doing at an exponential rate—so would ecommerce fraud.As online shopping continues to accelerate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts predict that retail sales will reach...Read More

If you’re like a lot of people, your morning doesn’t really start until you stop at your favorite coffee shop. You fumble around to find your customer loyalty punch card that gets you one purchase closer to a free drink. Or, maybe it’s managed through the shop’s app and...Read More

Consumer priorities are evolving and have done so faster and less predictively in 2020 than ever before. They are spending less time in physical venues such as stores, restaurants, and stadiums, avoiding crowds, and relying on digital channels to get what they need from a brand. These changing...Read More

2020 has been a year unlike any other.COVID-19 has changed people’s routines, habits, and most of all, our expectations.As a result, this paradigm has impacted retailers of all sizes.And as a retailer, it’s important that you identify these changes and adapt your go-to-market loyalty...Read More

As we approach 2021, it’s inevitable that third-party cookie deprecation and IDFA will fundamentally change the marketing ecosystem—for better or worse.But what do marketers think of these changes? And, more importantly, how are they preparing?Epsilon’s new research...Read More

Here to open this year’s #loyaltyexperts series is Bindu Gupta, Head of the Loyalty Strategy Consulting Team at Comarch. In the episode, not only does Bindu talk about the importance of instant gratification and how it’s different from constant gratification, but she so reveals why...Read More

Curbside pickup and contactless handoff have surged around the world. Find out how retailers can evolve their contactless experiences to create contactless loyalty. In the retail world, consumer behavior has drastically changed. Brick-and-mortar stores have...Read More

What a year!I think we’d all agree 2020 has thrown us for a loop.We use the term ‘disruption’ in business all the time, but I don’t think that term has ever been more relevant.From the shopping experience, to the supply chain, to the fulfillment, and the delivery, every...Read More

Consumers don’t just want personalized experiences when they engage with a brand; they expect them every time, regardless of the touchpoint or reason. If done well, highly personalized experiences lead to increased engagement and loyalty by delivering content and messages that connect every...Read More

Market research has proven to be the most crucial weapon in the product life-cycle. From the product’s birth to its last breath, it’s the people’s opinion that shapes its fate. Market research through a survey panel has become a common avenue for marketers and product managers...Read More

Consumers are fiercely loyal to their favorite brands. But it's just not the name or logo that matters. What's most important today is a brand’s ability to engage with relevant offers that appeal to consumers on a personal level.But unfortunately, there's a good chance your...Read More

With the holidays right around the corner, marketers are putting the final touches on their holiday campaigns. During Halloween, we learned that consumer spending in home décor greatly increased, as consumers were looking for ways to create holiday excitement with the modified celebrations and...Read More

You’re probably tired of reading about the negative impacts of 2020.Well, this isn’t about 2020!This is about 2021, which is on the horizon and we’re all hoping for it to be prosperous … personally and professionally.Retailers have absorbed revenue hits in 2020 and will...Read More

Curbside pickup and contactless delivery have surged around the world.  Find out how restaurants can evolve from contactless experiences to increased loyalty.  It’s an understatement to say the restaurant industry has been rocked by COVID-19. Typically relying on...Read More

Pandemic or not, customer loyalty comes first at Chipotle.Chipotle’s digital sales exceeded $1 billion for fiscal 2019, marking a 90% increase from fiscal 2018.Earlier this year, the Chipotle Rewards loyalty program had about 8.5 million members. That figure is noteworthy since Chipotle...Read More

In this time of third-party cookie deprecation, future-proof publisher identity solutions are crucial.Knowing this, we made the exciting decision to transfer ownership of our PubCommon ID’s technology to Prebid.org—an open-source community that helps publishers implement header...Read More

As an incredibly challenging 2020 draws to a close, retailers are looking ahead to 2021 with renewed hope for strengthening customer relationships and retaining loyalty.If you want to continue building loyalty post-pandemic, it’s going to take a new mindset to emerge stronger.So, what about...Read More

When the economy is foundering, companies look at short-term fixes of cutting budgets to save valuable cash. Historically, the first areas to get the axe are marketing, since the C-Suite may not truly understand the impact of these activities on overall revenue growth.But this strategy is too...Read More

Consumer privacy in digital advertising remains a hot topic that seems to evolve every day. Consumers increasingly care more and more about how their data is collected by brands, publishers, and social media sites to create personalized ad experiences. They want to be sure they have full...Read More

2020 has been the year of the customer data platform (CDP), and it’s easy to see why.The CDP market is projected to grow to over $10 billion by 2025, and according to Gartner, CDP technology companies have received more than $1.8 billion in VC funding. Why does this category have...Read More

Premium loyalty is on the rise.Amazon was one of the first to launch a premium loyalty program, Prime, back in 2005.With more than 150 million global members, Prime is now, arguably, the best loyalty program of all time.Other leading retailers have jumped on board with premium...Read More

With the winter holidays quickly approaching, more customers could be relying on digital tools—from mobile apps to websites—to do their shopping. That’s especially true for convenience retailers, many of whom saw a change in customers’ purchase habits and preferred payment...Read More

Many loyalty marketers have made the strategic argument for keeping customers engaged with brands in between purchase transactions and have found ways to recognize those interactions within loyalty program earning. And at Kobie, we know in order to have a more holistic view of your customer&rsquo...Read More

Marketers need to start looking at the overall customer experience (CX) management to get to a real understanding of return on experience (ROX) investments.We’ve been told repeatedly in the last few years that—much like content—customer experience (CX) is everything. That by...Read More

Brands today need more than a deep understanding of their customers—they need a way to leverage that understanding and turn it into growth. This has become increasingly challenging in the last year as consumer behaviors have undergone rapid change. Companies have numerous ways to gather...Read More

Turkey, travel and time with family are the hallmarks of a typical Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. Yet, despite 2020 being an atypical year, millions of Americans took to the airways and highways this past week in what became one of the busiest travel periods since the COVID-19 outbreak brought...Read More

This year will be remembered for many things and, hopefully, we won’t experience another one like it.For retailers, most have experienced a negative impact to their revenue lines.Many are trying to recover and focus on the impending holiday season.If you’re a retailer, use this...Read More

As the days grow ever shorter, the temperature creeps downwards and eggnog lattes replace pumpkin-spiced on the menu, it’s almost the start of the holiday season. With little respite between Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, and digitally savvy consumers who know...Read More

With Epsilon client YTD email volume up 9% over 2019 and Forrester predicting a 40% lift in digital marketing messages in 2021, you may ask yourself: “How can I increase sales and grab more revenue share from my competitors this holiday season when inboxes are already flooding with...Read More

In light of recent mass layoffs—namely, Disney theme parks, Carnival Cruise Line and MGM Resorts—one might assume the guest experience should take a backseat to financial imperatives. But in an increasingly challenging travel and leisure environment, where the guest experience has...Read More

Digital channels have always been a way for people to stay connected but in the time of COVID-19, they have become a lifeline to gather information, exchange ideas, share feelings, and ultimately foster a sense of belonging. Online communities continue to be a key channel and will likely gain a...Read More

Here’s a rundown of what brands should consider as they approach annual planning for the year ahead.Remember the plan you wrote last year to execute in 2020? And when you had to throw it out in March and take on the year a week at a time? 2020 has obviously been a year of challenges that no...Read More

In light of recent mass layoffs—namely, Disney theme parks, Carnival Cruise Line and MGM Resorts—one might assume the guest experience should take a backseat to financial imperatives. But in an increasingly challenging travel and leisure environment, where the guest experience has...Read More

Most brands focus their marketing energy at driving transactions. From years of experience, they know how to nudge a customer down the sales funnel with a well-timed discount offer or well-placed retargeted ad. However, these techniques are not as effective anymore...Read More

Today’s consumer landscape is vast, and your existing and potential customers likely have their fair share of choices for whatever product or service you are offering. If you want to effectively target your ideal consumers, you need to fully understand their wants and needs. This is where...Read More

In an update to our August survey, American shoppers continue to shop more frequently and report increasing feelings that avoiding stores is not important in slowing the spread of the Coronavirus.Editor’s Note (10/26/2020): This article includes findings from ICF’s COVID-19 Monitor...Read More

Key Highlights:The majority of consumers are concerned about fake news / misinformation, and believe that social media platforms have a responsibility to screen their posts.Consumers feel more negatively towards Facebook than positively; 42% are either using Facebook less or not at all.42% of...Read More

You say “Thank you”. What they hear is “Please accept my standard, HR protocol-approved format for acknowledging your most recent activity that was intended to bring me value. The act of expressing these words are purely my own in a personal capacity and the organization may not...Read More

This year will be remembered for many things and, hopefully, we won’t experience another one like it.For retailers, most have experienced a negative impact to their revenue lines.Many are trying to recover and focus on the impending holiday season.If you’re a retailer, use this...Read More

As recovery continues, guest preferences are clear via their rapid adoption of contactless technologies. Find out how travel brands can connect with their guests and move from contactless experiences to contactless loyalty in the new travel landscape.  The travel industry has been upended by...Read More

Customer retention rate is one of the most critical metrics for measuring your company’s success and growth potential. We’ll explain how to calculate it, what other metrics to evaluate alongside it, and how to use those insights to maximize the retention rate of your brand. However...Read More

It’s been nearly 300 day since officials confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the U.S. In that time, the country has undergone shutdowns, reopenings, and everything in between as the government and health experts have grappled with how best to combat the novel coronavirus.PDI...Read More

Defining the segments for a campaign or promotional offer is one of the most fundamental marketing tasks. But the traditional approach to segmentation isn’t all that effective…It typically relies heavily on assumptions and trial-and-error. The marketer must determine – based on...Read More

Peter in sales closes more deals every month than his peers. What do you think can be the reason? Is it intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation, or is there some other reason behind this? As his supervisor, you may think it’s the incentive that’s doing the trick. But Peter&rsquo...Read More

Pressures stemming from COVID-19 have made consumers more selective in where they shop, as they put greater value on personal safety and face tighter budgets. In today's economy, loyalty will be a major deciding factor, since a majority of consumers say they're more selective and...Read More

With 79% of the world using contactless payments, now’s the time for Financial Services brands to explore how to build contactless loyalty. New fintech companies had been slowly eroding the necessity of in-person interactions at banks—but the...Read More

Since the pandemic hit the U.S. in March, there has been a massive shift toward e-commerce, which has turned the shopping pyramid on its head.According to data from IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly...Read More

Did you know that you can have a conversation with &pizza? Not just about a support issue or to order a pizza — you can do those too — but you could just text them to say hi or see how they’re doing. It’s just one of the ways &pizza uses technology to connect with...Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shifted daily routines, forcing business leaders to react quickly to adapt engagement strategies and support for employees and customers. Almost immediately, hundreds of thousands of support agents and customer service representatives transitioned to working...Read More

New members are the lifeblood of a loyalty program. But getting a customer to enroll is just the first step in what should become a long and lucrative relationship. How are you leveraging your loyalty program and marketing tactics to encourage new members to return for a 2nd, 3rd or more...Read More

For brands, it’s a good time to have a mobile app. In Q3 this year alone, consumers spent $28 billion on apps and clocked more than 180 billion hours using apps each month in July, August, and September. A significant driver of the pandemic app surge is Apple’s App Store, which...Read More

Transactions start with online merchants but behind the scenes they flow through other parties including payment providers and banks. Each of these players uses a different fraud solution which pulls information from their own internal data sets. The decentralization and lack of comprehensive...Read More

Our latest webinar, Loyalty Marketing Strategies to Win More Customers in 2021, was held October 7, 2020. We didn’t have time to answer all of the questions from our audience, so we’re continuing the conversation and providing answers to some of these questions below. ...Read More

In the past decade, DTC brands have shaken up the rules of traditional retail—and to say DTC is continuing to gain momentum is nothing short of a gross understatement.Simply put, DTC is here to stay.  Source: Wall Street Journal The DTC movement, pioneered by brands...Read More

Loyalty programs attract more executive attention than almost any other marketing initiative. If you have a points program, liability will be an often-revisited conversation. If you include discounts or introductory offers, questions of margin erosion and cannibalization will follow. And, during...Read More

The marketing technology landscape has grown by a whopping 5233% over the last 9 years, according to website Chiefmartec.com.  Since 2011, the site has been annually releasing its MarTech landscape supergraphic, a visual representation of the thousands of marketing technology...Read More

As we (finally) barrel towards the end of 2020, marketers across industries are bracing for what’s to come of a pandemic-laden holiday season. In order to thrive, marketers need to get strategic and focused with their digital holiday campaigns.While industries like retail and travel are...Read More

  As the leading trade association dedicated to customer loyalty and engagement activities, Loyalty360 is always looking for ways to help its members refine their programs and activities. Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, asked various members how the Loyalty360 association can help in...Read More

Mobile Payments functionality allows users to store there their favorite form of payment and use it during the in-store journey or when they would like to pay for fuel directly at the pump. It's not easy to draw any positives from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, one of the...Read More

New members are the lifeblood of a loyalty program. But getting a customer to enroll is just the first step in what should become a long and lucrative relationship. How are you leveraging your loyalty program and marketing tactics to encourage new members to return for a 2nd, 3rd or more...Read More

It’s hard to believe it’s been six months since COVID-19 took center stage in our lives (although some days it feels like it’s been years, right?). Since March we’ve been tracking consumer opinion and brand sentiment from more than 35,000 respondents in an effort to...Read More

Krispy Kreme has been serving hand-crafted doughnuts and fresh coffee to UK shoppers since 2003, with over 118 standalone stores and 1,000 cabinets with retail partners. In July 2020, Krispy Kreme launched their redesigned and replatformed loyalty program using HTK’s Horizon PlusPoint...Read More

Loyalty360 is always looking for feedback from its members on what it can do from an association standpoint to help and assist its members in servicing customers. Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360 recently spoke with various leaders in the industry and one of the questions he asked them was about...Read More

2020 has been marked by unprecedented global changes. The outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has forever altered how individuals and businesses approach their day-to-day activities. For those in the commerce space, e-commerce activity has seen consumer volumes fluctuate considerably. Surges...Read More

We’re all talking about it. Digital Transformation.  The problem is, if you don’t take the time to talk about the end goals at the start of the digital transformation journey, you’re setting your business up for disappointment.  Businesses should approach ...Read More

Although membership loyalty seems like a new trend, the fact is it has been around for many years.In retail, warehouse clubs have been using membership models for years.Costco and BJ’s have built their respective businesses around charging their customers a fee for access to discounts and...Read More

Customer retention in marketing has long taken a back seat to acquisition. Now higher customer expectations, changing business objectives and a fluctuating economy are causing many brands to make it a priority. As marketers place a greater focus on their customer retention strategies, we’re...Read More

Apple’s recent iOS 14 IDFA announcement, which followed Google’s January third-party cookie deprecation announcement, has made industry waves. It is the latest change in the clear trend of identifier deprecation that started in 2017, and will likely accelerate in the coming...Read More

Loyalty360 is always looking for feedback from its members on what it can do from an association standpoint to help and assist its members in servicing customers. Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360 recently spoke with various leaders in the industry and one of the questions he asked them was about...Read More

COVID-19 has changed retail in an unimaginable way.Loyalty was hard before, but consumer shopping behaviors have changed along with expectations.If your goal is to continue building loyalty post-pandemic, it’s going to take a new mindset to emerge stronger.   Read More

Somber piano music plays and the camera pan across empty streets.We see Zoom calls taking place in makeshift home offices. Virtual happy hours with family and friends.The voiceover begins.“In these uncertain times…” “For over 60 years, we have been with you...Read More

There are several compliance laws and regulations at the state and federal level that many businesses could be violating without knowing it. Issues surrounding Do Not Call, Do Not Email, Do Not Text and Do Not Mail are important topics of discussion among marketers as Telephone Consumer...Read More

Many retailers have increased their adoption of contactless checkout in an effort to follow social distancing guidelines, especially in sports stadiums across the United States. Joe Scioscia, vice president of sales at VAI, discusses why checkout-free and remote order entry systems are taking...Read More

The last several months have taught businesses that the current environment of remote work isn’t going away any time soon. While the initial move was swift and left a lot of companies to fix environmental and technology issues post-transition, many are now faced with the challenge of...Read More

We asked leaders in brand loyalty and customer experience, "If marketers (your clients) weren't tied to existing constraints (financial or situational), how should they consider customer loyalty going forward?" Thanks to our members from PK, Clarus Commerce, and Jebbit for...Read More

Some of the most effective marketing happens when consumers are so engaged that they don't realize they're being marketed to. That's why many successful brands have turned to gamification, or behavioral economics. It can better engage customers in fun ways, and in the process...Read More

In this week’s episode of the Red Shoes Living Podcast, Lonnie Mayne talks with former world record holder and Olympian, Willie Banks.  Willie talks with us about how to be a renaissance individual and leader. Every day starts with gratitude for Willie. His...Read More

2020 jolted us into reevaluating in-person interactions—from shopping to socializing to completely restructuring the workplace. Creating customer loyalty has always been a challenge for brands, even during face-to-face interactions. Absent of those interactions, what are brands left with? ...Read More

With many summer getaways put on hold due to ongoing restrictions and unclear travel booking advice, and another holiday season just around the corner, many people are asking the same question – when can we expect any sense of travel normality to return? There is both positive and negative...Read More

In your quest to target high-value customers, are you leaving a lot of potential revenue on the table? You may not think so, but our recent report, Brand Loyalty 2020: The Need for Hyper-Individualization, shows that there are some significant opportunities to better engage some overlooked...Read More

Customer experience (CX) can make or break an organizationCompetition among businesses for customers has never been fiercer, with customer loyalty as the top prize. A true focus on CX means involving many departments and teams – and without a unified, organization-wide approach, CX can...Read More

When the pandemic hit the US back in March, the world changed overnight. Industries that relied on in-person interaction needed to figure out how to navigate this new normal while retaining customers. One industry hit hard was retail, which had been experiencing a period of reinvention for some...Read More

We asked leaders in brand loyalty and customer experience two questions: 1. "What is coming up on your roadmap, and how are you developing the roadmap?" 2. "How do we continue to increase customer loyalty?" In this video, Loyalty360 features: Len Covello, Engage Todd...Read More

The launch of Walmart+ happened today, but Amazon was one of the first to launch a premium loyalty program, Prime, back in 2005.With more than 150 million members, Prime is now, arguably, the best loyalty program of all time.Since 2005 we’ve seen a steady trend of other...Read More

I recently had the chance to sit down with Gary Penn, Global VP of Digital and E-Commerce at Nixon, to discuss some of the lessons he and his team quickly learned over the last few months as the world of retail changed, and how they’re planning for the upcoming holiday shopping season....Read More

Defining success for any vision begins with asking, “What does success look like?” As with any good strategy, we begin the year with a clear set of objectives and key results to measure along the way. When change happens, whether through unforeseen circumstances like COVID-19 or...Read More

 Demand for telehealth set to soar 65%. $250b to shift to telehealth after COVID-19. Telehealth forecasted to grow sevenfold by 2025. Telehealth claim lines increased 4,347% nationally.These are just some of the headlines highlighting the dramatic change underway in healthcare. COVID-19 has...Read More

With today’s desire to create customer-obsessed, hyper-personalized experiences, it’s getting harder to deliver value to our best consumers. The challenge is in aligning customer needs to business objectives, which requires prioritizing a digital transformation from within and...Read More

Like it or not, customer loyalty is changingDue to heavy investment in the customer experience by a handful of market leaders, consumers have increasingly raised their expectations of brands over the past several years. Today, they expect more convenience, greater relevance and better value than...Read More

  From health alarms to adjusting to working from home to greater social awareness, we’re all seeing the impact of COVID-19 in both subtle and stark ways. Similarly, the way the world invests and moves money in our global capital markets will also see both nuanced and real...Read More

As a retailer, you want high customer retention rates and loyal customers who shop regularly.And your customers want your brand to recognize them in a personalized way. They want to feel a sense of belonging. They want to know that you understand them.But loyalty is harder than ever before.Nearly...Read More

Digital transformation goes hand in hand with a change in a company's thinking, culture, and leadership. It's about welcoming innovation and embracing technology, new business models, and working practices to deliver greater customer value.   Through digital transformation, you...Read More

To inspire Americans to help “flatten the curve,” public health officials can find support in surprising places.Changing behavior is not easy. ICF Next’s social marketing team tackles this challenge every day, developing and executing campaigns and programs that aim to help...Read More

We asked leaders in brand loyalty and customer experience, “How do you believe this crisis and uncertainty will impact overall customer experience and/or customer loyalty?” In this video, Loyalty360 features: Aaron Roy, Wami Rick Boubelik, Epsilon Rupa Rajopadhye, IRIS...Read More

The right social media management strategy has never been a bigger challenge for today’s brands. The human need for connection is especially critical when we are faced with a crisis such as the current health pandemic. Social media is one of the ways a brand’s customers can connect...Read More

From the way we get our hair cut to the way we shop to the way companies do business, COVID-19 has forced everyone to change the way they operate, including convenience retailers. In this video, Greg Phillips, vice president of account management for PDI Marketing Cloud Solutions, walks us...Read More

Using data is a great way to tell a story. Be careful it doesn’t tell the wrong one.In today’s world, data has become a critical component of our professional and personal daily lives. It helps us decide where to buy a home, what advice we give our children, and what location to visit...Read More

We asked leaders in brand loyalty and customer experience, "There is a great deal of focus on Zero (Declared) party data, how are you advising clients / prospective clients on best practices?" Thanks to our members from Jebbit, Clarus Commerce, PK, and Cheetah Digital for...Read More

Today’s consumers are fiercely loyal to their favorite brands, but the competition for that loyalty is just as fierce. In our recent survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers, we found that over half (58%) are more loyal to brands than they were five years ago. This consumer loyalty translates...Read More

Online e-commerce has become a mainstream part of life amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Every retailer has had to quickly adapt their business approach to find creative ways to meet the unforeseen challenges that the COVID-19 virus has presented.  Merchants have been forced to consider how...Read More

At first blush, quickly capturing important business information with data visualization seems like a clear-cut illustration of the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words.” A well-designed visualization can show key insights at a glance that would take a page of prose in a report...Read More

In these unprecedented times, and as coronavirus prompts epic social and economic transformation, communication is more critical than ever. Not only what we communicate, but how we communicate can make the difference between understanding and chaos — between having our voices heard and...Read More

Leena Iyar is the chief brand officer at Moxtra, where she is responsible for all aspects of the company’s marketing efforts, including strategy, brand awareness, growth marketing, public relations and customer communications. She is a graduate of King’s College London and resides in...Read More

At the start of the COVID-19 crisis, consumer shopping behavior changed dramatically -- widespread ‘panic buying’ ensued, brand names became less important and more people turned to ecommerce. In fact, 76 percent of people said they were adjusting their shopping habits as the pandemic...Read More

As COVID-19 cases surge across the country, American frequent travelers recognize the importance of public health measures—but feel more pessimistic about future travel and the trajectory of the pandemic.Editor’s Note (8/24/2020): This article includes findings from ICF’s fifth...Read More

We asked leaders in brand loyalty and customer experience, “Can you give us an overview of your customer loyalty offering, and how it is unique to the market?” In this video, Loyalty360 features: Kim Welther, Baesman Carlos Dunlap-Beard, Clarus Commerce Martie Beller, Kobie Guy...Read More

Amid a changing global commerce climate where optimized omnichannel experiences are more important than ever, merchants must ensure that they have an efficient Buy Online Pickup In Store (BOPIS) / curbside pickup workflow in place. BOPIS and curbside pickups and returns have become critical...Read More

When was the last time you used your phone to make an in-store purchase? If you’re from the U.S., the likelihood that you are now using some form of contactless payment, such as tap-to-go credit cards and mobile wallets, has skyrocketed. Since the onset of COVID-19, half of all...Read More

Every customer you attract costs money, and getting the balance right between how much you pay to attract a customer, and how much that customer is worth to your business is one of the most important ones to get right. In this guide, we look at CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) and how you can...Read More

When I say, “government customer service,” what do you think of first? Standing in line at your local registry of motor vehicles? Waiting on hold to speak to someone about your unemployment payment? Or maybe it’s the ease with which you were able to file your taxes online this...Read More

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) climate has changed the retail landscape. Merchants that once had a store-first approach are in the middle of an accelerated process in which buyers are switching from purchasing both “essential” and “non-essential” products from physical...Read More

We asked, "What will Loyalty look like in 2025? How should we as an industry be looking at / making moves to get to what that envisioned future will be?." Thanks to our members from PK, Formation, Clarus Commerce, Red Shoes Living, and Brierley for participating! Loyalty360 is...Read More

The automotive industry has long maintained a complicated relationship with the internet. An acceleration of efforts to shift to digital retailing, due in part to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, is seeking to resolve the complications. That is the key finding of recent research, "...Read More

Companies across the world buttoned up their business plans and growth projections nearly a year ago in anticipation of the possibilities a new decade would bring for organizations, employees and clients. Entering the “roaring twenties” brought hope, but little did we know that many...Read More

No one can argue that the words “customer experience” have taken on a new definition among the challenges of COVID-19. We now live in a changed world where digital channels are no longer a choice, data is king and business models have been completely transformed. Trends and...Read More

Customer behavioral data has become a high-value asset to marketing teams, brands and companies large and small. But what exactly are they all doing with this data? One common use is behavioral segmentation, a segmentation strategy that enables marketing to customers based on their...Read More

Marketing organizations have been working for decades on personalization strategies that resonate with consumers and make them feel like valued individuals. For many B2C brands, classic personalization has been applying simple forms of data like email, name, address, or recent purchases into...Read More

Loyalty programs are exceptionally lucrative revenue channels for airlines. In fact, for some, they are the most profitable aspect of the business. The benefits of loyalty schemes are twofold for travel companies. Recognition is a powerful motivator for consumers, especially for frequent...Read More

Survey results, customer reviews, social media mentions, oh my. It’s a feedback-driven world, and our brands are just living in it.The days of relying on a great product or service to do your branding are behind us, which is why acquiring all types of feedback is important...Read More

Finding the perfect symbol for your business is a task worth doing well. Here’s what to consider as you design your first company logo.What is a logo?From the golden arches of McDonalds to the Mercedes-Benz three-point star, logos are ubiquitous in the modern world.Logos are symbols that...Read More

While we’ve all had a good laugh at the many memes illustrating the dumpster fire 2020 has become, the reality is that this year has brought a fundamental shift in consumer behavior that is here to stay.  With all of the chaos 2020 has brought us — a global...Read More

If you’re thinking about loyalty program design, these are some of the questions you’re considering:What should your program look like?Who should be involved in the process?How do you make sure your customers will like it?How can you ensure your organization can execute on it?Where...Read More

Having a robust digital presence is unquestionably critical for any consumer brand. As digital technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, consumer expectations of brands’ digital experiences evolve along with it. Those brands who invest in their mobile technology and focus on the...Read More

Welcome to Loyalty360’s Top 10 Leaders in Customer Loyalty Video Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders and Loyalty360 supplier members focused on customer, channel, and...Read More

Customers love high tech, but they sometimes don’t love their experiences with it. However, when tech companies get experience management (XM) right, they’re richly rewarded. Here’s what you need to know...  1. With XM, you’ll predict and resolve problems - not...Read More

Consumerism is rapidly becoming a driving force in healthcare. According to one survey, consumerism was second only to industry consolidation as most top of mind for healthcare professionals. While healthcare consumerism may be topical, there’s still a lack of consensus as to what it...Read More

In Texas, the state’s largest city is carefully getting back to business. And the responsibility for educating the public and helping slow the spread of the coronavirus falls to the Houston Health Department. Technology-enabled contact tracing is key to that effort.Tracking...Read More

Brands around the country, particularly those doing business in California, knew 2020 would be a challenging year long before the coronavirus pandemic ever hit American soil. The minute the clock struck midnight on January 1, marketing departments around the country were sent into a flurry of...Read More

Online food ordering and delivery have been gaining ground for years now but have witnessed a recent boom due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Many restaurants around the world are still closed, and even with terraces open, restauranteurs have to find additional business opportunities to survive...Read More

  In a recent 2020 study from Gartner, 68% of CMOs expect their investments in marketing technology to increase in the next 12 months. This is significant considering that marketing technology already captures a notable 26.2% of marketing budgets. So while we’re still riding the...Read More

If your business is competing on customer experience, chances are you’re collecting customer feedback. But how well is that feedback really serving your organisation and your customers?Feedback is hugely valuable – if you know what’s delighting your customers, you can double...Read More

Information around COVID-19 is a moving target with updates coming out several times a day. Once business travel starts up again, there will be restrictions and new procedures travelers will need to think about, and directives may vary depending on where the traveler is going to...Read More

In this episode of the Red Shoes Living podcast, Lonnie Mayne and Dr. Daisy Robinton discuss what it takes to navigate and to truly bear witness to what. We are all going through during these incredibly challenging times. Dr. Robinton talks about the science of what is happening to the human...Read More

We’re all consumers of service. It’s something that each of us can identify with – we have ALL had both good service experiences and some that weren’t as good. And for those of us in the customer service industry, we can empathize, because we know just how difficult it can...Read More

More than 60% of workers say they’d feel uncomfortable returning to a workplace right nowThree out of five people who switched to remote work during the pandemic said they prefer working at home to working in an officeAlmost 9 out of 10 employees want the flexibility to work from...Read More

The recession caused by the great lockdown is creeping into consumers' habits, and you might see its effects on your business everywhere. A sudden drop in purchases. Abysmal order numbers. Or your customers stopped using your service during the quarantine, and they just don’t seem to...Read More

In the fall of 1960, The Andy Griffith Show on CBS introduced Andy Taylor and his lovable sidekick Barney Fife to American audiences. Like many U.S. cities at the time, the tiny, fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina prominently featured a local market or general store called Crowley’s...Read More

Loyalty360’s Throwback Thursday video series brings together several of the best responses from Loyalty360 member thought leaders on recent topics, trends, and discussions. In this video, we asked, "If you could ask a competitor or brand one question about customer loyalty what...Read More

Some of you might remember that last year, in partnership with the Purpose Disruptors, Iris launched a project called 'Create and Strike'. Our aim was to bring the climate crisis to the forefront of our industry conversations. Since then, we've been working internally and with...Read More

Sebastian McClintock, Director of Customer Experience from Delivery Hero shares how customer insights are driving real-time shifts to business strategy during the current pandemic and setting the company up for the “new normal.”Delivery Hero, an online food delivery service...Read More

Loyalty programs should be one of the cornerstones of any effective marketing strategy. According to Accenture's recent study found that “members of loyalty programs generate between 12 to 18% [higher] incremental revenue growth per year than non-members.” But not all...Read More

Our latest webinar, The New Normal: Reinventing Grocery Retail Loyalty Programs, was held May 27, 2020. We received such a large number of questions from the audience that we didn’t have time to answer them all – so we’re continuing the conversation and providing...Read More

Most marketers see data as the primary impediment to targeted marketing -- and with good reason. Data can be unwieldy, challenging to collect and even more difficult to organize across channels.Data presents very real challenges to marketers, but a recent survey by Iterable. found that...Read More

Welcome to Loyalty360’s Top 10 Leaders in Customer Loyalty Video Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders and Loyalty360 supplier members focused on customer, channel, and...Read More

We’ve talked at length about how to do better email marketing. We have white papers on improving deliverability and sender reputation. Granular data reports in conjunction with industry thought leaders surveying thousands of consumers on what encourages them to engage. All supplemented...Read More

Prefer to watch instead? Diva shares how to engage employees in this video.Recently I’ve been ideating with a couple of enterprise brands around how to engage their internal audience. With entire workforces working remotely and some consumer-focused efforts being put on hold, these...Read More

Does anyone recognize the image above? This is the Tibet Road on the border of Tibet and China, one of the most treacherous roads in the world. It represents the traditional customer journey map brands try to create with their customers. Long and winding, it’s a grind to make it to the...Read More

Amazon just announced that Prime Day is delayed to October.Since 2015, Amazon Prime Day has served as a holiday in July for millions of consumers who want great deals and are members of the company’s premium loyalty program.Prime Day serves as the summer equivalent of Black Friday and...Read More

One of the most important actions Beiersdorf Australia made in response to COVID-19 was to quickly deploy a customer sentiment tracker to understand how people are feeling and behaving during the pandemic. Two months later the international skincare company, which includes brands like NIVEA...Read More

Chad Warren, VP of Marketing at MRM shares how B2B brands can shift from a traditional to a digital business model, including how to rethink the B2B buyer's journey.Chad was joined by Clay Warren, Head of Digital CX at Qualtrics.  Hear the full interview Digital leaders achieve 5x...Read More

Millions of customers use messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to keep in touch with friends and family, yet when it comes to customer service and support, their first instinct is still to pick up the phone. Part of this has to do with long ingrained behavior, but the other part...Read More

The recipe for loyalty success seems simple enough: Identify customer pain points and address them in a way that makes their lives better.AMC is a brand that executes against this method extremely well. Here’s a look at AMC Theatres’ loyalty program and why it’s such a hit with...Read More

Steve Gustavson, Chief Creative Director from Adobe shares insights from how Adobe transformed their 20,000 in-person marketing summit in Las Vegas to a 100% virtual event and how brands can prepare for virtual events while maintaining a great customer experience in the “new...Read More

Did you know that a loyalty increase of 7% can boost lifetime profits per customer by as much as 85%?It’s no wonder that loyalty management is such a hot topic among retailers today.If you’re in retail, you’re thinking about it. But loyalty management is also a complex...Read More

Loyalty360’s Throwback Thursday video series brings together several of the best responses from Loyalty360 member thought leaders on recent topics, trends, and discussions. In this video, we asked, "What are you hearing from your loyalty clients as their concerns around some of...Read More

As companies across industries face unique challenges from the pandemic, there’s a common theme in their response: embrace digital. In this rapidly changing environment, just about every organization and industry has needed to ramp up its digital capabilities. For instance, we found a...Read More

As COVID-19 continues its path of destruction and disruption across the United States, how can agencies best serve constituents in their time of need?The COVID-19 pandemic has tested and amplified the public sector’s preparedness for a public health crisis. Public sector agencies whose...Read More

How “house of brands” loyalty programs can create marketing efficiency while fostering deeper customer relationships.It’s no secret that consolidation has been the name of the game for players in a number of industries over the past decade. Airlines, hotel brands, restaurants...Read More

Welcome to Loyalty360’s Top 10 Leaders in Customer Loyalty Video Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders and Loyalty360 supplier members focused on customer, channel, and...Read More

What does modern marketing look like?There are few people - if any - in the world better placed to answer this question than Seth Godin. As the author of 19 best-sellers - including This is Marketing - and pioneer of commercial email, when Seth Godin talks people listen.According...Read More

In an unprecedented time, the travel industry has no option but to look to the future to re-emerge.  As marketers, why do we always look to the past to inform our future, seeking out precedents and playbooks to help us accelerate out of a trough and avoid stepping on landmines? For a start,...Read More

Keeping your existing customers engaged - let alone reaching new ones - is one of the biggest challenges facing many brands in today’s uncertain times. Traditional engagement channels are limited, or have disappeared entirely, while customer behaviors, preferences, and...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel, and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Carlos Dunlap-Beard, VP of...Read More

Welcome to Loyalty360’s Top 10 Leaders in Customer Loyalty Video Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders and Loyalty360 supplier members focused on customer, channel, and...Read More

As the world faces new challenges created by an unprecedented global crisis, many businesses are waking up to the reality that business change can happen anywhere, at any time. And while organizations may not be able to control crises, what they can do is ensure they’re prepared to...Read More

Loyalty360’s Throwback Thursday video series brings together several of the best responses from Loyalty360 member thought leaders on recent topics, trends, and discussions. In this video, we asked, "What do you think is the next big thing for customer loyalty/customer experience?"...Read More

The following article was originally published in Adweek here The novel coronavirus pandemic has ravaged many retailers in the U.S., leaving some legacy organizations announcing bankruptcies and others reeling from layoffs.However, some consumers are starting to feel as though we&rsquo...Read More

How much do you feel supported during the crisis? That’s the customer data every company needs during the crisis, but very few have. With its own customers feeling pressure, and with traditional interactions scrambled, enterprise software leader Red Hat needed a metric it could act on:...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Melissa West, Director of...Read More

Even though some states are reopening, many consumers are still taking a wait and see approach to getting on with life as we used to know it. Shopping habits have likely been changed forever. Consumers are shopping less but more in bulk and, neighborhood c-stores have become the go-to place for...Read More

Originally published on Forbes.As many parts of the U.S. loosen their COVID-19 restrictions, many businesses are heading into the Explore phase, the first of three phases of recovery that I’ve previously defined. To understand the consumer mindset entering into this new phase...Read More

Welcome to our Top 10 Leaders Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders in customer, channel, and brand loyalty. These responses will address the challenges and opportunities...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel, and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Rupa Rajopadhye, VP of...Read More

Flashback to 1978. A group of friends gathered around a Space Invaders machine, accidentally spilling Pepsi on the floor due to excitement.Their buddy is about to get those last few points that will let him enter his three initials on screen. There it will be known that he is the best in town...Read More

Loyalty360’s Throwback Thursday video series brings together several of the best responses from Loyalty360 member thought leaders on recent topics, trends, and discussions. In this episode we asked, “How do you define customer loyalty? Do you think that definition is consistent to...Read More

As we continue our content series on how brands are managing the business curve of COVID-19, we explore how leading CPG brands are seizing the opportunity to emerge from COVID-19’s disruption more relevant—and more human—than ever before.A “walk the talk&rdquo...Read More

Financial institutions were in a unique position at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis. Here’s how they responded and what the implications are for an industry slow to change.The COVID-19 crisis has brought about a uniquely devastating mix of challenges for the global consumer, ...Read More

When COVID-19 hit, many Vancity employees saw their workload skyrocket, said Tony Xu, Research Consultant for the Canadian credit union.The global pandemic affected not only Vancity employees — many of whom were suddenly working from home while simultaneously caring for children and elderly...Read More

Building customer loyalty has always been challenging. And with today’s uncertain environment, strategies for forging loyal bonds with current and future customers are more critical than ever.  Businesses that have had to temporarily shut their doors must focus on winning back...Read More

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel and tourism industry faces an unprecedented crisis. Like any unforeseen situation, the challenge is not the circumstance itself, but how brands navigate their way out of it. The industry will re-enter into a different world from the one it left behind only...Read More

Welcome to our Top 10 Leaders Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders in customer, channel, and brand loyalty. In this week's episode, we asked, "If you could give one or...Read More

Adobe Target is a marketer’s dream, enabling users to deliver tests and personalization without complex and costly code changes. But many organizations fail to use Target to its full potential. They struggle with not knowing where to start, internal politics, or not seeing improved...Read More

Loyalty360’s Throwback Thursday video series brings together several of the best responses from Loyalty360 member thought leaders on recent topics, trends, and discussions. In this episode we asked, “What is the biggest challenge and/or opportunity you are seeing regarding customer...Read More

She had never seen numbers like this before. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit and businesses were increasingly locking down, longtime customer experience leader Laura Messerschmitt, GoDaddy’s VP of Customer Experience, was responsible for gauging the impact on GoDaddy’s 19M...Read More

In recent years, there has been a growing need for companies to design digital experiences that are accessible and inclusive for all audiences. Join ICF Next Partners Anne Catherine Feeney and Jane Motz Hayes for pro advice on how to exceed project expectations while navigating accessibility from...Read More

As organizations adapt to the ‘new normal’, page through these books to inspire you with ideas on how to bounce back stronger.1. Grit: The Power of Passion and PerseveranceBy Angela DuckworthThis New York Times bestseller follows on from Duckworth’s viral TED Talk. In its pages...Read More

Welcome to our Top 10 Leaders Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders in customer, channel, and brand loyalty. In this week's episode, we asked, "How are you helping your...Read More

Welcome to our Top 10 Leaders Series! Loyalty360 is producing a video series where we seek timely insight, analysis, and best practices from recognized and well-respected thought leaders in customer, channel, and brand loyalty. These responses will address the challenges and opportunities...Read More

Urgent actions are required in a post COVID-19 marketing environment   In a study conducted by Voice of the Customer, LLC, consumer perceptions of retail brands are directly compared to those of the brand’s loyalty program, uncovering a highly discriminant basis for prediction of...Read More

In a study on identity resolution from Forrester Consulting commissioned by Epsilon, Forrester found that, at best, only half of brands are capable of fundamental identity resolution capabilities, like finding customers across devices, controlling messaging frequency and building a unified...Read More

COVID-19 has only served to spotlight the impact that digital experiences have on all aspects of our lives, especially when it comes to building out customer experiences with loyalty in mind. The current business reality, stemming from unprecedented global events, is forcing companies that...Read More

Seemingly every day, digital marketplaces create both new challenges and opportunities to connect with customers on a meaningful level. This goes the same for B2B customers as it does for B2C consumers, as more and more of today’s B2B buyers expect the same experience whether shopping for...Read More

Growing customer expectations are forcing businesses to “up their game” regarding how they might facilitate a more fluid and interactive communication cadence with their customers. It is now more important than ever for a business to consider how they can digitally streamline...Read More

Most U.S. states are making plans to reopen as the country struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. But as governments and businesses move forward, the question remains: Are Americans ready?And perhaps more importantly: What do they need to feel ready?  We asked more than 2,000 U.S....Read More

In order to be successful and effective, companies must design digital experiences that are accessible, and inclusive of all audiences.  Inclusivity drives participationAccessibility has become high on the priority list for many companies in 2020. Why? Because so many corporations before...Read More

The sudden emergence and threat of COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we live and the way we do business. In some cases, organizations have been able to shift online, but many others have had to close their doors. No matter where companies fall on this spectrum, there are safe and...Read More

In the last few weeks we have seen that a lot of what we did in physical spaces can be done online: exercising, visiting museums, watching concerts, and wandering around national parks to name a few. Most of it for free too. But when we eventually get over this surreal moment, will we want to go...Read More

We don’t know the exact timetable, but if we believe recovery is closer rather than further away, these key considerations might help us prepare for the hard decisions ahead.As COVID-19 and its impacts on businesses continues to take center-stage, executives and key decision-makers across...Read More

The COVID-19 crisis abruptly changed our buying behaviors and attitudes as we adjusted to new routines. With many areas of the country seeing a lift in restrictions, Social Media Link asked 5,800 consumers as part of our ongoing research series (Index 1, Index 2) to share their current brand...Read More

I’ve studied human behavior for decades, examining how people respond to their environment as customers, employees, and leaders. Humans are amazingly resilient—for the good and bad. Even after facing disruptive events such as an epidemic or a recession, people tend to revert to their...Read More

Mitigating the customer impact of COVID-19 will require steady brand leadership and empathy – learn what it takes to weather the storm and come out ahead on the other side. For brands and customers, we are living through an extraordinary moment of change and disruption. We all feel it...Read More

Given the current situation with COVID-19, businesses are facing uncertainty and have more questions than ever around the pricing of existing and new products. Typically, companies would engage in research (i.e. surveys, interviews and focus groups) with their customers to help answer...Read More

In this rapidly changing environment, opinions, attitudes, and behaviors are evolving almost daily. Social Media Link has tapped our direct access to millions of consumers to keep a pulse on consumer sentiment throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Our second wave of data emphasizes changing trends that...Read More

How do you stand out in the crowded insurance market? It’s a question that brands across the world are asking themselves, including Scandinavian giant Tryg.The rise of comparison sites in the last 5 years has seen the industry often reduced to a single number: how much are your premiums...Read More

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.&rdquo...Read More

Customer Care Managers are used to dealing with regular surges in demand. Most customer care centers (also referred to as contact centers) have an established process, planned months in advance to ensure they cope adequately and maintain the customer experience. The stakes are high...Read More

What is happening now in retail will determine the rules of the “New Normal.”Perhaps more than any other segment, retail brands came into the COVID-19 crisis in a particularly difficult position. Despite a decade-long economic surge in the U.S. and across the globe, retail has been...Read More

Anytime we encounter events like volcanos, hurricanes, earthquakes and even pandemics like COVID-19, there’s a moment of pause. For many, it’s in our nature to want to assess the situation, gather information and then take decisive actions. However, if that pause turns into more of a...Read More

Brands around the world have found themselves having to ramp up their digital efforts seemingly overnight. Here’s how brands can ready themselves for long-term success online...The sudden emergence and threat of COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we live. Social distancing, self...Read More

Social Media Link has tapped our direct access to millions of consumers to gather real-time sentiment in this fast-moving crisis. The below highlights reflect the first wave of an evolving data project dedicated to helping the marketing community make time-sensitive decisions with the most...Read More

The current COVID-19 crisis has hit our economy hard.  With loyalty members representing your best customers, your loyalty program is more important than ever.  Now is the time to look at actions and changes that can be made to help members feel safer not only about their brand...Read More

A pandemic allows companies to take stock of their loyalty programs—making sure they’re being loyal to their consumers during stressful times.  In the loyalty business, companies provide the best value they can in exchange for earning the loyalty of consumers. They enlist their...Read More

Treat your members like friends Do your members want you to treat them like friends? If you’re the type of friend that has meaningful, caring relationships, then the answer is, “yes.” Members want and expect much more from loyalty programs—they want you—the program...Read More

Great personalization doesn’t happen overnight We all know personalization is at the forefront of creating deeper customer relationships and brand-bonding customer experiences. Study after study has shown that consumers want relevant, customized offers and experiences from the brands they...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Rick Boubelik, Senior...Read More

The Cloud is a major driving force of the current digital revolution. There is no question about that. Providing instant access and high availability of systems and services, it has become a refined tool desired by companies from all industries. According to Forbes, 83% of enterprise IT...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Christian, Selchau-Hansen...Read More

We know the expected role of government and health officials, but what about brands?It has been over 70 days since the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in the United States. Since late-January, the definition of “normalcy” has changed daily. Depending on where you live, daily...Read More

When everything around us changes overnight, we’re left wondering how to navigate new realities. In the moment, we sometimes forget that we can lean on old business principles, like old friends. One of the basic principles of business remains true: “It’s a lot harder to get a...Read More

Last year we saw many retailers focus on revamping or reinventing their loyalty programs.This trend has continued into early 2020 with several top companies like Panera, Walmart, and Publix.They are in very different verticals but continue to make a big splash with new (or improved...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Aaron Roy, Co-founder and CEO...Read More

In these unprecedented times, businesses across the world are scrambling to adapt to new ways of working. And while change might seem uncomfortable, the global outbreak and spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) gives organizations no option but to show customers, colleagues, and clients what...Read More

In order to flatten the curve of COVID-19, restaurants have been ordered to close their doors to customers. While we hope businesses will reopen safely in due time, we’re left to navigate these unchartered waters. Yes, some guests are choosing to staying home completely, but many can still...Read More

To manage the business curve of COVID-19, start by understanding the three phases of this crisis: Panic and Disruption, Fear and Isolation, and Recovery and the New Normal.Today we are publishing our first thoughts on how organizations should respond—and are responding—to the...Read More

To keep customers active in your loyalty program, it’s essential to reward members beyond discounts and demonstrate the value of continuous participation. Research featured in the International Journal of Hospitality Management found that “providing social rewards [e.g., a...Read More

Sometimes a single B2B/ B2C brand can have multiple, disconnected loyalty reward programs to drive different business objectives. The most recent example of such situation which had everyone talking was the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. This was a huge undertaking for the brands involved and...Read More

As I write this, 223 million Americans have been ordered to stay home; by the time you read this, many more are likely to be sheltering in place.In an amazingly short period of time, our work and home lives have been transformed. Home must now serve myriad purposes — including...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Marti Beller, President of...Read More

Think about the way you watch TV. Who wants to wait a week for a new episode to come out?Now, instead of having to wait for episodes to come out, you can binge watch most shows by streaming them instantly.Instant gratification isn’t just a media phenomenon – technology has caused this...Read More

Mitigating the customer impact of COVID-19 will require steady brand leadership and empathy – learn what it takes to weather the storm and come out ahead on the other side.For brands and customers, we are living through an extraordinary moment of change and disruption. We all feel it, with...Read More

This is the third article in our series focusing on the importance of customer loyalty and retention during an economic crisis. Our first article spoke about enhancing your tactics to increase your customer retention rates, which you can read here. Our second post addressed the...Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating a new reality for brands and everyone is feeling the impact.In mid-March, as the crisis began spreading in the U.S., just over 70% of U.S. consumers indicated that coronavirus was impacting their day-to-day lives. Fast-forward one week later and that number...Read More

During global pandemics like the coronavirus crisis, travel brands that are flexible and transparent with their customers—while finding ways to lessen their anxiety—are well-positioned for the future. Empty shelves at Target stores. Purchase limits on bottled water at Costco. Third...Read More

Our new normal is something nobody expected in their wildest dreams. As the world is continuously preparing to combat COVID-19, customers are facing a huge slew of challenges including longer customer service wait times, shortages of products, delayed deliveries and a copious amount of COVID-19...Read More

Five Steps Loyalty Programs Need to Take to Remain Relevant in a Post COVID-19 World   The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis with significant impacts on our everyday lives, as governments move to control it while fundamentally reshaping consumer behavior. From limiting...Read More

Every Loyalty Program Has an Engagement Loop Every loyalty program has an engagement loop of behaviors and actions that members repeat as they rise to become your most valued customer. At a minimum, that loop is likely: spend to earn, spend to earn, spend to earn, and, finally, redeem. Then...Read More

The COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented and the road map for the year ahead has been ripped up. What matters is how you act in the here and now.We’re highlighting some of the leading examples of brands adapting to the situation by providing experiences that make a difference to their customers...Read More

In these uncertain times, many restaurants are quickly adapting their delivery and takeout model to bolster sales. But, how can they continue to drive awareness and adoption of these channels when customers are conditioned to eating out? In the wake of social distancing, necessity is driving the...Read More

If your brand has a loyalty program, there’s a good chance that it was created initially to get more customers in the door… and keep them coming back to buy more. These programs were intended to offer savings and make consumers feel more connected to your brand because they were...Read More

In the Loyalty360 Thought Leadership series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Guy Cierzan, Managing Partner...Read More

We’re living in a time of great disruption for brands and customers, with our day-to-day lives and routines, relationships and financial well-being being upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated travel restrictions, lockdowns and “social distancing.” For some brands...Read More

We know that at least 1 in 2 consumers is willing to spend more to buy from a company that drives positive environmental impact (Nielsen). More specifically, members of Gen Z are willing to pay up to an extra 10-15% for certain sustainable products (NDP Group).   Fortunately for the planet...Read More

If your brand doesn’t earn active participation through experiences that make customers feel appreciated and understood in a human way, they’ll find a new brand that does. When we ask customers about the brands they are most loyal to, there’s often an interesting disconnect...Read More

Navigating the COVID-19 crisis is uncharted territory for everyone. Companies are drastically changing their operations as cities and states respond to the outbreak. Many Americans find themselves sheltering in place and millions are working from home. We’re entering a world where consumers...Read More

As much as a business will rely on its internal sales team to advance its commercial direction, many businesses utilise external channel partnerships to drive sales. Brands will commonly use a re-seller or distributor network to drive uplift in easy customer reach. This is a particularly way the...Read More

While marketers, academics and the broader business community focus the bulk of discussion on customer loyalty to B2C applications, there’s no debate that customer loyalty is at least equally important for B2B enterprises. The sheer size and ubiquity of consumer loyalty programs contributes...Read More

Companies around the globe are rethinking the mantra, “The show must go on.” As coronavirus numbers continue to grow, so does the number of events and conferences being cancelled. With travel restrictions, concerns about large gatherings and work-from-home policies being put into...Read More

This article was originally published in the “How to Overcome the 5 Biggest Retail Challenges of 2020 with Premium Loyalty” eBook. The strategy for many companies in recent times has been fast growth at all costs – including putting profitability at the back of the...Read More

In this Loyalty360 Thought Leadership video, we sit down with Susan Frech, Co-Founder and CEO of Social Media Link. In this series, we talk to the leaders in customer, channel and brand loyalty about the technology that impacts brands' ability to drive unique experiences and engagement. Our...Read More

Even having spent the past 20+ years working in the automotive industry, the global scale and reach of the industry on consumers’ lives never ceases to amaze me. In fact, over 77 million new automobiles were sold worldwide last year. With an average length of new-vehicle ownership...Read More

Will the new cloud-native Adobe Experience Manager revolutionize the way brands manage and deliver digital experiences? Here’s our breakdown of the benefits, considerations, and impact of the announcement.  Adobe Experience Manager is already well-recognized as the most powerful and...Read More

Given the spread of Coronavirus and the downturn in the economy, every organization needs to rethink how it operates. As Experience Management (XM) professionals, you can play an important role in helping your company weather the storm. How? By enhancing the capability to continuously learn...Read More

Today’s customers expect supreme services and an easy way to achieve their goals. When I go shopping, for example, I expect the store to have all the goods I need, I don't want to wait in line at the checkout, I want the convenience of paying with my smartphone, and so on. It should be...Read More

The average consumer lives in a world inundated with digital touchpoints. This barrage of digital communication is what makes receiving a handwritten note feel so special. It’s something different, something that can be felt, touched and appreciated in a way that email will never be able to...Read More

Where do you start searching for a new product?Did you know that nearly 50% of new searches start on Amazon?While that’s a huge number by itself, Google accounts for almost 35%.So, if roughly 85% of new product searches start on Amazon and Google, shouldn’t that be where you sell your...Read More

Just over a decade ago, Facebook became the most popular social media platform in the world. It hasn’t let go of the reins yet, but a quick glance of apps on any given cell phone will show that Facebook has a lot more competition these days. While social media started as a way to connect...Read More

Unlike most fortune tellers I can predict with near 100% accuracy that your company is going through a digital transformation. Digital transformations are big. Digital transformations are complex. Digital transformations are long, multi-year programs. You and your competitors are in...Read More

The world of motion pictures changed forever in 1977 with the release of "Star Wars". It continues to this day in the form of motion pictures, television series, and other media. It should come as no surprise that a great deal has changed in movie-making, technology, and society over...Read More

Consumer expectations are evolving — and they are impacting every step of the customer journey. From digital interactions to in-store experiences, brands must meet these expectations to not just earn a customer’s initial business, but to earn their lifelong loyalty. Now more than ever...Read More

Brands, manufacturers, retailers and distributors are all very mindful of the Amazon effect.  The e-commerce giant controls almost half of all e-commerce sales in the US. Further to this concern is the fact that most people use Amazon to search and find products.  The search engines...Read More

The last few years have produced major evolutionary shifts in customer loyalty with increased focus on customer experience, engagement, and emotional loyalty. With all this activity in the loyalty landscape you’ve probably asked, do I need to rebrand my loyalty program? Here are some key...Read More

Text message marketing isn’t new or groundbreaking, but it’s highly effective when utilized correctly. Here’s how. A phone number is personal. It’s given out to close friends, family, neighbors, people you trust, and those you want and expect to hear from. If a brand has...Read More

Truly progressive brands have evolved to look at ALL of their customers through a loyalty lens; not only those who are enrolled in their loyalty program. These innovators practice “Big L” loyalty, using their loyalty strategies and tactics to create exceptional customer experiences...Read More

The 2019 holiday season just ended.So, why are we already talking about holiday 2020?Loyalty played a major role for the successful retailers during this past holiday season. And building or revamping a successful loyalty program takes time.If your goal is to compete on more than just...Read More

Editor’s note: Ansira Chief Client Officer Andy Arnold sat down with Facebook U.S. Global Solutions Vice President Michelle Morris recently for a chat at the annual Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Masters of Marketing conference in Orlando, Florida. They discussed the...Read More

Very rarely is there a compelling business case to run a points-based loyalty scheme. Loyalty ‘experts’ will point at the success of airline programs to retain frequent fliers – but that’s a genuine edge-case in the spectrum of program viability. The &lsquo...Read More

Entering a new decade is often a time to reflect on the preceding one and to brand them as “eras.” I believe the 2010s will be remembered as the wild, wild, west of data collection. In that new frontier of data, consumers were relatively unaware and free with their information and...Read More

Can business travel trends ever be accurately predicted?A decade ago, many within the business travel industry were predicting a poor outlook, largely predicated on the global economic crisis of 2008. Hotels were selling off properties and airlines were consolidating. Travel suppliers pinned...Read More

Struggling to wrap your head around GDPR, the CCPA, and other proposed data privacy legislation? It all comes down to reconceptualizing data as a privilege, not a commodity.With only months to go before the California Consumer Privacy Act’s requirements go into effect on January 1...Read More

2020 feels like a good year for clarity.Over the past decade, we saw an overemphasis on the "customer experience" and its myriad of manifestations across different channels. With new channels popping up—as well as advances in data and technology—the “experience&rdquo...Read More

Marketers are challenged with creating unique and genuine personalized experiences at every step of the customer journey in-store, online, and beyond. When leveraged appropriately, handwritten notes can be the perfect medium for standing out from today’s avalanche of digital noise to create...Read More

The 2010s saw significant changes to the retail landscape; some were expected, but many shakeups were seemingly out of the blue. It’s hard to predict what the 2020s have in store for us, but one thing is certain about the new decade: it is sure to be rife with competition. Some brands will...Read More

You recognize the importance of market research software in helping you gather data for your research projects. But how do you choose the right market research software for your needs?There are three primary questions you should ask to guide you in learning how to choose market research software...Read More

The rise in online consumption has shaped the publishing industry we experience today. Readers demand high-quality free content at the click of a button, prefer breaking news rather than reading about it the following morning, and don’t like to navigate from their inbox to consume it.This...Read More

Loyalty programs should be one of the cornerstones of any effective marketing strategy. According to Accenture's recent study found that “members of loyalty programs generate between 12 to 18% [higher] incremental revenue growth per year than non-members.” But not all...Read More

It’s a new year, and every retailer, for better or worse, is already ramping up their email marketing efforts. Every company wants better open rates, more customers and genuine customer loyalty, yet every year we see many brands compete with exactly the same marketing playbook and hope to...Read More

Another year has passed, and it’s yet another year where customer experience has evolved at a considerable pace. We’ve seen more and more companies expand their CX programs to bring in more channels, more respondents, and more internal stakeholders than ever before. And we...Read More

The average convenience store employs roughly 15-16 employees at any time. Although this number is increasing year-over-year, according to NACS data, turnover is also on the rise. Managing a workforce may not be the highlight of your job, but it’s an important part of your...Read More

Community banks have long been entrenched in the populations they serve, and as a result have one of the richest histories in financial services. But the experience of banking has changed significantly over the past few years.Not so long ago, banking was an in-person, face-to-face experience that...Read More

It's a no brainer that customers will purchase your product or service if you give them a deal that appeals to their desire for a bargain, or meets their unique needs or purchasing patterns. In fact, 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that offers them a...Read More

On a very basic level, the definition of being loyal to a brand means you repeat the purchase of a product or service rather than taking your business elsewhere. Marketers are often focused squarely on the financial aspect of being loyal. They regularly design new ways to solicit the next...Read More

Industry disruptors affect everyone, from huge conglomerates to single-store operations. The question is not if a disruption will impact your company, but when. And while they are by nature off the radar, there are some common disruptors that have cropped up in the last year or so...Read More

Throughout our series on predictions for the 2020s, we’ve covered a number of important topics marketers should pay attention to. From transparency to experiences to website evolution, loyalty-building and voice-based AI. For our final prediction, we...Read More

From trading to data management to settlement and accounting, the executives that I speak to recognize that they need to do more with less and still deliver a customer experience that is consistently ahead of the competition.That means one thing: modernization. But what does that mean, and how do...Read More

Digitally savvy organizations have come to think of the customer experience as a trail of information, each touchpoint leaving behind a data footprint that we aggregate into vast data lakes in the hopes of turning that data into granular insights that will in turn power highly relevant and...Read More

Last week, we covered why brand loyalty in the future will be achieved through shared values and new understandings, in addition to our other predictions highlighting transparency, experiences and personalized engagement. This week we’re talking about how...Read More

Don’t you love the feeling of putting on a brand new pair of sneakers that fit you perfectly?That’s what Foot Locker wants its customer to feel when they join its new upcoming loyalty program.The new loyalty program known as FLX, which is tentatively scheduled to launch sometime...Read More

Loyalty programs’ long-standing emphasis on earning points has relegated the relationship between brand and customer to a transaction. In 2020, with loyalty programs giving consumers more choices (and power) than ever, smart c-store operators and loyalty marketers will work on bringing back...Read More

Julie Wojtowicz, Director, Strategy & Insights – In this role since late 2015, Julie works with the world’s largest brands to provide strategic consulting designed to drive acquisition, increase consumer engagement, and ultimately strengthen relationships between brands and their...Read More

CrowdTwist recently conducted research into consumer attitudes towards loyalty programs, brand engagement, emerging technologies, and shopping experiences. The research found that only 46% of consumers are willing to share their data in exchange for personalized experiences. In addition...Read More

If you’ve attended a game or another event on a college campus lately, you’ve probably experienced waiting for a long time in a long line. Given a choice, who would want to spend time squeezing through a crowded entrance or waiting in queue at the concession stand or at the campus...Read More

In our content series about how marketers can prepare for the 2020s, we’ve talked about making transparency a huge priority, making “experiences” the new “content” and evolving your website to be a personalized engagement destination. Today, we...Read More

According to one loyalty-fraud prevention group, there is an estimated $1 billion lost to fraud in loyalty programs each year and no one is entirely immune to it ‒ some of the most well-known brands across industry verticals experience huge losses from loyalty fraud. And, while customer...Read More

Since Black Friday, the headlines have reported stagnant U.S. retail sales. And the future doesn’t look much better. Predictions say the market will barely grow 2% annually over the next two to three years.Malls are becoming a relic, and brick and mortar stores are seeing less...Read More

The 2019 holiday season is in the rearview mirror, but I have two questions for you:Where did you do your holiday shopping? And why did you choose those stores?For me, all my holiday shopping was reduced to two distinct buckets: Who offered the lowest price and who were the brands I was already...Read More

Our content series about the six trends marketers should prepare for in the 2020s continues. We’ve talked about making transparency a huge priority and creating immersive consumer experiences. Today we’re focusing on how marketers should approach one of the most...Read More

Hard truth: if you’re designing your employee experience (EX) strategies around segmentation by age group, you’re doing it wrong.  Just as marketers continue to chase the millennial segment to grow their businesses, companies are obsessed with catering to this cohort in the...Read More

Last week, we launched a new content series sharing what we believe are the trends marketers can’t ignore in the 2020s. Our first prediction tackled the need for brands and marketers to concentrate on transparency, namely through privacy and visibility into data collection.While...Read More

Starbucks' Black Friday deal shows us that loyalty mechanics can brew good things outside of formal loyalty programs. This Black Friday, Starbucks is offering a special tumbler that can be used to get free coffee every day in January. That's right my caffeine-addicted...Read More

Airship is excited to announce the launch of two new features that will drastically improve your SMS and Mobile Wallet campaigns: Link shortening and link tracking! Link shortening transforms any URL within your SMS messages by creating a shortened link with an...Read More

Poor research participation continues to be a source of angst for researchers everywhere. And when this happens you’re left with unreliable data and questionable insights, which ultimately can have a negative impact on the business. To consistently get the quantity and quality of...Read More

While an eventful decade is coming to a close, the ever-evolving world of loyalty and customer marketing shows no signs of slowing down. We polled leaders from across ICF Next’s loyalty and customer marketing practice on the major changes and trends we’ll see in the industry in 2020...Read More

Consumers today are more aware than ever before of the risks they take in shopping online and engaging in other e-commerce services. That being said, e-commerce is virtually impossible to avoid. It’s convenient for both customers and retailers, and in many cases, a digital environment...Read More

Gamification in email - it’s not a new idea in the digital space. In fact, it’s been around since Club Nintendo awarded points for opens and clicks within their emails. However, what is new-ish, and recently kicking up quite a fuss, is how gamification has advanced and the myriad of...Read More

We’re here to help you prepare for the CCPA. As a Privacy by Design company, Yotpo is committed to protecting both our customers’ and their end-users’ personal information.While this post focuses on the CCPA, Yotpo is already compliant with a similar regulation, the EU’s...Read More

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) or Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) customer loyalty programs face unique challenges in the loyalty market today. Largely, CPG brands are scooped up into larger retailer programs, which then own the customer data, as well as the specific offers. For the CPG brand...Read More

While marketers answer the demands of today, they must also prepare for future trends. We’re gearing up for a new decade that is full of challenges and opportunities. What could marketing look like over the next ten years?Prognosticating about the future is always a tricky business. To...Read More

Loyalty360 CEO Mark Johnson speaks with Comarch's Lukasz Sloniewski about technology and how Comarch drives unique experiences and engagement within the world of loyalty.    Read More

Fun fact: Organizations that prioritize testing are twice as likely to outperform their peers and have stronger cross-functional relationships. And yet, only 4 out of 10 marketers view testing and experimentation as a critical success factor. Those stats come from a recent Gartner report...Read More

These days, over 50% of your eCommerce traffic comes from mobile.   The conversion rate for these mobile visitors, however, is just 1.6% — less than half the rate of desktop and laptop users. For your brand, this presents both a serious challenge and a major...Read More

Why failing mattersIn Sweden, Dr. Samuel West, a licensed psychologist and innovation researcher, curates a museum of failed products aptly named The Museum of Failure. The products exhibited come from the largest and most innovative companies in the world: Apple's Newton PDA, Ford&...Read More

If you want to take your brand loyalty program to the next level, you need to be customer-obsessed—and that starts with listening.  It happens all the time. Someone asks you a question and you can tell they’re not really listening to your answer. Instead they’re waiting...Read More

The XM Institute recently published a new report, The ROI of Customer Experience, 2019. It examines the connection between customer experience and loyalty across 20 U.S. consumer industries: Airlines, auto dealers, banks, car rentals, computers, credit cards, fast food, groceries...Read More

2019 has been a fairly tumultuous year for marketers. The first fines began to hit brands for GDPR breaches and the previous years’ Cambridge Analytica scandal continued to rumble-on, keeping privacy firmly in the spotlight with negative headlines and a high-profile Netflix dramatization...Read More

Beyond the promise of relaxation, exploration, or adventure, one thing that can help push a vacation from ‘great’ to ‘totally awesome’ is to earn points through an airline or hotel loyalty program.Take it a step further and earn points by linking to a partner ride share...Read More

Does this sound familiar? You found a store you shop at often and discover they have a loyalty program. Great news! As a next step, you enroll in their loyalty program and are now are ready to receive the special treatment you deserve. But wait … the program does not ‘live...Read More

Telecommunication (telco) as an industry isn’t known for its strong loyalty, as shown by high customer churn and rich acquisition offers. Most consumers tend to view telco businesses as a means to an end, and often only interact with the brands when they pay bills or have an issue that...Read More

 With the start of the new year, most brands are still racing to ensure their house is in order and they have the processes in place to comply with CCPA. Those responsible for ensuring compliance have no doubt spent significant time determining exactly what data is being collected on each...Read More

“Recovering a modicum of equilibrium across consumer behaviors and technology innovation will require organizational alacrity, a laser focus on customer needs and a balanced embrace of automation.”—Charles Golvin, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner for MarketersAchieving the...Read More

Environmentally focused consumers are pressuring companies to implement sustainable practices beyond greenwashing—or lose their loyalty. Greta Thunberg certainly has shaken up the global conversation on climate change, and we have seen how sustainability as a macro trend has called on...Read More

Adding incentives to your surveys can boost response rates, increase engagement, and lead to more completed surveys in the future. But incorrect use of these incentives can lead to unredeemed gifts, unsatisfied respondents, and lower engagement rates over time.In this article, we’ll cover...Read More

When I was a chief experience officer, I often told front-line leaders to stop focusing on patient experience and invest their energy in their employees. Healthcare organizations (HCOs) have long been focused on improving patient experience. They have set up elaborate systems...Read More

For marketers, metrics matter. They define when and where to interact with customers. They indicate how loyal a customer is to your brand and identify ways to create more seamless experiences. They even — and maybe most importantly — contribute to budgeting decisions, determining what...Read More

Connect, connection, and connected.These are all words we use on a regular basis, especially when we’re talking about customer loyalty.Before the digital age, when customers shopped at their favorite stores, they were often unrecognized. Not by face, but by frequent shopper status.There...Read More

When in cloud    Cloud computing has been around for so long that, for some, it has become somewhat of a cliché. It is predicted that the term will soon end up on a buzzword graveyard1, the reason being that a vast majority of systems and services used by...Read More

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny shopping in the holiday season is big business. For retailers there’s more than 700 billion dollars up for grabs. In the rush to claim their share, we consistently see brands launching unique offerings and campaigns at this time of year.To help...Read More

Hotel loyalty programs continue to attract large amounts of customers – 46% of US consumers have joined a hotel loyalty program at some point in their lives. Globally, hotel brands largely use a spend-and-burn structure with tiering, similar to airlines. There are some outliers...Read More

The main purpose of every loyalty program is very simple from the customer perspective – they sign up because they want to be recognized and rewarded. As long as a business operates on double digit margins and can provide high value rewards, that...Read More

As a researcher, you know that getting the quantity of responses needed for actionable insights is just half the battle. You also need participants to be completely honest in their responses. To improve response rates researchers are increasingly rewarding participants. But when surveys require...Read More

Grocers are running to catch up to Amazon Go’s “pay and just walk out” store model. Some like Tesco are adding similar over-head camera technology to automate scanning. Others such as Kroger are piloting “Scan, Bag, Go” technology that relies on...Read More

From January 1, 2020, the CCPA will protect the privacy of consumers based in California, one of the most populous states in the United States. Companies that infringe upon it can risk consumer backlash and huge fines, so it’s important you don’t let this one slip past. Read on to...Read More

The best loyalty programs create 1:You experiences for their very best customers. From earning to redeeming and everything in between, a good loyalty program listens to its customers. It creates the connections that deliver lifetime value to both the customer and the brand they love.The...Read More

When Starbucks relaunched its loyalty program in April, it was met with some initial criticism.Would it alienate existing core customers?Would people understand it?Would it really contribute to growth or would it backfire?We had a different view on the Starbucks Rewards revamp back in March...Read More

Away has achieved cult-like status for its meticulously designed luggage. The bags have become part of a lifestyle, a must-have feature of the jet-set uniform. Even more than airport cred, Away has become an Instagram darling with travelers organically sharing their Away bags in artfully styled...Read More

Loyalty started in the airline industry and the innovation of these programs spilled out to other verticals. Today, the airline industry is a highly competitive and commoditized marketplace, and its loyalty programs – once a point of differentiation for brands – are now becoming...Read More

Here are several ways brands can avoid common pitfalls. With wide-reaching impact and stakeholders in virtually every department, a loyalty technology implementation or migration can be one of the most complex enterprise sourcing exercises a large organization can undertake.In our experience...Read More

2019 was dubbed the ‘Year of Premium Economy’, but did it live up to its expectations? Depending on your corporate travel policy, Premium Economy can be a preferred option for short-haul or frequent travel, offering added comfort to standard Economy without the high costs of...Read More

Back in the day, we had the famous Boxing Day sale. To use an analogy, it makes sense that turkeys are cheaper in the days after Christmas than before, because of the economics of supply and demand, and because there will always be a few birds that aren’t sold and surplus stock has to...Read More

Storytelling is an innate part of human connection. It is how we share culture across generations, communicate with each other, and form communities. Brands can leverage the power of storytelling to create deeper relationships with customers and share unique perspectives from individuals and...Read More

The value of customer loyalty should never be underestimated, especially in ecommerce. If you assume that the customer journey ends as soon as the user completes a purchase, you’re making a huge mistake.The point of conversion should be looked at as the start of a long-term relationship...Read More

As another year is coming to an end and we’re closing out a decade, we’re reflecting on the ‘big loyalty accomplishment’ we achieved throughout the past ten years in addition to the marketing advancements coming in the future. Since 2010, there have been several...Read More

The strength of your web analytics framework relies on three basic principles: planning, partnership, and persistence.You can use the snazziest, feature-rich web analytics tool on the planet, but if the data behind the scenes isn’t accurate, your reporting results won’t be beneficial...Read More

With two-thirds of consumers having just begun their holiday shopping in October, there’s still time to make the most of the season for both your shoppers and your brand. Here are six things to keep in mind.Brick and mortar isn’t deadIt’s critical to have a strong online...Read More

 Four Key Creative Considerations The last few years have produced major evolutionary shifts in customer loyalty with increased focus on customer experience, engagement, and emotional loyalty. With all this activity in the loyalty landscape you’ve probably asked, do I need to rebrand...Read More

Strategize for these three events today   Always two steps ahead, successful marketers are planning for 2020 as their consumers buy turkeys and decorate the house. Next year is right around the corner and, if you haven’t already started, it’s time to tackle your first quarter...Read More

Globally, loyalty in the Financial Institution (FI) industry remains heavily centered around credit card benefits. Traditional credit card loyalty constructs consist of: customers earning points for card spend, generic point redemption offers centered around products, cashback or partnership gift...Read More

As part of our XM Visionaries series, we caught up with John Goodwin, Vice President of Customer Intelligence at Mastercard to talk about how he built his team from the ground up to become an integral part of the company’s customer experience. From breaking down silos, making the business...Read More

When you think of Black Friday, you might think of your customers getting bombarded with different promotions and bouncing from store to store looking for crazy deals.That doesn’t paint a picture of loyalty, but Black Friday is actually a very important time for loyalty.Amazon uses Prime as...Read More

We broke down the key do’s and don’ts for building true brand loyalty.  Brands are experiencing a renaissance. That’s what Yotpo CEO Tomer Tagrin said at our Destination:D2C conference in September, and our most recent consumer survey proves that he’s...Read More

No traditional loyalty program necessary: the wholesale giant kills the loyalty game.Okay, I’ll admit it… I love Costco. I’d put Costco in my top five favorite brands. And it’s arguably the brand I am most loyal to. Whether I’m getting gas, picking up basics or...Read More

Retail loyalty programs are some of the most abundant in the marketplace today. As a result, consumers can now expect most of their favorite brands to offer incremental benefits for loyalty. To the consumer, this sounds great, right? However, what we see is most retailer loyalty programs look...Read More

From discounts and free shipping to makeovers and workout classes, paid perks are taking off in the loyalty space.In recent years, retailers such as Restoration Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Wayfair have launched paid loyalty memberships, and many others are following suit. In just the...Read More

Building your Black Friday Marketing StrategyBlack Friday and Cyber Monday kick off the beginning of the busiest season in retail: in 2017, shoppers spent $19.62 billion online over the holiday weekend alone.But as every brand goes all out with massive markdowns, making your site stick...Read More

    What if, as a brand, you could tap into the loyalty currency in your customers’ pockets? What if you could add use of that currency to your best customers’ journeys? What if you could give customers even more value, exceed their expectations, and expand their...Read More

Whether you’re running a store, airport, restaurant, hotel or any other kind of destination business, the holidays are likely to be your busiest time. Here’s how your teams can deliver an excellent customer experience right through to January – and want to stick around...Read More

At the start of every year, loyal customers everywhere begin their quest to earn elite status...again. Those who are well-versed in their favorite program know whether they qualified, or better yet, requalified for the prized status that brings them a different level of service and a better...Read More

We all want to feel special. It’s human nature. In today’s frenetic world, no one wants to feel like just another generic, faceless customer. Tailored communications can go a long way to winning a customer’s long-term loyalty.   Do you communicate with your...Read More

As consumers, ‘we’ve defined’ the financial services industry by the different product offerings. For example, we might work with one bank for our mortgage needs and another for our checking and a third for our savings and financial planning. And part of...Read More

Any well-built member engagement cycle isn’t complete without a Churn campaign.  We all learned long ago that it’s easier & cheaper to retain an existing member than to acquire a new one.  Oftentimes they just need a little nudge or to be...Read More

Marketers across industries currently face an excess of options for personalization. Users expect to see the experiences they get with their favorite retail brands in their interactions with brands every sector—including financial services. This often leaves financial services...Read More

Creating a frictionless customer experience is one of the top agendas for companies today. Done well, you can boost customer loyalty and build a powerful differentiator that moves you away from competing on price, to competing on what customers most want: a seamless, personalized, and empowering...Read More

These days, gamification is a marketing buzzword, seemingly ubiquitous in the industry and sometimes seen as a foolproof way to inject a little fun into consumer engagement campaigns. Gamification, however, is actually a complex, sophisticated approach to behavior change, and in order to...Read More

As a retailer, you’re thinking about customer engagement.In a time when consumers have unlimited choice amid increased competition, building stronger relationships with customers is more important than it has ever been.That’s why loyalty programs are on the minds of every retailer.You...Read More

As an eCommerce merchant, you can’t wait for the holiday season.   November and December are two of the most popular shopping months in the US, where 23% of yearly sales happen over the holidays. It all begins with Thanksgiving, when consumers take off work to celebrate...Read More

The value of customer loyalty should never be underestimated, especially in ecommerce. If you assume that the customer journey ends as soon as the user completes a purchase, you’re making a huge mistake.The point of conversion should be looked at as the start of a long-term relationship...Read More

Brands are looking for more ways to be smarter with their marketing investments. Within loyalty, marketers are expected to generate content, deliver a personalized experience and pay for rewards and program benefits. And this sits on top of the technology required to support these efforts...Read More

Loyalty has provided marketers with a method to achieve an opt-in, permission-based marketing platform and actively collect data about consumers and their activity.  Consumers agree to the data sharing and collection because of the added value they anticipate receiving as a loyalty member...Read More

Sending a push notification to welcome new users is a vital tool for increasing app retention and long-term user engagement. In fact, data shows that 95% of new, opt-in app users churn within the first 90 days if they don’t receive any push notifications!In addition to boosting...Read More

Sending a push notification to welcome new users is a vital tool for increasing app retention and long-term user engagement. In fact, data shows that 95% of new, opt-in app users churn within the first 90 days if they don’t receive any push notifications!In addition to boosting...Read More

As we near the end of 2019 and begin planning for 2020, brands are searching for the best strategies to drive consumer loyalty. In a time where this is becoming harder and harder to attain, brands need to figure out how to stand out from the competition and add value to the relationship.To make...Read More

Whether you have just launched a rewards program or have had one for many years, a program tracking study is a perfect way to get a pulse of how your program is being perceived by your members.   With a rewards program tracking study, you can measure key loyalty program metrics such as...Read More

Fashion industry veteran Rebecca Minkoff burst onto the scene in the early 2000s. Minkoff designed the “Morning After Bag” in 2005, which captured the attention of fashion enthusiasts everywhere, and officially made her a household name.Today, Rebecca Minkoff is distributed in over...Read More

Premium loyalty isn’t a new concept.People have been paying to be members of Amazon Prime since 2005.But as consumers gain more access to more information and more choices on where to spend their dollars, premium loyalty programs have been on the rise.More major retailers are launching...Read More

The classic stereotypes of B2B tech buyers no longer hold true. They are more likely to arrive tattooed and in sneakers and jeans than a suit and tie, and like the consumers they are outside of work, they don’t want to be sold to. Deals no longer hinge on cold calls, as B2B tech buyers want...Read More

Danielle Lumetta, Retail Consulting Manager at Accenture, has advised some of the world’s biggest retail brands. In our latest CX Visionaries profile, we spoke to her about brands excelling with the customer experience, and how they’re doing it. WANT MORE CX RETAIL KNOWLEDGE AND...Read More

 cxLoyalty CEO Discusses His Company’s Rebrand and Thinking Beyond Points    In recent times, loyalty has come to mean more than points-based rewards programs. Of course, points-based loyalty is still alive and well, but we’re seeing more and more...Read More

Launching a loyalty program is hard. Launching a program when all of your competitors already have one is harder.Loyalty is a well-established marketing discipline that has saturated almost every consumer sector. In fact, brands that do not offer a program often stand out more than those that do....Read More

Retail is one of the more advanced industries when it comes to personalization, with almost every retailer offering some degree of personalization to enhance the customer journey. Gone are the days of delivering the same campaign to all of your customers, relying on inserting their name to...Read More

Building customer loyalty is an objective most businesses are striving to achieve. I constantly get asked questions from brands about how they can drive customer growth; How can we get customers to come back again and again? How can we steal share of wallet from competitors? How can we get...Read More

A look at how to complete your marketing program with your front-line assets – your employees. Think back to the last time you walked into a store. It can be any store – department, grocery, even a convenience store. Try to remember the experience. Maybe you rushed in towards the...Read More

Customer experience (CX) has become a critical focus area for businesses seeking to connect with their customers in meaningful ways and differentiate themselves from their competitors. So popular is the topic of CX, it has its own global day (“CX Day”) to celebrate brands that create...Read More

Strong customer relationships are critical to the success of your company, helping to build brand advocates that drive more revenue and, if needed, help weather a crisis. There’s no single-source solution for building relationships that last – and as customers’ expectations for...Read More

Creating a great culture starts with collecting all the underlying whys.Every HR professional knows the type of culture they’d like for their organization, and how they’d like their employees to behave. Companies go through elaborate processes to create their definition of culture...Read More

The airline industry is setting travel records, flying more than 4.3 billion passengers in 2018. All of this jet-setting has boosted passenger revenues industry-wide to more than $560 billion in 2018 – another record – and according to the International Air Transport...Read More

Creating a declared data strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s how you can make your plan to collect and activate consumer-consented first-party data at scale.There’s not a marketer on earth who doesn’t want to know their customers better. If you could hear...Read More

In today’s marketing landscape, we as consumers expect a seamless customer experience. Whether we’re shopping at our favorite in-store retailer, booking our next vacation or performing a banking transaction online, we assume the technology applications we’re interacting with...Read More

As a copywriter, I was conditioned to consider the consumer’s attention span, or lack thereof, and try to make every interaction with a brand worthwhile. Ensuring that value exchange is the responsibility of every creative marketer.   What if we applied that same standard when...Read More

With all the different advertising mediums out there, why is word-of-mouth marketing still so important? It’s simple. People trust people. Paid advertising has its place in fostering brand recognition, educating consumers on your products and services, and drawing some foot traffic, but...Read More

Would you rather go on a date with someone who is simply tolerating you, or a person who really wants to be there? The latter is the obvious choice (and the former being the stuff of first-date nightmares). After all, someone who is interested in developing and maintaining a relationship is tuned...Read More

The demand for true marketing personalization is completely upending the strategies, scope, and meaning of loyalty and rewards programs.   There was a time when running a loyalty program was simple: any business from a hotel chain to a wellness center could offer a reward, in the form of...Read More

Traditional subscription/member services models work well for some brands. Stitch Fix, Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh, Sephora, and Blue Apron are some of the brands that have found success.Although their service offerings are good, could they be better? I believe the answer is a resounding...Read More

Smartphones have opened a new avenue of communication between researchers and study subjects—and this medium presents both opportunities and challenges. On the opportunity side, we can engage populations in a more convenient manner than through traditional methods. However, federal...Read More

Digital transformation. Customer experience. Artificial intelligence. Now those are trendy marketing buzzwords. With each hot topic, latest analyst report, most recent business magazine article, or the buzzword-du-jour, loyalty takes a temporary hit as “yesterday’s news”; yet...Read More

Let’s face it. What marketers view as exciting innovations in data collection can actually be spooky for consumers. With targeted ads and personalized emails becoming the norm, it is easy for consumers to develop a fear of being watched.As marketers, we have a responsibility to understand...Read More

Healthy programs should be constantly generating an influx of new members, and the early stages of their membership is an ideal time to gather feedback from your new members through a new member feedback survey.   With a New Member Experience survey, you can quickly understand satisfaction...Read More

We toss around the word loyalty often.Whether it involves friendships, relationships, sports teams, pets, retail, or restaurants, we hear and use the term loyalty regularly and it means different things to different people.In retail just about every company has some type of loyalty program...Read More

Ask Jim Harwood, Client/Member Experience VP at Farm Bureau Financial Services, how you build support for a CX program with your CEO and Senior leadership and he’ll tell you to take a lesson from Michael Gerber and the E-Myth: “Begin with the end in mind”.If we were to start at...Read More

The Voice Revolution is here. Welcome to the modern world where custom skills perform pretty much anything – from turning the lights on, to playing soft lullabies, and everything in between.  How do brands truly stand out with smart speaker technology? A tremendous amount of testing...Read More

Premium loyalty programs aren’t new.In fact, Amazon Prime is the best known premium loyalty program and it was released in 2005.If that’s the case, why are we hearing so much about it recently?And more important, why are consumers adopting premium loyalty programs so rapidly...Read More

It’s widely known that consumers have lots of brand relationships.  It’s been estimated that US consumers have over 3.8 billion loyalty memberships1. Radicati projects worldwide DAILY consumer email volume hit 111.1 billion in 20182.   How do you stand out in this crowded...Read More

Too many people consider hotel accommodation a ‘sunk cost’ of business travel – but it shouldn’t be that way.Accommodation is a key part of our clients’ travel spend and we have the technology and expertise to help them accurately identify savings opportunities. At...Read More

The subscription model is booming.For some companies, their entire business model relies on subscription. And for many legacy companies, subscription has proved very impactful as well.Industries like cable, grocery, music, radio, and even newspapers have felt this impact of subscription services...Read More

Data breaches — they seem to be everywhere. In today’s technology-driven, connected world, it seems like we can’t go a single day without hearing about a security crisis affecting a major brand. The security and privacy measures that are — or are not — put...Read More

Enterprise technology buying is changing, driven by two major trends: the consumerization of B2B and a generational shift as Millennials step into decision-making roles. This has implications for everyone working with Millennials throughout the B2B buying journey – and ultimately the...Read More

Launching and sustaining a differentiated, effective loyalty experience can be particularly challenging for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands. Luckily, recent technology and industry developments are putting these goals within reach. To realize any 1:1 marketing program’s promises of...Read More

Loyalty is hard. Any company that sets out to earn customer loyalty quickly learns that it can be an elusive goal, both in the achieving of it and even more so in the keeping of it. Ironically, the reason for this is simple. Loyalty is not something that expresses itself in a single purchase, or...Read More

We live in the age of exponential technological progress. It’s hard to imagine that just 10 years ago the iPhone was first launched, unlimited data was non-existent, and Amazon Prime was only three years old. Innovations like these have completely changed the way we interact with brands...Read More

We’re awash with people talking about best practices these days. It’s hardly surprising. Everyone wants to be sure they’re doing the right things for their Customer Experience or Customer Loyalty program. But best practices mean nothing if they don’t translate into regular...Read More

We’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of loyalty’s potential. It’s capable of so much more, but a focus on platforms is hindering brands’ abilities to better serve their customers. Strategic design and in-depth analytics combined with an adaptable platform and a...Read More

Ten years can go by in a flash. Our lives, work, technology – all can evolve in a surprisingly short period of time. Consider your experience when you contacted a company for service a decade ago – if I had to guess, it was probably by phone … and the call center that responded...Read More

In today’s loyalty landscape, brands continue to enhance their global marketing initiatives. Understanding the needs of each individual market is essential for success as there’s significant growth opportunity within the loyalty market. In fact, the global loyalty management...Read More

Getting a customer is definitely good, but getting a return customer is better. This is the simplicity behind brand loyalty and why it’s important. However, getting customer loyalty is a totally different story. Believe me, it is not as simple as it sounds, but certainly not impossible. In...Read More

To learn more about Measuring and Maximizing ROI: How to Make the Most of Your Loyalty Program, click here to register for the upcoming Loyalty360 webinar featuring Bumped. Are you thinking about implementing a loyalty program? Or do you already have one in place? Chances are you do: After...Read More

A universal challenge loyalty marketers have is obtaining a 360-degree view of their customers. There’s lots of discussions around budget, specifically as it relates to technology, along with the complexities of integrating customer databases to achieve a 360-degree customer view. As we...Read More

Imagine this: You’re at home, facing a pressing work deadline and suddenly the Wi-Fi connection disappears. You’ve troubleshooted with every trick you can think of, but still no luck. You’re starting to get desperate. In fact, you’re so desperate that you’ve reached...Read More

It’s no secret that consumers are interacting with brands across many different touchpoints and channels today, and batch & blast communications have become a thing of the past. Throughout the past few years, many brands have begun sending personalized content to their customers, but in...Read More

Digital customer engagement leader adds the industry’s most popular solution for testing and optimizing mobile apps and cross channel user experiences. PORTLAND, Ore., — August 27, 2019 — Customer engagement company Airship today announced that it has...Read More

Gen Z are radically different from past groups of consumers, and important for us as marketers to understand. They demand a whole new way of ‘wooing’ if brands want to engage with them meaningfully and effectively.Generation Z, or Gen Z, or iGeneration’ers are important. They...Read More

I’m going to tell a true story.On the 10th of July, as a belated birthday present to moi, I ordered some Sonos speakers online from a popular retailer. For the sake of the story, let’s call them Johnny Lewis & Co. I chose to buy from JL for three good reasons: (1) their...Read More

Throughout all my time in marketing, two things have become abundantly clear:   Customer experiences must be seamless in order to be truly satisfactoryAvoiding risk requires decisive preemptive actionFor marketers, that means examining every interaction a customer could possibly...Read More

The cost of returns to online retailers and brands is growing. We’ve got you covered with the strategies you need to reduce returns.With the launch of Yotpo’s Fashion eCommerce Report: Consumer Trends & Strategies for Brands, we’re sharing key data and strategies about...Read More

For decades, brands competed on price, product, place and promotion. More recently, marketers have gone toe-to-toe using carefully-crafted predictive customer journeys. Now, the new arena is mobile customer experience (CX).Consider that 65 percent 65% of customers find a positive...Read More

From simple discounts to cosmetic makeovers, every interaction your brand has with a customer is an opportunity to create a memorable loyalty moment.Combining transactional benefits with experiences that are directly relevant to your best customers will increase your chances of attracting new...Read More

Friends, I did it. I bought a pair of shorts via an Instagram ad.It wasn’t hard for them to find me. Summer is on the way. I needed shorts. But now, they haunt me. Wherever I go, internet or app, up pops the same ad that successfully enticed me to buy shorts. Cajoling me. Interrupting me...Read More

Marketers are quick to throw around the term “customer journey,” which has no doubt become the marketing buzzword for the digital age. But does it truly exist? And do we as marketers have any real influence over it? Cheetah Digital EVP of global marketing...Read More

We at KNow Research are constantly curious about the changing needs and preferences of retail customers.  To keep our finger on the pulse or “In the KNow” on retail trends, we periodically conduct research with shoppers to understand their customer journey and...Read More

Tips for measuring the effectiveness of your market development fund programs.“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”This quote by William Bruce Cameron served as the backdrop for a moderated discussion on metrics and reporting...Read More

How do the successful loyalty programs work?Every year, companies spend billions on rewards programs. But from points to promotions to coupons, are they really successful?There are so many programs out there: How can you make yours stand out?To us, there are four main drivers of success for...Read More

We talk a lot about customer loyalty here at IC Group; how to build it and how to keep it. Customer loyalty is undoubtedly a necessary part of any business’ success, but what is the true value of those loyal customers?We will try to answer that for you today; first, by examining how...Read More

Marketers know measurement matters. Performance data informs our strategies and campaigns, and we’re constantly on the lookout for the next clever idea or initiative to deliver on those KPIs. The problem? Determining which numbers to focus on. Too often, reporting gets bogged down by...Read More

Marketers waste too much time chasing and interpreting bad data. When you base your strategies and campaigns on faulty information, you not only waste your time and money, but risk sending mixed messages to your audience.Excessive availability of marketing technology further clouds marketers...Read More

Behavioural economics has become an important discipline for brand owners eager to understand why their consumers sometimes make irrational decisions that run counter to economic model predictions. Yet all too often, time and money is wasted by the challenges involved in turning behavioural...Read More

Did you know that 80% of millennials would be willing to join a premium loyalty program if their favorite retailers offered them and the benefits were valuable?And 68% of non-millennials would join a premium loyalty program.Not long ago subscription was a four-letter word for many consumers...Read More

Smartphones have already radically changed travel marketing. With AT&T soon rolling out 5G in about a dozen US cities, this long-anticipated technology is becoming a reality and will further transform travel into a mobile game.The stakes are high: Digital travel sales are expected to...Read More

Innovation has taken on renewed importance for many businesses. In fact, McKinsey & Company found that more than 70 percent of senior executives expect innovation to be a top driver of growth for their businesses. However, 65 percent of those same executives lack full confidence in...Read More

Just as consumers and businesses successfully wrap their arms (and marketing strategies) around loyalty programs, many brands and marketers have turned the system on its head with the rise of paid (often called “premium”) loyalty programs. While most still offer a freemium...Read More

Strategize for these four holidays today   With the sunshine of summer finally upon us it seems silly to focus on the colder months ahead, but marketers know that future success depends on plans made today. Leveraging the strategies outlined below, take the first steps to reach your...Read More

There’s a change going on with automakers! For the first time, automotive OEMs are creating and implementing proprietary customer loyalty programs for their dealer network.Those programs are anchored by redeemable rewards points and aimed at keeping customers in the dealership &ldquo...Read More

How you treat your customers will determine whether they keep coming back. As consumers, we’ve all been on both sides of the table when it comes to companies being empathetic to our situations (or not). I’m sure we can all agree that one leaves a much better taste in our mouths and...Read More

The State of Best-in-Class Customer Experience Survey Report, a collaboration between Loyalty360 and SAP, found that “almost 53 percent of brand marketers today do not believe or are not sure their current software providers understand their brand requirements, and even fewer believe those...Read More

The conventional wisdom is that Millennials and Generation Z are earnest, open, and optimistic, and that may be true to some extent. But recent studies have shown that when it comes to marketing, they’re considerably more cynical than we realize.   Of course, they weren’t...Read More

Video games know you’ll play longer if you win early (and often) Video game developers have become masters at creating and motivating loyal players through game mechanics that you need to add to your loyalty program, stat. My favorite game mechanic occurs during the onboarding process...Read More

Consumer privacy is something we as loyalty marketers take very seriously. With the current and upcoming regulations, we’re continuously monitoring and enhancing our technology and services to ensure our solutions meet compliancy requirements. Loyalty programs are permission based...Read More

Trust is the foundation of any solid relationship. That’s true of romantic relationships, but also ones between brand and consumer. When your customers have full faith that your business will treat them with respect and authenticity, you’ve achieved the ultimate goal of any loyalty...Read More

Almost 20 years ago, the top global brands were companies such as Nokia, Marlboro, and AT&T. From 2000 to 2008, the list began to shift with the inclusion of Google. After 2008, other disruptors such as Apple, Facebook, and Amazon rocketed into the top 15, and today they remain in...Read More

The subscription model, without question, has encountered success among several different industries. In April 2017, subscription companies hosted 37 million visitors on their sites -- an 800 percent increase over three years. Some, like "glam bag" brand Ipsy and...Read More

Fostering a community with your customers is key to brand loyalty. Your best customers likely expect community. Emotionally connected customers have a 306% higher lifetime value, which means brands have to find ways to show you care. One way to do that is through meaningful events that...Read More

This article was originally posted on Campaign.Amazon Prime Day might represent Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his team’s greatest retail triumph. Thanks to them, with Prime Day, we now have a midsummer, two-day Cyber Monday that’s generating billions of dollars. The fact that Target,...Read More

Across the globe, fraud risks continue to grow and businesses continue to invest more to combat potential threats. According to Experian’s 2019 Global Fraud and Identity Report, which was published this past January, more than half of businesses across the world have increased their...Read More

Loyalty360 CEO Mark Johnson speaks with Loyalty Methods CEO Emil Sarkissian about technology and how Loyalty Methods drives unique experiences and engagement within the world of loyalty.Read More

Every loyalty or CRM program experiences some amount of churn, but the question is, how do you correct the problem? One of our retail clients asked us to identify and address the high level of churn they were seeing across their customer base. To meet this business challenge, we went back to...Read More

Marketers may not be familiar with the concept of the uncanny valley, but they should be: The personalization movement sits at its trough, and consumers are clamoring for them to pull it out.Proposed in 1970 by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, the uncanny valley concept was first...Read More

Have you ordered lunch via a mobile app recently? Multiple restaurant types including quick service restaurants (QSRs), fast casual, as well as table service restaurants are engaging customers through mobile apps. In fact, QSRMagazine published the findings of a consumer study for...Read More

Agencies are no longer as worried about competing on price or skill set: They're concerned about losing work to clients themselves. More and more companies, like T-Mobile have successful digital content studios and are deciding to move agency work in-house, which has...Read More

Many people still view “loyalty” to a brand as merely a program.But loyalty is so much more than that. Having a great loyalty program has to be part of the mix, but loyalty is bigger than just one thing.How do we create loyalty moments throughout a person’s life without being so...Read More

Personalization is the holy grail of marketing. Customers expect nothing less than personal, purposeful brand experiences with every interaction. In fact, 80 percent of people are more likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences. It builds trust and shows...Read More

Yotpo recently surveyed 2000 consumers about their shopping plans for Amazon Prime Day and found that while 71.05 percent view Amazon as a destination to buy fashion online, only 40.89 percent of them have plans to make purchases from Amazon next week.   Amazon being perceived as a &ldquo...Read More

Imagine…Today’s the big day: the day your agency partner presents ideas and solutions to your brand. After a thorough process of finding this agency, you challenged them to meet the changing landscape of your customers’ needs by reinventing your product line. They’ve...Read More

If you’re following new developments in sales and marketing, then you’ve no doubt seen plenty of headlines about customer experience being the new bottom line. Adobe even combined their marketing and creative platforms, renaming it Adobe Experience Cloud. Customer experience is a...Read More

Personalization is one of the most essential elements of a successful customer loyalty program for several reasons. The primary goal of most loyalty programs is to incentivize customer behavior in ways that benefit both the company and the customer.  Not all customers will value various...Read More

Whether you reach customers through email, in-app, social media, or via remarketing, data is your ticket to ensure they stay engaged. And first-party data, which comes directly from the very customers you communicate with, can be particularly informative.In marketing as in life, it’s all...Read More

Loyalty programs should be one of the cornerstones of any effective marketing strategy. Accenture found that “members of loyalty programs generate between 12 and 18 percent [higher] incremental revenue growth per year than non-members.” But not all loyalty programs are...Read More

There’s lots of renewed talk around “personalization”, largely fuelled by the rise of customer data platforms, artificial intelligence and smart automation.Particularly in consumer businesses, where there’s arguably more need than ever before to ‘stand out’ by...Read More

While you may have built relationships with existing clients; a lack of understanding in the rapidly evolving digital landscape will be sure to drive net new leads to the nearest competition. Don’t get caught out. Make sure you’re ready for the future of digital marketing.There is...Read More

You might not know it but you have probably already experienced cognitive dissonance multiple times today. Buying coffee. Watching an ad on TV or online. Passing a billboard on the way to work. Whether you are aware of it or not, your actions may have been motivated, guided and rewarded by brands...Read More

Recently, we’ve talked a lot about the shift from 1:1 to 1:You.As I defined in my last blog post, 1:1 is a messaging strategy that’s ‘generically personalized’ with promotional offers while 1:You is a holistic customer experience strategy that’s...Read More

While no documented sales figures exist, analysts estimated that during last year’s Prime Day shoppers spent $4.2 billion.Amazon’s fifth annual Prime Day will start at midnight PT / 3 a.m. ET on July 15.After last year’s 36-hour event, this year’s Prime Day will run...Read More

Smart thermostats ushered in a new era for the utility-customer relationship. Now, new demand response programs are capitalizing on this momentum to create wins for both parties.Utilities have traditionally relied on demand response (DR) strategies to reduce the cost of supply-side...Read More

Consumers love positive experiences. And better yet, experiences that ‘surprise and delight’ create engagement that leaves the consumer wanting to interact with your brand for future experiences. With the shift of loyalty programs from transactional to relational, fulfilment has...Read More

The 2019 Loyalty Expo saw leaders from throughout the industry gathered to discuss the common trends that their brands have recently addressed. Many told stories of how their brands have overcome challenges that arose as the result of changing customers and changing technology. For instance, Hope...Read More

During a recent retail co-branded credit card client engagement, it became clear to me that retail co-branded credit cards are generally behind their bank credit card counterparts when it comes to the utilization of digital channels for the purposes of securing new cardholders. It is time for...Read More

The shift toward direct-to-consumer commerce has unleashed a revolution in how brands sell. With traditional retail upended, eCommerce has emerged as an equalizing force for brands, prompting them to reimagine their most significant direct touchpoint with their customers: their website.With...Read More

2019 global customer service insightsLeft waiting on hold, having to repeat yourself every time you get bounced to a new department, dealing with rude customer service agents. We all know some of the frustrations that make people dread contacting customer service. And in our recent survey, ...Read More

We know travel is often one of the largest expenses for a business. While many larger enterprises can benefit from negotiated supplier arrangements with custom discounts, small to medium businesses often find it harder to reach the level of spend required to negotiate such deals. For those...Read More

Gamification is a buzzword that keeps growing in popularity around customer engagement and brand loyalty. As a result, many brands are asking the question, “Is gamification worth the hype and should I invest in a gamification strategy?”The definition of gamification is: the ...Read More

Check out these highlights from the Humanizing Loyalty reportIn today’s travel and hospitality market, customers have more control and choices than ever before. How do brands ensure that they’re going above and beyond to be the top pick for empowered travelers? With seemingly endless...Read More

In today’s competitive climate, customers not only desire, but expect seamless, personalized experiences across all touchpoints. In fact, 90% of users expect the customer experience to be consistent across all devices, and Gartner stated that “customer experience...Read More

Don’t let your co-op, MDF, or compliance programs run on autopilot. There are sales at stake. Many national brands with indirect sales channels such as franchisees, dealers, or resellers have allowed their channel marketing programs to run on autopilot. In truth, those programs —...Read More

This is the second post in our “AI for CX & Marketing” series – check out the first post here.If you’re trying to build AI into your martech stack, you may hit some internal resistance, whether you’re trying to convince your coworkers to get on board…...Read More

In 2019, almost every brand, store and company has a customer loyalty program. If done correctly, these programs can increase and retain customers.Sallie Burnett is a loyalty consultant, keynote speaker and Founder of Customer Insight Group. Forbes published her article, Seven Tips for...Read More

Chances are you have some affinity toward specific retailers, right?You might have a favorite grocery store or pet store or clothing store. Maybe that’s based on location. It’s on your way home. Maybe it’s just a place that you’re used to. Or maybe it’s a website...Read More

You’ve implemented a great loyalty program, your rewards program is converting quicker than you can imagine, but you’re trying to think of that little extra special something to give to your customers in 2019. Lucky for you, we have just the thing. The perfect way to send your...Read More

At the height of the Cryptocurrency trading frenzy, Bitcoin reached a unit value of $19,650. It hasn’t been that high since. A little more than a year later, Bitcoin declined 84 percent and hit a new low of $3,128. It is currently trading around $3,600.Despite the fact that Crypto-mania has...Read More

Pega study highlights the need for greater empathy in artificial intelligence systemsLAS VEGAS – June 4, 2019 – Consumers lack trust in artificial intelligence (AI) and don’t understand the extent to which it can make their interactions with businesses better and more...Read More

If you’re pursuing personalization as part of your marketing strategy, you’ll know how important data is to the end result.After all, it’s hard to give each customer a tailored experience if you don’t know who they are, how they shop or what they’re trying to achieve...Read More

My husband and I are very different shoppers. Whether in a big box store or looking at new cars, he wants his phone to be his digital assistant while I’m scanning for an available salesperson.He avoids ‘the approach’ of a human, preferring to compare products or check prices on...Read More

There are many theories as to why some loyalty programs succeed while others either fail or exist on autopilot without generating ongoing customer engagement. The science behind habitual consumer behavior offers insights that loyalty marketers should leverage when designing and...Read More

What will it take to win the hearts of consumers in 2019? What do consumers expect from brands in exchange for their love and devotion? On Valentine’s Day, we sat down with a panel of marketing experts from CrowdTwist, Lenati, and The Wise Marketer to discuss the biggest...Read More

Building relationships with customers is a lot like building personal relationships. If all you ever do is talk about yourself and tell everyone how great you are, people will start to tune you out and walk away. Customers are more interested in what you can do for them and how you can...Read More

What are the key metrics that impact email deliverability? The below piece takes a look at the relationship between subscriber engagement and reduced spam placement and provides three key industry benchmarks for metrics that impact deliverability.   Today’s email marketers need to...Read More

Our increasing use of digital channels, such as messaging and social media, to communicate with each other has fundamentally changed the customer service landscape. Our expectations as consumers continue to rise and now after a decade of digital channels being available, businesses have finally...Read More

When you think of ‘the what’ behind a successful loyalty program, technology often comes to mind. Technology is ‘the science’ that stores and processes all the technical functionality within our programs. But what about the items that ‘fuel’ the functionality...Read More

In today’s competitive consumer sales environment, many companies are engaged in digital transformation.For merchants, this often means expanding traditional sales channels to include loyalty programs, mobile apps, coupons, and international expansion.Tied with the opportunities involved in...Read More

As digital devices and services have proliferated in food service over the past decade, it seems that customer and employee loyalty have generally become more difficult to build and sustain.  Despite this trend, a few companies have managed to continue their growth undeterred by The Digital...Read More

Although rewards (points) remain an integral component of loyalty programs, customer expectations are changing. As marketers, we need to fulfill these expectations.Loyalty marketing is complex. But when you keep the customer’s voice front and center and bring them into your...Read More

Today’s loyalty landscape is saturated with the typical spend and get model. With “86% of loyalty marketers us[ing] points and 75% us[ing] instant cash-back or discounts in their program1,” customers are yearning for brands to “wow” them with a differentiated...Read More

Today it’s easier than ever to start a business selling products. Internet retailers are turning up every day and pop-up stores are on the rise.People can start e-commerce stores in their bedrooms. Things like drop shipping make fulfillment much easier and mitigate a lot of the risk that...Read More

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Are you satisfied with the return on your investment for each of your chosen marketing channels – or do you have a sinking feeling it could be better?  If you work in marketing, you know that the pressure is always on to stretch those marketing budget dollars beyond belief – and...Read More

What feedback loops and market research programs are your company taking to make sure you stay on the “cutting edge” of what your customers want? Staying ahead of the curve with regards to customers perceptions, needs and expectations for future of retail can help assure their...Read More

Are you satisfied with the return on your investment for each of your chosen marketing channels – or do you have a sinking feeling it could be better?  If you work in marketing, you know that the pressure is always on to stretch those marketing budget dollars beyond belief – and...Read More

The Oakland Athletics are taking an innovative approach to ticketing for the 2019 season. Instead of selling season tickets, the Athletics have implemented a membership program, “A’s Access.” For a monthly fee, members will get a reserved seating plan, discounts on concessions...Read More

1. What are the various types of data gathering? The numbers of ways companies can access and gather data seem to grow exponentially every year. Information can be gathered actively (through surveys, market research, panels, communities, ad testing, biometrics, tracking studies, etc.) and...Read More

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is a finalist for the Customer Loyalty Strategy and Incentive and Reward Design categories in this year's Loyalty360 Awards. Hear from Wyndham's Eliot Hamlisch on why he thinks Wyndham Hotels & Resorts should take home the platinum at this year's...Read More

Point-based loyalty programs aren’t going anywhere, but we are seeing a significant shift in what members expect in terms of benefits from the loyalty program(s) they participate in. Doesn’t it seem that every year we come across another rash of headlines proclaiming that &ldquo...Read More

Overstock is a finalist for the Employee Engagement and Customer Loyalty Strategy categories in this year's Loyalty360 Awards. Hear from Overstock's Jimmy Budnik on why he thinks Overstock should take home the platinum at this year's Loyalty Expo.  Read More

Marketers often plan and align loyalty programs and promotions to match larger marketing plans. While intentions are good, this approach can result in too heavy of a focus on internal goals instead of actually listening to the voice of the customer. Why? Because customer feedback comes through...Read More

The ability to deliver a great customer experience can go a long way towards separating your business from other competitors in your market space. A 2017 survey from Gartner showed that 81% of companies were looking to compete directly on that basis. In order to deliver on key CX deliverables...Read More

Are you satisfied with the return on your investment for each of your chosen marketing channels – or do you have a sinking feeling it could be better?  If you work in marketing, you know that the pressure is always on to stretch those marketing budget dollars beyond belief – and...Read More

One of the key traits of a premium loyalty program is that it has to be great for consumers and retailers.That means there are KPIs on both sides. Retailers want a program that brings in revenue by increasing purchase frequency, basket size, and customer LTV. Consumers have KPIs, too.They want a...Read More

When we applied a human-centered approach to development of ICF Next’s loyalty technology platform, we saw huge benefits. Your customers can, too. I’m lucky to lead a team that is at the top of its field. For the past decade our loyalty group has been named a leader by independent...Read More

Are you satisfied with the return on your investment for each of your chosen marketing channels – or do you have a sinking feeling it could be better?  If you work in marketing, you know that the pressure is always on to stretch those marketing budget dollars beyond belief – and...Read More

Inspired by the madness of NCAA basketball, the “Ultimate Prizing Bracket” pits popular incentives offered by brands as part of their sweepstakes and loyalty strategies against each other to determine the most desirable prize. Starting with the “Sweet 16 of Prizes”, each...Read More

Today, marketers are relying on analytics to aid and guide practically every decision they make. Implementing marketing analytics allows organizations to pinpoint specific groups of customers, measure success, and drive decisions.This is more crucial than ever. According to Salesforce’s...Read More

How do you get authentic, rich feedback from customers quickly?  Interview them where they are.  Qualitative Intercept Interviews (QIIs) deliver in the moment authenticity and ensure the feedback is grounded in actual/recent behavior as opposed to remembered patterns.    The...Read More

Successful customer loyalty in low-frequency categories can be attributed to these best practices. The convergence of big data, social media and omnichannel marketing are causing a tectonic shift for brands and organizations. As a result, more companies that offer products or services which, by...Read More

The stroke of midnight, May 25th, 2018 marked the effective implementation date of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Although GDPR is applicable to EU countries, the ripple effect in our global, internet-connected world is momentous. GDPR has changed the email...Read More

What to think about before investing in marketing technology.Think back to the last time you bought a car. You probably had a pretty good idea of what you were looking to get out that vehicle:Whether you’d be cruising around town or making a long daily commuteWhether you...Read More

In our first edition of Retail Recap for 2019, we saw the launch of the Apple Card, the upward trajectory tied to Major League Baseball’s innovative approach to customer loyalty, Burger King’s entry into the subscription market, and Starbucks’ positive changes to its...Read More

How many times this week have you been invited to provide feedback by a company from which you’ve recently purchased? There have been a few, haven’t there? I’ve had one about buying shoes. Another about why I didn’t buy tickets to an event. And one that was so badly...Read More

Our collaborative approach to problem-solvingProblem-solving. It’s woven into the everyday human experience, crucial for commercial and creative success, and best supported by careful thinking, deep understanding and trusting relationships.Sometimes, solving a problem is as simple as making...Read More

The 2019 State Healthcare IT (HIT) Connect Summit kicked of its 3-day event in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on Monday, March 18, 2019, welcoming hundreds of federal and state government healthcare professionals to join the discussion surrounding implementation strategies for health IT...Read More

Think back to the last time you walked into a store. It can be any store — department, grocery, even a convenience store. Try to remember the experience. Maybe you rushed in towards the items you needed. Or maybe you browsed around aisle by aisle. After selecting your items, you made your...Read More

Earning loyalty in 2018 was particularly challenging due to consumer concerns around data and growing expectations around brand experience. Brands were forced to step up their efforts to keep customers coming back. Many brands chose to innovate and invest in the customer experience to secure...Read More

This is the second installment of Loyalty360’s Q&A with Arianna Orpello, Head of Brand, Channel, and Field Marketing for TD Bank. You can read part one here. To read TD Bank Presents an Authentic Customer Experience Part II, click here.To listen to [Podcast] TD Bank Presents an...Read More

Creating engaging experiences that actualize emotional bonds and drive customer loyalty might be the best marketing strategy that brands can employ. As such, Loyalty360 believes that this strategy should be of utmost importance to marketers. As an unbiased, objective, and market-driven...Read More

If there is one thing all businesses have in common, it’s the need to attract, engage, and keep customers coming back. Loyalty programs were born out of a need to do this when shop owners gave customers copper tokens that could be redeemed for products on future purchases. Rewards have...Read More

This is the fourth and final installment of our conversation with Thales S. Teixeira, Lumry Family Associate Professor at Harvard Business School. Readers can find information on his book at https://www.decoupling.co/.  To read Technology Didn’t Disrupt Your Industry: Q&A...Read More

Loyalty in the banking sector is typically driven through credit cards. According to a recent Bankrate study, there are approximately 2 billion credit card holders in the USA alone, and each person carries four credit cards on average. Additionally, the rise of fintech start-ups is threatening...Read More

Consumer expectations are higher than ever before, and the importance of a strong customer experience is morphing into a highly personalized, highly demanding landscape. With the rise of technology and big data, personalization offers brands a competitive advantage, aiming to take experiences to...Read More

Companies have begun to create new, non-traditional roles. Positions like “Chief Customer Officer” are being added to companies across a multitude of industries. In addition, subscription services have entered the retail space and are being tested by a variety of brands...Read More

To read TD Bank Presents an Authentic Customer Experience, click here. To read TD Bank Presents an Authentic Customer Experience Part II, click here. To listen to [Podcast] TD Bank Presents an Authentic Customer Experience II, click here. Increasingly, consumers...Read More

There’s been a lot of discussions around subscription-based loyalty programs and if brands should incorporate the model into their existing customer experience strategy. For brands thinking about offering a subscription-based program – the answer is not a simple yes or no. First and...Read More

When subscription boxes first entered the marketplace, they quickly became a major hit. With what seems to many like overnight success, the subscription box method began to trend due to their themes and overall value.  One of the value points in a subscription box is monetary, where the...Read More

This is the third of four installments of our conversation with Thales S. Teixeira, Lumry Family Associate Professor at Harvard Business School. In the previous installment, Teixeria explained how BestBuy approached the issue of “showrooming.” Readers can find information on...Read More

This is the second of four installments of our conversation with Thales S. Teixeira, Lumry Family Associate Professor at Harvard Business School. Readers can find information on his book at https://www.decoupling.co/.  To read Technology Didn’t Disrupt Your Industry: Q&A with...Read More

This is the second installment of our conversation with Jersey Mike’s CMO, Rich Hope. You can listen to the first part here.  How are you looking at personalization?   We collect a tremendous amount of data on our customers, especially our loyalty customers, if they come...Read More

Consumers are swimming in a sea of apps. To cut through the noise in today’s “always on” world, brands must prioritize meaningful mobile experiences with everyday utility and real-time relevance. From geolocation services to augmented reality, many mobile features are...Read More

This is the first of four installments of our conversation with Thales S. Teixeira, Lumry Family Associate Professor at Harvard Business School. Readers can find information on his book at https://www.decoupling.co/.To read Technology Didn’t Disrupt Your Industry: Q&A with...Read More

If a loyalty program isn’t right for your business, how do you invest in customer retention and loyalty? The solution lies in creating emotional connections through personalized engagement.Google “how to grow customer loyalty” and you’ll find plenty of advice about serving...Read More

When reviewing email results, click rates and open rates tend to dominate the menu. But even if those metrics will always be the main course, there are some sweet rewards waiting for marketers who think creatively about their data.One way to understand what data can tell marketers is to ask...Read More

What are your worst habits? Biting your fingernails? Swearing? Expecting everyone in the business to care as much about Net Promoter Score as you do? Confirmit surveyed 700 customer experience professionals and we’ve crunched the numbers to reveal the five habits that underpin the most...Read More

It is now a full one month since the playing, winning, and losing of Super Bowl LIII, and one thing is still haunting me about that game. No, it is not the utter lack of scoring. And it is not that the Rams seemed to have left their energy back in LA. And it’s not the Patriots winning their...Read More

Managing a franchised restaurant brand is no small task. You have to keep a consistency of brand and a consistency in culture across many locations owned by different people. Keeping the franchisees, the employees, and the consumers engaged is a never-ending challenge.   Many brand leaders...Read More

Last month we saw the images of presidents appear in quite a few ads while this month we’re seeing lots of shamrocks to align with consumers’ mindsets and the planning of gatherings for corn beef and cabbage. Seasonality helps drive greater relevancy, interest and engagement which in...Read More

 As CPGs continue to navigate the direct-to-consumer landscape and finding ways to improve their customer experience and campaigns, loyalty continues to be the primary tactic to enable personalization, increased engagement and customer growth.  #1: Build Brand Preference Without...Read More

This is the second installment of our talk with Steve Druckman, President of the Midwest Gourmet Food Group at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.. For Part I, click here.  How do you decide what works and what doesn’t work in regard to partnerships and how do you manage that...Read More

Each year, over 60,000 visitors and some 2,200 exhibitors descend on McCormick Place in Chicago to learn everything there is to know about housewares. This year’s theme was “It’s SMart,” highlighting not only the importance of new smart home elements, but also how...Read More

As Patriots fans rejoice and Rams fans sulk, everyone else is busy judging all the Super Bowl commercials. Because we marketers all know that the real competition happens after game day. And when it comes to impeccable Super Bowl campaigns, Doritos marketing strategy has paved the way for...Read More

Amit Deshpande dives into how car rental companies can better understand people and generate larger market share.Since rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft hit the market, there has been a noticeable shift in how people use car services. To better understand the measurable change in behavior, our...Read More

To celebrate Corporate Travel Management’s 25th birthday, we’ve taken a look back at some of the biggest changes to have revolutionised business travel during the past 25 years.Business travel today is unrecognisable from 25 years ago. In 1994 it was an era of in-house...Read More

Loyalty moments occur when we have interactions with a brand that create a lasting impact and shape our future interactions.Companies that focus on creating more loyalty moments with their customers will reap the benefits and greatly enhance their lifetime value.Here are some of the ways that...Read More

With Valentine’s Day being one of the biggest business days for retailers around the world, many companies have come to implement strategies to maximize profit. While some businesses may be more relevant than others, almost every company in the retail space is trying to make a mark on this...Read More

Your most valuable sales and marketing resource is sitting all around you, caring for your customers, building your products and delivering your services.Your employees are your greatest allies in exhibiting your brand value and singing your company’s praises — when you give them the...Read More

Don’t go breaking my programAs the loyalty landscape continues to mature, many brands have started assessing their program structure and making changes accordingly. For example, we recently worked with The Vitamin Shoppe to redesign the Healthy Awards program with a renewed focus...Read More

2018 was a busy year for the pet industry. With the significant mergers of companies combined with the rapid growth of the premium grocery industry, people are spending more money on their pets than ever before. But what about the pet loyalty industry? What level of personalization, segmentation,...Read More

For years, marketers have leveraged a wide range of incentives such as coupons, rebates, sweepstakes and loyalty programs to motivate consumer behavior.A recently released research study, “Incentivized Engagement Report: How Brands Can Leverage Incentives to Motivate Behavior Across...Read More

#1 Connect to customers wherever they areEvery consumer is on their own personal and customizable digital journey. As a marketer, you’re always looking for opportunities to interact with them on their own terms, on their own turf. Having a better and quicker online rebate experience gives...Read More

With companies facing increasingly complex data challenges that can determine the success or failure of their business, never has it been so important to have accurate and reliable data. Businesses encounter almost continuous disruption – frequently driven by accelerated data insights...Read More

This is the second installment of our conversation with Scott Scherer, Chief Information Officer of Jersey Mike’s Subs. You can read Part I here.  How did the partnership with UberEATS come about and how has it benefited Jersey Mikes?   About two years ago, we had a group...Read More

I think it’s fair to say that we’ll never forget the best and worst customer service we’ve experienced throughout our shopping excursions, dining at restaurants or travels. Customer service is an integral component of the loyalty experience and is essential for enhancing the...Read More

Not surprisingly, gifts for annual holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas tend to be a last-minute affair for millions of Americans each year. It seems that more and more, everyone is busy around the holidays, and no one has time to remember to plan ahead for...Read More

Personalizing communications and speaking to customers in a 1:You manner is something marketers strive to achieve. 1:You is a holistic customer experience strategy that focuses on personalizing communications with the best choice for individuals across all touchpoints or interactions. Whether you...Read More

Loyalty is hard. Any brand that sets out to earn customer loyalty quickly learns that it can be an elusive goal, both in the achieving of it and even more so in the keeping of it.  Ironically, the reason for this is simple. Loyalty is not something that expresses itself in a single purchase...Read More

In this world of price transparency and competition, why should consumers choose your brand? They can easily pick up their phones and find the lowest price for sirloin steak, a car or a vacation. Yet, some customers will consistently choose the same airline, hotel, or retailer even when their...Read More

Bonus Points: Three Common Program Mistakes Loyalty strategists know that bonus point opportunities can be a great way to drive traffic, lift frequency, improve basket size, or celebrate key relationship-building milestones. As Brierley + Partners evaluates loyalty programs or consults with...Read More

The Loyalty ChallengeCustomer retention is a challenge for all industries, but churn rates are particularly high in the telecommunications industry, averaging between 10 and 67% annually. For example, it is estimated that 75% of the 17 to 20 million subscribers signing up with a...Read More

This is the second installment of our talk with Sara Galloway, Director of Loyalty Consulting for Aimia. You can read Part I here. Aimia is a loyalty vendor that has tracked these changes whenever and wherever they have occurred. A global data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics...Read More

According to a recent article by Retail Week, the majority of retailers have already bought into the idea of AI – with 74% investing in pilot projects. Yet when asked why they wanted to pursue this new technology, most retailers couldn’t offer a clear answer. In a separate survey...Read More

The fast, casual restaurant industry has grown considerably in the 21st century. Busy folks now enjoy a plethora of options for their lunch breaks, and accordingly, the competition between restaurants intensifies. To survive, a restaurant brand needs to cultivate loyalty, to become the “go...Read More

Successful brands use data to direct business strategy, optimise customer journeys and craft relevant content to build long-term relationships. The beauty of loyalty is it’s the most influential mechanism for capturing customer data while operating within data privacy regulations because...Read More

Incentive experts have always talked about how the presentation an award is just as important as the award itself. In fact, an IRF Study found that 40% – 50% of the reward experience has nothing to do with the award. Presenting an award in front of peers provides a very special kind of...Read More

3 legal and ethical reasons your email marketing should be accessible, and tips for getting thereConsumers on average receive 121 emails per day. As marketers, it’s our responsibility to ensure all recipients are able to view, read and interact with every email they receive and...Read More

Join Mark Johnson, CEO, Loyalty360, and Sara Galloway, Director of Strategy, Aimia, as they dive into the challenges and opportunities brands face concerning data, analytics and their resulting output – insights. During the webinar, they’ll share from your peers who are...Read More

With a new year upon us, goals are being set, resolutions committed to, and change is in the air. If you’ve been settling with a loyalty program that is well past its prime, there is no time like the present to commit to something better.Not sure you’re ready to officially to make the...Read More

It seemed like 2018 went by in a flash – with AI, robotics, blockchain, and data transparency dominating the conversations in technology. What’s in the cards for 2019? We’ve summarized our favorite tech trends, below. RPA, AI, CX, low-code, and marketing – it’s all...Read More

The loyalty space is ever changing. A mere decade ago, we weren’t talking about data the way we are now, and personalization, if mentioned at all, only came up when we were discussing the most luxurious of products and experiences. Keeping up with change in loyalty has been a non-stop...Read More

Rewards programs have long been synonymous with retailers and brand manufacturers, but over the past couple of years, entertainment and media companies have started getting in on the action. Given the increased competition from streaming applications, OTT content providers and other media...Read More

As personalization becomes more important to customers, marketers are searching for the holy grail of delivering individualized experiences to customers. Content, experiences, offers geared toward one person are significantly likely not only to increase customer spend, but their emotional...Read More

Wellness programs are not new, nor is anyone debating their effectiveness. In fact, these programs have now become an expected benefit, which is no surprise.Healthier employees are happier, more productive and more loyal to the company. And let’s not forget the financial benefits; Harvard...Read More

In recent years we have seen many brands rethink their retail strategies by using premium loyalty programs.As loyalty program benefits become more experiential-based to attract additional customers and build emotional connections, many brands are considering these fee-based...Read More

Evolution in consumer payment preferences and changing legislative requirements for cash payment are bringing new opportunities to Lottery’s. Most Lottery’s still operate under “cash only” laws prohibiting the use of payment cards or iWallets for payment, but that is...Read More

As broadcast and digital channels grow closer together, Big Game advertisers are quickly adapting their campaigns to extend beyond the traditional prime-time television spot. Merkle’s sixth edition of the Digital Bowl Report provides an in-depth assessment of Super Bowl advertisers...Read More

For restaurant marketers, data-driven marketing is the key to growth.As technology evolves, consumer behavior and preferences are changing. An Epsilon study found that 80% of consumers want personalized experiences from brands, including restaurants. For restaurants that focus primarily...Read More

My prediction for 2019 is that, for many companies, this year will be “The Year of Predictions.” Companies will discover that there is a more cost-efficient method to building “mountains of models” and making huge volumes of executable predictions, and they’ll use...Read More

Marketers constantly waffle about whether loyalty programs are effective at retaining shoppers and improving the customer experience. Notable loyalty programs like Target’s boom and bust, with new iterations emerging nearly every quarter. Given the ongoing need for new versions of...Read More

In today’s global landscape, marketers are continuously thinking about how they can advance their programs and technology applications to keep up with the evolving consumer behaviors. The successful U.S. based loyalty programs brands have created are not easily transferrable to...Read More

Loyalty programs are on the move. Can yours keep up?Customers want stronger loyalty programs that transcend transactions. In 2019, loyalty programs need to understand customers on personal terms; forge reciprocal relationships that aren’t easily broken; and ultimately be more than just...Read More

True loyalty requires passion. A customer who won’t switch brands for a better price has an emotional connection to the brand, not a rational one.  People rationalize their loyalty by saying the product is higher quality, or the company has better customer service. But quality and...Read More

Online shopping and home delivery have had a dramatic impact on the grocery sector.2018 was a challenging year for the grocery sector, with changes in consumer shopping behaviors and competition from alternative retailers forcing many to re-evaluate their entire operations and how they...Read More

CPG brands are finally embracing e-commerce, but there are still hurdles ahead.CPG brands know they need to embrace e-commerce channels to thrive in today’s market. Experts predict that by 2025, 10% of global fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales will be via digital channels...Read More

As we’ve highlighted in Part 1 and Part2 of this 3 part Mind the GAAP series, beginning in 2018, changes in accounting for structured loyalty programs (i.e. points, miles, stars, etc.) may have significant potential impacts on your company’s financial performance.  If you missed...Read More

Whether catering is already an established part of your restaurant or a new addition, offering your catering customers a rewards program designed just for them is a great way to grow a loyal repeat customer base.  Restaurant catering is a $33 billion industry, so it makes sense that casual...Read More

Today’s brands need to do more than stand out from the crowd — they need to celebrate their most loyal customers. To accomplish this, forward-thinking brands are becoming increasingly inventive with using experiential marketing to provide unforgettable, immersive, and...Read More

When your company was founded by and reflects the name of the director of The Godfather, you’re probably headed for success. The Family Coppola has been leading in various ventures, from The Coppola Hideaway resorts to a quarterly literary magazine. The company’s best-known...Read More

There are many theories as to why some loyalty programs succeed while others either fail or exist on autopilot without generating ongoing customer engagement. The science behind habitual consumer behavior offers insights that loyalty marketers should leverage when designing and...Read More

When you think of a loyalty program, what comes to mind?Points? Discounts? Scanning a loyalty card or giving your phone number at checkout?Traditionally, that’s what loyalty programs have looked like. And just about every retailer invests millions of dollars into loyalty programs that all...Read More

As 2018 comes to a close and we turn the page to 2019, it is our tradition to pause and think about what the year ahead could bring. Like all industries, the loyalty space continues to experience massive change, and this is not going to slow in 2019. Instead, we see an industry that is more...Read More

The bespectacled among us know the drill. Once every year or two, you get your eyes checked, and if things have changed enough (and you usually know in advance whether or not that’s the case) you get a new prescription. Once you’ve got that, you buy new lenses and, usually, you also...Read More

The traditional model of customer loyalty focuses around the idea of offering incentives in exchange for loyalty points or products. However, this transactional model overlooks those who aren’t loyal for the reason of logical transactions, but rather because of the emotional ties consumers...Read More

Are your customer experience initiatives moving the needle? Are they differentiating you from the competition or meeting customers’ expectations? If the answer is anything other than a resounding “Yes!”, don’t worry – you’re not alone.A recent report by...Read More

Congratulations! If you’ve read through Part 1 of our 3-part series, you’ve gained an appreciation for the potential impacts the new “deferred revenue” accounting rules could have on your loyalty program’s financial performance.  Your finance team loves you...Read More

On May 14, 2018, the Supreme Court overturned PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act), a 1992 law which effectively outlawed sports betting nationwide. The impact was both immediate and immense to consumers and the gaming industry itself. Hundreds of gaming-based companies...Read More

As digital technology has proliferated during the past decade, it seems that customer and brand loyalty have become more difficult to develop and sustain. Have the traditional principles of brand building and loyalty become obsolete? Chris Malone, co-author of The HUMAN Brand: How We Relate to...Read More

Papa John’s is a pizza restaurant franchise company. It has over 5,100 stores operating in the United States and 44 other countries. In 2002, the company became the first national pizza chain to make online ordering available to all US customers. It reported a revenue of $1.78 billion and a...Read More

If you Google “AI terms marketers should know” you’ll find quite a few posts that include many of the same AI terms. Common AI terms include machine learning (ML), algorithm, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and weak AI. Today we thought we would highlight a few less...Read More

B2B relationships between brands and their channel partners are no longer as clear-cut as in the past. With the evolution of digital and online mediums, new breeds of channel partners have emerged, with roles to play beyond mere sales. Social media, for example, has made marketing behemoths out...Read More

There are dozens of ways, if not hundreds, that incentives can be used to motivate employees to work better, harder, faster or more efficiently (learn more here). But the most beneficial program—for both employees and management—may be a well-designed wellness program.  ...Read More

In recent years, leading brands have focused on consumer data acquisition. After all, the more information collected, the better you know your customer and the better you’re able to serve her. But merely amassing data isn’t enough, and neglecting the proper management of data can...Read More

AMC Theatres is an American movie theater chain founded it 1920. It has the largest share of the American theater market, ahead of Regal Entertainment Group and Cinemark Theaters. After acquiring Odeon Cinemas, UCI Cinemas, and Carmike Cinemas in 2016, AMC became the largest movie theater chain...Read More

Most marketers see data as the primary impediment to targeted marketing -- and with good reason. Data can be unwieldy, challenging to collect and even more difficult to organize across channels.Data presents very real challenges to marketers, but a recent survey by Iterable. found that...Read More

Email reigns as the most lucrative digital marketing channel, but it’s not without its challenges. Reaching the inbox and avoiding spam filters remain among the top challenges for email marketers who are constantly trying to do more with less resources. Over the past year, email marketers...Read More

Modern loyalty programs are built on far more than transactions and points. In fact, a Capgemini study noted that 44 percent of shoppers feel loyalty program rewards are irrelevant. Rather, it’s been found that loyalty is deeply affected by a brand’s values that most...Read More

Zinrelo’s leadership in loyalty rewards is contingent upon its expertise and adaptability. Founder Jai Rawat recently spoke with Loyalty360 about the strategies needed to stay relevant in the present landscape.Rawat believes the future of customer loyalty is difficult to predict. A possible...Read More

Part 1: New Rules in Loyalty Liability & Revenue RecognitionAccounting rarely makes any marketer’s Top 10 list for enthralling must-reads, but if you have a loyalty program, or are contemplating one, sharpen your pencils and grab your pocket protectors.  In Part 1 of this 3-part...Read More

People now care more and more about what brands are doing, even when the doings have little or nothing to do with the brand’s product or service. It’s a time of change, and navigating the shifting currents can be tricky. Loyalty360’s Mark Johnson spoke with Chris Malone...Read More

For an industry that’s been growing and evolving for years now, I think it’s fair to say that 2018 was the year when the world of Customer Experience was really recognized as a game-changer. CX professionals and providers of services and solutions that support the customer experience...Read More

Incentive experts have always talked about how the presentation an award is just as important as the award itself. In fact, an IRF Study found that 40% – 50% of the reward experience has nothing to do with the award. Presenting an award in front of peers provides a very special kind of...Read More

Expedia Group is a travel technology company that provides travel fare aggregators and travel metasearch engines through its numerous websites. These include, among others, carrentals.com, cheaptickets.com, expedia.com, and hotels.com. In total, the company offers over 200 travel booking sites in...Read More

The one investment you need to make this year is...Loyalty. Seriously. We're not just being biased here. Read on. Want to personalize? 63% of marketers are struggling with data-driven personalization. Want to solve for the huge churn from one transaction to the second...Read More

It’s surprising during this age of “big data” that some companies are questioning the value of their loyalty programs.  In a time where customer data is easier to collect, cheaper to store and one of the top things on all executive’s minds, it seems odd to begin...Read More

Lately, we’ve seen more and more brands facing up to the fact that traditional loyalty programs simply don’t work in most industries. They fail to create lasting loyalty, largely because they don’t capitalise on customer data to create ongoing, emotional value for their members...Read More

Three Ways Traditional Customer Experience Measurement Can Damage LoyaltyWhile measuring customer loyalty is relatively easy, improving it is often much harder. Unfortunately, traditional approaches to Customer Experience Measurement(CEM) such as Net Promoter benchmarking, CSAT tracking or...Read More

During a loyalty program design session, you will almost always hear the phrase “the program has to be simple.” Marketers firmly believe that consumers want a simple program. But many of the biggest, most popular, and most engaging loyalty programs are anything but simple. How can...Read More

Keep up with an innovative mobile loyalty strategy Loyalty—it’s in your customers’ pockets and at their fingertips. Smart brands are acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers with a loyalty strategy that harnesses the simplicity and readily-adopted nature of mobile. Here are...Read More

By now, you’ve probably caught wind of some changing perspectives in the loyalty industry.Many businesses are beginning to recognize that transaction-based programs (those that reward customers based solely on spend/frequency) are losing their effectiveness. Meanwhile, programs that reward...Read More

With the proliferation of new and disruptive travel and hospitality options (Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, etc.) and the common traveler focused on price to make stay decisions, travel brands are experiencing losses in market share and loyalty from their customers. Customers want more, such as diverse ways...Read More

When one thinks about marketing segmentation traditionally, we think about breaking down a brand’s target market through demographic traits, behaviors, geographies and psychologies. Yet as we move further into an age of globalization, personalization and big data, brands are beginning to...Read More

Many companies today are using advanced analytics to gain insights from multiple sources of data, insights that can be used to make predictions and streamline business processes. The number of companies using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze massive volumes of data is growing at a fast...Read More

Your guests are going through their phones right now and deleting apps they don’t use. Why would they keep yours?If your mobile app delivers convenience and enhances their experience with your brand, they’re more likely to use it. If not, it will be added to the millions of apps that...Read More

Loyalty providers produce programs that are so cookie-cutter and permanently standardized that it’s nearly impossible to tailor these programs to individual brands. Marketers are following a misguided standard that has been left behind and no longer differentiates itself or resonates with...Read More

It is significantly costlier to acquire a new customer than to retain one you already have.Competition is increasing, while loyalty is decreasing. Consider the impact of loyalty fatigue: The average consumer belongs to more than 14 loyalty programs. So how loyal can someone be to so many...Read More

It’s a funny thing, trying to predict the future. You can argue there’s not much point to it, and you may well be right, but at this time of year, there’s a strange temptation to give it a go anyway. Fear not, I’m not going to try to predict huge geopolitical events or the...Read More

Every restaurant understands that attracting new customers is crucial for sustained success. But even though the millennial generation begins with those born in 1979, many restaurant owners struggle to connect with this audience—not to mention Generation Z, the generation that comes after...Read More

It is a truth nearly universally acknowledged that a comprehensive marketing strategy must include AI. Most marketers know that AI is the wave of the future. Yet a disconnect persists between that aspiration and the actual number of AI users. Nevertheless, current trends indicate that CMOs and...Read More

POV: Developing a loyalty program app strategy Overview Mobile has rapidly emerged as a significant channel for loyalty programs to engage with their members.  Americans have rapidly integrated smartphones into their daily lives, with over 77% of Americans now owning one (source: Mobile...Read More

Some brands go into the holiday shopping season looking for a panacea for whatever issues they have encountered over the past 12 months. Stagnant annual sales figures can be revitalized and salvaged by capitalizing on the surge in shopping activity and enticing customers with deep discounts and...Read More

Today’s customers expect marketers to relate to them for an optimal customer experience. When marketers know their customers deeply, and can anticipate their needs, mutually-beneficial bonds get forged. Customers feel understood and get their needs met; marketers effectively nurture the...Read More

The holiday season brings peak transaction volumes for online retailers. Such volumes spark increased fraudulent activity and bad behavior. The difficulty of distinguishing good customers from bad is also at its highest level this time of year.  With large dollar transactions from...Read More

The industry has been talking about machine learning for years, but what’s different today is that marketers have begun to implement machine learning tools and tactics to advance their marketing efforts towards advanced personalization strategies. Machine learning is taking over...Read More

Millennial moms represent approximately 1 in every 5 mothers, and accounted for almost 90 percent of the 1.5 million new mothers in 2017. This market segment is made up of nine million women, and is one that brands simply can’t afford to overlook or misunderstand...Read More

Customer Success can be defined as an organization’s approach to ensuring their products and/or services can deliver the right business outcomes for their customers.Why is Customer Success Important?Your customers are more than ever able - and willing - to switch vendors at the drop of a...Read More

Creating engaging experiences to drive customer loyalty might be the best marketing strategy that brands can currently employ. Brands and marketers that focus on creating these experiences typically reap benefits that competitors don’t. At Loyalty360, we continue to see rapidly growing...Read More

The loyalty marketplace is becoming more and more crowded every day. To stand out, differentiating your program is essential. Marketing guru Seth Godin once said, “In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible...Read More

More often than we see good examples of personalization, we see the bad. There are countless examples across social media of customers experiencing companies missing the point when it comes to personalization. Take this Amazon customer for example: Obviously, this customer bought a toilet seat...Read More

Loyalty360’s Carly Stemmer sat down with Senior Vice President of Client Success, Rosanna Tirrito, to talk about her brand and what the Customer Expo awards meant to her team. Listen to the podcast here!Read More

Loyalty360’s Carly Stemmer sat down with Senior Vice President of Client Success, Rosanna Tirrito, to talk about her brand and what the Customer Expo awards meant to her team. Watch the video here!Read More

Another year, another Cyber Week that generated record sales for retailers. On Black Friday, online sales in the U.S. reached $6.2 billion, and they topped $7.9 billion on Cyber Monday. As we had predicted in September, mobile has (unsurprisingly) declared its dominance in driving...Read More

Understanding the critical nature of managers is key in optimizing employee engagement.Earlier this year, we posted an infographic about employee engagement and the importance of managers in fostering a motivated, inspired, team-oriented workforce. It was so well received that I thought...Read More

We all know that the holiday season is one of the busiest times for retailers. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years... The list goes on! Shoppers are expected to spend 6% more on gift cards this year than they did the last...Read More

This holiday season, promotions are making the nice list. Whether you’re looking to boost in-store traffic, grow an Instagram following, or draw attention to new products, limited-run promotions with chances to win are a great way to alleviate common holiday hurdles and surprise and delight...Read More

Migrating your loyalty program onto a new platform can have a substantial impact for your business – whether it’s improving customer loyalty through more engaging experiences, or saving your team time thanks to a simpler user interface.    But, as with any customer-facing...Read More

As 2018 is coming to an end, it’s important to reflect on the successes you’ve achieved this year. For many, personalization has been front and center as marketers continue to enhance their programs by incorporating technology advancements to implement their strategic vision towards 1...Read More

Loyalty statements have long been a part of every loyalty program. But today, rather than being mailed monthly, statements are now real-time trackers that can use the principles of human motivation to influence customer behavior.70% of members don’t know how many loyalty points they have...Read More

You’ve heard it before: “It’s not personal, it’s business.” But that absolutely should not be the case when it comes to customer loyalty. Where loyalty programs are concerned, getting personal makes for better business. Neiman Marcus’ VP of Customer Insight and...Read More

Consumers today not only want, but expect personalized and compelling experiences. Many brands turn to loyalty solutions to make this happen and loyalty program participation is at a high. In fact, 78% of people actively participate in at least one program per month and 63% of consumers...Read More

Customers are the heart to any business. Without them our businesses wouldn’t survive, so it’s crucial that you make each of their experiences memorable in hopes that they’ll be loyal to your brand. This leads many companies to brand their own corporate loyalty program, but what...Read More

Are you looking to implement a new customer loyalty program within your business or improve your existing customer loyalty program? You may be scratching your head at how industry-leading companies like Costco, Verizon and Sephora can maintain outrageously high customer retention rates...Read More

For brands looking to reach Millennials – the largest generation in the US with an annual spending power of $600 billion – they need to look to Instagram, the most popular social channel for Millennials. Like Generation X before them, Millennials are wary of ads, particularly in their...Read More

Storytelling is an innate part of human connection. It is how we share culture across generations, communicate with each other, and form communities. Brands can leverage the power of storytelling to create deeper relationships with customers and share unique perspectives from individuals and...Read More

In recent years, consumers have shown more concern for social justice causes. They are worried about climate change and sustainability. They are interested in more diverse workplaces, communities, and political representation. They want their communities to thrive, their children to succeed...Read More

Big Data and consumer analytics is becoming more sophisticated and is opening the door to both exciting opportunities and formidable challenges. Organizations are striving to get a clearer picture of their customers. Data about consumer behavior has become more prevalent, providing insight on how...Read More

Creating engaging experiences to drive customer loyalty might be the best marketing strategy that brands can currently employ. Brands and marketers that focus on creating these experiences typically reap benefits that competitors don’t. At Loyalty360, we continue to see rapidly growing...Read More

Driving customer loyalty in all its forms and facets is one of the preeminent marketing strategies that brands currently seek to harness. Even though it is finally being recognized as a powerful marketing tool, customer loyalty still presents a major challenge for most organizations. Brands must...Read More

It was my birthday recently (why thank you kindly for the well wishes!) and the night before official festivities were to take place my wife received a text from my sister asking for gift advice. Without looking up from her phone, she turned to me and asked for ideas to relay back. I rattled off...Read More

The topic of changing customers has been a hot topic in marketing since, well, the beginning of marketing. Predicting and adapting to changes in customer habits is among the most vital skills a marketer can possess. All forms of marketing are changing. Traditionally, most marketing has been top...Read More

Today’s brands depend on data. And over the past decade, digital companies have leveraged data to thrive. E-commerce companies know their customers’ browsing and buying behaviors. And after taking action on analytics, they’ve been able to personalize rewards and cultivate long...Read More

It’s an exciting time of year for consumers and businesses alike as they shop to give and receive the perfect gift. Celebrating the joy of record sales during the holiday season is what businesses dream of. But what if digital fraud disrupts those sales? Disruption can include chargebacks...Read More

Whenever marketers get together, there will always be conversation about The Next Big Trend – it’s right up there with, “Where’s the open bar?” It’s in the job title – MARKETers need to anticipate where the MARKET is going and lead their...Read More

These days, what we think of as “loyalty” is ever-evolving. While the promise of burgeoning tech is catching a lot of the noise for the marketplace, there are underlying strategic tactics that are laying the true foundation for loyalty’s future.  Trend #1: Going Beyond...Read More

Your VIPs are those customers you cannot afford to ignore. They are a group with significant impact on a business’ bottom line! But how do you go about defining, engaging & nurturing them? How do you make sure they get that special treatment they deserve? Are you managing meaningful...Read More

In marketing, a majority of attention is paid to the biggest brands operating big-budget programs to engage millions of consumers. The stories that are less told, though often just as compelling, are those of smaller companies that are able to use strong alignment to put together loyalty...Read More

CrowdTwist recently conducted research into consumer attitudes towards loyalty programs, brand engagement, emerging technologies, and shopping experiences. The research found that only 46% of consumers are willing to share their data in exchange for personalized experiences. In addition...Read More

Brands need to know understand what motivates loyalty from their customers. Numerous research studies have identified three main classifications of loyalty, they are: Behavioral loyalty which is when the customer shops with a brand because it’s convenient. Their loyalty is driven by...Read More

Consumer behavior continues to evolve driven by the digital transformation.  Consumer expectations are high and how organizations engage can either injure or build trust.  Being relevant is the key to understanding customers in the moment and a way to break-through and strengthen the...Read More

Highly  engaged  customers  get  more  value  from  your product or service  and  in  turn  spend  more  and  churn  less.  Digital...Read More

The wine industry is in an era of consolidation and change. Wineries are diversifying their vineyard footprints by planting and entering into new appellations and many are being acquired by larger players in an effort to build bigger, more varied brand portfolios.   J. Lohr Vineyards &...Read More

Think about your last great conversation. What made it special? Maybe it was the other person. Or maybe it was the fact that the conversation felt natural and was something you could get lost in? Were you riding the highs and lows of whatever story you were being told, forgetting about everything...Read More

We recently encouraged companies to take advantage of the lucrative promise of ecommerce. Amazon isn't the only company that can, or should, monetize interactions with customers.Ecommerce is an equal opportunity for all businesses. Consumers have to submit information to make purchases online...Read More

It’s been close to a decade since blockchain technology surfaced, offering the tech community new possibilities and multiple uses. In our innovation lab, we’ve been exploring blockchain technology over the last few years; testing use cases with partners and clients, and continuing to...Read More

The “if you build it, they will come” approach may work for baseball fields, but when it comes to loyalty programs, building a solid program is just the first step. Because starting a loyalty program is one thing — but keeping customers engaged with it is another.Many loyalty...Read More

Last Thursday, I enjoyed an opportunity to interview, fireside chat style, Terry DuVarne, First Vice President at PennyMac Loan Services. Terry’s small team of two owns the process of listening to the Voice of the Customer and making customer experience improvements in their division. Terry...Read More

While everyone has heard of artificial intelligence and machine learning, not everyone understands how these technologies work and how they support successful marketing. In this blog post, we’ll demystify these technologies and outline four important ways they can help you better know your...Read More

Though many consumers probably don’t know it, the Virgin Group is not one company. It’s over 60 businesses worldwide. Among these are the group’s well-known airline, Virgin Atlantic, as well as its communications brand, Virgin Mobile, and its travel and leisure companies...Read More

Holiday giving is emotional. Consumers scour the Internet on Cyber Monday for the perfect gift to wrap carefully under the tree waiting in anticipation as gifts are opened; “Do they like it? Did I pick well?” Consumers like to feel good about their purchases, especially during the...Read More

In this world of price transparency and competition, why should consumers choose your brand? They can easily pick up their phones and find the lowest price for sirloin steak, a car or a vacation. Yet, some customers will consistently choose the same airline, hotel, or retailer even when their...Read More

While people all over the world communicate differently, everyone understands the significance of McDonald’s hailing golden arches. The company started in 1948 as a single-location, family-owned restaurant, and 70 years later it has become a global empire synonymous with rapid service and...Read More

Ask any retailer what a Point-of-Sale (POS) system is and they’ll most likely tell you it’s the central component of their business. A combination of software and hardware, your POS system is so much more than a cash register, it’s the main hub where everything comes together...Read More

Personalization strategies have evolved, and as my colleague recently shared in his blog post, communications have shifted from 1:1 (a messaging strategy that’s ‘generically personalized’ with promotional offers) to 1:You (a holistic customer experience strategy that’s...Read More

Building a successful CX strategy can feel like a haunting task. Brands recognize the importance of defining and delivering a differentiated Customer Experience, but often don’t know where to start, or get lost along the journey. The right Customer Experience potion is the combination of a...Read More

We are excited to announce our $5.5M Seed round, led by Glasswing Ventures, with participation from Geekdom Fund, Revel Partners and Rubicon. This funding round is a vote of confidence in our mission and accelerates the progress we are making in driving the #CustomerTech revolution. ...Read More

Using points to reward customers after a purchase has been a practice in retail for ages. But over time, businesses have been forced to get creative with different ways to build loyalty. They needed to find ways to break through the noise and get their key messaging across to their network...Read More

Being a marketer often feels like living in a Holiday Inn Express commercial.  An employee you’ve never seen before walks up to your desk and offers some advice:“I think you should make the logo bigger and use some glitter.”“I’m sorry, you don’t look...Read More

Loyalty continues to be the number one strategy used by brands for retaining customers and lifting behavior. Aimia’s own clients see on average a 7x+ ROI and increased engagement among members, making their investment in loyalty worth it. When considering starting or revamping your loyalty,...Read More

In the future of retail, where technology will be an enabler of convenience and experience, the possibilities are endless for creative marketers to stand above and apart from competing brands. When retailers can enhance and add value to the customer experience, they should be leveraging...Read More

American consumers leave millions of unused points on the table every year, meaning some households are losing out on hundreds of dollars in value. That’s not surprising, as according to a 2017 Maritz market study, 73% of loyalty program members identify themselves as “point savers...Read More

This post originally appeared on the PullString blog.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last twelve months, you’ve heard about voice assistants.  They go by the name of Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri and can give you information about your commute or the...Read More

It’s impossible to dispute the effect that merchandising giants like Walmart and Amazon have had on the retail industry, and now with the launch of Amazon Go, Amazon’s very own supermarket, grocers everywhere are wondering what it will mean for the future of their stores. Exceedingly...Read More

As 2018 whirrs into life, we continue to be bombarded by stories of robots. They’re going to make everything wonderful! They’re going to make everything terrible! Everything is changing! They want my job! Every headline and prediction seems sure that – for better or worse &ndash...Read More

For restaurants and retailers, gift cards and rewards programs offer a subtle yet powerful way to boost revenues.   Customers like gift and rewards programs, According to Wallethub.com, in 2017, sales of gift cards totaled an estimated $149 billion in the U.S. alone, and that figure is...Read More

It might seem like Amazon started ecommerce, but the beginning of the monetization of the internet happened in a rudimentary marketplace for used computers. In 1983, Boston Computer Exchange established an electronic salesfloor on a public access bulletin board system, giving people a vehicle to...Read More

Influencer Marketing is no newbie, the buzz term has been in the industry for some time now, but it seems to be gaining attention – especially in automotive circles. Based on the concept of influencer marketing, celebrity endorsements have made their rounds in the automotive industry...Read More

As marketer’s accountability to their business organization continues to broaden with the evolution of  marketing / sales unification (think smarketing), their understanding of the customer journey needs to keep up the pace. While the journey has been customer-centric for some time, we...Read More

When done right, a rewards program can establish strong connections with customers, cultivate brand loyalty and even drive sales. A 2017 MIT Sloan Management Review study revealed that companies with high-performing rewards programs were more likely to have customers who were willing to pay more...Read More

In most cases, ongoing sales are the end game to any loyalty initiative. And to do that, loyalty strategies come into play. But before you really get to loyalty, you need to build an affinity game plan. It’s the emotional connection consumers have toward their favorite brands. When properly...Read More

Delta Air Lines, originally founded as a small crop-dusting operation named Huff Daland Dusters in 1924, has grown into one of the world’s largest airlines, serving more than 180 million customers each year. They are also the creators of one of the largest and most successful rewards...Read More

Email has always been referred to as a relationship channel. It’s a channel that enables a dialogue with a customer. That being said, personalization needs to be top of mind for marketers as they focus on sustaining customer relationships and creating loyalty to their brands. There’s...Read More

One of the most reliable methods of measuring a marketing campaign's effectiveness is to conduct an A/B test. Generally, these tests unfold in the following way: the purchasing patterns of two groups, Group A and Group B, are tracked, with only one cohort receiving a particular offer.  ...Read More

In my last article, I discussed how to set the foundation for achieving a 360-degree view of your customers and the role of data. Here, I’m going to explore how marketers can make data actionable and realize the benefits of the enhanced customer view. In the past, marketers had to &lsquo...Read More

Breeding Consumer Loyalty through Enhanced Digital Engagement In today’s world, digital is where the heart is. According to Bernstein Research, consumers who regularly make multiple types of digital payments, such as online and in-app, spend 10 times more, resulting in two to three times...Read More

Most marketers today are aware of machine learning (ML) and how many companies are using it for a wide variety of use cases- from automating business processes to creating highly personalized applications. Some marketers may be concerned that machine learning will leave them without jobs. However...Read More

Effective loyalty programs consistently deliver results across the metrics that matter to brands: foot traffic, basket size, frequency of visits and revenue.   But as successful as they’ve been, loyalty programs are under increasing pressure to drive even more incremental growth...Read More

The days of brands dictating how and where consumers connect with them are over. Today’s empowered consumer demands that the company they do business with meet them on their terms, where they want and when they want. Those brands that fail to meet these expectations, and fail to show up in...Read More

Everyone wants the love of their customers. Marketers collectively spend billions of dollars each year to attain it, while consumers are increasingly resistant to give it.Why?Too often, marketers are in a mad race to attract customers across every channel – online to offline, desktop to...Read More

Personalization. Personalization. Personalization. “Be sure to personalize the content you create and send to customers.” We’ve heard it time and time again. But it is 2018 now, and personalization doesn’t mean what it used to ten, five, or even three years ago. There...Read More

Don't want to read the blog? No worries! Listen to our podcast. With the advent of the Apple Watch, Google Wear, Fitbit and other wearables - the trend has mainly been toward fitness. However, it may seem tempting to add these channels and devices to your loyalty program for the device geek...Read More

Speaker lineup combines top academic researchers with corporate leaders including Wells Fargo CMO, Jamie MoldafskyMinneapolis, August 21, 2018 – In today’s business world, there is perhaps no greater challenge or necessity than gaining and keeping the consumer’s trust. That...Read More

If your marketing technology landscape looks more like a spaghetti dinner plate, well, you are not alone. For many years, marketing leaders had carte blanche authority to invest in whatever customer interaction tools and technology needed to help meet their business objectives.Who can blame them?...Read More