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

Navigating the loyalty landscape, a terrain that is always evolving, means constantly being on the lookout for the next big thing. The masterminds of modern loyalty programs are keenly that loyalty has moved well beyond the point-heavy system it once was and know not only the current loyalty...Read More

Not long ago my colleague, Wendy Culpepper, and I shared a presentation at Kobie’s Annual OnPoint Conference where our focus was on retaining customer loyalty in the age of disruption. We addressed some of the most visible disruptors – Uber, Amazon, curated subscription businesses in...Read More

Adhering to the General Data Protection Regulation and other consumer protection regulations is a challenge tackled by consumer product brands all over the world. How do you follow these guidelines on how customer data is gathered and leveraged without hamstringing your customer loyalty program...Read More

Top ways your brand can capitalize on the opportunity beyond mobile paymentsA significant amount of the hype surrounding mobile wallet is focused on payment capabilities—with applications like Apple Pay and Google Pay providing consumers with the ability to ditch their plastic...Read More

Kobie’s Emotional Loyalty Scoring tool helps brands create an appealing program value proposition for members, optimize program benefits and make campaigns relevant and effective. Tactics such as lower price and discount promotions can buy loyalty for a transaction or encourage initial...Read More

In business we are always looking for the next best thing. I’m sure every marketer can relate. But to truly discover and unfold the next best thing, we need to focus on the customer, their wants, needs and emotions. For marketers, the next best thing might be as simple as an individual...Read More

Consumer privacy and security are becoming increasingly serious issues when it comes to loyalty rewards programs. More customers are worried that loyalty cards could compromise their cyber security by opening them up to identity theft or a data breach, or that their personal information could be...Read More

Many brands insist on sticking to the same paths to build customer loyalty, regardless of efficacy. They’re sending weekly email deals, offering loyalty and rewards cards and providing coupons. Now, with the continued proliferation of smartphones across the globe, more advertising dollars...Read More

With summer coming to an end, marketers should reflect on their successes of the season and identify areas of opportunity to plan ahead for the upcoming holiday season and beyond. The National Retail Federation forecasts that retail sales will increase between 3.8% and 4.4% in 2018 Indicating...Read More

PetSmart Unites Pet Parents with Lasting Value There has been an enormous shift in the humanization of pets as their place in a household has evolved from simply being a pet to becoming a member of the family. PetSmart, the world’s largest specialty pet retailer of solutions and services...Read More

In this two-part series I'll address the use cases for monetizing data, how organizations should approach the challenge and realize the potential benefits.  Today, let's explore the use cases for monetizing data in the Utility space.   Like many industries, utility...Read More

The loyalty landscape is changing.The days of simple loyalty punch cards are behind us. Immediacy and personalization are now the name of the game in the modern loyalty world where consumers expect real-time engagement – in the moment, when it matters. As a result, loyalty has evolved far...Read More

Employee retention says a lot about your business. After all, if you know how to keep your best employees happy, you’re probably good at meeting your customers’ needs too.Happy people do better work. Plus, the cost of replacing a highly-trained employee can be more than 200 times...Read More

To compete in today’s marketing-saturated world, your loyalty program needs to stand out. A cookie-cutter approach won’t move the needle with today’s selective consumers. Rather, your program needs to be differentiated and speak to diverse market segments in the manner they...Read More

The other day I found myself in the slightly annoying position of being unable to procrastinate any further. I had to – finally – admit defeat and just well get on with a domestic DIY project that I’d been in varying stages of denial and avoidance over for a few days.This meant...Read More

Some marketers are buying into a pervasive — and incorrect — belief that loyalty marketing is not as effective as it once was.However, cultivating customer loyalty is actually more important than ever. Competition within all consumer industries is high and driven higher because price...Read More

Facing massive technological complexity and limited viable solutions, many businesses are forced to make a choice between form and function in their digital presence.A recent Frost & Sullivan global study of senior executives found that over 80% believe customer experience is an...Read More

There’s no question that personalized emails are powerful. Personalized emails can improve click-through rates by an average of 14 percent, enhance conversions by 10 percent, and deliver six times higher transaction rates. Not only does it pay to personalize, today&rsquo...Read More

Simply put, Loyalty is important. It is a collection of attitudes aligned with purchase behaviors that favor one business among competing businesses. But it is so much more. Loyalty is comprised of a constellation of concepts, the Customer Ecosystem, that come together to influence a customer...Read More

Consumers are offering data, a new currency, in exchange for truly exceptional experiences. Like monetary currencies, the value consumers receive for this new currency will vary, depending on where they exchange it. To succeed, your app must offer an experience in line with consumer value...Read More

UW Bothell site provides key audiences with everything that they need – and then some     Universities have become a mainstay of American society. For decades, they have been growing in size and scope. They are attracting an increasing quantity of students, faculty, investment ...Read More

IntroductionGift Cards are a powerful tool and an important offering for merchants to acquire new customers. However, their power extends beyond just driving new sales: they also serve an integral role in building and retaining loyalty in an existing customer base. To better understand exactly...Read More

Yesway was recognized as a winner of the ‘Best Convenience Store Loyalty Launch’ in the 2018 Loyaltees. Launched in December of 2015 by Brookwood Financial Partners, LLC, a Massachusetts-based private equity firm, Yesway plans to acquire, improve and rebrand approximately 500...Read More

Analytics have grown in complexity to meet business demand. 2018 is seeing the next wave of advanced analytics – prescriptive analytics – which leverage historical data to identify what could happen and go a step further by recommending what should be done to give rise to a desired...Read More

I used to fancy myself a diner, a fine diner, to be more specific. As my family has grown, my lifestyle and dining experiences have changed. I rarely have time to sit through a multi-course meal, sipping cocktails and wine, with a focus on my meal and conversation. I’ve gone from fine...Read More

Today’s marketing teams need to be tactical and precise to efficiently use their budget and gain the highest return on investment. This means finding the right customer to target at the right time, and in turn saving resources on wasted outreach and increasing the likelihood that a given...Read More

At the recent Loyalty Expo in Orlando, hundreds of brands and practitioners from various industries came together to discuss best practices and new strategies for increasing the loyalty and engagement of customers. One common thread there was the importance of data to truly understand the...Read More

Better company/customer relationships, improved customer engagement, increased company reputation... you may have heard these all are the benefits of getting GDPR-compliant consents right. And that is absolutely true! It is just that consents are sometimes quite difficult to get, correct?Alright,...Read More

In our day to day working lives as marketers we often don’t get a chance to rise above our busy daily schedules and tasks to really observe our customers. No doubt customers have changed – and continue to change – and there are important implications regarding how marketers...Read More

In a moment of huge frustration, it’s often down to individual staff members to deliver an experience that takes that frustration away and allows one to breathe a sigh of relief and appreciation. On a recent visit to the U.K., I got to experience this first hand.My husband and I had just...Read More

Are your loyalty program members letting their points gather dust? Are you looking for new ways to enhance engagement? If so, we’ve got good news for you. Our recent research revealed what will get your members earning and burning their points—and keeping your brand top of mind. Yup...Read More

In recent months many people have written and spoken about blockchain technology and its potential to be a game-changer. There is a lot of buzz about how it will affect loyalty programs, financial services and marketing initiatives in general.   I am not a blockchain or technology expert...Read More

What constitutes a bad day for a General Contractor?  Could it be a part being off in size? Could it be a delay causing a schedule to be delayed? How about building an entire shaft for a specific elevator and finding out the shaft needed to be reworked after the fact?   Scenario three...Read More

Today, the customer journey spans from mobile apps and websites to TVs and physical experiences. Customers expect to be able to move naturally between channels, online and off, as if there were no separation between experiences in store and online. For a brand to thrive in this environment, it...Read More

Customers are changing, and brands are adjusting. Ten years ago, big brands were not forced to adapt to the small shifts in consumer demands, as it was not necessary for success. Today, with advancements in social media and mobile technology, no brand has gone untouched in terms of necessary...Read More

Few companies outside of the travel industry realize the huge opportunity that exists to drive loyalty and customer engagement with travel clubs. Travel clubs, offering consumers elite travel and lifestyle benefits, can help non-travel companies create new revenue streams and increase customer...Read More

Customers have plenty to say about what they want and whether organizations they do business with are meeting their needs. This feedback is invaluable to align business strategy with what’s top-of-mind with customers. Smart organizations realize this alignment can help achieve objectives...Read More

Personalization is marketing’s Holy Grail. In fact, 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences. So how can you incorporate more personalization into your marketing programs? To help break it down, I like to advise clients to think of...Read More

Beacons are projected to yield more than $50 billion in retail sales this year. Although there is yearly excitement with this tool from the tech industry, beacons were first publicized when Apple introduced its iBeacon hardware in 2013. Now beacon technology and proximity marketing look to be on...Read More

It wasn’t so long ago when, if you needed a new website, you sought out an advertising or creative agency. The team typically consisted of a copywriter, graphic designer, and web developer and together the three of them would build a customized site just for you. Your internal people would...Read More

Members create sustained engagement. Augeo Insights presents Julie Burton, founder of ModernWell, a women’s co-working space and author of “The Self-Care Solution: A Modern Mother's Essential Guide to Health and Well Being”. Julie sat down with Ken Greer, Augeo CMO, to...Read More

With sales of digital assistants projected to soar from 1.8 million to 15.1 million by 2020, it’s no wonder businesses are paying close attention. But leveraging voice-activated search is going to demand a major content and SEO strategy shift.Heralding the new role technology...Read More

Starting with SitkaIn 2005, Jason Hairston had just sold his business. After just a few short years, the company – named for the Alaskan town of Sitka – caught the attention of W.L. Gore & Associates, otherwise known as the inventors of Gore-Tex. The secret to this whirlwind...Read More

Ah, summer. After braving the cold and surviving the busy season, your long-awaited PTO is finally here. While vacation does wonders for your mental health, it can also accelerate your creativity and productivity at work. As a Creative Director and illustrator, my brain is constantly solving for...Read More

How raising “social capital” can accelerate organizational performance.Every business requires various forms of capital. First, there is financial capital to fund the launch of the organization securing workspace, talent, machinery and technology. Next, there is human capital to...Read More

Internet of Things (IoT): anything that can be connected to the Internet will be connected. Big deal… Actually, it’s huge. If you’re evenly slightly interested in delivering a great customer experience, you’ll want to be in the know when it comes to IoT.No one could...Read More

After years of working out how being online affects the conversations businesses have with consumers, we’re finally in full, omnichannel, respectful, personalized, and double-consented dialogue with them, and its proving to be a win-win for all concerned. The death of net neutrality could...Read More

Tailoring rewards, recognition, and incentives to better match the career stage of your employees. There’s a lot of buzz these days about the changing nature of the workplace. HR professionals talk about special considerations required for Millennial or Gen Z workers. No doubt each...Read More

We’ve just wrapped up the Mechanics of Predicting Customer Churn series—if you haven’t checked that out, I’d highly suggest you read through it. But even after we create models to predict customer churn and coordinate campaigns to prevent as much of it as we can...Read More

While customer loyalty has become a major strategy for consumer retention, it can also play a central part of brand growth. Utilizing strategies that reward customers for loyalty actions such as referral marketing and user-generated content (UGC) in addition to...Read More

In part two of our social mission series, you’ll learn how to select a social mission that’s right for you, and how to properly promote it to your community. We also cover a type of business structure that may interest you as you devise your social mission strategy.   In part...Read More

The “customer experience” is getting so much hype these days it even has its own hip moniker: CX. Why is CX the hot topic right now? One reason is because tech titans like Amazon and Netflix have completely redefined it.For Amazon, Netflix, Google, Facebook and others, CX is alpha and...Read More

Welcome to a special 2018 Customer Expo preview where we hear from some of the leading brands and speakers, who will present at this year's conference, which is October 24-26 in Nashville, TN.  Read More

Acquiring a New Member Acquiring a new member to your loyalty program is a great sign of growth; it’s a sign your member base is getting larger and therefore your revenue and margins are growing. That’s the usual perception and the reason why many marketers spend a disproportionate...Read More

Craft beer sales are booming.Transitioning from niche industry to nationwide phenomenon, craft beer has become big business. These unique and flavorful brews now account for more than 23% of U.S. beer sales, which totaled $111.4 billion in 2017.But with an ever-increasing number of options, how...Read More

Welcome to a special 2018 Customer Expo preview where we hear from some of the leading brands and speakers, who will present at this year's conference, which is October 24-26 in Nashville, TN.  Read More

IT’S A WHOLE NEW GAME in consumer packaged goods as brand loyalty is taking a backseat to price and convenience.Cleaning products, however, are dealing with additional pressures from informed, health-conscious consumers who are demanding more safety, more transparency, and more innovation...Read More

Welcome to a special 2018 Customer Expo preview where we hear from some of the leading brands and speakers, who will present at this year's conference, which is October 24-26 in Nashville, TN.Read More

Half of consumers are deterred from joining loyalty programs, according to a newly released study from Kobie Marketing. When asked what barriers prevent them from joining a program, 26 percent of consumers reported that brands ask for too much information or the enrollment process takes too...Read More

Today our carefully crafted sentences, our relevant offers, our perfect hero images often at best get a quick once over before being dispatched by the delete key. The recipients of these carefully put together messages, who lead busy lives and have time to read precious few of the many items they...Read More

As I look back over the past four years to when we launched Bond and began our separation from a U.S. holding company, I’m amazed, and so proud of our team and what we’ve accomplished to become an industry leader. I’m also extremely grateful for the growing list of global brands...Read More

“This post is authored by Sara Hogan of Merkle in partnership with HelloWorld, a Merkle Company.”  It’s a challenging time for loyalty marketers. Not only must they grapple with ever-changing consumer expectations and constantly evolving technologies — par for the...Read More

Beyond selling products or services, having your business get behind a social mission can garner customer loyalty and nourish your community and the lives of you and your staff.   A business owner/manager has a lot going on, whether they’re opening a new store or managing an existing...Read More

Today’s definition of what most companies want in a data scientist seems to be something akin to a superhero. Companies are looking for a regular Mister Fantastic (the Marvel Comics’ superhero who was “one of the bravest adventurers and most brilliant scientific minds...Read More

You’re researching and planning your next family vacation to Disney World in Orlando, FL.  A few days later, you receive an email with an offer from the same brand of hotels near “Lego World” in California as you recently filled out a direct mail piece indicating you&rsquo...Read More

It’s harder than ever to keep members engaged with loyalty programs. According to our new Hawk Incentives research, respondents belong to an average of 6.2 programs, but consider themselves active members of only 3.9 programs.1 Here are some of the other key findings about more effective...Read More

Information is key, especially in business. Without appropriate knowledge, marketing teams would have difficulties to address the actual needs and requirements of any given target group. This is especially true nowadays, when clients’ attention has shifted to a much more personalized...Read More

Reward points. Everyone has them these days. But, are you receiving the rewards that are meaningful to you?Loyalty by Travel and Transport is changing the way clients feel about rewards. Rewards are no longer only about simplicity and ease of access; they’re about emotion. Emotional loyalty...Read More

It’s strange how the world is abuzz with ecommerce, yet it only represented 13% of retail sales in 2017 in the United States (Internet Retailer). This shows there is still demand for physical presence in the retail space – shown clearly by brands such as Warby Parker and Rent the...Read More

We’ve all seen the clickbait headlines spouting the end of physical retail as we know it, scaremongering that future competition will come from anywhere and everywhere. And it’s true, many of the big retail brands we’ve hung our hats on for the past few decades are considered to...Read More

It didn’t take long after arriving in Iraq for Juan Gonzales to begin to feel the effects. The Marine Corps sergeant was part of a company would perform convoy security missions or search for IEDs, and the anxiety created by not knowing who might be around the next corner or what might...Read More

How many times has one of your customers approached you with an issue or a problem?  For instance, “I purchased this product from you and it does not work.” Or, “I thought this product had feature X, but I found out it doesn’t and I want to return it.” Or...Read More

The sounds from Bali’s rainforest dominate the senses—birdsongs, the rush of the Ayung River cutting through the valley far below. Trees extend to the horizon. The humid air is momentarily lifted by the breeze that works its way through the thin shade curtains wrapped around the...Read More

Travel loyalty programs have historically focused primarily on high-value individuals that bring in a lot of revenue – but that doesn’t mean that a lower-value member today won’t become a high value one in the years to come. It’s essential that travel and hospitality...Read More

When Chad asked Cassie Jo to be his girlfriend in 2015, he did it with a Dunkin’ Donuts vanilla long john donut. In 2016, when Chad proposed to Cassie Jo, it was with a donut wedding ring. Okay the second part isn’t true at all. It was with a gorgeous diamond wedding ring. However...Read More

For each retail category (apparel, shoes, electronics etc.), consumers have many choices when deciding where to make their purchase. Clearly things like price, quality and variety come into play, but as marketers, it’s important to understand why consumers choose the brands they do. And...Read More

Consumer shopping habits and loyalty programs have transformed since they first burst onto the scene in the 1990’s. No longer a simple punch card approach, loyalty has morphed into a sophisticated mechanism for collecting customer data to enable personalized marketing and a one-on-one...Read More

Making the decision to go to any conference is tough: Time away from your desk is always nice, but you need to make sure that the time away from work is going to be worth it!Luckily, PXUX isn’t just any conference: It’s packed with opportunities to maximize your customer data and...Read More

Lonnie Mayne, Founder & CEO, Red Shoes Living, sits down with Loyalty360 to discuss their unique approach to loyalty & engagement. Red Shoes Living recently won two Loyalty360 Top 10 Awards - one for Top 10 Agency and one for Top 10 Marketing Team.  Read More

Luxury brand marketers who are considering loyalty programs are often concerned that they won’t align with the image or appeal of the brand. Traditional spend and get loyalty programs reward customers with discounts and couponing, which many luxury brands could argue “cheapens&rdquo...Read More

With a rise in brand intimacy, the loyalty paradigm is rapidly changing. The brands that will emerge on top are those that can meet consumers' evolving demands for value, personalization, and active participation. This shift is something I’ve seen in my tenure providing loyalty...Read More

Loyalty360's Mark Johnson & Jeff Sopko, President of Insights & Marketing, Baesman discuss the upcoming June 28, 2018 Webinar for Executive Perspectives - Disruption.Read More

As the technological landscape evolves, so does the role of Chief Marketing Officer. CMOs are tasked with the colossal mission of inspiring and guiding the overall brand vision and marketing activities that drive new business and repeat sales. Establishing a truly loyal following of customers is...Read More

Roger Dow, creator of the Marriot Rewards Program, once said, “The first two years, I had peers trying to kill this idea a hundred times over.”  Fortunately, Dow knew the key to tackling the program push-back is knowing how and when to present program results.There are four...Read More

Welcome to an audio preview of our upcoming Fireside Chat, featuring McClatchy!Read More

Subscription businesses have been growing rapidly during the past few years. In fact, there were over 2,000 subscription box services as of March 2016 and it’s estimated that the industry as a whole has been growing at 200% a year. In a highly competitive space with a...Read More

“Loyalty marketing” is really just about making friends. Without a doubt, loyalty at its core is like a friendship; both sides offer up something of value, often more than the tangible product. Perhaps this is why the rise of social influencers is such a critical component of brand...Read More

Few companies outside of the travel industry realize the huge opportunity that exists to drive loyalty and customer engagement with travel clubs. Travel clubs, offering consumers elite travel and lifestyle benefits, can help non-travel companies create new revenue streams and increase customer...Read More

Matt Stewart, Director of Wine Club Marketing with Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant, sits down with Loyalty360 to discuss their unique loyalty program. Coopers Hawk Winery & Restaurants won silver in the Loyalty & Reward Program Design category during the 2018 Loyalty360 Awards...Read More

Retail is one of the industries most affected by the influx of technology, changing consumer behaviors, and enhanced customer expectations. Looking toward retail’s future, we compiled some key steps to staying on top of changing trends in the industry.  Live a Customer-First...Read More

The retail, travel, and restaurant industries have been investing in digital technologies for the past decade. The engagement activities timing between a brand and its consumers have never been shorter. Consumers can order apparel, electronics, groceries, and food and have it delivered to your...Read More

Today’s consumers prefer gift cards nearly 2:1 over other marketing incentives, so it’s no surprise that the highest performing gift card programs leverage gift cards to drive sales and influence consumer behavior. Merchants need to engage with customers throughout the customer...Read More

Knowledge is power — and getting to know your customers will give you just that. It’s the most effective way to learn to communicate effectively with your audience and make them feel appreciated — which in turn is the best way to cement your bond and perpetuate allegiance to...Read More

While community bankers continue to debate whether to align with the technophobe or technophile camps, the decision has already been made for them. Adapt or perish. Consumer brands learned this lesson years ago: The democratization of information online has empowered consumers as never before and...Read More

Since the turn of the century, the age of information has seen masses of data dumped into disconnected silos across many retail organizations. Limited access, capability, focus and free time has meant that until very recently we were only able to skim stones across the surface of this pool of...Read More

Today’s customers can be your best friend or worst enemy. In an age where one shared bad experience can go viral and bring heaps of negative attention onto a brand, it’s important to understand what’s bringing customers through your front doors and what’s driving them...Read More

Do your customers have a handle on their credit card rewards? Is it about miles? Points? Cash back? A mixture of all three? Do they know how, exactly, they’re earning the rewards and how to redeem them?  If you think they do, you might want to think again. A new survey by ...Read More

In the imaginative minds of a 6-year-old, an empty cardboard box is the greatest toy ever invented.   One second, it’s an airplane. Four seconds later, it’s a fort. Then it’s put on top of a wagon and becomes a go-kart. So, when families started posting photos of the...Read More

I have been in the data-driven/relevancy-driven marketing business for 25 years.  I’ve seen the number of marketing channels explode. I’ve seen the marketing cycle time drop from quarterly to real-time.  I’ve seen a reference book worth of buzzwords come and go.  ...Read More

In part two of this series, I discussed the second stage of powering lifetime connections which is creating a plan for ongoing dialog. More often than not, brands either send one to two communications to welcome customers to their loyalty program, or, they over communicate and run the risk of...Read More

If you’ve ever questioned the necessity of regularly engaging with your guests via online reviews and other social media, findings from a recent analysis should convince you that these reviews can sway opinion – and revenue – for good or bad.   Research from Xenial and...Read More

Bernard and Janice Caffary knew something was up when they—literally—saw the signs. There, just outside the Carnival Cruise Lines terminal in Port Canaveral, Fla., was a banner hanging from the side of the building: “Congratulations Bernard and Janice Caffary on your 200th...Read More

Recently, a mail order company in a highly competitive online market asked us what kind of data or information is needed to support a loyalty program. Our answer was that program requirements today typically require POS transactions (including member and store IDs), web data, contact details, and...Read More

Digital. It’s how we listen to music.  Understand current events. Communicate with friends.  The world has changed and if we want to be successful in our understanding of and engagement with our customers – digital is the foundation from where our loyalty programs need to be...Read More

Why retailers need to move away from "Us Too" rewards programs that divide loyalty and focus on the customer engagements that improve the loyalty KPIs that matter most. I frequently shop at two nearby sporting goods retailers and thanks to my wife, am a registered loyalty program...Read More

Many great ideas for campaigns are halted because the data just won’t play along. Optimove has the perfect answer for any marketing concept: “let’s do it” Data is everywhere, data is the buzz, the best. We’ve talked about data an endless amount of times, yet managed...Read More

You don’t have to be an expert marketer to understand that customer retention is a critical part of a brand’s foundation for growth. The advantages of a strong base of active customers include: Up to five times cheaper to drive current customer activity than the cost of acquiring new...Read More

Brands understand traditional loyalty. They’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s what they know. At one time, it may have been effective, but that’s no longer the case. And yet, some brands seem to be ignoring all the tell-tale signs that they need to rethink their approach...Read More

Competition in the restaurant world is more intense than ever before as restaurants battle it out for customer loyalty. The ability to keep pace with evolving customer expectations and stand out in this competitive landscape is separating the winners from the losers.Top challenges restaurants...Read More

We have seen from high-profile cases that loyalty fraud losses can range from a low of $50 up to $260,000 per instance[1]. High-profile publicly exposed fraud cases report the actual value of the points stolen and sometimes includes compensation that needs to be given to the members who had their...Read More

Effective marketing is vital to your restaurant’s success. An integrated analytics and marketing tool can help you get on with the business of managing your business.  The ability to understand your customers, preferences, and behavior is one of the most powerful tools you have at...Read More

How many times have you visited a store and during checkout were prompted to sign up for a loyalty program? Chances are, you signed up via email then left the store and never thought about that loyalty program again. After all, most consumers sign up for 19 to 29 different loyalty programs but...Read More

The way marketing is being conceived of and executed is changing in nothing short of a “through the looking glass” sort of way. Monoliths are being broken down into their atomic components. What was slow is fast. What went first is now last. And in some quarters, what was once revered...Read More

The key innovations in customer retention today are not necessarily bleeding-edge new strategies or technologies, but enhancements and well-imagined reinterpretations of classic marketing techniques: subscription, curation and re-ordering. Subscription is both the latest trend and something that...Read More

Access to data is becoming more prevelant, and as a result the creative experience is evolving. Marketers are moving away from subjective instinct to scientific insights that inform every stage of the creative process from planning to execution. A recent Epsilon study, found that 80% of consumers...Read More

The cost of acquiring a new customer can range from five to seven times the expense of keeping an existing one. However, an estimated 44% of brands focus on acquisition rather than retention. Acquisition strategies often include investment in expensive advertising...Read More

The key innovations in customer retention today are not necessarily bleeding edge new strategies or technologies, but enhancements and well-imagined reinterpretations of classic marketing techniques: subscription, curation and re-ordering. Subscription is both the latest trend and something that...Read More

Already a leader in its region for brick-and-mortar hockey equipment sales, B&R Sports wanted to offer customers an online shopping experience while growing its retail footprint. With ecommerce slated to launch in August 2018, B&R has already seen an increase in brick-and-mortar foot...Read More

Millennials now outnumber baby boomers; learn how to cater your promotions to this diverse group.   Millennials make up 25% of the U.S. population, according to Millennial Marketing. Compared to other generations, they are usually the first to understand and adopt new technologies, and...Read More

I’m sure most of us remember the movie “Back to the Future part 2”, where Marty McFly is transported 30 years into the future to the year 2015.  You may also recall the, futuristic gadgets that were predicted in the film, including flying cars, hover-boards, self-tying...Read More

The battle for the customer has never been so fierce in the restaurant industry. Restaurant operators need to differentiate from the pack and win the hearts and minds of their guests. Key to achieving this goal is understanding guest data – from all touchpoints – and leveraging this...Read More

Quidco, the UK’s number one cashback website and app, has run a very successful business for years. However, on mobile devices, it hasn’t always been able to provide rewards for some of the leading brands. To solve this challenge, two years ago, Button and Quidco partnered to advance...Read More

I am a data driven consumer. I am a millennial with disposable income (though less and less with two kids). I am conscious about a company’s ethics and their social giving. But the most important thing you need to know about me as a consumer? I suffer from decision paralysis.That is to...Read More

Lenati’s strategy and customer insights experience pairs with ProKarma’s expertise in technology and digital engineering   BEAVERTON, OR and SEATTLE, WA (April 16, 2018) — ProKarma, a global IT solutions company, today announced a definitive merger...Read More

It’s no secret that B2B gift card sales is an area where most retailers have room to grow. A Recent NAPCO Research report, sponsored by CashStar, confirmed this notion. Of the 100 major merchants evaluated in the study, roughly four out of every 10 (41%) had no mention of B2B gifting...Read More

Rolling out a loyalty program is a critical part of making sure you’re set up for success in the future. Capturing customers interests and getting them to enroll in a program takes a lot of energy to make sure all levers that are needed are in place and ready to go.During the webinar ...Read More

For the past decade, I’ve been an entrepreneur running creative agencies who never planned to work at corporate again, until last fall when it seemed the perfect time to work at corporate again.We are at a unique place in time right now with regards to marketing and advertising. The world...Read More

April is International Customer Loyalty Month and what better time to evaluate your own loyalty program? Regardless of your specific vertical — e.g. restaurant, hospitality or retail — successful loyalty programs all share the same winning formula.To gain competitive advantage, it...Read More

LOYALTY FRAUD – POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE MAKES PROGRAMS VULNERABLEThe loyalty business is booming and with it the size of the prize for fraudsters. In 2012, the estimated value of unredeemed points in U.S. loyalty programs was $48 billion.[1] More recent estimates of loyalty program liability...Read More

Club programs enjoy perennial popularity as the foundation of rewards programs. At some point, nearly every person will have had a paper or digital punch card for the club program of a convenience store or restaurant.But knowing that they’re popular and understanding why they’re...Read More

When speaking with brands on loyalty program strategy, it’s clear companies know they should be utilizing their data and personalizing the user experience, but there is often a barrier of hesitation to openly treat customers differently. This hesitancy is rooted in the fear of ostracizing a...Read More

It’s been said that personalizing your marketing can result in five to eight times the return on your marketing investment, but up until recently, it’s been difficult to achieve personalization. Tactics such as adding individual names to a mass email does not qualify as &ldquo...Read More

Choosing the right solution for your SMS marketing platform, while ensuring maximum ROI and boosting sales is not easy. While there is no shortage of text message marketing software programs and service providers, it can be challenging to differentiate which one would be the best match for your...Read More

Women are increasingly shopping at convenience stores providing a significant opportunity for c-store operators to capture their interest and generate customer loyalty. In fact, the 2018 Convenience Store News Realities of the Aisle customer study found that 44 percent of women say they shop at a...Read More

We all want to give our customers the best experience possible. Constantly, we hear marketers prioritizing the customer experience and personalized messaging while staying within budget and seeing true ROI. According to eMarketer, 74% of marketers prioritize matching customers across multiple...Read More

Consumers are human beings first. This is important to keep in mind when you think about building customer loyalty.On the surface, that can be easy to remember, but you’d be surprised how easy it is for people to forget that. So many businesses today are in this downward spiral of reducing...Read More

Credit cardholders come in all shapes and sizesIt is easy sometimes to think in black and white rather than shades of gray when it comes to credit card behavior. Or perhaps in this digital world we tend to think of things as being either on or off. This binary way of thinking applies to some...Read More

Restaurant chains strive to drive loyalty and retention in the hopes of turning one-time customers into repeat guests. This is something restaurants know they need to do -- it’s how to do it that poses a problem. Based on hundreds of conversations with restaurant brands, there are...Read More

Airlines have long been leaders and experts at cultivating dynamic, trend-setting loyalty programs. Their treasure trove of information allows marketers to engage with travelers in a meaningful way. What airlines get right about loyalty is creating an experience for members that’s...Read More

Trade in your convoluted way of managing and understanding data. There’s a better way.   By the time your average customer enters your restaurant, they already know a lot about it from the reviews they’ve read, social media posts they’ve seen, and word-of-mouth...Read More

Utilize a strategic framework and leverage adaptable guest engagement tools to operationalize guest loyalty in an ever-changing marketplace. MonkeyMedia and The Catering Institute offer a playbook for today’s unprecedented consumer demand for takeout, delivery and catering –...Read More

I’m one of those people who loves to organize around the house, and with two toddlers to keep me on my toes, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of the clutter that can accumulate over time. The same is true for loyalty programs, and adopting a ‘spring cleaning&rsquo...Read More

Take a moment to think about your most fulfilling relationship. Now, think about the qualities that make that relationship successful. I’m willing to bet that one of the qualities that makes that relationship so successful is each person’s willingness to listen. In this relationship...Read More

It’s been an exciting year for Wine.com after it launched a new website and new app last year, with increased traffic to its mobile site, and consumers are feeling more comfortable ordering on their phones. Millennials comprise a key demographic for Wine.com as there continues to be rapid...Read More

In my recent article, I introduced the concept of powering lifetime connections and shared the first of three stages – getting to know the customer. Here, I’ll discuss the second stage: creating a plan for ongoing dialogue. Marketers are often laser-focused on acquiring and onboarding...Read More

After Best Western Hotels & Resorts launched a transformative brand refresh in 2015, the primary objective was to signal that Best Western is a contemporary and relevant brand, worthy of today’s travelers. Now, with the introduction of the “Today’s Best Western&rdquo...Read More

Danaher Corporation is a global science and technology innovator committed to helping its customers solve complex challenges and improving quality of life around the world. Its family of world class brands has leadership positions in some of the most demanding and attractive industries, including...Read More

Are loyalty programs effective for luxury retailers? The typical tactics of discounts and coupons aren't quite on-brand. However, with a majority of sales often coming from a small segment of their customer base, luxury retailers are in need of ways to encourage customer frequency, recency...Read More

I recently watched an old video of the O’Jays singing and dancing to “Give the People What They Want” and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. This video was from Soul Train, which I remember watching on my cable-free television as a young boy. It had only six channels, and...Read More

Every week we see examples of triumphs and failures from brands trying to navigate social media-based customer service. An example of a brand offering quality service happened recently with a customer onboard a Southwest flight who could not watch the Xavier vs. Florida State game on the plane...Read More

Loyalty programs are a great way to build lasting customer relationships and turn frequent or even first-time customers into long-term brand advocates. A customer who feels valued and connected to a brand is more likely to make repeat purchases.     Successful loyalty programs...Read More

As loyalty programs are becoming more complex within the restaurant industry, it’s important to take time to review your program to ensure it continues to meet the wants and needs of your diners. Schedule time to evaluate your program and test. Ask yourself: What can we do to reduce...Read More

Like other consumer packaged goods companies, beauty brands struggle to build customer loyalty due to challenges that include no direct relationship with consumers and disintermediated purchase channels. These challenges also make it difficult for beauty brands to track marketing efficacy across...Read More

Today’s rapid pace of change and a strong job market force a fresh look at which metrics are critical to gauge the pulse of your business.     As restaurants embrace the digital age headlong and make sweeping changes to their operations, the metrics that are important to...Read More

When you think about loyalty programs, your mind probably goes immediately to a few different iterations: airline miles with your go-to brand, the credit card points you refuse to miss out on, a brand-specific program such as Sephora’s “Beauty Insider,” the rewards app you live...Read More

When it comes right down to it, a loyalty program is an agreement between a brand and customer. When a customer signs on for a rewards program, they know they’re giving up something invaluable – their information, habits, and behaviors – in exchange for certain treatment from a...Read More

It’s the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere! Spring represents more than just warmer weather. It represents new life and new beginnings. In my opinion, this season of new beginnings is a perfect time for Market Research agencies to evaluate their business. Are your profits...Read More

In recent months many people have written and spoken about Blockchain technology and its potential to be a game-changer. There is a lot of buzz about how it will affect loyalty programs, financial services and marketing initiatives in general.I am not a Blockchain or technology expert. But I do...Read More

If a loyalty member is part of competitor programs as well, are they actually loyal? In many verticals, consumers follow incentives to register for competing loyalty programs. This is because, for large merchants, a loyalty program in and of itself can no longer be considered a competitive...Read More

It’s almost mind-boggling the amount of challenges facing marketers today. Not only are budgets dropping, but in a world where shoppers are inundated with messaging from the moment they wake up until they finally turn off all electronics, it’s harder and harder to gain their attention...Read More

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For most optical retailers, customer loyalty, satisfaction and retention are key drivers of performance. For Eyes, a subsidiary of leading global optical retailer GrandVision, has higher expectations for its customer relationships. With 110 US stores, For Eyes has...Read More

Discover why it’s important to get a handle on the information that can help your business succeed.   When you opened your restaurant, you probably weren’t thinking about crunching numbers every night. In fact, you may think, the more you can avoid the boring data side of the...Read More

As marketing technology continues to grow more advanced across the customer loyalty industry, personalized content has gone from a differentiator to an expectation. Customers no longer respond to one-size-fits-all campaigns, and video content isn’t immune to this shift in consumer demand...Read More

In three short years, Shoptalk, which will draw 8,000 retail professionals to Las Vegas from March 18th to the 21st, has emerged as a giant, must attend retail conference that now rivals the National Retail Federation Big Show that kicks off the retail year every January.Here are some things...Read More

Marketers and consumers alike are flocking to subscription-based shopping models. But these businesses face a daunting challenge: maintaining customer loyalty over the long haul.Think about how difficult it is for a box subscription business like Birchbox or a service subscription like Match.com...Read More

Why are loyalty programs important to hotel chains? They promote guest retention and direct bookings. Almost every major hotel chain has a loyalty program, which means it’s difficult for consumers to differentiate one chain’s program from another’s when the action required to...Read More

In case you haven’t already heard, loyalty programs deliver outstanding financial returns to restaurants by motivating guests to visit more often and spend more on each visit. Simply put, if you want to maximize your restaurant’s revenue, you need loyalty.However, when we talk about...Read More

Do loyalty programs work for luxury brands? It’s a fair question. The usual suspects of discounts and coupons don’t exactly scream high-end, but not to worry -- loyalty programs come in all shapes and sizes. In this blog post, we’re taking a closer look at some...Read More

No social media platform has changed restaurants more than Instagram. Have your plates gotten prettier over the years? Do they look just a tad more delicious when they leave the kitchen? Ask your kitchen team, and they may admit that they’ve thought about customers snapping pictures of...Read More

2017 was an ugly year for the consumer.On the heels of data breaches (see: Equifax exposing personal data of 143 million people) and dishonest data scandals (see: Uber paying off hackers to delete stolen data), customer relationship management needs an overhaul in 2018. And customers...Read More

As a loyalty marketer, you likely have dozens of metrics and KPIs to help define what loyalty looks like to you. Acquisition, repeat purchase, active members, referrals, redemptions, promotion participation, and more. But consider the other half of this critical relationship – the consumer....Read More

We talk a lot about consistency as it relates to data and marketing strategy. Being consistent with messaging is essential, and adding some repetition can be a good thing. Often times marketers’ want to communicate to new people instead of the same people repeatedly to drive incremental new...Read More

Personalization and customization are making a comeback. While building an experience (or product, or service) around a customer’s specific needs and preferences are not net new concepts, they seem novel to us now. Why? Businesses’ focus on increasing revenue and making sales has...Read More

Coalition loyalty has been in the news in recent years, largely due to the mid-2015 launch of the  Plenti coalition loyalty program that was billed as the first coalition loyalty program in the U.S. But, the Plenti program has fallen on hard times as several participating brands have opted...Read More

Dunkin’ Donuts officials want to provide even more convenience to its guests to elevate the overall customer experience. That added convenience will play a major role in the company’s aggressive plans for the next two years: There will be 1,000 new stores built by the end of 2020...Read More

Data initiatives are finally finding the platform they deserve—and with good reason. Data is the foundation of every great marketing strategy and loyalty program.  Yet there’s another element that’s just as critical: the insights and analysis developed from data. Data only...Read More

A recent cover story by the Economist, titled “Doctor You,” paints a vivid picture of the future of healthcare. In that future, patients will be using digital tools to self-diagnose their conditions and may be using physicians more as validation points and treatment-execution vehicles...Read More

Let's get one thing out of the way now: Customers love discounts. After all, who doesn't like spending less money? There's something about the feeling of getting a good deal that makes people happy – and drives changes in behavior. The trouble with a discount-driven retention...Read More

Marketing experts and researchers continue to advise companies to create personas as a means of understanding their target audiences. However, not only do personas tend to be poorly created and perform badly, the concept of personas has become outdated in today’s fast-moving market in which...Read More

As loyalty marketers continue to evolve their marketing strategy to remain competitive and exceed the needs of program members, they’re surrounded by disruption and the noise of the latest innovations. Given the complexities that already exist around technology platforms, strategy, people...Read More

The race is on for companies to define themselves by their customer in 2018. Hands down, customer experience is becoming (if it is not already) the most important battleground on which some companies win and others will not even be set up to compete. In Medallia’s latest research study...Read More

Artificial Intelligence is having a major impact on customer experience (CX). Consumers are surrounded by technology as a means of interacting with brands, often experiencing several levels of automated communication alongside the option to speak to a human. In some cases, however, there is no...Read More

“Omni” – from the Latin “Omnis”, or “All”   Much to my daughter’s chagrin, I’ve always been a student of language. Between somewhat obnoxiously pointing out the more egregious errors in her millennial short-hand, I often find time to...Read More

Designing a superior customer experience now requires the ability to adeptly leverage the power of mobile and various digital devices with near seamless flexibility. The approaching ubiquity of this technology, which has been exponentially diffused among people from almost every demographic...Read More

Find out about the latest loyalty industry trends and consumer attitudes Loyalty programs remain a powerful strategy for companies looking to build relationships and lifetime value with customers, but the industry is evolving and there are challenges ahead. While loyalty program membership has...Read More

With a camera in everyone’s pocket nowadays, we’ve become pre-programmed to snap pictures of our food, whether it’s to show friends and family, or to post it on social media. According to Yelp, users searching for the word “Instagram” in their restaurant and food...Read More

 A company’s relationship with its customers means understanding their experience at every touch point along the customer journey. From the time a potential customer first considers making a purchase, the importance of understanding customers’ needs not only improves the buying...Read More

Exploring how entrepreneurs face unchartered territory.As a part of the Augeo Luminary Speaker’s Series highlighting disruptive thinking – in conjunction with the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota – Augeo COO, Scott Moore, had a discussion with Kimmy...Read More

What’s the sweet spot of a loyalty program? If you asked a consumer, you may get a far different answer than if you asked a business. The consumer wants: free items (that they would typically buy anyway) rewarding their current behaviors and shopping frequency at the places where they shop...Read More

It takes twice as much work to earn a new customer as it does to please an existing one, so don’t let one bad experience spell the end of a good customer relationship. If you think online reviews don’t matter, consider the fact that consumers now find a restaurant’s star rating...Read More

Loyalty benchmarks can help shape your strategy through a new lens.If we have learned anything in 18+ years of providing loyalty and engagement solutions across many industries, including financial services, we can say with certainty that relevant and meaningful rewards matter.Financial...Read More

Almost without exception, understanding who your customers are has become a fundamental tenet of contemporary customer engagement. Regardless of brand, industry, or vertical, acquiring keen and accurate customer insights resembles an arms race. Such insights can help a brand leverage this...Read More

Winston Churchill once said, “There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.” Back then he wasn’t referring to online restaurant reviews, but his words couldn’t be more relevant.   The opinions from a handful of people online don’t...Read More

Marketing experts regularly promote the fact (and rightly so) that in order to survive, your restaurant or other business must have a website, Facebook page, Twitter account and Instagram feed (and don’t forget claiming your business on Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google). But how often do you...Read More

Creating and maintaining customer loyalty is a long journey. Loyalty marketers must have an outlined strategy at the time of customer acquisition for how they are going to build, maintain and power lifetime connections over the course of the relationship. I like to think of powering lifetime...Read More

For Groucho’s Deli, a franchise restaurant operation, customer engagement and data-driven customer insights have been the dual drivers behind the growth and adoption of its wildly popular and successful loyalty program. The Groucho’s Deli app defines next-generation loyalty by...Read More

Today's digital environment has dramatically changed the landscape for traditional brick and mortar retailers, full of both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, retailers are coping with customer retention issues while trying to secure baskets against the online players. On the other...Read More

Text messages can help you acquire and engage loyalty program members Getting people to join your loyalty program and keeping them engaged is a challenge, but with the rise of smartphones there are more options than ever before. We know that consumers are more willing to engage with loyalty...Read More

Earlier this year on CAPRAplus we discussed ensuring that the wants and needs of the consumer are put first when developing any consumer engagement program by asking the question, “Do my consumers really want this?” This time around we will look inward to the merchant to...Read More

Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of New York Times bestsellers Contagious: Why Things Catch On and Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior. In addition to his teaching...Read More

For Groucho’s Deli, a franchise restaurant operation, customer engagement and data-driven customer insights have been the dual drivers behind the growth and adoption of its wildly popular and successful loyalty program. The Groucho’s Deli app defines next-generation loyalty by...Read More

Today's digital environment has dramatically changed the landscape for traditional brick and mortar retailers, full of both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, retailers are coping with customer retention issues while trying to secure baskets against the online players. On the other...Read More

Most businesses recognize the compelling role that content can play in delivering a satisfying customer experience, especially as more and more of the buyer journey takes place through digital channels. But key to any successful and engaging strategy is the ability to provide content that can...Read More

Creating and maintaining customer loyalty is a long journey. Loyalty marketers must have an outlined strategy at the time of customer acquisition for how they are going to build, maintain and power lifetime connections over the course of the relationship. I like to think of powering lifetime...Read More

Being customer-centric is one thing. Exhibiting customer-centric behavior and showing consumers that you truly care about their needs create emotional connections that go a long way toward building and sustaining brand advocacy. Enter PeoplesBank, which is based in Holyoke, Mass. and was...Read More

The number of channels across which marketers can communicate continues to grow, which means that optimizing one’s target audience, message, and channel is becoming increasingly important.   Historically, B2B Marketers have looked to optimize their marketing across individual...Read More

Loyalty360 talked to Andy Sperry, VP of Marketing for The Renew Co.−which owns Magazines.com and NaturalHealthyConcepts.com−about topics such as customer loyalty, brand advocacy, what e-commerce marketers are doing well, and e-commerce trends tied to customer loyalty, customer...Read More

Too often for marketers, the line between best customers and loyal customers is blurred. It’s an important distinction−one that should be fully appreciated to precisely target and invest in these two crucial customer categories. The key to making that distinction is getting a clearer...Read More

At the end of the day, if your employees don’t execute on their end as far as providing a stellar and helpful customer experience, it’s very difficult for companies to gain traction in the customer loyalty department. But, that’s not the case at Cooper’s Hawk Winery &...Read More

Morgan Hermand-Waiche, Founder & CEO of women’s intimates company Adore Me, had no previous experience in lingerie, but he decided to try and buck the odds and disrupt the lingerie industry.  Since it launched in March 2012, reinventing the fashion space while attracting...Read More

Often times, marketers think of email as a tactic, or simply the ‘delivery vehicle’ of a message. However, email is so much more. Email plays an integral role in influencing purchases and the overall brand experience. In a recent survey conducted by Forbes to CMO’s, 51% reported...Read More

Technology has rapidly become the cornerstone of a successful loyalty program. Brands spend a lot of time, effort, and money on selecting and implementing a loyalty platform to help them acquire, engage, retain and grow their customers.  The decision can be incredibly stressful, with a lot...Read More

You may be familiar with the popular business book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Authors Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter suggest that the behaviors and accomplishments that brought you success early in your career will not help you reach the next level of achievement.  ...Read More

In this episode of What We're Seeing & Hearing, CEO Mark Johnson touches on some of the latest topics driving Loyalty360 content and the customer loyalty industry as a whole.  [0:36] USA Today/Gannett Interview: Link coming soon![1:46] Carnival Cruise Lines...Read More

Loyalty programs help drive mobile wallet adoptionI was speaking with a venture investor friend of mine recently who reminded me that predicting the future is not really that difficult. The challenge is not what will happen but when it will happen. The list of examples from the automobile to...Read More

Loyalty marketers are always looking for an edge that can push their loyalty efforts over the top. Success has been found in programmatic efforts that build customer reciprocity and status, or provide value in the form of savings back to the customer. A common theme among the most successful...Read More

No better time than the season of Valentine’s Day to share the story of THUN, the Italian company that produces gifts in ceramics, porcelain, housewares and women and children’s accessories, and is widely recognized in Europe as the “love brand.”  Since 1950, its...Read More

If you are like most people, you thoroughly check out a business or a product online before you lay down your hard-earned money. Before the advent of online reviews, we would typically talk with friends, coworkers, and family to gather opinions, and then add these to our cache of knowledge about...Read More

Supporting efforts with strategically focused communications is key Tурiсаllу, programs aimed аt raising employee engagement target an employees' sense of bеlоnging (e.g., team building, inclusion, peer recognition, anniversary awards, еtс.) оr contribute to a ѕеnѕе of ѕignifiсаnсе (e.g...Read More

Marketing has evolved. No longer can brands send out generic messages designed for a mass audience and then simply wait for consumers to magically engage with a product or service. Now, real-time social and digital communications, combined with high levels of customer involvement, have brought...Read More

Increasingly, marketers are being asked to prove the value of their marketing campaigns and spend. And many of us face one gargantuan challenge after another, despite diminishing resources. So how do you make sure your marketing – specifically your email marketing – is efficient and...Read More

The evolution of brand loyalty marketingDoes it seem to you that customers aren't loyal to brands and their products any more?Today, shoppers research purchases online, price compare and then purchase based on up to the minute information. Even for commodities where brand loyalty once ruled...Read More

When a guest comes to your house, you greet them and ask: would you like a glass of water? You offer them an essential human amenity to help make them feel welcomed.What elemental amenities do shoppers need? Obviously they need heat, light, restrooms, elevators, drinking fountains... In the Age...Read More

Newly announced as keynote speaker of Loyalty Expo 2018, Mitch Prinstein is the author of Popular: The Power of Likebility in a Status-Obsessed World, and serves as the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and the Director of Clinical Psychology at the...Read More

Marketers face a great time of uncertainty. We are now in the midst of a consumer renaissance or even, some might say, a revolution. Brands and marketers are no longer able to rely on established consumer trends, old buying patterns, and conventional norms to frame a customer engagement strategy....Read More

If you are in business, you are concerned about cyber security. The best solutions deploy technology and engage employees.It is that time of year again when the little part of me says it is time to declutter and simplify my life, clear the calendar, update the budget and get rid of all the junk...Read More

We use the word sophistication in everyday conversation in different ways. One could talk about the sophistication of the wealthy, or how a neighborhood over time changed from simplicity to sophistication. The thesaurus lists the following synonyms for sophistication: complexness, complicacy...Read More

Each new year brings inspiration and motivation to change. Resolutions for personal and professional goals are many, and the new year can bring opportunities to adjust programs and organizational initiatives.This could be the year your organization transforms employee engagement. Let’s take...Read More

In the first week of the What We're Seeing and Hearing video series, Mark Johnson discusses the lastest news in the world of customer loyalty. For more information on the topics discussed, please see the links below:[1:40] McMillon Carries Tradition of Customer, Employee Engagement...Read More

According to data from One Click Retail, Amazon was responsible for about 44 percent of all U.S. e-commerce sales last year, or about 4 percent of the country's total retail sales figures. The fastest-growing product categories on Amazon.com in 2017 included luxury beauty and pantry...Read More

Most convenience stores share similar reasons for having a reward program – such as improving profitability and enticing customers to make incremental sales – but all reward programs are not created equal, and a one-size-fits-all approach may not produce the outcomes that retailers...Read More

Customer data and engagement strategies have evolved dramatically in the last few years and will continue to accelerate in 2018. According to Martech Advisor, the customer data platform industry is expected to grow at least 50% per year in the near future, reaching over $1 billion total...Read More

In case you haven’t heard, Amazon.com has made it even easier for you to cough up some of your dollars over this past year—enter the Amazon Treasure Truck. For Amazon Prime members, the Treasure Truck provides yet one more way to experience the benefits of Prime: [A] order...Read More

Note: This blog post should not be considered legal advice. For any questions regarding the law, please consult an attorney.   Perhaps it goes without saying: it’s simply good practice to understand the laws that apply wherever you plan to conduct business. This includes...Read More

In this episode of Loyalty360’s Thought Leadership series, Baesman, which helps leading retailers improve marketing campaigns and other touch points that drive shoppers to their stores, discusses how the fundamentals of loyalty apply across industries, the importance of harnessing data, and...Read More

In most cases, the media and marketing landscape is incredibly fragmented, which makes effective customer engagement incredibly difficult. No longer can a single message, or even a single campaign, leverage a single medium to find its way directly into the hearts and minds of a diverse customer...Read More

Retailers are optimizing the omnichannel approach to loyalty by investing in new strategies and technologies to reach customers wherever they are, cutting through the noise of a cluttered space with messages and experiences that are relevant and compelling. Retailers recognize that they need to...Read More

Evaluation Analyzes Gift Card Ecommerce Offerings of 100 Top MerchantsToday’s consumers demand great end-to-end experiences in store and online—and this expectation extends to gift cards as well. After all,according to a recent report from the National Retail Federation, gift cards...Read More

Marketers are tasked with promoting the business, building relationships with customers, and tracking results. Most marketers find themselves overwhelmed by disparate, disconnected tools and apps, and, frankly, inundated with data - sometimes paralyzed by it. The problem with most email marketing...Read More

How one bank’s creative thinking generated $90,000 in potential RDC revenue—in just 25 daysTime is money. We’ve all heard that old adage. It implores us to work smarter rather than harder, in order to achieve our goals. And trite as it may sound, it’s still solid...Read More

We all know how the cost of acquiring a customer is greater than the cost to retain a customer and the benefits of building customer loyalty include increased sales and positive word of mouth. Little wonder then that most retailers recognize the importance of a good loyalty program...Read More

From every direction, you can see the tremendous transformation that’s happening in payments. But blink for one moment, and you’ve missed another technology change in the payments ecosystem. How can anyone keep pace in the midst of new startups circumventing traditional institutions...Read More

Here’s a story, and it will probably sound familiar. There's a quick service restaurant chain. Let's say they have around 500 locations, give or take, and about $1 billion in annual revenue. They have an app and a loyalty program that have been around for awhile. The loyalty program...Read More

Consumers expect brands to know who they are, and create compelling experiences for them. In fact, 63% of consumers said they’d think more positively of a brand if its content was more valuable, interesting or relevant and 59% of customers say that personalization influences...Read More

Marketing has evolved from somewhat of an art into a very precise and quantifiable science. No marketing campaign should ever be rolled out without a robust understanding of how to measure whether your campaign was a resounding success or, contrarily, a bit of a let-down.Your marketing efforts...Read More

In this episode of Loyalty360’s Thought Leadership series, Loyalty360 speaks with Virtual Incentives. The company provides incentive solutions proven to increase engagement, strengthen brand awareness and maintain customer loyalty.   Read More

The soaring cost of healthcare in the United States has led to an increasing amount of bad debt faced by medical practices. To help stem this, healthcare providers should turn to an example from the retail space and streamline their payment processes.Here’s how.Follow the retail leaderJust...Read More

I’m a marketer (for a company that makes software for other marketers), but I’m also a consumer. The two sides are intertwined. For better or for worse, I can’t turn the marketer off while I shop. The marketer side of me is always taking mental notes about customer engagement...Read More

Personalization along the entire customer journey requires better data than ever before.  It is not enough to know who a customer is and what they have purchased in the past.  To survive in a rapidly changing world, customer-facing brands must put data-driven personalized experiences...Read More

Struggling to prove the tangible value of customer experience? You’re not alone. About half of businesses report being ineffective at measuring the impact of customer experience, and 27% are unsure if there is even a ROI for customer experience. Any successful company, however, will tell...Read More

Increased sales and customer loyalty are goals for almost every business. With these goals in mind, many businesses have considered using coupons or promotional offers. And while coupons are still important, people simply forget to use them, resulting in a lost deal and lost sales for the...Read More

For years, we’ve used the analogy of a “corner grocer” to represent our desired end-state of loyalty programs –  to know each customer on a personal level and deliver the right level of service appropriate to that customer – to build loyalty at an emotional...Read More

It is clear that the challenging consumer retail environment is not going to get easier.  Restaurants, especially casual and family sectors, will continue to be collateral damage as the consumer shifts their retail spending online, and Amazon meets their needs with amazing speed and price...Read More

Perhaps the biggest shift we've seen in marketing over the past decade or so is towards consumer empowerment. Due in large part to the sheer volume of companies out there vying for the attention of consumers, as well as advances in media technology and the role it plays in marketing...Read More

The incredible pace of change in 2017, combined with the uncertain regulatory and political environment going forward, and the acceleration of competitive pressures across the payments industry can make 2018 look like the hardest year yet. However, if we approach this disruption with a...Read More

Email can be a powerful way to market your business, keep in touch with prospects, and keep engaging with loyal customers. But your emails can only be opened if they land in your contacts’ inboxes. Spam legislation and protections put in place by internet service providers and email service...Read More

Focused on applications beyond fighting fraud, this is the second article of a two-part series on the deployment of artificial intelligence in banking. Part 1 of Artificial Intelligence – The New Frontier in Banking discussed how important machine learning has become to financial...Read More

It’s always hard when someone says good-bye, whether they unfriend you on Facebook or unsubscribe from your email list. But unsubscribes aren’t always a bad thing. Plus, they can teach you a few things about your list, and your email marketing. We’ll cover these topics in this...Read More

If you're doing everything you can to make your brand stand out from the crowd, you already know the phenomenal value of video in marketing.Once primarily a broadcast medium, video now leverages the immense amount of data available to deliver hyper-relevant, and often heavily personalized...Read More

In this episode of Loyalty360’s Thought Leadership series, Lenati, which develops innovative and disruptive customer experiences for some of the most recognized companies in the world, discusses the marketing challenges facing brands today, the future of customer loyalty, and more.   ...Read More

Shoe stores have mobile apps. So does the Smithsonian. You can find apps that help new parents keep track of diaper changes, apps that can help you find a clean restroom while traveling, and apps that let you schedule your dry cleaning for pickup and delivery. It’s the age of the mobile app...Read More

Brand advocates are the the cheerleaders that help your brand engage and build relationships with future prospects, leads and customers. These loyal patrons are invaluable for a brand, and Sleep Number knows exactly how to tap into this powerful customer base.Before launching the new &ldquo...Read More

Customer loyalty rewards programs are a necessity for today’s payment providers. They have proven to drive more usage and spend, and anyone who doesn’t offer one is at a clear competitive disadvantage. Meanwhile, we have seen considerable growth in the sophistication of loyalty...Read More

Today we are here with Mark Fortuna, Director of Sales for Snipp Interactive, which builds solutions across the entire path to purchase. We discuss the evolution of smartphone rewards, the top things that brands need to be cognizant about when strategizing their rewards mix, and more.  Read More

As 2017 draws to a close, now is the time to build out your plans for customer loyalty initiatives for 2018. Whether loyalty is a new concept for your company or you’re considering making a greater investment, here’s a guide to finding the right loyalty technology solution to meet...Read More

Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series from Confirmit. To read previous entries, click here.  Customer Experience (CX) careers are a hot topic, in part because they are difficult to map. The first and second blogs in this series have produced many great questions from those...Read More

Loyalty is more than a marketing program   Loyalty should be viewed as the journey to growing and retaining your customers through a mutually valuable relationship. Loyalty is not a points program and if organizations view loyalty as a tactic it will not survive. When done right, loyalty...Read More

Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series from Confirmit. To read previous entries, click here. Choosing a career in customer experience (CX) is not for those uncomfortable with gray space.  You don’t always have the clear, binary results of the “big four&rdquo...Read More

As the talent chief at a digital and data-savvy customer engagement agency, I’m often asked about modern marketers’ hiring and development practices — especially how they differ from those at a traditional advertising agency or in-house marketing department.   The data...Read More

In this episode of Loyalty360’s Thought Leadership Series, team members from Aimia discuss current trends in customer loyalty and customer experience, the future of customer loyalty, and more.  Read More

Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series from Confirmit.  As a Customer Experience professional, do you find yourself struggling to show real results and tangible business outcomes? After roughly twenty years as a discrete discipline, Customer Experience (CX) is still a...Read More

You’ve decided that you want to offer gift cards. What qualities and capabilities should you look for in a gift and rewards partner? As you begin your search for a program and a partner, be prepared to answer questions such as whether you want to give customers the ability to choose the...Read More

The marketing world has seen a sea change in tactics and technologies, and campaigns often strive to incorporate these innovations in order to ‘wow’ a digitally blasé consumer base. But although innovative tactics can be eye-catching within a crowded promotional landscape, a multi...Read More

These days, delivering engaging experiences is essential to sustaining competitive advantage and earning lasting loyalty. But many brands find themselves struggling to keep up with rising consumer expectations and an ever-growing array of channels and touchpoints.   Here are three key...Read More

Marketing and promoting your gift card program is critical to its success. Whatever your primary line of business: restaurant, retail, service, or other business, most customers won't think of you as a place to buy gift cards unless you promote them in every part of your business presence. In...Read More

In a recent roundtable on the topic of engagement, loyalty program leaders agreed that member engagement is low for three main reasons:   1.Use of ‘old school’ plastic cards – while consumers clearly prefer mobile 2.Failure to exploit all available mobile channels for...Read More

It almost seems cliché to say that data and insights are the lifeblood that fuels promotions success. This philosophy has been driven into the minds of marketers for years, and with good reason – data, used properly within the decision-making process, really does help promotions and...Read More

While loyalty programs have become a must-have feature of most companies’ acquisition and retention strategy, many of these programs are failing at actually creating loyal customers. According to a recent Accenture report, 71% of respondents said that loyalty programs didn’t...Read More

Your marketing department is facing more challenges than ever before and it all boils down to two main areas: Brand Experience & Marketing Operations.  No. 1:  The Brand Experience Problem As a modern marketer, you have more on your plate than ever before. In the past, you were...Read More

It’s time to change the paradigm. For the past decade, we’ve been using linear journey maps and list-based email automation that try to control the customer journey and create the best experience possible. Seemed pretty good for a while; a lot of loyalty marketers pinned their hopes...Read More

Developing a rewards program that will encourage customers to buy more – and more often – requires a bit of planning and evaluation, informed by an understanding of what motivates your customers. Our team of experts came up with the following six recommendations to help get you...Read More

Most retailers and restaurants operating a loyalty program probably respond with a ‘Yes.’ Because if a consumer is interested in joining your loyalty program, then they intend to use it, right? With the average U.S. household being enrolled in more than 18 customer loyalty programs...Read More

Movio’s Managing Director for EMEA, Sarah Lewthwaite, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Hoss Ghonouie, Director of Marketing for Everyman Cinemas in the UK, to discuss their recently relaunched loyalty program. Extending their distinct brand identity and theater experience to an...Read More

Gaining customer trust over the long term is a critical component of a successful Loyalty Program strategy. Implementation of GDPR requirements is coming fast and its impact will be significant, and Loyalty Providers need to be ready in advance of the May 25th, 2018 deadline to meet the...Read More

Loyalty marketers take note: behavioral economics may be key to driving engagement with your program. Richard Thaler recently won the Nobel Prize for his work in behavioral economics on theories like irrational actors, the hot hand fallacy, and nudge theory. At first glance, this might not mean...Read More

Companies very often ask the question “how can loyal customers be turned into brand ambassadors?” But what if a company already has brand ambassadors, without even knowing that they exist or what their opinions are? What if these people are really spontaneously engaged without any...Read More

For companies to be successful now and in the future, they must be one step ahead of what their customers need, want and demand. And the same is true for creating an engaging rewards and incentives program. We must dive deeper into how consumers view rewards and what they are looking to receive...Read More

Long gone are the days when consumers dined only at their local restaurant to get a home cooked meal. In the past, consumers would choose establishments where “everyone knew their name” and they could enjoy a leisurely, social meal at a seat that seemed to be perpetually reserved for...Read More

Evolving consumer attitudes, desires and technology preferences make it critical for marketers to know how to engage their customers in compelling and authentic ways. In my recent featured columns, I discussed two key trends that loyalty marketers have embraced: brand recognition &ndash...Read More

Note: This article is part of a continuing series from Snipp. Click here to read part one! Loyalty is the watchword for brands: how to build it, how to sustain it, how to monetize it. We all know the value of loyal customers, and companies now spend billions each year incentivizing them to stick...Read More

The sharing economy is here to stay. If you’ve ever taken an Uber instead of a taxi, stayed at an Airbnb instead of a hotel, or used a WeWork workspace instead of a traditional office, you’ve participated in the sharing economy. According to Allianz travels annual sharing economy...Read More

According to Travel Daily News, “Over the next three years 52% of airlines plan major AI programs.” Airlines are particularly interested in leveraging AI for prediction and warning systems; however there are numerous other ways airlines can leverage AI to improve the...Read More

Geographic data is easy to mine from receipts, simply by looking at the address information printed on them. For this post, we sorted the average purchase basket size by the state in which the purchase took place – and then started to look at external variables to try and explain the...Read More

Introduced in the mid-1990s, gift cards, now commonplace, deliver convenience and a range of other benefits not only for givers and recipients but also for the businesses that offer them. While gift cards have proven their value in driving revenue and loyalty, the addition of a rewards program...Read More

During this episode of Loyalty360’s Thought Leadership series, we talk to HelloWorld, a digital marketing solutions company that helps brands create unforgettable interactions, drive consumer demand and accelerate growth. Read More

You are familiar with gift cards, and you may be considering offering them to customers. But you may have also heard about ‘Rewards,’ ‘Stored Value,’ and ‘Wallet.’ What do these terms mean? How do they relate to gift cards and loyalty? What value do they bring...Read More

In our first article, we described the four main redemption segments. We explained how their actual redemption behavior compared to their proposed behavior when they were surveyed pre-program launch. Some segments acted very similar to their self-reported behavior, while others did not. This...Read More

In this webinar, you’ll discover five insights that have surprised even the savviest loyalty program managers. As you prepare for 2018, these learnings may just change the way you manage your program and enhance your program’s results. The learnings come from real data collected from...Read More

As a loyalty marketer, you may not stand around the water cooler and talk about FASB, U.S. GAAP, or the differences between deferred revenue and incremental cost as accounting methods. You may not even be aware of how your loyalty program handles financial liability. But, it’s time to start...Read More

High purchase frequency and pressures from an industry that evolves as beauty trends change make the beauty space extremely competitive. As a result, many beauty brands are investing in loyalty solutions to help them stand out from the competition and increase customer retention. Many beauty...Read More

It's important to choose the right incentives, but what else drives people to complete a survey? Most of us don’t choose to spend our free time taking surveys. So what are the driving factors (aside from incentives) that get people to engage? Below, we’ll explore the hidden...Read More

Bond discusses the sophistication level of the loyalty and CX initiatives of most brands today, the future of customer loyalty, and much more.  Read More

Welcome to another episode of Loyalty360’s Thought Leadership in Loyalty series. Today we are here with Clutch, maximizes the lifetime value of valuable customers by delivering simple, relevant and consistent experiences.    Read More

Scan your inbox and see how you react to the subject lines. A yawn? A scowl? A snore? That’s what we thought. Let’s face it, not many companies get it right. Your customers love you or they wouldn’t have signed up to receive your email. But they are busy. So why not make their...Read More

Loyalty and gift cardproviders will tell you that they can help boost your sales and client traffic. It’s true when they tell you “it takes a client more than one visit to spend the amount of a gift card” and “at times clients will spend more than the amount on a gift...Read More

It’s a tough landscape for loyalty marketers. Member engagement is declining, traditional contact strategies are proving less effective, and program performance is no longer meeting expectations.  As loyalty marketers strive to tackle these issues, there are several positive steps that...Read More

What is pride? How do you know someone has it? For many pride is a sort of a feeling.  A state of mind.  An undefined emotion that might be identified by a smile or glistening eyes.  With those vague definitions, no wonder most of the corporate world ignore the concept - It is too...Read More

Customers are more savvy and particular than ever before, so it’s up to brands to keep up. Engaging customers with a rewards system is an art all by itself — an art that we know well. But before you can start rewarding them, first you have to meet their growing expectations. Evolving...Read More

The QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) industry is notoriously competitive and operates on extremely tight margins. More and more restaurants are investing in loyalty programs that go beyond a simple “points for spend” model to differentiate their business and to...Read More

The marketing world has seen a sea change in tactics and technologies, and campaigns often strive to incorporate these innovations in order to ‘wow’ a digitally blasé consumer base. But although innovative tactics can be eye-catching within a crowded promotional landscape, a multi...Read More

In a previous post we gave you some of the basics for getting started with an email campaign. As you think about the actual email messages you want to send, you’ll need to put some thought into your restaurant brand and how you communicate who you are, your email marketing goals, and what...Read More

The four key segments Qualitative research is at the core of how we develop customer centric loyalty programs that drive engagement and deliver economic impact. We have found that consumers don’t always act similar to how they responded in surveys. The greatest difference is often seen in...Read More

Do rewards programs work? Is it worth it to offer discounts to your best customers? These are crucial questions for retailers to answer, especially in a time when traditional retail is threatened by the convenience of online shopping. But the answer is a little more complicated than a simple yes...Read More

If getting some marketing initiatives off the ground is one of the many to-do’s on your list, consider email marketing. Why? Despite the buzz around online advertising and social media, the return on investment for email marketing has been proven again and again by marketers in a number of...Read More

If you live in a world of penny profit the way grocers do, you can't afford to discount to people willing to pay full price. You also need to drive in footsteps to buy product that is literally perishable. So where does that leave you? Needing to promote the right products to the right...Read More

You already know the importance of a strong loyalty program, but there are a few pieces that need clarity. Today, it seems that every retailer has some kind of loyalty program. But they aren't all the same. While these programs can be a huge asset in acquiring new customers and boosting...Read More

Founded in 2000 and based in Atlanta, Moe’s Southwest Grill is a fast-casual restaurant franchise that serves high quality and fresh southwestern food. Moe’s loyalty program, Rockin’ Rewards, has more than 1 million members and last year the company launched its loyalty app...Read More

We continue to witness a proliferation of new and renovated Loyalty Programs entering the marketplace. Brands are seeking expeditious ways to secure confidence that these are the right types of Programs that will ignite greater Customer engagement given the significant investments behind these...Read More

Advanced analytics techniques are enhancing loyalty program investment cases and helping to more consistently blend financial and marketing objectives. Most customers love being rewarded for brand loyalty, and businesses love loyal customers. It’s a simple formula that has seen loyalty...Read More

In the subscription world securing customer renewals is our bread and butter. 80% of customer lifetime value comes through renewals. We always hope that renewals will happen as a matter of course, but sometimes they need a little gentle shove to get over the finish line. Assuming our...Read More

Ask a sales or marketing manager to name the one tool they’re unable to live without and they will almost unanimously tell you a quality, customized CRM. Ask them which tool causes them the most grief and there’s a good chance you’ll get the same answer.A CRM is the backbone of...Read More

Competition among loyalty marketers and their respective loyalty programs is fierce in the U.S. and so too in Australia. Just ask Blair Keenan, loyalty country lead at Mastercard Australia and New Zealand. “Australia is a very mature loyalty market,” Keenan explained to Loyalty360. ...Read More

Founded in San Antonio, Texas, in 1952 by George W. Church, Church’s Chicken is one of the largest quick service restaurant chicken chains in the world. Church’s Chicken CEO Joe Christina talked to Loyalty360 about the company’s views on building brand loyalty through giving...Read More

With more than 2.2 million apps in the Apple App Store and 2.8 million apps in the Google Play store, competing for mindshare can be a nightmare for publishers hoping to monetize their apps.   On top of that, Verto Analytics’ data shows that fewer than 2 percent of all mobile...Read More

Most companies look at their bottom line in some way every single day. Whether it’s the sales manager reviewing monthly goals or the finance director pondering ways to trim overhead costs, being able to provide an ROI is invaluable to a company. Once considered a “sunk” cost...Read More

Loyalty is the watchword for brands: how to build it, how to sustain it, how to monetize it. We all know the value of loyal customers, and companies now spend billions each year incentivizing them to stick around -- 90% through some form of a loyalty program.[1] Some of these programs have seen...Read More

Multiple studies have indicated that Millennials are more brand loyal than any other age group. By contrast, Generation Z are widely perceived to lack brand loyalty. CrowdTwist surveyed what brand loyalty means to each group to gain deeper insight into what makes each generation spend and engage...Read More

While celebrity meet-ups and amazing freebies garner buzz, it’s a balanced approach, pairing both emotional and rational benefits, that wins long-term customer loyalty.   Emotional brand stories get a lot of play these days — in articles, social media posts and more. After all,...Read More

Have you recently evaluated your customer retention rate? Did you know that it costs 500% more to acquire new customers than it does to keep current ones? If you’re focusing your efforts on retention, you’re on the right track with more marketing dollars in your wallet. – 82% of...Read More

Your customers are the backbone of your business. Keeping them happy provides your business with a regular stream of revenue. Even a 5% increase in customer retention can produce more than a 25% increase in profit. Also, repeat clients can boost the word of mouth marketing, spreading the word...Read More

Being a sports fan is emotional. As the team goes, so goes its fans. Fans want to know all about the players and everything that’s happening and receive updates as they happen, so they can feel as close to the team as possible. A top priority for sports organizations is expanding their fan...Read More

A customer obsessed culture is the core ingredient to CX success – but cultural change can be a daunting and difficult journey. You know you’re on the right cutstomer centric path when your organization has developed:A brand aligned CX strategy that delivers on your brand promise.Is...Read More

Smart incentives are never one-size-fits-all. Align your rewards with what survey participants want, and you’ll attract the best respondents. As a market researcher, you know incentives boost response rates. Yet you can’t just blindly hand out rewards — it takes consideration...Read More

Loyalty[1]: faithful adherence; faithfulness to commitments or obligations As a business owner, manager, or marketer, you want your customers to be loyal: to choose you over a competitor, and to return time and time again. Read through the definition of loyalty again and let it sink in. And...Read More

Loyalty Programs are critical to fostering effective Customer Engagement strategies for brands. They enable Customer acquisition, onboarding, engagement, retention, and even win back a brand’s Customers. Many strategic brand marketers have made their Loyalty Programs a key business...Read More

It’s almost the end of the year — so what’s the best kind of gift to give your employees? Here are some pointers. Most employees look forward to a bonus or some display of appreciation around the holidays, and there’s a number of ways that employers can approach this end...Read More

When you consider the current state of customer engagement and loyalty and where it’s headed, it appears that retaining customers is only going to become more difficult. Why? For one thing, instant access to more information means that consumers have more choices than ever.  R.I.P...Read More

Marketing professionals have long known the power of video to capture an audience. With recent advances in technology, loyalty marketers are quickly adapting their video strategies to boost engagement through interactivity.In this session, interactive video expert Kyle Morton will highlight...Read More

Well, here’s the obvious answer: it depends.   Over the past 24 years, The Lacek Group (TLG) has designed, built, and managed dozens of loyalty programs for airlines, cruise lines, car rental companies, automobile companies, hotels, banks, credit cards, wireless companies, retail...Read More

Choosing the right gift card is just the beginning. We all know a successful rewards program engages and retains customers while driving sales — that’s a given. And with over 75% of millennial consumers participating in loyalty and reward programs, they do a lot of heavy-lifting. But...Read More

Peter Lim, CTO and co-founder of Stellar Loyalty, talks about how drive loyalty and enhance the customer experience for brands in the restaurant and hospitality space.  Read More

In the last few decades, especially the last 15 years, incredible advances in computer and networking technology have provided easy access to an exponentially increasing amount of information to billions of consumers at relatively little cost. Through mobile, digital, and social channels...Read More

There’s often a lot of focus on Customer Experience (CX) in industries like retail, banking and hospitality. This means lots of talk about the experience in store or similar, and in dealing with potentially millions of pieces of feedback from different individuals. However, CX in a business...Read More

What happens when Danny Ocean teams up with Rusty, Linus, Frank and six other criminal geniuses to rob a casino (or three)? As each player brings a key skill to the table, the dynamic network of individuals tackle a common goal and pocket $160 million. In the world of agency ecospheres, huge...Read More

Loyalty initiatives have been traditionally considered a better fit in the B2C rather than B2B space. With long, complex sales cycles and buyers that aren’t as responsive to discounts and coupons, many B2B marketers have rejected the concept of loyalty programs. However, due to increased...Read More

Customers today take a vastly different journey in their product purchases than in past years. As more than 70% of the decision-making process is often completed online before a buyer even contacts a sales person, power has shifted to the consumer. As a result, firms struggle to adopt techniques...Read More

HelloWorld works with top consumer brands on structured loyalty programs, as well as those that want to encourage loyalty as an outcome, but do not have a formal program. In an era where loyalty has moved past a traditional points-based approach, read on as our experts discuss the latest trends...Read More

Consumers today have endless choices in the brands they choose to buy from, the channels they engage in and the loyalty programs they are a part of. Customers now expect more than just value, convenience and simplicity from their preferred loyalty programs and brands must do more to set...Read More

State lotteries are a huge business. In 2015, U.S. lottery sales totaled $73.8 billion (USD). Canadian sales reached $9.1 billion (CAD). Considering there are only 52 total lotteries in North America, that is impressive revenue generation by a select group.    Yet lotteries face...Read More

Holiday is a period of disruption.  Every brand holds their cards close to their chests until the last moment, hoping to seize market share from competitors.  And the more dire their financial situations, the more likely they are to take risks and disrupt the status quo.  While...Read More

In this time of heightened consumer expectations, loyalty marketers are always cognizant of changing customer behavior. Adapting to those changes effectively and seamlessly is an ongoing and arduous challenge. Loyalty360 talked to Nutrisystem CMO Keira Krausz about this crucial point.There is a...Read More

With the rapid use of mobile devices, brands have been utilizing different communication techniques to reach their customers. Within the past decade, apps have been developed by brands to increase customer interactions, but a few of their efforts may not be paying off. Consumers have been losing...Read More

In my last article, I discussed what’s trending in loyalty with a focus on the importance of being able to identify and recognize your brands most loyal customers regardless of the channel they choose in which to engage. A key component of building and sustaining customer relationships for...Read More

Every touch point is an opportunity to engage customers. Maria Winans is CMO for IBM Watson Customer Engagement. She is responsible for managing all aspects of global marketing, strategy, and execution for solutions that enable business leaders in Marketing, Commerce, and Supply Chain...Read More

It can be argued that nearly every company today is a customer service company. Whether you are selling a product or service, something that costs $5,000 or $5, your company will succeed or fail based on customer loyalty. Yet, in the face of emerging technologies and shifting customer...Read More

Since Choice Hotels relaunched its Choice Privileges loyalty program in early 2016, officials have focused on spreading the word on their new benefits, coupled with timely promotions. One such promotion, which started Aug. 31 and continues through Nov. 11, allows loyalty program members to earn...Read More

I don’t know how your marketing meetings go, but in my line of work I spend time with clients discussing results. The meetings go something like this:  Finance: How did the last email campaign work out?  Marketing: We had 500,000 impressions and a click thru rate of 1...Read More

Retail establishments routinely fight to win over the best customers. Those with expendable funds and/or a willingness to use credit to buy products from them. While its challenging, those that build the right customer experience have found loyalty in a very price conscious market. Companies like...Read More

AdRoll is a leading performance marketing platform with more than 35,000 clients worldwide. Its suite of high-performance tools works across devices, helping businesses attract, convert, and grow their customers. The company is home to the world’s largest opt-in advertiser data co-op, the...Read More

Since the early days of marketing, marketers have struggled with determining the optimum amount of customer contact. Too much and you risk oversaturating your customers and degrading brand equity. Too little and you risk under serving their needs or leaving money on the table.   At its...Read More

CodeBroker recently conducted an online survey to study how consumers feel about their existing retail loyalty programs. Data was showing a downswing in usage, and we wanted to learn why consumers were feeling frustrated. For the survey we only stipulated that participants be at least 18 years of...Read More

Business leaders across Marketing, Operations and IT agree on the need to collect, store, and connect customer data – from transactional data to survey feedback and social data. They are sold on the idea that this will enable great customer experiences, drive digital engagement, and lead to...Read More

It’s taken a while, but over the last few years, customer experience has hit the mainstream – and for good reason. Furthermore, organizations have realized the value a Voice of the Customer (VoC) program plays in delivering insights into the customer experience so more structured...Read More

When executed correctly, restaurant loyalty reward programs have been proven to increase average tickets sales, dining room traffic and repeat visits. The art of racking up points to claim future savings has become a comfortable formality for customers, and most are willing to join a loyalty...Read More

If personal data is the “new oil” of tomorrow, it needs to be treated as such. We should start viewing it as a precious resource and develop a new way to incentivize and reward individuals for contributing to the data economy.Viewing personal data through a larger lens Recently, John...Read More

(The following story is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent ... and prevent the guilty from suing.)Meet Mark, the friendly customer service representative at a car dealership that shall remain nameless. Needless to say, it’s one of the top five “luxury&rdquo...Read More

Scott Ankers, Director of Strategy and Customer Lifecycle Marketing at CrowdTwist, discusses the biggest challenges when trying to drive memorable experiences to create customer loyalty, the customer experience sophistication level of most brands today, and more.CrowdTwist is a multichannel...Read More

Everyone from the United Nations to Twitter uses it to get their ideas across, so you know it has to be good. The term Whiteboard Video describes the recording of any creative story being drawn on a whiteboard. This unique medium has been scientifically proven to communicate ideas and messages in...Read More

As much as I hate to admit it, my phone is an extension of myself.  It's on me at all times, and gets juggled around while I do my daily activities - commuting, relaxing, working out and of course shopping.  I'm not the only one either. According to research, Roughly 90% of...Read More

Rukstales, President and CEO of Cogensia, talks about how companies should think about customer loyalty today, how technology such as AI and machine learning will impact marketers’ ability to grow customer loyalty, and more.Cogensia is the premier provider of breakthrough data-driven...Read More

“The customer is always right” may have been superseded as a mantra for many companies, but virtually every business has a 21st century equivalent in its mission statement somewhere. “We put the customer at the heart of our business,” “Customers First,&rdquo...Read More

How would your customer satisfaction scores increase if you could effectively help customers immediately, regardless of the number of inquiries?  Is this a pipe dream, the promise of bots powered by artificial intelligence or within your reach today? This is possible today. What if you...Read More

As competition for customer share of wallet continues to increase, having an accurate and complete view of customer information is critical to effective implementation of customer loyalty programs.  Retailers with multiple channels are often at a disadvantage to their online competitors due...Read More

Fast-changing media, ecommerce and constantly-connected consumers are among the reasons that building and keeping customer loyalty is one of the major challenges marketers are currently facing. New research confirmed that loyalty points can be leveraged as highly effective tools to engage...Read More

Customer analytics is rapidly evolving. Additional challenges and issues arise in this space with every new analytics tool, coupled with the incredible increase of customer information. By now, almost everyone in the loyalty industry agrees that customer analytics is not only a good thing but...Read More

Technology is transforming nearly every industry to varying degrees, but the entertainment space has undoubtedly shifted in very dramatic ways. As the digital innovation trail blazes its way across the Internet and into consumers’ homes via numerous channels, we see the advent of many new...Read More

Can thoughtfulness drive customer loyalty and be a competitive advantage? A fast-growing number of Fortune 1000 companies who partner with a company called Bond seem to think so.  Bond combines tradition with technology, making it easy for businesses to send beautiful, thoughtfully crafted,...Read More

Kyle Morton, Chief Product Officer and Founder of HapYak interactive video, discusses how to drive measurable customer experiences, the biggest opportunities and challenges for brands and marketers today, and more. HapYak Interactive Video helps brands discover the power and customer engagement...Read More

“Focus on your best customers.” “Go after the big fish.” “Drive greater customer profitability.”You have probably said some version of these statements to your team or have been given such mandates by your boss. And at first glance, they are all straightforward...Read More

Most companies recognize the importance of great customer service and the importance of rewarding employees for great performance. Put these two things together, and it makes sense for companies to tie the size of their employees’ paychecks to the ratings they receive on customer...Read More

What would you expect from a customer who has 2,000 followers on Instagram or more than 50,000 views on YouTube? Is she someone you would expect to be a loyal customer? If your answer is yes, think again. On a macro-level, social media has given rise to the customer as a brand, whereas we are...Read More

Growing and maintaining a successful loyalty program requires a strategic acquisition and retention framework that brings in quality members and keeps them actively engaged over time. Many loyalty marketers focus their valuable time and money on acquisition. Get new members. Drive signups. Push...Read More

Lior Arussy, President and CEO of the Strativity Group, a customer experience and culture design transformation firm working with brands and companies around the world, talks about new media, innovative social media strategies, and more.    Read More

Exceptional employee performances deliver exceptional customer experiences – which in turn drive exceptional financial results. How confident are you that all your Promoters are actually engaged employees? We all know co-workers who are well paid,  love working for the company, and are...Read More

Not long ago, most marketing efforts were confined to a relatively small quadrant of people’s lives. Mass media, marketing, and advertising freely span television and radio broadcasts as well as other forms of omnipresent marketing such as billboards, newspaper ads, and sponsorships. But...Read More

As competition for customer share of wallet continues to increase, having an accurate and complete view of customer information is critical to effective implementation of customer loyalty programs.  Retailers with multiple channels are often at a disadvantage to their online competitors due...Read More

How great UX engenders brand loyaltyI’ve been working on a deck for my executive team that talks about user experience. In it, I discuss what it actually means to work as a User Experience professional as well as the difference between design and UX – because lately those terms...Read More

The summer season might be wrapping up, but the effects of the season will last a lifetime for many travel enthusiasts.  Summer is a time when many families take vacation, and for travel warriors, this means vacationing using hard-earned rewards from business travel.  Other vacationers...Read More

Increased understanding of customer policies, enhancing customer satisfaction and boosting retention, through interactive, personalized video – online and in real timeProviding more personalized service in a digital world  Facing the constant challenges of customer retention and...Read More

“The customer is always right” may have been superseded as a mantra for many companies, but virtually every business has a 21st century equivalent in its mission statement somewhere. “We put the customer at the heart of our business,” “Customers First,” &ldquo...Read More

Eighty-one percent of consumers admit it is frustrating to deal with a company that does not make it easy to do business with them. In other words, when building and maintaining customer loyalty, make things as easy as possible for consumers to engage with your brand and business. In a digitally...Read More

Competition is heating up among consumer-facing companies, and loyalty tactics are increasing across the board. In fact, a recent report from Kitewheel found that 82.5 percent of all interactions on our platform were loyalty-based in 2016. There’s one technology offering that has emerged to...Read More

As marketers, we understand how important the key elements of loyalty programs like personalization and real time are to delivering the best possible customer experience. Creating an environment that allows you to deliver on these preferred experiences is essential. The Cloud has become a...Read More

  Today’s consumers are savvy and very clued-in. They are looking for good service, relevance, and a quality product- ultimately leading to an exceptional retail experience – without these, they will move on and shop elsewhere. In the current retail environment, these are...Read More

Nearly every marketer and loyalty program manager today can recite industry mantras about the value of omnichannel interactions and the importance of rich, relationship-building customer experiences. But in the 20 years of designing, building, and supporting loyalty programs–and operating...Read More

There are many challenges swirling around a company’s bid to create measurable experiences to drive customer loyalty. Loyalty360 talked to Bruce Pollock, Vice President of Strategic Growth and Planning at West, to find out more about his company’s views on the customer experience...Read More

For businesses, the biggest digital hurdle in 2017 is closing the customer experience (CX) gap. Recent Capgemini data reveals that 75 percent of businesses believe they are customer-centric–but with only 30 percent of consumers agreeing with this statement, there is a clear disconnect...Read More

(The following story is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent ... and prevent the guilty from suing.)Meet Mark, the friendly customer service representative at a car dealership that shall remain nameless. Needless to say, it’s one of the top five “luxury&rdquo...Read More

Now in its seventh year, the Loyalty Report 2017 reveals that consumers have reached their Program engagement threshold despite an upward trend in new Program memberships. Our research finds that new Program enrollment has grown by 31% in the past four years to 14.3 programs per member;...Read More

The CPG personal care industry saw a dramatic year in 2016, with more disruption on the horizon. Fueling this movement is the increasing influence of multicultural populations, all-natural products, and direct-to-consumer online distribution models:The U.S. personal care product industry boasts a...Read More

New market forces and rapidly evolving customer habits are leading many brands to rethink their marketing strategies. The primary reason for this shift is because many traditional tactics are no longer relevant. Since advanced digital and social technologies have empowered customers with a near...Read More

“Effective immediately, we are placing the customer experience strategy on pause,” was the simple and unexpected message from the CEO’s office. We were already on the road rolling out an approved strategy, and the early signs demonstrated that employees were embracing the new...Read More

If you go on a first date but aren’t able to establish a connection, it’s usually no big deal. After all, there are plenty of other fish in the sea! But when you operate a restaurant and you’re not compatible with your guests, that’s a different story. Those are the fish...Read More

Now, more than ever, businesses have no shortage of tools for interacting with customers and collecting data on their wants, needs and behaviors. Analyzing and using this data to improve customer engagement should be easy. But the customer engagement game is about quality, not quantity, and to...Read More

As someone who once planned to build a career focused on lotions, potions and color, then discovered her career in technology, I find myself particularly intrigued when the cosmetic world incorporates tech into their customer experience – especially when it’s in the form of augmented...Read More

People think of personalization in many ways. Some, very simplistically: a first name on an email. Others, view it as much more: providing personalized experiences based on a holistic view of the customer. As companies continue to gather more data across more touchpoints, customers...Read More

There are many different types of reward programs which make it challenging to choose which one is best suited for your brand. Ultimately, there are four considerations to always keep in mind when designing a program.1. Design for “Silver” customers. These are your 50th to 80th...Read More

Loyalty rewards programs are no longer just a novelty, but essential business best practices. Almost every brand or business wants to offer some sort of compensation plan in hopes of achieving genuine and lasting devotion from consumers. According to recent statistics from Colloquy, 76% of...Read More

It now seems odd to think that, not long ago the term “customer-centricity” barely existed in the marketing lexicon. The customers themselves, of course, were always significant, but typically only as ends to a means. As long as these consumers were purchasing products and services...Read More

This is the second in our series on Emotion Design in CX, look for the next two blogs coming this week. Check out our first blog here.Designing for Emotion is the process of driving emotional connection within your customer experience. The process involves understanding the emotions associated...Read More

It’s become almost clichéd to say, but the fact of the matter is that customers today are absolutely addicted to the personal, mobile screens they carry around with them. Whether it’s smartphones, tablets or e-readers, today’s consumers are more absorbed in mobile devices than...Read More

Definitions are never static concepts; they are fluid and dynamic and definitions will change based on a variety of subjective vantage points, particular perspectives, and prevailing ideologies. Even though definitions evolve, we can still understand a contemporary context by engaging those who...Read More

Marketers can use big data and analytics to help predict customer behavior, determine ROI of marketing efforts and help businesses make the best possible decisions across many different business functions.  For more information, view the full infographic from Villanova Business School...Read More

Today, the American fan has many sports from which to choose and often multiple teams in that sport nearby, sometimes in the same city. Hundreds of professional and college teams in a dozen sports in North America vie for fan loyalties in every local market and region, especially in cities like...Read More

Yes, gift certificates still exist. Last year, I purchased one as a Christmas gift for my dad. Granted, it was from an independent establishment in the United States, but paper certificates are still floating around. If your business still utilizes paper certificates, it’s definitely time...Read More

According to recent research, companies are already competing solely on customer experience.  Consumer expectations set the bar for customer experiences which directly impact brand loyalty. Therefore, understanding what your customers want is critical for creating meaningful brand...Read More

The most intimate form of marketing is loyalty marketing. Why? Because it’s all about engaging with your best customers, who’ve given you their personal information with the expectation that you’re going to recognize them for their patronage. Much as is the case when creating...Read More

Customer churn will erode a customer base and diminish profits.  Companies routinely take steps to understand and combat customer defection to minimize its effect, but do companies accurately value the impact of a retained customer for the business?     Customer retention...Read More

The back-to-school shopping season has been an extremely important business period for decades in the US. Can you even remember a time when the anticipation of heading back into the classroom didn’t get people hustling for supplies or books, or simply using the whole experience as a...Read More

No two CX initiatives are the same. Some might focus on a single process or an isolated opportunity; others might involve an entire organization. Some come about as a result of a pressing issue, need, or opportunity, while others are part of company’s evolution and growth. One...Read More

Merrill Lynch uses machine learning to automate investors’ portfolios, Facebook employs it to curate newsfeed content, and Google’s self-driving cars rely on it to navigate the roads.  Thanks to machine learning’s ability to analyze data with greater speed and more accuracy...Read More

Customer Journey Mapping is a well-documented practice that helps organizations understand and guide improvements in the customer experience (CX). When done effectively, it uncovers valuable insight into CX issues and opportunities, and it aligns stakeholders around a common vision. But the...Read More

“With the continued cross-device behavior from email subscribers, more than ever marketers need to leverage data to reach consumers on their preferred device, with precise timing and a creative message that is optimized for the channel they are interacting in at the time,” shared Judy...Read More

According to recent research[1], companies are already competing solely on customer experience.  Consumer expectations set the bar for customer experiences which directly impact brand loyalty. Therefore, understanding what your customers want is critical for creating meaningful brand...Read More

As any marketer or customer service professional can tell you, the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has had an enormous impact on their work. That’s because it requires them to obtain “prior express written consent” to call or text consumer cell phones with...Read More

The most intimate form of marketing is loyalty marketing. Why? Because it’s all about engaging with your best customers, who’ve given you their personal information with the expectation that you’re going to recognize them for their patronage. Much as is the case when creating...Read More

Have you ever received a recall notification for an automobile you no longer own?  It might sound familiar. According to a J.D. Power analysis, recall completion rates lag behind the industry requirement – the total recall completion rate is only at 49%. Vehicle manufacturers are held...Read More

The goals of digital transformation (DX) of customer engagement—the hyper-personalization, relevancy, real-time feedback and on-the-fly agility—none of that is possible without access to relevant data available at the right time. But for many organizations, dealing with data...Read More

Your goals are straightforward: Motivate your customers to shop with you more often, entice them to spend more money every time they do, and increase the profits they generate. Unfortunately, you are competing with clutter that increases exponentially every day. And because loyalty programs are...Read More

I make a purchase, I get a text. I browse a website, I get an email. The world is moving in real-time so my loyalty program should be responding in real-time as well, right?     Great question.    When we talk to client about real-time. We also talk about the right...Read More

The lack of metrics, as well as the absence of meaningful benchmarks within organizations around customer experience and loyalty, is something that is of concern to many of the brands we speak to at Loyalty360. This lack of metrics presents a challenge as to how customer loyalty and customer...Read More

It’s always good to hear about the other stories from other companies out there in the world of customer engagement and customer experience. It’s a great reminder of the hard work and enthusiasm there is out there. At the same time, the range of ideas being employed shows a genuine...Read More

Technology changes have resulted in vendors offering new, advanced solutions and services across a wide range of categories. Revenues have shifted from hardware and software to applications, and from transactional to recurring revenue business models. In addition, end user B2B customers&rsquo...Read More

Communities are formed organically and often. On average, a new community is created on reddit every 2.4 minutes and 1 billion people are participating in Facebook groups every month. While each community wants to thrive and stay active for long periods of time, some lead to predictable ghost...Read More

Looking to buy shoes online? Need to upgrade your phone? In the market for a ridesharing app? Today’s customers can buy any one product or service from at least a half-dozen different vendors. So, how does any one company stand out? To answer that, it’s important to understand that...Read More

Marcus Theatres is a staple in the North American cinemascape - which doesn’t come as a surprise given the company’s focus on excellence and “Making ordinary days extraordinary” mantra. Since coming onto the scene in 1935, it has dominated a number of US states and now...Read More

Merchants are always looking for innovative ways to promote new sales. Historically, they’ve come up with a variety of ways to attract business, from hiring someone to stand outside their store with a big sign to promotional emails and newsletters to customized apps with push notifications....Read More

In a retail environment, mobile is no longer thought of for just browsing and shopping. Mobile is now a must have, key component to any omni channel strategy. Mobile is also increasingly playing a larger role for loyalty programs. This approach is a good decision for retailers, particularly...Read More

There are countless connection points that bind the experience of a company’s customers to that of its employees. How do you leverage that connection to better support your CX strategy? Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you get started on building a cohesive customer-employee ecosystem...Read More

OK. You know, I know it: we don’t do enough to engage our employees. Truth is, companies—especially new ones—often dash aside employee engagement in favor of concentrating fully on their customers. Big mistake! If your workers don’t feel like a valued part of the team...Read More

Customer-obsessed companies leveraging social media to engage and spread their marketing communications face an interesting challenge as consumers use these same channels for their own direct inquiries. In most companies, marketers are tasked with outbound messages to increase awareness and...Read More

Advanced analytics techniques are enhancing loyalty program investment cases and helping to more consistently blend financial and marketing objectives. Most customers love being rewarded for brand loyalty, and businesses love loyal customers. It’s a simple formula that has seen loyalty...Read More

Mobile Loyalty in the Here and Now In a retail environment, mobile is no longer thought of for just browsing and shopping. Mobile is now a must have, key component to any omni channel strategy. Mobile is also increasingly playing a larger role for loyalty programs. This approach is a good...Read More

The flood of diverse content today−coming from both traditional and emerging sources−should be a benefit to those involved in developing and delivering marketing campaigns. While it’s true that the possibilities may seem endless, the fact is this deluge threatens to overwhelm...Read More

We’ve seen it happen numerous times and even moreso lately in the airline industry. One tweet, post, or video can instantly thrust a brand into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. When a sub-optimal customer experience is delivered, and resulting scandal strikes, the customer reaction...Read More

We live in an on-demand, 24/7 world. Customer service expectations have never been higher. When issues or questions arise, the acceptable speed of response is becoming shorter. Companies slow to answer risk jeopardizing customer loyalty.In a recent study, 53% of customers who posed a question on...Read More

We have a lot of information about our customers from how they interact with us – what they buy, what emails they open, where they go on our website. A lot of brands also have third party data to get more information such as demographics, financials and lifestyles. But why not reach out and...Read More

Brands are transforming their loyalty programs from rewards based to include experiences that increase engagement leading to authentic customer loyalty. As loyalty programs continue to evolve, marketers must be equipped with the fundamental components of data, technology, and internal...Read More

The employee engagement space is changing drastically.   Generational differences, the growing influence of millennials in the workforce, the diminishing unemployment rate, the economic growth rate—all of these are contributing to the changing demands of employee engagement.   ...Read More

We’ve all been there: Two seasons into a binge watching session and you wonder, “Is the coffee at Central Perk really that good?” Or, “What would it be like to play, ‘Haaave you met Ted?’ with Ted and Barney at McClaren’s?” The establishments in our...Read More

Key Strategies to Promote Your Loyalty Rewards ProgramCustomer loyalty programs are a boon for retailers and ecommerce merchants looking to maximize customer engagement and retention. However, a loyalty rewards program is only as good as the number of customers who’re actively using and...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

After attending an exciting industry event last week, I came back to Minneapolis amazed by the amount of clients and retailers explaining their recent success with direct mail campaigns. Some saw anywhere from 6-10x the ROI in recent months. That’s almost double or triple what they’re...Read More

Loyalty programs are one of the biggest drivers of brand choice, and these days, consumers are evaluating their program experience on elements far beyond just dividends and rewards. Even with companies continuing to invest more in loyalty, and new program enrollment growing by 31% over the last...Read More

In our data-driven world, we have metrics for everything. From the number of steps we should take every day to likes on a social post, it seems easier and easier to quantify and measure success. If you’re a loyalty marketer, measuring the success of your program should be just as seamless...Read More

How will transforming your POS affect your value chain?The humble point-of-sale (POS) device has undergone an evolution. Today, consumers and merchants alike are now looking to in-store technology – including the POS – to simplify and complete the payment experience.However, the...Read More

The holidays are always a great time to give something back to your customers. Independence Day is just around the corner, so here are some ideas on how to engage your customers and encourage some summer time spend!Bonus pointsBonus point promotions are a great way to drive your customers to...Read More

When a company is considering taking their loyalty program global, there are technology considerations to ensure a successful global expansion. The benefits of productization are discussed in this video with Cindy Faust, VP Global Client Development for Aimia. Cindy will share her thoughts on...Read More

The retail industry right now is a volatile environment, and its constant change is posing interesting challenges to those within. Some of the latest trends affecting the state of the industry include online channels, the emergence of small specialized or luxury retailers, and brands forgoing...Read More

The state of loyalty is in constant flux. This has never been more apparent than in 2017, as new trends, strategies, and practices continue to evolve the industry, and marketers are challenged with making their loyalty initiatives stand out from the competition. We understand how difficult it can...Read More

We are commonly asked by clients, new to loyalty, "What technology should we integrate, and how long will it take?" The question has roots in both budgeting (how long = how much) as well as expected timing until the program’s launch. The simple answer comes from looking at the old...Read More

Let me state the obvious: the retail bubble has burst. There’s no other way to say it when retailers are closing stores and filing for bankruptcy at a record pace. But there is life left in retail, as evidenced by retail experimentation from disruptive e-commerce brands like Amazon. As...Read More

A decade of aggressive mass promotions is contributing to lower customer engagement rates, reducing ROI to less than 1% and leading to high unsubscribe rates. It is time to make the change towards optimizing promotional strategies with better customer insights. Join Forrester’s Senior...Read More

How can QSRs benefit your business?Waiting in line for what was meant to be fast food can take the edge off a tasty meal. But quick service restaurants (QSRs) are complicated operations: real-time manufacturers serving hundreds, if not thousands, of hungry customers every day. And the QSR sector...Read More

Recently in Business Insider, Hayley Peterson argued that Tinder’s affect on culture is now affecting retail, as a generation of consumers accustomed to swiping for a more relevant romantic match are taking the same philosophy to the way they shop. More than half of U.S....Read More

CodeBroker recently surveyed 1,207 US shoppers on a wide range of loyalty program topics, from loyalty program usage, to top pain points, to changes consumers would like to see to make it easier to engage.Decline in Loyalty Program Usage Loyalty programs are not performing as well as they did...Read More

Gaining new customers as quickly and efficiently as possible is the best strategy for sales growth. Or so was once the prevalent thought.   Today’s marketing experts are quickly learning that retention is the best way to make the most impact on sales. Recently, Harvard Business...Read More

Month after month, Jacob and Emma, a couple in their early thirties, are racking up loyalty points based on their purchases at the nearby home improvement store where they often shop. A recent email from the retailer urged them to check out the great rewards they can claim using the 2,600 points...Read More

I can’t click around on my iPhone for 10 minutes without landing on an article about generations and advertising. It’s an obsession with marketers these days: What makes baby boomers, gen-Xers, millennials, and post-millennials—plus the babies born yesterday—tick? What...Read More

We’ve heard the chatter for a couple of years now, brands are shifting their loyalty reward programs from only transactional rewards (points) to also offering experiences. In my colleague’s recent article Taking loyalty way beyond transactions, he discusses how creating authentic...Read More

Finding innovative ways to exceed customer expectations is no easy task. But, it’s a vital component in determining your business’ success. In fact, Gartner Inc. states that if you meet or exceed expectations of your customers, you’ll increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and...Read More

B2B loyalty has its challenges, fragmented, intricate channel landscape, concentration of buyers within one distribution channel, business relations that are influenced by various sometimes not-so-obvious stakeholders. It all constitutes an environment in which managing relationships and...Read More

We all want to be leaders of our industry. Thing is, you can have the best product or service in the universe, but if customers have a bad time interacting with your brand, then you’re staying firmly planted in the dust.   It makes sense then that the single-most important factor...Read More

In the latest Loyalty360 case study podcast, Samsung harnesses the power of Big Data to engage customers across multiple channels, allowing them to interact with the brand however--and whenever--is most convenient for them.  Read More

Everybody loves a reward - especially if it’s something you really want! Delivering personalized rewards that your loyalty members will actually use doesn’t have to be mind-boggling, and ‘loyalty codes’ in Movio Cinema, or ‘recognitions’ in Vista’s...Read More

Loyalty programs are evolving to meet the growing expectations of consumers. Customers expect to be rewarded for spending their money with a brand no matter how or where they make the purchase. They also expect that the brand will customize and personalize promotions so that they are hit with...Read More

Chase’s Sapphire Reserve card with its too-good-to-be-true sign-up bonus—100,000 points—now has a cult-like following. But beyond the physical rewards, what is making people flock like moths to a flame? Despite its high $450 annual fee, consumers seem eager to evangelize this...Read More

New wearable technology represents the POS frontlineWhat do you think? Will the increase in popularity for mobile payments help drive adoption of wearables by shoppers?You’re probably accustomed to wearable devices that keep tabs on steps climbed, or emails and messages received. In the...Read More

If your company is working toward personalization, you're on the right track. But if you're overwhelmed at the possibilities, remember that all you're trying to do is be human: Listen to your customers, remember what they say, and respond to them. Personalization is immensely valuable...Read More

Over the past few years, I’ve witnessed the cinema industry starting to take a leap forward when it comes to big data. Discussions have evolved from initially questioning the need for data, to how and what data to capture, to now being more focused on actually putting data into practice...Read More

Prior to launching a loyalty program, developing a data collection structure will be imperative to the success of the loyalty program. By leveraging best practices for data collection, your structure will allow for accurate data capture which will result in an increased return on investment...Read More

Once you define your customer experience strategy and begin the journey down it, you'll likely find a tipping point where people, data, technology and processes start to sync, and the benefits of the hard work become clear for employees and the customers who are the true beneficiaries of a...Read More

Saying goodbye is never easy. It can be difficult and complicated, but when it comes to your email program it may be a necessary task. What makes it so difficult for marketers to say farewell? Largely it is tied to the fact that they still want to try to engage and the customer hasn’t...Read More

In the current brand climate focused on revenue growth at all costs, the answer to driving customer loyalty is quite simple: Do what mom taught you.Or in other words: Just do the right thing.Across all industries from retail to airline, and CPG to hospitality, each has fallen a long way away from...Read More

According to Forrester, "webrooming consumers will bring in $1.8 Trillion in sales in 2017." Marketers need to understand this new type of shopper. If you are not adjusting your strategies to keep pace with this new reality, you could be setting your brand up for missed opportunities...Read More

Providing the type of customer experience needed to incite engagement and, ultimately, win brand loyalty is a complex undertaking. Multiple factors must be considered at numerous points along the entire customer journey. Today, brands hear so much about the need to create personalized, relevant...Read More

As a vendor, you understand the importance of recognizing your top channel sales performers, but to say this is the only solution to generating results leaves 75 percent of your partner’s sales organization disengaged. Driving overall performance comes when you develop an incentive program...Read More

With over 2.5 billion smartphones on earth and the average U.S. adult spending more than three hours per day on a mobile device, the need for a mobile first strategy is clear. However, it’s not always clear what that strategy should entail.Some say that a mobile first...Read More

The retail bubble is finally bursting.For too long, retailers have remained bloated in store footprints and overconfident in mindset. Store experiences refused innovation for decades, while merchants ripped every dollar they could out of product. Yet somehow, we found a way to pack more product...Read More

In the competitive world of retail, traditional brick-and-mortar stores are seeking new ways to connect with customers digitally. Building loyalty with customers comes down to being relevant to shoppers, whenever and however they choose to interact with a retailer—in-store, online, email...Read More

The newly released GRIT CPR (Consumer Participation in Research) study showed that the majority of the people who have willingly given up their time, often for little or no reward, are dissatisfied with the their experience participating in research. As an industry we need to collectively...Read More

Messaging apps have quickly evolved from a vehicle for chatting with friends and family to a channel for commerce. While these apps have been popular for giving people ability to share GIFs, messages and photos with their close circles, they have expanded into a valuable channel for brands and...Read More

Flexible payment mechanisms as a central pillar of modern retailing.The term omnichannel may be overused and overhyped, but few would deny that a coherent omnichannel strategy is a fundamental business aim for forward-thinking merchants. Today’s customers are looking for seamless shopping...Read More

Customer experience is becoming a CMO responsibility, and the top marketing channels are those that lend themselves to personalizing that experience through effective use of data analytics and insights. In fact, customers have increasingly high expectations of brands regarding the value they are...Read More

Online grocery efforts need to have a plan to deliver emotion as wellIn an already challenging industry, online grocery shopping could diminish a grocer’s by eliminating the biggest competitive advantage they have.Removing the personal interaction from a trip to the grocery store will...Read More

GameStop has built a devout and loyal following over the years, which can be attributed to many reasons, not the least of which is a memorable customer experience that resonates with its core audience. Loyalty360 caught up with Darin Smith, senior director of Powerup Rewards at GameStop, to talk...Read More

Loyalty is continuing to emerge as a critical differentiator for brands as each customer interaction deepens the relationship and drives loyalty with the brand. For digital marketers, this means understanding the role of email within this loyalty landscape and how creative and messaging can...Read More

In the post digital age, consumers are in the driver’s seat and your incentives have to flex in the direction of their demands.   Not too long ago, brands disrupted consumer entertainment to promote their products and services. Mass media, retail promotion, direct response, and the...Read More

If you’re planning an update to your digital customer engagement platform, it’s important to cover the technical aspects related to the platform, like data security and systems integration. However, taking an “if you build it, they will come” attitude is a surefire way to...Read More

It’s time to shatter any lingering stereotypes. Without a doubt, midlife and older moviegoers, particularly those age 50-plus, are a powerful force at the box office. They bolster blockbusters, drive dramas, and create lucrative new niches that don’t rely on major budgets and...Read More

Trust is a fundamental and emotional attribute that consumers look for when selecting an insurance provider. For insurance marketers, fulfilling the expectation of trust is an integral part of setting the foundation for building the customer relationship.  The insurance landscape is growing...Read More

As a vendor, you understand the importance of recognizing your top channel sales performers, but to say this is the only solution to generating results leaves 75 percent of your partner’s sales organization disengaged. Driving overall performance comes when you develop an incentive program...Read More

Loyalty programs will help get people to like your company, but they won’t make people fall in love with it. What’s the difference? Well, when you like a flower, you pluck it out from the ground, right? When you REALLY like a flower, you water it every day. But when you LOVE a...Read More

Many of today’s loyalty programs focus on acquisition--getting as many members to sign up as quickly as possible--but don’t seem to take into consideration how to keep members engaged once that oh-so-brief honeymoon phase is over. In order to retain customers, it’s crucial that...Read More

When designing a loyalty program, it is important to consider your organizations long-term growth plan. Considering long-term growth by incorporating a holistic vision for your business and for your loyalty program, allows you to go beyond the day to day to capitalize on scaling your investment...Read More

Next generation of event app debuts at Loyalty Expo 2017; Stellar Loyalty CMO Narina Sippy to moderate panel on Customer Loyalty in Travel & EntertainmentFOSTER CITY, CA – April 28, 2017 – Stellar Loyalty, Inc., the consumer relationship company with a mobile-best SaaS loyalty...Read More

Many organizations compile customer data and establish key performance indicators (KPIs), but there is immense value in going beyond the high-level numbers. As Director of Insights and Analytics, Jonathan Adler helps global brands understand what is required to become data-driven...Read More

To ensure the value proposition of your loyalty program is relevant, compelling and effective, it’s important to maintain an eye on trends in the loyalty marketing space. At Movio, we are always exploring fresh ways in which to connect and engage with your loyalty members, and staying ahead...Read More

Every day there’s another discussion on retail, store closings, and many articles pointing the finger at Amazon. Aside from Williams-Sonoma, most retailers haven’t seen a significant shift to online sales. There are many retailers that are growing and they’re seeing increased...Read More

The information age and the internet changed everything. Knowledge is power and consumers are more informed today than ever before.  The internet has allowed consumers to bypass the gatekeepers along the information highway and shifted the power of knowledge squarely in the hands of the...Read More

The  power that OTAs have in the market is growing. Consumers increasingly look towards the largest  OTAs, often at the expense of the travel suppliers such as airlines and hotel chains. But why do OTAs keep winning? And  more importantly, how can loyalty programs benefit from this...Read More

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is defined as the predicted dollar amount a customer is worth over the course of their relationship with a business, from first through final transaction. To increase CLV, it’s important to focus on achieving larger per-customer spends and increasing the length...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

The importance of data has changed. As the volume, variety and velocity of the data grew over the past few years, the data has been transformed to provide organizations a broader, more granular and more real-time range of customer, product, operational and market interactions. Today, business...Read More

It's no secret, I’m a hotel girl. Having worked in the hospitality industry for over a decade before joining rDialogue, my experience gives me a unique perspective on the industry. Today, the hospitality landscape is evolving from mergers and acquisitions and, as a result, brands are...Read More

From retail to CPG, finance to transportation, maintaining a consistent experience across channels is the key to creating a highly engaging member experience. Your loyalty program is the perfect tool to help bridge the customer experience silos many brands face.   The key to success in...Read More

I recently wrote about the false hopes and hidden costs that marketing automation is bringing to many companies. With the best of intentions, leaders often hope that new technologies and capabilities will pull teams together and these newly empowered marketers will drive breakthrough returns...Read More

If there’s one thing that catches my attention in this content riddled world we live in it’s the statement “brand is dead.” It’s one of those pithy one-liners that common sense mandates you either agree with or disagree with. Words like “dead” have that...Read More

So you’ve heard about the customer experience, and the user experience but what about the Public Relations experience?At Forrester’s Customer Marketing conference held last week in New York, speakers ranging from Casey Carey, director of marketing at Google Analytics to Stephen...Read More

Six ways to bring back the loveRemember when going to the mall meant driving around for an eternity looking for a parking spot? If so, you probably also remember a time when shopping could be a real outing not to mention a dose of retail therapy that fed a hungry era of conspicuous consumption...Read More

Why bother keeping an eye on your current customers if there’s a whole world of potential new customers ripe for the picking, right? Unfortunately for everyone, that seems to be the mentality of quite a few businesses, and it couldn’t be more wrong. While there may be a short...Read More

How a hyper-collaborative approach brings fluid flexibility to product releases“The customer is always right” is a common mantra. But one that often went unconsidered when designing financial products. For decades, product managers wrote lavish business and functional specifications...Read More

Born and raised in Atlanta, I’ve been a home team sports fan my entire life – Braves, Hawks, Falcons, even the new professional soccer team, Atlanta United. This year, our city is getting a state-of-the-art stadium for the Braves in SunTrust Park, an equally innovative new home for...Read More

As any marketer or customer service professional can tell you, the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has had an enormous impact on their work. That’s because it requires them to obtain “prior express written consent” to call or text consumer cell phones with...Read More

You would need to be completely off the grid to be unaware of the rapid evolution of marketing.  While smaller changes have been unfolding over the years, we have recently hit a not-so-subtle tipping point signaling a new era. Marketing, advertising and technology are inextricably linked in...Read More

Simplicity is an ally to progress.  Complexity is an enemy to progress.  Customer centric marketing is a fuzzy concept, but it does not need to be complex.  And, if we are responsible marketers, we are pursuing it on some level.  To do that, the journey starts with two simple...Read More

Customer retention is what your company lives or dies on. Nobody wants to chase new leads without snatching a few golden gooses who lay eggs more than once.   And customer retention is worth it, too. According to the hoity-toity Harvard Business Review, if you can improve customer...Read More

One of the core values at La Quinta Inns & Suites is being “unique” and that plays heavily in the brand’s La Quinta Returns loyalty program. For Dave Sims, vice president of loyalty marketing at La Quinta Inns & Suites, revamping the company’s loyalty program was...Read More

How do you make social media a communication priority in an institution that was founded in 1754?   This is the challenge we faced at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies (SPS), a graduate school within one of the oldest and preeminent universities in the United...Read More

Customer service might mean different things to different brands. But for VIZIO, its commitment to customer service means everything. “We truly believe our customer service program is a key component when it comes to setting VIZIO apart in the Consumer Electronics landscape,&rdquo...Read More

When you’ve done everything you can to compete on price or service, and you’ve lowered your operating costs as much as possible, where else can you gain a competitive advantage?   Through customer loyalty.   But consumers today are capricious and so customer loyalty has...Read More

The faces that customers first see with any brand can be a make or break experience. Kelly Linstroth, director of marketing & fan insights for the reigning World Series Champion Chicago Cubs, talked to Loyalty360 about how employee loyalty and/or engagement ignite customer loyalty. &ldquo...Read More

In this marketing tech in transition series, my team and I highlight four imperatives: Big Data, Cloud, Identity Resolution and Artificial Intelligence and share how applying these imperatives will transform your marketing tech.  To dive deeper into our Big Data journey over the last...Read More

Loyalty is about creating relationships with your best customers and all great relationships are reciprocal. In loyalty, that typically means that if a customer spends a certain amount of money with your brand, you give them a something they want in return; a discount, free item, upgraded status,...Read More

Three Reasons Why CPG Loyalty Will Dominate This YearThe Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry is massive. In the year 2016, the CPG sales revenue has clocked about 769.7 billion US dollars in US alone. The conventional and the traditional methods that long guided the CPG industry are swiftly...Read More

So you've already consulted the matrix and have a more well-rounded idea of what communications your customers are already getting from your company. Now it's time to consider the types of conversations you're having with customers, and the methods by which you determine those...Read More

What if everyone finds out you’re not perfect?What if your customers learn about everything that’s wrong with you and your business? Your every past mistake, every public misstep, every business failure?Will they abandon you?That’s a scary thought. And it’s a...Read More

Picture the scene: you’re trying to share a video with a couple of friends to illustrate a point you’ve been arguing about for the last half hour. As the video loads, an ad pops up at twice the volume of what you’ve been playing before. You groan and turn the volume down, but...Read More

Every company shares a goal of, ultimately, wanting to better engage with customers and improve the overall customer experience. It doesn’t matter how big your organization is, or how famous your brand name may be; every business lives and dies by its ability to engage with customers. And...Read More

Despite the meteoric rise of Ecommerce, mobile conversion rates are still a critical issue for retailers.A recent study from Mobile Ecosystem Forum shows that 58% of customers abandon mobile transactions at the shopping cart due to concerns over providing sensitive information, connectivity...Read More

Recently, a major retailer asked Lenati to assess its loyalty rewards program, which had first launched in the late 1990’s. By one metric—retention rate—the retailer’s program was still successful. But the program was failing to drive a large share of wallet, and...Read More

These days, no brand decisions are made without data. Information is at the center of the marketing universe, and transforming raw data points into knowledge, strategy, and a set of measurable marketing objectives is the ultimate goal for any brand manager. The “What’s In Your Basket...Read More

In 2014, Showcase Cinemas made the decision to add Movio Cinema to better leverage Aloha Loyalty and improve the performance of its loyalty program, Starpass. Since October of that year, Showcase Cinemas have operated Starpass with Movio Cinema. It currently has over 230,000 active members, each...Read More

Scott Shurson, Senior IT Consultant for Aimia, is involved with strategy relating to loyalty technology with current and prospective clients. He has outlined a few of the most commonly asked questions below and his responses.  1. How do I Ensure a Successful Loyalty Integration?  ...Read More

Especially over the last five to ten years, most companies have tried to pursue customer centric marketing in some form.  They understand that it is no longer good enough to view their customers and prospects only by what their (economic) value is to them.Because they are customers...Read More

VOX Cinemas is known for its emphasis on innovation and unwavering customer-centricity in the Middle Eastern region. Since launching in 1999, they have grown to 243 screens across UAE, Lebanon, Oman, Egypt and Qatar, with Bahrain, Kenya and Kuwait soon to be added. They are the region’s...Read More

Almost all currency-based consumer loyalty Program designs inherently house a financial liability, which in many cases has a material impact on a brand’s balance sheet. Generally speaking, a brand incurs liability for a future loyalty Program reward as soon as it issues the Program’s...Read More

Technologies, behaviors, and demographics are changing rapidly, and brands can have a tough time keeping up with the evolution of the rewards landscape. In order to offer consumers the best rewards programs, we present the 4 Rewards Trends that will Transform Your Promotions in 2017, for brands...Read More

It’s not complicated. The majority of customers churn because they failed to connect with your brand or because an event occurred that caused them to disconnect. 53% of all customer churn is attributed to one of these factors: poor onboarding (23%), weak relationship building (16%...Read More

What are you doing to measure the indirect benefits of your loyalty program?You know you need a loyalty program to run a successful credit card program. But margin pressures mean program performance is constantly under scrutiny. To make sure your loyalty program truly meets all the needs of your...Read More

What’s the employee sophomore slump?  According to CIO.com writer Sarah K. White in her article, “How to use gamification to improve employee engagement,” it’s when “the high of a new job wears off” and the job has “lost its glamour and...Read More

Recently, a major retailer asked Lenati to assess its loyalty rewards program, which had first launched in the late 1990’s. By one metric—retention rate—the retailer’s program was still successful. But the program was failing to drive a large share of wallet, and execs...Read More

Do you want your customers to feel emotionally engaged with your brand? Of course you do. Neuroscientists have proven, through fMRI brain-imaging studies, that emotions have a very strong impact on brand choice. Whether you’re in retail, travel, automotive or some other consumer-facing...Read More

You know what’s really fun? Pretending like you work in a perfect organization that sells a must-have product or service and enjoys a loyal customer base and a 0% churn rate. You know what’s slightly less fun? Realizing that all the pretending in the world won’t turn that dream...Read More

Using behavioral analysis to extend the life of cardholders while reducing costsAccess to credit remains problematic for many people as restrictions resulting from the 2008 financial crisis continue to have their impact. Consequently, prepaid cards have become increasingly important alternatives,...Read More

Airlines have come to innately understand the value of an existing customer–versus the cost of obtaining a new one–and that it makes good financial sense to reward loyal customers. After all, the lifetime value of a loyal customer outweighs the investment in tracking and rewarding...Read More

Evolving consumer attitudes, desires and technology preferences make it critical for marketers to know how to engage their customers in a compelling, authentic manner.  To sustain growth, brands must create a customer experience that builds long-term loyalty. The advent of Software-as-a...Read More

Loyalty programs are a dime a dozen. In fact, the average American household participates in almost 30 different loyalty programs—spanning retail, financial services, travel and other sectors—but is active in fewer than half of these. The upside of loyalty programs is that they...Read More

Michael Marino, senior vice president of loyalty and digital at Caesars Entertainment Corporation, enjoys the challenge of creating customer loyalty, great customer experiences, and brand advocates. Achieving any of those estimable things is never easy and one that requires a disciplined...Read More

As customers evolve, so must our content strategies. You've heard the saying "The customer is always right." Well, the digital-era version of that might be "The customer is at the center of it all." The demand for content has grown significantly over the last few years...Read More

Customer journey mapping continues to gain both traction and increased relevance as organizations around the globe continue to orient towards a more customer-centric way of doing business.Though by no means a silver bullet on the road to better customer experiences, Journey Maps remain an...Read More

Bill Linehan, executive vice president and CMO at Red Lion Hotels Corporation, is excited about the evolution of the company’s Hello Rewards loyalty program. That customer loyalty prioritization certainly shows in RLHC’s Hello Rewards program.  Created in 1959, Red Lion Hotels...Read More

There are many different definitions of customer loyalty. We believe this one says it best:‘Customer loyalty is the result of consistently positive emotional experience, physical attribute-based satisfaction and perceived value of an experience, which includes the product or services’...Read More

New relationships are exciting. It is a time when you get to know someone and they get to know you. You learn about each other and determine how symbiotic the relationship can be, which takes time. So why is it that more than 90% of brands are sending only one welcome message? Capitalizing on the...Read More

Based in Holyoke, Mass, and established in 1885, PeoplesBank has seen quite the evolution in customer loyalty and customer behaviors during the past 132 years. Loyalty360 caught up with Sheila King Goodwin, senior vice president, retail banking at PeoplesBank, to find out more about this company...Read More

Is great customer service really worth the effort? It might seem like a no-brainer, but many businesses struggle with this question. The answer is yes:  loyal customers are satisfied customers. Therefore, succeeding in today's business world requires an intimate understanding of...Read More

As video is becoming more and more essential to how businesses communicate with their audiences—whether potential customers, current customers, or employees—a video platform (VP) has become a necessary and useful tool for many business teams so they can manage, optimize, and measure...Read More

Retailers are squandering time, energy, and investment on outdated loyalty models that don’t work.According to a recent Accenture survey, 78 percent of U.S. consumers are retracting from loyalty programs. Most of that withdrawal can be attributed to customers flocking to the most...Read More

We’re now a month into 2017, and like many small business owners and entrepreneurs, you’ve used January to recover from the holidays, refresh your New Year’s marketing and solidify business plans and goals for the remainder of the year. As you continue to build and develop your...Read More

Gartner suggests 2017 could be the year that CMOs spend more on IT than CIOs. If that proves to be the case, they’d better be equipped to spend those dollars wisely.In a world of platforms, ecosystems and communities, CMOs will need experts to guide and execute their strategies and programs...Read More

You’ve provided your loyalty members with a product, service or experience they can rely on, but is that enough? Offering a great service is the perfect way to begin, however the process shouldn’t end there. If you want great customer relationships, it’s all about going the...Read More

The way companies collect and use data, and the way their customers share it, is changing. In the past, many companies simply assumed their customers were happy to share their data: the “implied consent” model. Now, the emphasis is on “informed consent.” Customers may be...Read More

We love it when research reinforces what we’ve been saying all along: it’s not enough for customers to be loyal to brands; brands must be loyal to customers.A recent study by Wunderman contends that there is a new measurement for customer engagement called &ldquo...Read More

Truly reaching your audience requires an ability to identify consumer insights that enable you to communicate to your customers as individuals. But perhaps you’re starting by focusing on the wrong generation or putting too much emphasis on emerging generations like millennials. That’s...Read More

More than 30% of consumers around the world would rather do the dishes or the laundry than go shopping in a physical store. And 40% consider going to the store a chore that must be done. Yet off they go, giving in-store transactions credit for over 80% of global retail sales.Clearly, brick-and...Read More

2017 is shaping up to be a tumultuous year for apps as US downloads dropped 20% YoY according to Nomura.In the same study, they noted that the average American downloads less than 1 app per month, showing a steep decline in a market that saw frenetic and investment in previous years.While the...Read More

What happens when three marketers, one graphic designer and a data scientist put forward the 2017 trends they are most looking forward to? You get inspired! We asked some of the Movio Crew to share their thoughts on the coming year's most exciting new, or revived, directions in...Read More

According to AdRoll, 66% of advertisers have said they plan to increase their programmatic ad spend. That same report revealed that more than half of marketers’ budgets are projected to be spent through programmatic, and that 87% of marketers are seeing greater return through...Read More

Overarching theme for 2017? ConvenienceConvenience to customers has long been the name of the game. And attending last month’s NRF Big Show, I saw how much it still is. But the ways in which convenience matters continue to change, and they’re more important than ever.Convenience in...Read More

Having the same cable/internet provider for well over a decade, I openly admit that my expectations from this company are to 1) know me and recognize that I’m a loyal customer, 2) make it easy to do business with them, and 3) have positive experiences through interactions.Instead, the...Read More

In a technology driven world, what are the key trends for retailing?From self-driving cars to mobile payment systems and biometrics, technology is changing the world at an extraordinary pace – but how is it expected to shape the future for consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and...Read More

With so many conflicting priorities, is it realistic to align your sales and marketing teams in 2017? Although it may be easy to claim that these parts of your business work together like ‘peanut butter and jelly’, is there any truth to it? For the majority of businesses I would argue...Read More

In our recent series about color pairings in logos, we highlighted the surprising effectiveness of yellow and brown combinations. Colors evoke certain feelings and associations, and yellow and brown are no different. And as it turned out, yellow and brown were the perfect combination for a...Read More

Providing great experiences for customers has become an important goal for many companies today.They recognize that creating compelling experiences is the best way to attract, retain and delight customers; engage employees; and differentiate their company from the competition.As I have discussed...Read More

There’s been a lot of recent press about quick service restaurants (QSRs) and the advancements in technology that are attributed to well performing loyalty programs. As we learned through an online study of 400 millennials conducted by Epsilon, QSR customers crave convenience. The...Read More

Our team has been thinking about the changing customer quite a bit lately. As a leader in customer insights and customer loyalty, we quite literally see the customer change before our eyes through the actions they take with our clients.What we’ve seen leads us to a critical topic that we...Read More

Online and mobile shopping is one of the most popular methods of buying what you need. But even with personalized content recommendations, personal shoppers and a host of other technological improvements, much of it still feels very impersonal.Brands know that many millennial customers value the...Read More

I belong to a number of reward and loyalty programs. My favorite program? The Capital One Venture Card. Two points for every dollar spent and an additional 40,000 points if you spend $3,000 within the first three months.Once I had my shiny, new card in hand, I switched all my bills over to the...Read More

For any organization striving to significantly improve customer experience, they need a plan to do so.  That’s because the ability to design and deliver great customer experience doesn’t “just happen.” It’s planned.  Which is where a customer experience...Read More

For any brand or company, the payment experience must be considered part of the sale. Think about the last time you went to a store and left because the line to pay was too long. Or the last time you went online to pay for something and the checkout process made you so uncomfortable that you just...Read More

It is becoming increasingly clear that chatbots and virtual assistants are poised to become major players in the relationships between enterprises and their customers.  A quick walk through the floor of CES earlier this month would instantly confirm that.  After all, as a self...Read More

Big Data is transforming operations across the spectrum of industries and functions, including logistics, manufacturing, accounting, and even legal services.  One key area often identified is marketing, specifically data-driven marketing.  By tracking and analyzing customer interactions...Read More

When put to strategic use, gift cards have the power to acquire new customers and increase foot traffic while increasing revenue.When I think of the evolution of the gift card I am reminded of my early days in online marketing and the advent of the banner ad—the concept which led to...Read More

Forget the current, siloed nature of payment processing. Retail payment hubs that manage all payment types from one platform are the future, and they’re coming soon. Best of all, they represent a much brighter future for financial institutions and consumers alike.Current Inefficiencies are...Read More

I’ve got a thousand sound bites about Super Bowl advertising: It’s basically selfies for brands. It’s the opposite of 1:1 marketing. It’s a cross-category free-for-all, growing in risk rather than opportunity given its price tag.$5M is a lot of money by any standards, even...Read More

2017 is going to be a very different year, and if you’re not proactively evolving your loyalty program, you’re going to get disrupted. If you think you’re a leader in loyalty, are you really progressive enough? Today’s marketers are looking for that silver bullet and are...Read More

A new marketing paradigm has hatched, and it’s growing.  Where there was once division between marketing and IT teams now there is unity. Where technology once struggled to meet marketing objectives without clear attribution, now it’s deployed to support business goals with rich...Read More

It’s the Age of the Customer, the era of the Internet of Me. Brand names and physical footprints are no longer the decision-drivers they once were. Consumers have turned their trust to whatever they can pull up on their smartphones, from peer reviews to best-selling item rankings.Trends...Read More

Are your email marketing campaigns hitting a stalemate? Maybe your open or click-through rates are dropping off, your content is lacking pizzazz or your subject lines are sounding more clichéd than clever. You’re far from alone if your campaign needs a refresh from time to time. Not only...Read More

DEMOGRAPHICS AND KEY TRENDSAs a generation, Millennials are the most populous generation in America’s history.There are an estimated 75.4 million Millennials in AmericaAbout 1 in 5 of the 43.5 million mothers in America are MillennialsWithin the past year, Millennial Moms account for 85% of...Read More

In today’s mobile-driven marketplace, and with the rise of the Millennial “always on” consumer, having an app complement a retailer’s marketing strategy has become table stakes. Apps have evolved from simply being an extension of the digital ecosystem to leading the way...Read More

Marketers are always looking for the next breakthrough to cut through the media clutter and capture the attention of the consumer.  Agencies, software providers and consultancies are more than happy to provide a continuous flow of shiny objects or new tactics.  Today’s loyalty...Read More

Social media has always been a visual experience. From the invention of Facebook, one of the main attractions was the socialization of pictures that could be shared and viewed.Fast-forward a decade or so and the same holds true, but visual elements are even more aggressive.If we look at the most...Read More

In a space that is evolving by the day, it is more important than ever for marketers to stay ahead of the mobile technology and trends that consumers are demanding. As we kick off the new year, here are some trends that we see as key components to a comprehensive 2017 mobile strategy that will...Read More

The term might be outdated, but the idea of bringing teams together to solve big problems has never been more relevant.The word “hackathon” has no clear origin. I’m a runner, so I like to think that the word is a combination of “hack” and “marathon.” Or...Read More

Visual content, including video, played a major role in all digital media marketing campaigns in 2016 and will continue to play a greater role this year and beyond. Our global society has moved from reading text to watching videos. The pros and cons of this have been discussed at length...Read More

Today, nearly every customer experience in nearly every industry is driven or supported by ever-more-quickly-evolving digital technology. The landscape is changing so rapidly that customer experiences are already being radically reshaped by technologies that are cutting edge today—but will...Read More

Having lots of content is great, but it's nothing without an audience. That's where social media marketing can guarantee the success of your content strategy.The growth of social media platforms has become an integral part of content marketing. Many believe that the terms social...Read More

Point redemption programs looking retain customers with stock portfoliosRewarding customer allegiance is nothing new, but we have seen a flourishing of loyalty schemes over the last few years. Not just growth in the number of services offering programs, innovation has come in the form of new ways...Read More

Aimia’s annual Loyalty Lens research study tracks customer attitudes to brands, data sharing and privacy, and engagement with technology. This year’s edition offers insights on how customer attitudes are changing regarding the exchange of personal information with brands – and...Read More

It’s easy to send an email. Anyone can do it. But using email to make it easy for prospective customers to schedule a call or meeting with your business, isn’t. In order to actually increase a customer’s loyalty to an organization, a path must be built that allows an induvial to...Read More

Just 20 percent of U.S. shoppers complete a purchase on their phone after placing an item in their virtual shopping cart. At the same time, mobile engagement is highly correlated with purchase intent, with more than 70 percent of mobile searches leading to action on a website within one hour, and...Read More

Over the years, marketing has become a very significant tool for a competitive edge. The business environment, however, has become quite complex as well. From the very top down to the very customer end, processes have evolved and there is visible innovation in the way decisions are made now...Read More

Last week, at the world’s largest retail exhibition – the National Retail Federation’s BIG Show in New York City – people talked a great deal about making data-driven decisions. Although the traditional services of the retail world were still at the forefront &ndash...Read More

The topic of loyalty programs in the digital age has emerged directly from our observations and discussion with customers. We saw many companies struggling to assess and select, from a vast pool of tech novelties, which innovations were a better fit to the needs of their digital customers, and...Read More

“The grass is always greener.” The saying applies to many situations in life and marketing is no exception. Today, there’s so much focus on customer acquisition, but in many cases, merchants already have the most valuable players in their current networks. While bringing in new...Read More

It’s hard to imagine American retail without financing. Since the 1930s, consumer financing has fueled consumer spending and made major purchases possible for generations of shoppers. Imagine the shopper in the 1930’s.  When the need arose for a washing machine, customers went to...Read More

This simple strategy is the gas to almost any fire—simply put, nobody gets it right the first time, so you have to do your best, test what works (and what doesn’t), and try again. But when the method used to test and iterate your UX strategy is flawed, incomplete, or ineffective...Read More

Earlier this month, InMoment released our 2017 CX Trends Report. The objective of this annual exercise is to examine various areas of customer experience (CX) from both consumer and brand perspectives to determine where these groups are aligned, and where there are disconnects.Last week we...Read More

In Episode 5 of the What We’re Seeing & Hearing podcast, a brand turns the tables on Mark Johnson and asks the Loyalty360 CEO/CMO about loyalty marketing and some of the challenges therein. Mark covers several concepts in today’s episode, including how many...Read More

“Don’t take it personal” is a common retort when an interpersonal interaction goes wrong (usually after having offended someone).  Or, at the very least, the communication was not interpreted as you intended.As a result, you alter your communication language and tone...Read More

What is video content marketing and why has it become such a prominent part of any digital marketer's toolbox? How can you utilize this technology to market your brand and to increase your sales figures? Social media has become one of the key ways brands market their products, and video...Read More

Anyone in marketing knows how tough it is to get noticed. Competition is fierce. The consumer is saturated with products, brands, and businesses that take up media space and the “attention share” of millions of customers every day.When you publishing new content, you’re...Read More

We are surrounded by constant and increasing rates of change.   In making purchase decisions, today’s customer has access to an amazing trove of data that makes her smarter and more nimble. Meanwhile, technology is eliminating barriers to entry and continuously recasting competitive...Read More

It’s no secret getting to know your customers is essential for marketing success and data is a key element to achieving this. Marketers have long leveraged data to gain insight into the behavior of their customers and send promotional offers based on data attributes like past purchase...Read More

There are several truths of customer loyalty that continue to prove out, though many businesses have been slow to adapt to their reality.First, and this is no surprise to anyone, loyal customers reward vendors with greater wallet share, revenue, profitability and relationship growth. According to...Read More

The role of Chief Customer Officer or Chief Experience Officer is still relatively new, and enterprise businesses are struggling to understand the role itself, and the roadmap to success.According to the Chief Customer Officer Council, only 35 of the Fortune 500 companies have a CCO at all...Read More

For the last several years, improving customer experience has been rightfully viewed as one of the most important things any organization can do to drive value. In fact, the phrase is used with the same reverence (and lack of clarity) as words like “strategy,” “brand” and ...Read More

Loyalty360 CEO/CMO Mark Johnson gives his insight on some of the hot trends and topics in loyalty management today in Episode 4 of What We’re Seeing & Hearing. In today’s installment, Mark addresses the concepts of understanding customers and employee engagement, as well as a new...Read More

The sales and marketing goals of a successful brand focus on three things: generating viable leads, engaging existing customers in a positive brand experience and looking forward to long term customer loyalty. Following this blueprint, you ensure you’ve got quality leads always coming in...Read More

Loyalty programs were on everyone’s minds in 2016 – for better or for worse. From Chipotle to Air Miles’ mistakes in customer loyalty management, one must learn from this and prevail in 2017. To avoid media backlash, the loyalty experts at DataCandy are here to tell you...Read More

A couple of months ago, an opinion article in the Los Angeles Times spurred a discussion about the use of incentives and rewards in the market research space. As a result, both the AAPOR and the ASA made a formal statement recognizing the value of incentives as a tool for encouraging people...Read More

Identity resolution is not a one-and-done. Rather, it is best viewed as an ongoing process.To optimize this process, marketers must think holistically about all of their customer data collection and application needs. The process must recognize that the customer journey can move rapidly across...Read More

Engaging customers is hard. There are more than 30 billion mobile moments happening every day in the U.S. according to research from Forrester Research, Inc. And marketers must be ready to meet customers in these moments and deliver compelling experiences that will engender loyalty. This is...Read More

What are we talking about when we talk about marketing automation? On a basic level, it refers to software platforms designed to automate marketing tasks like email, social media and website actions. Ideally it’s implemented not just as a time-saver, but so that brands can deliver...Read More

Earlier this year I shifted my priorities and focus, and chose pleasure and purpose over other engrained habits and needs.I was so “busy being busy” that I had forgotten the evident importance of slowing down and taking stock. The basic need to actively listen and properly connect...Read More

In mature markets most retailers and FMCG suppliers rely heavily on mass promotion to retain and increase market share – despite a broad agreement that more personalised communication is needed to increase relevance for the consumer.  As highly targeted marketing is often perceived as...Read More

Building loyalty is paramount for brands looking to distinguish themselves and build a deeper relationship with their customer-base. Customers that feel like a particular brand understands them and their needs are more likely to not only go back to that brand, but bring some friends along too.As...Read More

Live marketing is a strategy leveraged by marketers to provide customers with a unique one-to-one experience throughout their customer journey based on digital interactions. Marketers talk a lot about real time marketing but live marketing goes well beyond the capabilities of real time marketing...Read More

Retail consumers always seem to be short on time, but long on options. Instead of being tied to one local retailer, they have the whole e-commerce world at their fingertips. According to Forrester Research, Inc., 65 percent of consumers tell us outright that they will not return to a website that...Read More

Consumers spent $3.45 billion on Cyber Monday well surpassing forecasts and hitting a new all-time record. It’s a strong indication that retail will be in full force this year. How can you take advantage? As retailers continue to work to bridge the gap between online and offline, the...Read More

The rise of digital and cloud technologies has evolved how businesses and consumers interact. It has forced organizations to find new and innovative ways to provide consistent customer experiences across global markets, while providing consumers with relevant real-time information across multiple...Read More

Clay Walton-House, customer retention & loyalty practice leader, Lenati, said that 95 percent of his company’s clients don’t have customer engagement defined at a data level. During a session titled, “Stop Guessing! Empirically Measure the Drivers of Engagement &...Read More

The Internet of Things. Artificial intelligence. Virtual reality. These rising technologies will both create and be improved by customer data. So the identity infrastructure a marketer creates today must be able to support these technologies and corresponding customer experiences tomorrow.Ever...Read More

Be nimble. Make sure your marketing plans can adapt to change. Sound familiar? That’s the life we live as marketers in the era of digital transformation. Although we spend months in planning sessions to ensure i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed with each marketing campaign, it...Read More

eMarketer’s recent study suggests loyalty programs influence many customers as to where they decide to shop during the holidays. In fact, it states that over half of US internet users believe the presence or absence of loyalty programs will affect whether they shop at any given big-box...Read More

Emily Rudin, SVP of Client Success for CrowdTwist, a multichannel customer loyalty and engagement solutions provider, talks about how unique and memorable branded experience can keep customers engaged, win loyalty, increase spend, and more.Read More

Never before have brands had access to so much data. Yet never before has there been so much duplicate, disconnected and inaccurate information collected about their customers.Marketers, it appears, are suffering from an identity crisis. And their pain is being felt all the way down to a brand...Read More

We all know how impactful a loyalty program can be to creating engaged and loyal account holders, but most people don’t realize how it can impact the rest of the customer journey.  Surprisingly, research and our own customers’ experiences show that a well-designed loyalty program...Read More

Loyalty cards are the number one most requested application of mobile wallet passes, according to a 2016 study done of 2,000 consumers in the US and UK. 67% of consumers want to use mobile wallet to keep track of loyalty benefits, ridding themselves of unnecessary cards and taking advantage of...Read More

What makes an experience memorable? The truth is that people can’t recall much more than they remember. The overwhelming majority of experiences we have are fleeting and don’t endure much beyond the moment in which they occur. Join us for a rational and emotional experience and case...Read More

As the renowned management consultant Peter Drucker once said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” To that end, as marketers we often ask ourselves: every customer has potential, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, not all customers are equally profitable. However...Read More

2016 is wrapping up, but the trends we’ve seen throughout the year will continue to make an impact as digital transformation forces brands to take a “customer obsessed” approach. A personalized customer experience has the power to truly set a brand apart.But it’s important...Read More

In today’s retail world, customer retention programs can really strike a chord and make a huge positive difference in a company’s overall annual sales. The only way to a better customer retention program is to create a robust loyalty program.According to Pareto’s classic...Read More

Imagine that you have access to the best seats available at any sporting event at a fraction of the cost. What if it became possible for you to sit courtside at the NBA Finals or behind home plate at the World Series? An experience that is currently unobtainable but for a select few may become...Read More

7 contrasts IT Executives need to know before making investments   Technology has upended industries, capabilities, and functions, and has the ability to automate a great number of tasks. The evolution of technology has meant the automation of more sophisticated tasks, including things like...Read More

This week in retail started with the news that Amazon would be opening Amazon Go, a cashier-free, app-based shopping experience concept that I am almost certain will grow into a chain with hundreds, if not thousands, of locations. Amazon pretty much invented e-commerce and now they are sending...Read More

The marketing landscape is constantly shifting and many established brands are struggling to find sure footing. Emerging combinations of digital, mobile, and social technologies are altering the way consumers perceive and interact with brands across almost every industry vertical. Winning...Read More

As the renowned management consultant Peter Drucker once said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” To that end, as marketers we often ask ourselves: every customer has potential, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, not all customers are equally profitable. However...Read More

When customer service at a local My Home store first took the call from a concerned loyalty member, it seemed like a routine case of points not properly credited to the member account. Maybe the magnetic stripe was not read? Maybe the customer actually forgot to present her card, and was blaming...Read More

Brands have assigned certain days -- even weeks -- to doling out discounts and freebies ever since the earliest days of marketing, with festivities like 7/11’s Free Slurpee Day, Amazon Prime Day, or even Chipotle’s annual Halloween “boorito” campaign. From a brand...Read More

For Meredith Wenz, director of marketing at Auntie Anne’s, loyalty is synonymous with the company’s customer base. That is a great feeling for any loyalty marketer, but, retaining those customers and maintaining their loyalty are two massively important pieces of any successful...Read More

Hilton Worldwide officials don’t just talk the talk when it comes to technology innovation. They walk the walk and constantly work on innovating and updating their technology offerings. Hilton recently announced new upgrades to its Hilton HHonors apps. For the first time ever, the iOS app...Read More

In a recent study Epsilon conducted in partnership with Econsultancy and Conversant, which surveyed 220 business-marketing executives in North America, we learned that only 12% of brands have a single view of their customer across devices, time and media. Over 40% of organizations claim to have a...Read More

For any loyalty marketer, finding those emotional connections with consumers can be elusive, but when they are found, they represent that connective element that drives and maintains customer loyalty. For Fanatics, the largest online retailer of licensed sports apparel and merchandise, emotional...Read More

Digital transformation isn’t just another buzzword. It’s a business imperative and if you’re falling behind in the race, you may have a hard time catching up. A recent PwC survey revealed that 77% of more than 1,400 CEOs across a wide range of industries believe that...Read More

Ryder officials always monitor their all-important customer relationships. But, when the starting point for those relationships isn’t functioning as it should, a change had to me made to ensure keen customer engagement and brand loyalty. Last month, Ryder launched a new fully responsive...Read More

Hey retailers! The holidays are fast approaching – are you ready?This festive time of year presents the perfect opportunity to delight customers while increasing their loyalty to your brand. We’ve all experienced the hell known as holiday shopping, starting with the infamous Black...Read More

Online retailing may have grown in leaps and bounds, but brick-and-mortar stores still account for the lion’s share of retail sales, projected to remain as high as 90% in 2018[1]. The in-store experience is therefore still a prime focus for marketing, with huge potential for spurring...Read More

Social media is impacting loyalty programme strategies and becoming an important communication tool between brands and customers. Playing a significant role in people’s lives, the importance of social platforms in their everyday routine is as important as their loyalty is for many brands...Read More

ciValue, which helps retailers leveraging data to generate targeted marketing solutions, talks about the importance of creating a culture of customer centricity, how to overcome the challenges of data, and more.  Read More

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Which means so, too, is one of the busiest travel periods of the year. While AAA hasn’t yet released its annual Thanksgiving travel forecast for 2016, last year nearly 42 million Americans hit the road and over 3.6 million took flight as they...Read More

Get ready – Black Friday is almost here. Are you sure you’ve checked off every holiday preparation on your list?If you’re a retailer, the holidays will bring a surge of traffic to your site. Loyal customers who you see regularly throughout the year will be joined by infrequent...Read More

Are you doing all you can to retain your customers? Does each and every interaction between your customers strive for the ultimate customer-centric experience? Join Loyalty360 and Pointillist for a 60-minute webinar, during which you’ll see some statistics and insights -- from both the...Read More

Patrick Reynolds, Head of Marketing for SessionM, which helps clients build loyalty through advanced automation and integrated that drives personalization and engagement across numerous channels, talks about being a disruptor in the loyalty space, some of the biggest challenges facing brands, and...Read More

Christian Hausammann, VP of Loyalty for Snipp, which builds incentive marketing solutions to help brands engage and interact with their customers, drive sales, and encourage loyalty, talks about best practices for using technology to generate loyalty, how to overcome the challenges involved, and...Read More

The promises of true omnichannel marketing have been an object of obsession for loyalty marketers. With all of the touchpoints between brands and an increasingly mobile-first customer, and the vast volumes of data that can be captured from transactions and behaviors, it’s easy to see why...Read More

With headlines like ‘Hollywood has a huge Millennial problem’ and ‘Millennials are killing the movie business’ you’d be forgiven for picturing the entire generation as lightsabre-wielding, emo-dressed Kylo Rens coming to get us all! However, a deeper understanding...Read More

Strategic differences CRM and loyalty are best seen as sitting on different points of a brand-customer relationship spectrum. The difference is rooted in the expectations set between brand and customer for the relationship. When a brand asks someone to join their loyalty program, they are asking...Read More

Though loyalty programs have been around for decades, loyalty is definitely worth a new, closer look. Below are six common CPG marketing challenges and a look at how loyalty can help: Build Brand Preference Without Discounting Economic ebbs and flows often mean boom or bust for CPGs. Since...Read More

Many brands consider outsourcing their loyalty program to a specialist with the required expertise and focus to make it a success. Core program components that can be outsourced include:Program designLoyalty programs may seem relatively easy to design on the surface, but in reality challenges...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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Navigating the loyalty landscape, a terrain that is always evolving, means constantly being on the lookout for the next big thing. The masterminds of modern loyalty programs are keenly that loyalty has moved well beyond the point-heavy system it once was and know not only the current loyalty...Read More

Not long ago my colleague, Wendy Culpepper, and I shared a presentation at Kobie’s Annual OnPoint Conference where our focus was on retaining customer loyalty in the age of disruption. We addressed some of the most visible disruptors – Uber, Amazon, curated subscription businesses in...Read More

Adhering to the General Data Protection Regulation and other consumer protection regulations is a challenge tackled by consumer product brands all over the world. How do you follow these guidelines on how customer data is gathered and leveraged without hamstringing your customer loyalty program...Read More

Top ways your brand can capitalize on the opportunity beyond mobile paymentsA significant amount of the hype surrounding mobile wallet is focused on payment capabilities—with applications like Apple Pay and Google Pay providing consumers with the ability to ditch their plastic...Read More

Kobie’s Emotional Loyalty Scoring tool helps brands create an appealing program value proposition for members, optimize program benefits and make campaigns relevant and effective. Tactics such as lower price and discount promotions can buy loyalty for a transaction or encourage initial...Read More

In this two-part series I'll address the use cases for monetizing data, how organizations should approach the challenge and realize the potential benefits.  Today, let's explore the use cases for monetizing data in the Utility space.   Like many industries, utility...Read More

The loyalty landscape is changing.The days of simple loyalty punch cards are behind us. Immediacy and personalization are now the name of the game in the modern loyalty world where consumers expect real-time engagement – in the moment, when it matters. As a result, loyalty has evolved far...Read More

Employee retention says a lot about your business. After all, if you know how to keep your best employees happy, you’re probably good at meeting your customers’ needs too.Happy people do better work. Plus, the cost of replacing a highly-trained employee can be more than 200 times...Read More

To compete in today’s marketing-saturated world, your loyalty program needs to stand out. A cookie-cutter approach won’t move the needle with today’s selective consumers. Rather, your program needs to be differentiated and speak to diverse market segments in the manner they...Read More

The other day I found myself in the slightly annoying position of being unable to procrastinate any further. I had to – finally – admit defeat and just well get on with a domestic DIY project that I’d been in varying stages of denial and avoidance over for a few days.This meant...Read More

Some marketers are buying into a pervasive — and incorrect — belief that loyalty marketing is not as effective as it once was.However, cultivating customer loyalty is actually more important than ever. Competition within all consumer industries is high and driven higher because price...Read More

Facing massive technological complexity and limited viable solutions, many businesses are forced to make a choice between form and function in their digital presence.A recent Frost & Sullivan global study of senior executives found that over 80% believe customer experience is an...Read More

There’s no question that personalized emails are powerful. Personalized emails can improve click-through rates by an average of 14 percent, enhance conversions by 10 percent, and deliver six times higher transaction rates. Not only does it pay to personalize, today&rsquo...Read More

Simply put, Loyalty is important. It is a collection of attitudes aligned with purchase behaviors that favor one business among competing businesses. But it is so much more. Loyalty is comprised of a constellation of concepts, the Customer Ecosystem, that come together to influence a customer...Read More

Consumers are offering data, a new currency, in exchange for truly exceptional experiences. Like monetary currencies, the value consumers receive for this new currency will vary, depending on where they exchange it. To succeed, your app must offer an experience in line with consumer value...Read More

UW Bothell site provides key audiences with everything that they need – and then some     Universities have become a mainstay of American society. For decades, they have been growing in size and scope. They are attracting an increasing quantity of students, faculty, investment ...Read More

IntroductionGift Cards are a powerful tool and an important offering for merchants to acquire new customers. However, their power extends beyond just driving new sales: they also serve an integral role in building and retaining loyalty in an existing customer base. To better understand exactly...Read More

Yesway was recognized as a winner of the ‘Best Convenience Store Loyalty Launch’ in the 2018 Loyaltees. Launched in December of 2015 by Brookwood Financial Partners, LLC, a Massachusetts-based private equity firm, Yesway plans to acquire, improve and rebrand approximately 500...Read More

Analytics have grown in complexity to meet business demand. 2018 is seeing the next wave of advanced analytics – prescriptive analytics – which leverage historical data to identify what could happen and go a step further by recommending what should be done to give rise to a desired...Read More

I used to fancy myself a diner, a fine diner, to be more specific. As my family has grown, my lifestyle and dining experiences have changed. I rarely have time to sit through a multi-course meal, sipping cocktails and wine, with a focus on my meal and conversation. I’ve gone from fine...Read More

Today’s marketing teams need to be tactical and precise to efficiently use their budget and gain the highest return on investment. This means finding the right customer to target at the right time, and in turn saving resources on wasted outreach and increasing the likelihood that a given...Read More

Better company/customer relationships, improved customer engagement, increased company reputation... you may have heard these all are the benefits of getting GDPR-compliant consents right. And that is absolutely true! It is just that consents are sometimes quite difficult to get, correct?Alright,...Read More

In our day to day working lives as marketers we often don’t get a chance to rise above our busy daily schedules and tasks to really observe our customers. No doubt customers have changed – and continue to change – and there are important implications regarding how marketers...Read More

In a moment of huge frustration, it’s often down to individual staff members to deliver an experience that takes that frustration away and allows one to breathe a sigh of relief and appreciation. On a recent visit to the U.K., I got to experience this first hand.My husband and I had just...Read More

Are your loyalty program members letting their points gather dust? Are you looking for new ways to enhance engagement? If so, we’ve got good news for you. Our recent research revealed what will get your members earning and burning their points—and keeping your brand top of mind. Yup...Read More

Members create sustained engagement. Augeo Insights presents Julie Burton, founder of ModernWell, a women’s co-working space and author of “The Self-Care Solution: A Modern Mother's Essential Guide to Health and Well Being”. Julie sat down with Ken Greer, Augeo CMO, to...Read More

With sales of digital assistants projected to soar from 1.8 million to 15.1 million by 2020, it’s no wonder businesses are paying close attention. But leveraging voice-activated search is going to demand a major content and SEO strategy shift.Heralding the new role technology...Read More

Starting with SitkaIn 2005, Jason Hairston had just sold his business. After just a few short years, the company – named for the Alaskan town of Sitka – caught the attention of W.L. Gore & Associates, otherwise known as the inventors of Gore-Tex. The secret to this whirlwind...Read More

Ah, summer. After braving the cold and surviving the busy season, your long-awaited PTO is finally here. While vacation does wonders for your mental health, it can also accelerate your creativity and productivity at work. As a Creative Director and illustrator, my brain is constantly solving for...Read More

How raising “social capital” can accelerate organizational performance.Every business requires various forms of capital. First, there is financial capital to fund the launch of the organization securing workspace, talent, machinery and technology. Next, there is human capital to...Read More

Internet of Things (IoT): anything that can be connected to the Internet will be connected. Big deal… Actually, it’s huge. If you’re evenly slightly interested in delivering a great customer experience, you’ll want to be in the know when it comes to IoT.No one could...Read More

After years of working out how being online affects the conversations businesses have with consumers, we’re finally in full, omnichannel, respectful, personalized, and double-consented dialogue with them, and its proving to be a win-win for all concerned. The death of net neutrality could...Read More

Tailoring rewards, recognition, and incentives to better match the career stage of your employees. There’s a lot of buzz these days about the changing nature of the workplace. HR professionals talk about special considerations required for Millennial or Gen Z workers. No doubt each...Read More

We’ve just wrapped up the Mechanics of Predicting Customer Churn series—if you haven’t checked that out, I’d highly suggest you read through it. But even after we create models to predict customer churn and coordinate campaigns to prevent as much of it as we can...Read More

While customer loyalty has become a major strategy for consumer retention, it can also play a central part of brand growth. Utilizing strategies that reward customers for loyalty actions such as referral marketing and user-generated content (UGC) in addition to...Read More

In part two of our social mission series, you’ll learn how to select a social mission that’s right for you, and how to properly promote it to your community. We also cover a type of business structure that may interest you as you devise your social mission strategy.   In part...Read More

The “customer experience” is getting so much hype these days it even has its own hip moniker: CX. Why is CX the hot topic right now? One reason is because tech titans like Amazon and Netflix have completely redefined it.For Amazon, Netflix, Google, Facebook and others, CX is alpha and...Read More

Acquiring a New Member Acquiring a new member to your loyalty program is a great sign of growth; it’s a sign your member base is getting larger and therefore your revenue and margins are growing. That’s the usual perception and the reason why many marketers spend a disproportionate...Read More

Craft beer sales are booming.Transitioning from niche industry to nationwide phenomenon, craft beer has become big business. These unique and flavorful brews now account for more than 23% of U.S. beer sales, which totaled $111.4 billion in 2017.But with an ever-increasing number of options, how...Read More

IT’S A WHOLE NEW GAME in consumer packaged goods as brand loyalty is taking a backseat to price and convenience.Cleaning products, however, are dealing with additional pressures from informed, health-conscious consumers who are demanding more safety, more transparency, and more innovation...Read More

Half of consumers are deterred from joining loyalty programs, according to a newly released study from Kobie Marketing. When asked what barriers prevent them from joining a program, 26 percent of consumers reported that brands ask for too much information or the enrollment process takes too...Read More

Today our carefully crafted sentences, our relevant offers, our perfect hero images often at best get a quick once over before being dispatched by the delete key. The recipients of these carefully put together messages, who lead busy lives and have time to read precious few of the many items they...Read More

As I look back over the past four years to when we launched Bond and began our separation from a U.S. holding company, I’m amazed, and so proud of our team and what we’ve accomplished to become an industry leader. I’m also extremely grateful for the growing list of global brands...Read More

“This post is authored by Sara Hogan of Merkle in partnership with HelloWorld, a Merkle Company.”  It’s a challenging time for loyalty marketers. Not only must they grapple with ever-changing consumer expectations and constantly evolving technologies — par for the...Read More

Beyond selling products or services, having your business get behind a social mission can garner customer loyalty and nourish your community and the lives of you and your staff.   A business owner/manager has a lot going on, whether they’re opening a new store or managing an existing...Read More

Today’s definition of what most companies want in a data scientist seems to be something akin to a superhero. Companies are looking for a regular Mister Fantastic (the Marvel Comics’ superhero who was “one of the bravest adventurers and most brilliant scientific minds...Read More

It’s harder than ever to keep members engaged with loyalty programs. According to our new Hawk Incentives research, respondents belong to an average of 6.2 programs, but consider themselves active members of only 3.9 programs.1 Here are some of the other key findings about more effective...Read More

Information is key, especially in business. Without appropriate knowledge, marketing teams would have difficulties to address the actual needs and requirements of any given target group. This is especially true nowadays, when clients’ attention has shifted to a much more personalized...Read More

Reward points. Everyone has them these days. But, are you receiving the rewards that are meaningful to you?Loyalty by Travel and Transport is changing the way clients feel about rewards. Rewards are no longer only about simplicity and ease of access; they’re about emotion. Emotional loyalty...Read More

It’s strange how the world is abuzz with ecommerce, yet it only represented 13% of retail sales in 2017 in the United States (Internet Retailer). This shows there is still demand for physical presence in the retail space – shown clearly by brands such as Warby Parker and Rent the...Read More

We’ve all seen the clickbait headlines spouting the end of physical retail as we know it, scaremongering that future competition will come from anywhere and everywhere. And it’s true, many of the big retail brands we’ve hung our hats on for the past few decades are considered to...Read More

Making the decision to go to any conference is tough: Time away from your desk is always nice, but you need to make sure that the time away from work is going to be worth it!Luckily, PXUX isn’t just any conference: It’s packed with opportunities to maximize your customer data and...Read More

Luxury brand marketers who are considering loyalty programs are often concerned that they won’t align with the image or appeal of the brand. Traditional spend and get loyalty programs reward customers with discounts and couponing, which many luxury brands could argue “cheapens&rdquo...Read More

With a rise in brand intimacy, the loyalty paradigm is rapidly changing. The brands that will emerge on top are those that can meet consumers' evolving demands for value, personalization, and active participation. This shift is something I’ve seen in my tenure providing loyalty...Read More

As the technological landscape evolves, so does the role of Chief Marketing Officer. CMOs are tasked with the colossal mission of inspiring and guiding the overall brand vision and marketing activities that drive new business and repeat sales. Establishing a truly loyal following of customers is...Read More

Roger Dow, creator of the Marriot Rewards Program, once said, “The first two years, I had peers trying to kill this idea a hundred times over.”  Fortunately, Dow knew the key to tackling the program push-back is knowing how and when to present program results.There are four...Read More

Subscription businesses have been growing rapidly during the past few years. In fact, there were over 2,000 subscription box services as of March 2016 and it’s estimated that the industry as a whole has been growing at 200% a year. In a highly competitive space with a...Read More

“Loyalty marketing” is really just about making friends. Without a doubt, loyalty at its core is like a friendship; both sides offer up something of value, often more than the tangible product. Perhaps this is why the rise of social influencers is such a critical component of brand...Read More

Retail is one of the industries most affected by the influx of technology, changing consumer behaviors, and enhanced customer expectations. Looking toward retail’s future, we compiled some key steps to staying on top of changing trends in the industry.  Live a Customer-First...Read More

The retail, travel, and restaurant industries have been investing in digital technologies for the past decade. The engagement activities timing between a brand and its consumers have never been shorter. Consumers can order apparel, electronics, groceries, and food and have it delivered to your...Read More

Today’s consumers prefer gift cards nearly 2:1 over other marketing incentives, so it’s no surprise that the highest performing gift card programs leverage gift cards to drive sales and influence consumer behavior. Merchants need to engage with customers throughout the customer...Read More

Knowledge is power — and getting to know your customers will give you just that. It’s the most effective way to learn to communicate effectively with your audience and make them feel appreciated — which in turn is the best way to cement your bond and perpetuate allegiance to...Read More

Since the turn of the century, the age of information has seen masses of data dumped into disconnected silos across many retail organizations. Limited access, capability, focus and free time has meant that until very recently we were only able to skim stones across the surface of this pool of...Read More

Today’s customers can be your best friend or worst enemy. In an age where one shared bad experience can go viral and bring heaps of negative attention onto a brand, it’s important to understand what’s bringing customers through your front doors and what’s driving them...Read More

Do your customers have a handle on their credit card rewards? Is it about miles? Points? Cash back? A mixture of all three? Do they know how, exactly, they’re earning the rewards and how to redeem them?  If you think they do, you might want to think again. A new survey by ...Read More

If you’ve ever questioned the necessity of regularly engaging with your guests via online reviews and other social media, findings from a recent analysis should convince you that these reviews can sway opinion – and revenue – for good or bad.   Research from Xenial and...Read More

Recently, a mail order company in a highly competitive online market asked us what kind of data or information is needed to support a loyalty program. Our answer was that program requirements today typically require POS transactions (including member and store IDs), web data, contact details, and...Read More

Digital. It’s how we listen to music.  Understand current events. Communicate with friends.  The world has changed and if we want to be successful in our understanding of and engagement with our customers – digital is the foundation from where our loyalty programs need to be...Read More

Why retailers need to move away from "Us Too" rewards programs that divide loyalty and focus on the customer engagements that improve the loyalty KPIs that matter most. I frequently shop at two nearby sporting goods retailers and thanks to my wife, am a registered loyalty program...Read More

Many great ideas for campaigns are halted because the data just won’t play along. Optimove has the perfect answer for any marketing concept: “let’s do it” Data is everywhere, data is the buzz, the best. We’ve talked about data an endless amount of times, yet managed...Read More

You don’t have to be an expert marketer to understand that customer retention is a critical part of a brand’s foundation for growth. The advantages of a strong base of active customers include: Up to five times cheaper to drive current customer activity than the cost of acquiring new...Read More

Brands understand traditional loyalty. They’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s what they know. At one time, it may have been effective, but that’s no longer the case. And yet, some brands seem to be ignoring all the tell-tale signs that they need to rethink their approach...Read More

Competition in the restaurant world is more intense than ever before as restaurants battle it out for customer loyalty. The ability to keep pace with evolving customer expectations and stand out in this competitive landscape is separating the winners from the losers.Top challenges restaurants...Read More

We have seen from high-profile cases that loyalty fraud losses can range from a low of $50 up to $260,000 per instance[1]. High-profile publicly exposed fraud cases report the actual value of the points stolen and sometimes includes compensation that needs to be given to the members who had their...Read More

Effective marketing is vital to your restaurant’s success. An integrated analytics and marketing tool can help you get on with the business of managing your business.  The ability to understand your customers, preferences, and behavior is one of the most powerful tools you have at...Read More

How many times have you visited a store and during checkout were prompted to sign up for a loyalty program? Chances are, you signed up via email then left the store and never thought about that loyalty program again. After all, most consumers sign up for 19 to 29 different loyalty programs but...Read More

The way marketing is being conceived of and executed is changing in nothing short of a “through the looking glass” sort of way. Monoliths are being broken down into their atomic components. What was slow is fast. What went first is now last. And in some quarters, what was once revered...Read More

The key innovations in customer retention today are not necessarily bleeding-edge new strategies or technologies, but enhancements and well-imagined reinterpretations of classic marketing techniques: subscription, curation and re-ordering. Subscription is both the latest trend and something that...Read More

Millennials now outnumber baby boomers; learn how to cater your promotions to this diverse group.   Millennials make up 25% of the U.S. population, according to Millennial Marketing. Compared to other generations, they are usually the first to understand and adopt new technologies, and...Read More

The battle for the customer has never been so fierce in the restaurant industry. Restaurant operators need to differentiate from the pack and win the hearts and minds of their guests. Key to achieving this goal is understanding guest data – from all touchpoints – and leveraging this...Read More

Quidco, the UK’s number one cashback website and app, has run a very successful business for years. However, on mobile devices, it hasn’t always been able to provide rewards for some of the leading brands. To solve this challenge, two years ago, Button and Quidco partnered to advance...Read More

I am a data driven consumer. I am a millennial with disposable income (though less and less with two kids). I am conscious about a company’s ethics and their social giving. But the most important thing you need to know about me as a consumer? I suffer from decision paralysis.That is to...Read More

Lenati’s strategy and customer insights experience pairs with ProKarma’s expertise in technology and digital engineering   BEAVERTON, OR and SEATTLE, WA (April 16, 2018) — ProKarma, a global IT solutions company, today announced a definitive merger...Read More

It’s no secret that B2B gift card sales is an area where most retailers have room to grow. A Recent NAPCO Research report, sponsored by CashStar, confirmed this notion. Of the 100 major merchants evaluated in the study, roughly four out of every 10 (41%) had no mention of B2B gifting...Read More

Rolling out a loyalty program is a critical part of making sure you’re set up for success in the future. Capturing customers interests and getting them to enroll in a program takes a lot of energy to make sure all levers that are needed are in place and ready to go.During the webinar ...Read More

For the past decade, I’ve been an entrepreneur running creative agencies who never planned to work at corporate again, until last fall when it seemed the perfect time to work at corporate again.We are at a unique place in time right now with regards to marketing and advertising. The world...Read More

April is International Customer Loyalty Month and what better time to evaluate your own loyalty program? Regardless of your specific vertical — e.g. restaurant, hospitality or retail — successful loyalty programs all share the same winning formula.To gain competitive advantage, it...Read More

LOYALTY FRAUD – POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE MAKES PROGRAMS VULNERABLEThe loyalty business is booming and with it the size of the prize for fraudsters. In 2012, the estimated value of unredeemed points in U.S. loyalty programs was $48 billion.[1] More recent estimates of loyalty program liability...Read More

Club programs enjoy perennial popularity as the foundation of rewards programs. At some point, nearly every person will have had a paper or digital punch card for the club program of a convenience store or restaurant.But knowing that they’re popular and understanding why they’re...Read More

When speaking with brands on loyalty program strategy, it’s clear companies know they should be utilizing their data and personalizing the user experience, but there is often a barrier of hesitation to openly treat customers differently. This hesitancy is rooted in the fear of ostracizing a...Read More

It’s been said that personalizing your marketing can result in five to eight times the return on your marketing investment, but up until recently, it’s been difficult to achieve personalization. Tactics such as adding individual names to a mass email does not qualify as &ldquo...Read More

Choosing the right solution for your SMS marketing platform, while ensuring maximum ROI and boosting sales is not easy. While there is no shortage of text message marketing software programs and service providers, it can be challenging to differentiate which one would be the best match for your...Read More

Women are increasingly shopping at convenience stores providing a significant opportunity for c-store operators to capture their interest and generate customer loyalty. In fact, the 2018 Convenience Store News Realities of the Aisle customer study found that 44 percent of women say they shop at a...Read More

We all want to give our customers the best experience possible. Constantly, we hear marketers prioritizing the customer experience and personalized messaging while staying within budget and seeing true ROI. According to eMarketer, 74% of marketers prioritize matching customers across multiple...Read More

Consumers are human beings first. This is important to keep in mind when you think about building customer loyalty.On the surface, that can be easy to remember, but you’d be surprised how easy it is for people to forget that. So many businesses today are in this downward spiral of reducing...Read More

Credit cardholders come in all shapes and sizesIt is easy sometimes to think in black and white rather than shades of gray when it comes to credit card behavior. Or perhaps in this digital world we tend to think of things as being either on or off. This binary way of thinking applies to some...Read More

Restaurant chains strive to drive loyalty and retention in the hopes of turning one-time customers into repeat guests. This is something restaurants know they need to do -- it’s how to do it that poses a problem. Based on hundreds of conversations with restaurant brands, there are...Read More

Airlines have long been leaders and experts at cultivating dynamic, trend-setting loyalty programs. Their treasure trove of information allows marketers to engage with travelers in a meaningful way. What airlines get right about loyalty is creating an experience for members that’s...Read More

Trade in your convoluted way of managing and understanding data. There’s a better way.   By the time your average customer enters your restaurant, they already know a lot about it from the reviews they’ve read, social media posts they’ve seen, and word-of-mouth...Read More

Utilize a strategic framework and leverage adaptable guest engagement tools to operationalize guest loyalty in an ever-changing marketplace. MonkeyMedia and The Catering Institute offer a playbook for today’s unprecedented consumer demand for takeout, delivery and catering –...Read More

I’m one of those people who loves to organize around the house, and with two toddlers to keep me on my toes, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of the clutter that can accumulate over time. The same is true for loyalty programs, and adopting a ‘spring cleaning&rsquo...Read More

Take a moment to think about your most fulfilling relationship. Now, think about the qualities that make that relationship successful. I’m willing to bet that one of the qualities that makes that relationship so successful is each person’s willingness to listen. In this relationship...Read More

Like other consumer packaged goods companies, beauty brands struggle to build customer loyalty due to challenges that include no direct relationship with consumers and disintermediated purchase channels. These challenges also make it difficult for beauty brands to track marketing efficacy across...Read More

Today’s rapid pace of change and a strong job market force a fresh look at which metrics are critical to gauge the pulse of your business.     As restaurants embrace the digital age headlong and make sweeping changes to their operations, the metrics that are important to...Read More

When you think about loyalty programs, your mind probably goes immediately to a few different iterations: airline miles with your go-to brand, the credit card points you refuse to miss out on, a brand-specific program such as Sephora’s “Beauty Insider,” the rewards app you live...Read More

When it comes right down to it, a loyalty program is an agreement between a brand and customer. When a customer signs on for a rewards program, they know they’re giving up something invaluable – their information, habits, and behaviors – in exchange for certain treatment from a...Read More

It’s the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere! Spring represents more than just warmer weather. It represents new life and new beginnings. In my opinion, this season of new beginnings is a perfect time for Market Research agencies to evaluate their business. Are your profits...Read More

In recent months many people have written and spoken about Blockchain technology and its potential to be a game-changer. There is a lot of buzz about how it will affect loyalty programs, financial services and marketing initiatives in general.I am not a Blockchain or technology expert. But I do...Read More

If a loyalty member is part of competitor programs as well, are they actually loyal? In many verticals, consumers follow incentives to register for competing loyalty programs. This is because, for large merchants, a loyalty program in and of itself can no longer be considered a competitive...Read More

It’s almost mind-boggling the amount of challenges facing marketers today. Not only are budgets dropping, but in a world where shoppers are inundated with messaging from the moment they wake up until they finally turn off all electronics, it’s harder and harder to gain their attention...Read More

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For most optical retailers, customer loyalty, satisfaction and retention are key drivers of performance. For Eyes, a subsidiary of leading global optical retailer GrandVision, has higher expectations for its customer relationships. With 110 US stores, For Eyes has...Read More

Discover why it’s important to get a handle on the information that can help your business succeed.   When you opened your restaurant, you probably weren’t thinking about crunching numbers every night. In fact, you may think, the more you can avoid the boring data side of the...Read More

In three short years, Shoptalk, which will draw 8,000 retail professionals to Las Vegas from March 18th to the 21st, has emerged as a giant, must attend retail conference that now rivals the National Retail Federation Big Show that kicks off the retail year every January.Here are some things...Read More

Marketers and consumers alike are flocking to subscription-based shopping models. But these businesses face a daunting challenge: maintaining customer loyalty over the long haul.Think about how difficult it is for a box subscription business like Birchbox or a service subscription like Match.com...Read More

Why are loyalty programs important to hotel chains? They promote guest retention and direct bookings. Almost every major hotel chain has a loyalty program, which means it’s difficult for consumers to differentiate one chain’s program from another’s when the action required to...Read More

In case you haven’t already heard, loyalty programs deliver outstanding financial returns to restaurants by motivating guests to visit more often and spend more on each visit. Simply put, if you want to maximize your restaurant’s revenue, you need loyalty.However, when we talk about...Read More

Do loyalty programs work for luxury brands? It’s a fair question. The usual suspects of discounts and coupons don’t exactly scream high-end, but not to worry -- loyalty programs come in all shapes and sizes. In this blog post, we’re taking a closer look at some...Read More

No social media platform has changed restaurants more than Instagram. Have your plates gotten prettier over the years? Do they look just a tad more delicious when they leave the kitchen? Ask your kitchen team, and they may admit that they’ve thought about customers snapping pictures of...Read More

2017 was an ugly year for the consumer.On the heels of data breaches (see: Equifax exposing personal data of 143 million people) and dishonest data scandals (see: Uber paying off hackers to delete stolen data), customer relationship management needs an overhaul in 2018. And customers...Read More

As a loyalty marketer, you likely have dozens of metrics and KPIs to help define what loyalty looks like to you. Acquisition, repeat purchase, active members, referrals, redemptions, promotion participation, and more. But consider the other half of this critical relationship – the consumer....Read More

“Omni” – from the Latin “Omnis”, or “All”   Much to my daughter’s chagrin, I’ve always been a student of language. Between somewhat obnoxiously pointing out the more egregious errors in her millennial short-hand, I often find time to...Read More

Find out about the latest loyalty industry trends and consumer attitudes Loyalty programs remain a powerful strategy for companies looking to build relationships and lifetime value with customers, but the industry is evolving and there are challenges ahead. While loyalty program membership has...Read More

With a camera in everyone’s pocket nowadays, we’ve become pre-programmed to snap pictures of our food, whether it’s to show friends and family, or to post it on social media. According to Yelp, users searching for the word “Instagram” in their restaurant and food...Read More

 A company’s relationship with its customers means understanding their experience at every touch point along the customer journey. From the time a potential customer first considers making a purchase, the importance of understanding customers’ needs not only improves the buying...Read More

Exploring how entrepreneurs face unchartered territory.As a part of the Augeo Luminary Speaker’s Series highlighting disruptive thinking – in conjunction with the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota – Augeo COO, Scott Moore, had a discussion with Kimmy...Read More

What’s the sweet spot of a loyalty program? If you asked a consumer, you may get a far different answer than if you asked a business. The consumer wants: free items (that they would typically buy anyway) rewarding their current behaviors and shopping frequency at the places where they shop...Read More

It takes twice as much work to earn a new customer as it does to please an existing one, so don’t let one bad experience spell the end of a good customer relationship. If you think online reviews don’t matter, consider the fact that consumers now find a restaurant’s star rating...Read More

Loyalty benchmarks can help shape your strategy through a new lens.If we have learned anything in 18+ years of providing loyalty and engagement solutions across many industries, including financial services, we can say with certainty that relevant and meaningful rewards matter.Financial...Read More

Winston Churchill once said, “There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.” Back then he wasn’t referring to online restaurant reviews, but his words couldn’t be more relevant.   The opinions from a handful of people online don’t...Read More

Marketing experts regularly promote the fact (and rightly so) that in order to survive, your restaurant or other business must have a website, Facebook page, Twitter account and Instagram feed (and don’t forget claiming your business on Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google). But how often do you...Read More

Text messages can help you acquire and engage loyalty program members Getting people to join your loyalty program and keeping them engaged is a challenge, but with the rise of smartphones there are more options than ever before. We know that consumers are more willing to engage with loyalty...Read More

Earlier this year on CAPRAplus we discussed ensuring that the wants and needs of the consumer are put first when developing any consumer engagement program by asking the question, “Do my consumers really want this?” This time around we will look inward to the merchant to...Read More

Loyalty programs help drive mobile wallet adoptionI was speaking with a venture investor friend of mine recently who reminded me that predicting the future is not really that difficult. The challenge is not what will happen but when it will happen. The list of examples from the automobile to...Read More

Loyalty marketers are always looking for an edge that can push their loyalty efforts over the top. Success has been found in programmatic efforts that build customer reciprocity and status, or provide value in the form of savings back to the customer. A common theme among the most successful...Read More

If you are like most people, you thoroughly check out a business or a product online before you lay down your hard-earned money. Before the advent of online reviews, we would typically talk with friends, coworkers, and family to gather opinions, and then add these to our cache of knowledge about...Read More

Supporting efforts with strategically focused communications is key Tурiсаllу, programs aimed аt raising employee engagement target an employees' sense of bеlоnging (e.g., team building, inclusion, peer recognition, anniversary awards, еtс.) оr contribute to a ѕеnѕе of ѕignifiсаnсе (e.g...Read More

Increasingly, marketers are being asked to prove the value of their marketing campaigns and spend. And many of us face one gargantuan challenge after another, despite diminishing resources. So how do you make sure your marketing – specifically your email marketing – is efficient and...Read More

The evolution of brand loyalty marketingDoes it seem to you that customers aren't loyal to brands and their products any more?Today, shoppers research purchases online, price compare and then purchase based on up to the minute information. Even for commodities where brand loyalty once ruled...Read More

When a guest comes to your house, you greet them and ask: would you like a glass of water? You offer them an essential human amenity to help make them feel welcomed.What elemental amenities do shoppers need? Obviously they need heat, light, restrooms, elevators, drinking fountains... In the Age...Read More

If you are in business, you are concerned about cyber security. The best solutions deploy technology and engage employees.It is that time of year again when the little part of me says it is time to declutter and simplify my life, clear the calendar, update the budget and get rid of all the junk...Read More

Each new year brings inspiration and motivation to change. Resolutions for personal and professional goals are many, and the new year can bring opportunities to adjust programs and organizational initiatives.This could be the year your organization transforms employee engagement. Let’s take...Read More

According to data from One Click Retail, Amazon was responsible for about 44 percent of all U.S. e-commerce sales last year, or about 4 percent of the country's total retail sales figures. The fastest-growing product categories on Amazon.com in 2017 included luxury beauty and pantry...Read More

Most convenience stores share similar reasons for having a reward program – such as improving profitability and enticing customers to make incremental sales – but all reward programs are not created equal, and a one-size-fits-all approach may not produce the outcomes that retailers...Read More

In case you haven’t heard, Amazon.com has made it even easier for you to cough up some of your dollars over this past year—enter the Amazon Treasure Truck. For Amazon Prime members, the Treasure Truck provides yet one more way to experience the benefits of Prime: [A] order...Read More

Note: This blog post should not be considered legal advice. For any questions regarding the law, please consult an attorney.   Perhaps it goes without saying: it’s simply good practice to understand the laws that apply wherever you plan to conduct business. This includes...Read More

Retailers are optimizing the omnichannel approach to loyalty by investing in new strategies and technologies to reach customers wherever they are, cutting through the noise of a cluttered space with messages and experiences that are relevant and compelling. Retailers recognize that they need to...Read More

Evaluation Analyzes Gift Card Ecommerce Offerings of 100 Top MerchantsToday’s consumers demand great end-to-end experiences in store and online—and this expectation extends to gift cards as well. After all,according to a recent report from the National Retail Federation, gift cards...Read More

Marketers are tasked with promoting the business, building relationships with customers, and tracking results. Most marketers find themselves overwhelmed by disparate, disconnected tools and apps, and, frankly, inundated with data - sometimes paralyzed by it. The problem with most email marketing...Read More

How one bank’s creative thinking generated $90,000 in potential RDC revenue—in just 25 daysTime is money. We’ve all heard that old adage. It implores us to work smarter rather than harder, in order to achieve our goals. And trite as it may sound, it’s still solid...Read More

We all know how the cost of acquiring a customer is greater than the cost to retain a customer and the benefits of building customer loyalty include increased sales and positive word of mouth. Little wonder then that most retailers recognize the importance of a good loyalty program...Read More

From every direction, you can see the tremendous transformation that’s happening in payments. But blink for one moment, and you’ve missed another technology change in the payments ecosystem. How can anyone keep pace in the midst of new startups circumventing traditional institutions...Read More

Here’s a story, and it will probably sound familiar. There's a quick service restaurant chain. Let's say they have around 500 locations, give or take, and about $1 billion in annual revenue. They have an app and a loyalty program that have been around for awhile. The loyalty program...Read More

Consumers expect brands to know who they are, and create compelling experiences for them. In fact, 63% of consumers said they’d think more positively of a brand if its content was more valuable, interesting or relevant and 59% of customers say that personalization influences...Read More

Marketing has evolved from somewhat of an art into a very precise and quantifiable science. No marketing campaign should ever be rolled out without a robust understanding of how to measure whether your campaign was a resounding success or, contrarily, a bit of a let-down.Your marketing efforts...Read More

The soaring cost of healthcare in the United States has led to an increasing amount of bad debt faced by medical practices. To help stem this, healthcare providers should turn to an example from the retail space and streamline their payment processes.Here’s how.Follow the retail leaderJust...Read More

I’m a marketer (for a company that makes software for other marketers), but I’m also a consumer. The two sides are intertwined. For better or for worse, I can’t turn the marketer off while I shop. The marketer side of me is always taking mental notes about customer engagement...Read More

It is clear that the challenging consumer retail environment is not going to get easier.  Restaurants, especially casual and family sectors, will continue to be collateral damage as the consumer shifts their retail spending online, and Amazon meets their needs with amazing speed and price...Read More

Perhaps the biggest shift we've seen in marketing over the past decade or so is towards consumer empowerment. Due in large part to the sheer volume of companies out there vying for the attention of consumers, as well as advances in media technology and the role it plays in marketing...Read More

The incredible pace of change in 2017, combined with the uncertain regulatory and political environment going forward, and the acceleration of competitive pressures across the payments industry can make 2018 look like the hardest year yet. However, if we approach this disruption with a...Read More

Email can be a powerful way to market your business, keep in touch with prospects, and keep engaging with loyal customers. But your emails can only be opened if they land in your contacts’ inboxes. Spam legislation and protections put in place by internet service providers and email service...Read More

Focused on applications beyond fighting fraud, this is the second article of a two-part series on the deployment of artificial intelligence in banking. Part 1 of Artificial Intelligence – The New Frontier in Banking discussed how important machine learning has become to financial...Read More

It’s always hard when someone says good-bye, whether they unfriend you on Facebook or unsubscribe from your email list. But unsubscribes aren’t always a bad thing. Plus, they can teach you a few things about your list, and your email marketing. We’ll cover these topics in this...Read More

If you're doing everything you can to make your brand stand out from the crowd, you already know the phenomenal value of video in marketing.Once primarily a broadcast medium, video now leverages the immense amount of data available to deliver hyper-relevant, and often heavily personalized...Read More

Shoe stores have mobile apps. So does the Smithsonian. You can find apps that help new parents keep track of diaper changes, apps that can help you find a clean restroom while traveling, and apps that let you schedule your dry cleaning for pickup and delivery. It’s the age of the mobile app...Read More