Published on July 21, 2011   

Tags: 
Email Marketing, Email Subject Lines, Research Summaries, Smart Phones

Email open rates continued to languish in 2010, though performance levels varied dramatically by industry, whereas click rates improved during the year, according to a report by MailerMailer, which also found that most people tend to open email between seven and ten in the morning.

The average overall unique open rate* at the end of 2010 was 11.4%, up 0.2 percentage points from 11.2% a year earlier.

Though factors such as image blocking, rising use of smart phones, and list fatigue are often cited for open rate decline, another element influencing open rates is the increasingly large volume of emails that subscribers regularly receive, according to the report.

Below, additional findings from the July 2011 edition of the Email Marketing Metrics Report, including the best day to send email and open and click rates by industry and list size.


Some key findings:

·         Subject Lines: Emails with shorter subject lines tend to outperform those with longer lines: Subject lines of 4-15 characters generated a 14.1% open rate, whereas those containing 51 or more characters had the least amount of opened emails (9.9%). The highest click rates were generated by emails with subject lines between 16 and 27 characters long (4%). Interestingly, the category which generated the most opens did not generate the highest click rate: Subject line lengths with 4-15 characters generated a 3.1% click rate.

·         Bounces by mailing frequency:  Marketers sending emails more frequently garner fewer bounces. Emails sent to subscribers less than once a month (5.1%) generated the highest bounce rate, whereas those sent more frequently, such as once a day or more, registered the smallest bounce rate (0.4%).

·         Personalization: Emails containing personalization in the actual message registered open rates of 12.6% on average, compared with those containing personalized subject lines only (4.1%). Click-rate trends closely mirror open-rate trends: Messages that contained a personalized subject line only generated a 0.8% click rate, whereas personalization in the message portion of the email generated a 3% click rate.

Morning is E-mail Prime Time

Email marketers who schedule their email campaigns to be delivered between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM can expect higher volumes of email opens and clicks, MailerMailer found.

A similar trend was evident in the early evening, following regular business hours: Email marketers who scheduled their emails to be delivered between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM local time, for example, experienced a considerable jump in their open and click rates.

Overall, emails are typically opened during the morning hours between 7:00 AM and 10:00 AM. During that period, email open rates maintain a steady climb until noon, at which point open rates begin to slowly decline.

Check out MailerMailer’s Interactive chart, Email Opens by Time of Day, for detailed stats.

Best Day to Send Email: Sunday

Emails sent on Sundays during the 2010 registered the highest average open and click rates, 12.2% and 4.4%, respectively ( up from 2009 levels, 14.1% and 12.2%, respectively.) Overall, click rates were lowest on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Open rates were generally lower during the second half of the year, with a considerable drop off on Saturdays, likely indicating that fewer emails were sent on Saturdays from July to December.

Subscribers recorded the highest engagement (via clicks) during the weekends.

Open Rates by Industry

Transportation (17.6%), non-profit (15.2%) and consulting (14.9%) were the top performers in 2010 whereas media (8%), restaurant (8%) and medical (7.1%) recorded the lowest email open rates.

Looking for great digital marketing data? MarketingProfs reviewed hundreds of research sources to create our most recent Digital Marketing Factbook (May 2010), a 296-page compilation of data and 254 charts, covering email marketing, social media, search engine marketing, e-commerce, and mobile marketing. Also check out The State of Social Media Marketing, a 240-page original research report from MarketingProfs. 

Click Rates Improve

The average overall unique click rate** at the end of 2010 was 2.9%, up from 1.6% one year earlier. Similar to open rates, click rates registered a decline from the first half to the second half of 2010.

The positive click-rate trend likely signals that email marketers are maintaining lists and ensuring links work properly, and becoming savvier overall with how they create, design, and distribute their email campaigns. 

In addition, an increase in the click-rate trend may indicate that messages are becoming more relevant and contain clearer calls-to-action messaging.

Click Rates by Industry

Click rates also varied widely by industry, with some sectors’ click rates at 9% or more and others’ at 1% or less. The top-performing industries in 2009 were the following:

·         Consumer: 4.9%

·         Transportation: 4.6%

·         Consulting: 4.5%

·         Real-Estate : 4.4%

The industries with the lowest click rates were the following:

·         Education: 1.4%

·         Government: 1.2%

·         Medical: 1.1%

·         Restaurant: 0.4%

*Open rate is calculated by dividing the number of email messages opened by the total number of email messages sent.

**Click rates are calculated by dividing the total number of unique clicks by the product of the number of links in each message and the number of total recipients.

About the data: The data for this report is based on the study of 977 million email messages sent by MailerMailer customers (roughly 87,000 newsletter campaigns) from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010, to a minimum of 25 recipients.

That’s why it’s so important to manage information about every customer interaction in a shared business system that all customer-facing employees can access and use to communicate with and serve the customer. The customer can then be treated appropriately and consistently because Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service are all aware of her needs, interests, previous purchases, and value. Such a single view of the customer not only makes it easier for employees to make smarter marketing decisions and interact with customers more effectively but also creates a better experience for the consumer. Integrating cross-channel data in a single database creates an invaluable corporate asset and accelerates the ability to interact more effectively with customers in real time. Customer Growth Requires Data The primary job of Sales and Marketing is to attract and grow customers. Doing that successfully requires using customer data to support customer engagement strategy, interactive marketing technology, and sales and marketing operations. In B2B marketing, for example, customer growth occurs via account penetration. That means identifying and connecting with more and more individual buyers within the account. In this context, think of the account as a network of multiple sites, composed of multiple buying groups and specific people with responsibility for specific applications—applications for which your products or services meet the customer needs. Marketing to those very people who make or influence purchasing decisions is mandatory. But businesses tend to assign differing sets of responsibilities to people with roles that look identical from a functional-title perspective alone. As a result, reaching the right people inside an account is difficult, complex, and expensive. Relying on relationships within buyer groups is necessary for identifying other buyer groups and generating referrals. That complex set of relationships can be visualized as a cube, with account plans being driven from decoding and mapping the relationship network. Serving Has Become The New Selling If account penetration is about achieving customer growth by selling your products to more buyers within an account, product penetration achieves growth by selling more products to each buying group. Product penetration is about more than short-term revenue enhancement. It is about creating sustainable customer relationships that are based on delivering value by serving the customer better. To truly serve customers better, companies must learn to market to a “segment of one,” because today’s customer wants more control over the content that is being delivered via email, mobile, social media, and website channels. No longer is it appropriate or acceptable to guess what information or offers the customer wants. In fact, it is destructive to the customer relationship. The recent Subscribers, Fans, & Followers research conducted by ExactTarget found that 90% of consumers unsubscribe, unfan, or unfollow when the communication received from brands is too frequent or the content is irrelevant. When companies “unsilo” their old single-channel marketing strategies, commit to understanding individual customer needs and interests, manage that insight in a single database, and use it to deliver timely and relevant content, they don’t merely sell more: They also create a community of brand advocates who become some of the company’s most effective marketers. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/update-for-keegan/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/rewards-cards-consumers-love-em-retailers-dont/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/rewards-cards-consumers-love-em-retailers-dont/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:42:19 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2982 By Catherine CliffordJuly 14, 2011: 4:06 PM ET

A small retailer — which asked not to be identified — hung up a sign requesting that customers not pay with rewards credit cards. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Consumers love the free flights, gadgets and cash back they get when they pay with their rewards credit cards. But mom and pop stores cringe when they do. It costs a merchant more each time a consumer pays with — or “swipes” — a rewards card than when a consumer pays with a basic credit card. Forty percent to 70% of credit card transactions are made with rewards cards, said Phil Hinke, founder and president of MerchantFeeSavers, a company that helps small business owners understand processing fees. Most consumers don’t know that merchants are footing the bill for those free airline tickets and other perks. “Very few consumers realize that these interchange fees are what fund these cards,” said Curtis Arnold, the founder of CardRatings.Com, a credit card ratings website. Business owners baffled by financial statements But small business owners sure wish they did. Small retailers are less able to afford these higher charges. And they may actually be getting a worse rate than larger companies. Small business owners ”don’t have the bargaining power,” said Arnold. The “small business owner is paying more — not only to use a rewards card — but just to use plastic in general.” Can’t live with them, can’t live without them: Thanks to a settlement between Visa and MasterCard and the Department of Justice, merchants can dissuade consumers from using rewards cards. Retailers are free to steer customers to other forms of payment, said Denise Dunckel, spokeswoman for Visa. And some, like the store with the sign pictured above, do try to persuade consumers to put their rewards cards back in their wallets. But others don’t think they can afford to do that. Rewards cards holders are a valuable group of spenders. “There has been very few — if any — merchants that have taken advantage” of the ability to direct their customers away from certain cards, said Trish Wexler, spokeswoman for the Electronic Payment Coalition, a Washington D.C.-based group that represents financial institutions including Visa and MasterCard. “When rewards cards customers shop at that merchant’s store, they spend more money.” And trying to figure out if a credit card is a rewards card can be a challenge for business owners. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/rewards-cards-consumers-love-em-retailers-dont/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/four-rules-for-higher-profits/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/four-rules-for-higher-profits/#comments Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:59:08 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2965 Editors Notes:  Here is an excellent White Paper below by Peppers and Rogers which you can download.  Many business owners don’t realize we are in a paradigm shift when it comes to running a profitable business.  Customers are MORE demanding, MORE critical, can SHARE experiences with 1000s on social networking sites, and more.  They are also TIRED of corruption, want things SIMPLE and above all want business owners to LISTEN to their requests.  For those business owners who implement these solutions now, first mover advantage is huge as over 90% of offline retail does not even understand how to build a database without paper forms. Research continues to pour in, many high level research firms are now wondering why so few business owners seem to move forward when everything is telling them they MUST find a solution to either stay profitable or stay in business.   For those who don’t have time to download and read the White Paper, here are the top 10 tips below the article link. Download the complimentary white paper.

We all know the importance of establishing and maintaining loyal customers. Loyal customers are overwhelmingly more profitable, not only because they buy more, but also because their cost-to-serve is less.

In addition, loyal customers are a company’s most productive marketing channel because they provide authentic word-of-mouth referrals and serve as trustworthy advocates of its brand.

So, the question is: if we all know these facts as truths, then why haven’t our loyalty programs kept pace? In most cases, it’s a combination of strategic and technological impediments.

Written for senior level executives, Circumstances and Customers Have Changed: Has Your Loyalty Program Kept Pace?, identifies the four rules of customer loyalty marketing and how these principles are being used in companies to deliver strategic and tactical business benefits.

Download your complimentary copy today

© 2011 Peppers & Rogers Group. All Rights Reserved. 1to1^® is a registered trademark of Peppers & Rogers Group.

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Marketers falling behind at customer retention Tuesday July 5, 2011 Many businesses are failing to exploit the full range of options available to increase both customer acquisition and customer retention, according to a survey from ancillary revenue experts Collinson Latitude. Continue reading.. More Info: http://www.collinsonlatitude.com

]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/survey-amazes-experts/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/email-roi-maximizer/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/email-roi-maximizer/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 17:48:55 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2949 Editors Notes:  More amazing statistics on how businesses are missing the boat with their ability to target data.  Imagine business owners getting PAID IN ADVANCE to do things right, show their customers they care, send relevant information and communicate with them based on gender, buying habits, frequency, anniversary, and more and simply not wanting to bother.  An economic crisis is a terrible thing to waste, customers are not going to put up with poor business practices for much longer.   The need to do things properly is very important and we are seeing customers defect left and right looking for businesses who value their purchase and support what they believe in with every visit.  Simply employ these two requests and profitablity wil increase substantially.  
Most marketing email lacks ‘personal touch’ Go to www.wisemarketer.com and register for the 5 suggestions and further info. 

Monday July 4, 2011 The majority of the UK’s top retailers are adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach to their email marketing, reducing the accuracy of communications and consequently risking lower conversion rates and marketing effectiveness, according to research from dotMailer.

The ‘Hitting the Mark’ study found that brands such as Amazon and Republic that get their approach to email marketing right are likely to achieve a higher return on investment (ROI) through the e-mail channel. sschroed1 This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com).

The annual study added a new criteria for 2011, scrutinising whether or not brands are using the customer data available to them to better target their email messages, and found that an alarming 69% of emails showed no personalisation at all, while 87% of messages that were sent following a purchase were no different to those sent to cold prospects. In fact, only one retailer (Amazon.co.uk) followed up an online purchase with an email marketing message tailored to that purchase.

The majority of retailers apparently made no attempt to drive cross-sell, up-sell or repeat purchase based on customers’ previous online buying behaviour. Another surprising finding was that only 13% of retailers attempted to customise their email messages based on the known gender of the recipient.

However, 93% of retailers were found to be using triggered emails following a purchase to reassure and build customer loyalty, and 67% are keeping online customers informed about the progress of their order through timely email updates.

According to Tink Taylor, managing director for dotMailer, this study serves as a warning to those in charge of marketing budgets: “By their nature, online sellers should have access to customer data that can allow them to dramatically increase the relevance and impact of their email marketing communications with customers. In this tough economic climate, marketers who are not actively collecting and using that data to create targeted email messages that drive related sales are really missing a trick.”

As a result, dotMailer suggests five key post-sale email targeting best practices: ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/email-roi-maximizer/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-email-text-research/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-email-text-research/#comments Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:03:59 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2944 Editors Notes: Important Business Info: The two paragraphs from the research article below should send shivers down the spine of most business owners who continue to blast messages. In the new digital age, you MUST find a solution which has the ability to query the data and send RELEVANT information to your customers or else you will lose them. Just wait until TEXTING catches on and the requirement to do things properly will be much more important and cause even greater business defection. Complete Article Here, highlights below

Untargeted e-marketing loses most customers Thursday June 30, 2011 In the marketing world, email is regarded as one of the cheapest and most effective channels for getting a message directly in front of the intended consumer because it offers the ability to personalise the message, time its sending precisely, and trace its progress through open rates, according to Andy Wood, managing director for GI Insight. Continue Reading..

The #1 answer from consumers as to WHY they would refer another business or brand to their friends was HOW they are being treated by the business. When we show value, appreciation, and concern for our customers while rewarding them with every purchase and funding what they believe it with a percentage of each transaction, people will spread the word like nothing else.

Word of Mouth is King of the jungle in the digital age, you want customers logging into THEIR Facebook account or twitter and letting their friends know about how they are being treated by Jim. Special cash back rewards, membership benefits, relevant communication, support of what they believe in. In other words, Jim is showing how much he cares with EVERY visit. There are so few business owners who do this that the ones who do will be like kids in a candy store. Consumers love to be listened too, nurtured, valued, and appreciated. It’s really that easy to lifting profits.

Seven Keys to Building Customer Loyalty–and Company Profits

BY: MICAH SOLOMONMarch 4, 2010

A personal bond with customers lets your company escape the commodity pricing wars and provides you with a powerful new marketing arm: loyal customers who will promote and defend your company online and off–for free. Here are seven tips for getting the process started of building customer loyalty in a big way.
]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/word-of-mouth-champions/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/email-text-research-and-assignment/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/email-text-research-and-assignment/#comments Sat, 18 Jun 2011 17:52:46 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2911 Assignment: Every business owner should be doing the four basics listed below. Every independent research firm and white paper study is verifying the importance of putting these practices in place. Why do we see so few businesses following best practices? If you are out and about, please ask the owner of the business why these basic four practices are not a part of their business and let me know. We are doing a research paper in conjunction with several firms and would like to hear business owner feedback.

1. Building a database without paper forms, sign-up sheets, fish bowls, or any paper input whatsoever.
2. Pulling data such as 30-35 year old females who have not been in the last 30 days, by spending, frequency, and purchase behavior.
3. Communicating with these same customers via integrated email or text based on their needs, their purchases, their wants and desires.
4. Rewarding every customer after each visit and supporting the customers heart felt need with every purchase with full accountability.

Getting the right timing for e-mail marketing Tuesday June 14, 2011 Marketers need to constantly rethink their email strategies in order to remain relevant to consumers, according to Sam Cece, CEO for email marketing firm StrongMail, who suggests several ways to make sure email marketing communications are timed just right. While the idea of ‘right-time communication’ is not a new one, it is a concept that has become vital to marketing effectiveness in the digital world. In recent years, email marketing has arguably become the most reliable direct channel for online brands, despite a plethora of new communication options (such as Facebook, Twitter, online communities, the mobile channel, and so on). sschroed1 This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com). Continue Reading..

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]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/free-subway-for-a-week/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-update-dead-men-walking/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-update-dead-men-walking/#comments Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:44:25 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2888 Editors Notes:  If you own a business or know anyone who does, please pay attention to your customers.  Soon after I sent the last update, new research from Forrester’s arrived indicating the trend is accelerating and the consequences are dire.   We are experts in customer engagement with turnkey solutions for any size business model.

Here you go…

Manufacturing, distribution and information expertise once set one company apart from another. No longer, insists Forrester, which now insists that the only differentiator that really matters is consumer loyalty.

 Companies that keep riding their current model and attempt to lock in customers are doomed. “They’re dead men walking,” Bernoff believes. “They just don’t know it yet.” 

In its new report “Competitive Strategy In The Age Of The Customer,” Forrester asserts that companies must be more than customer-focused — they must be customer-obsessed, according to Forrester analyst and report author Josh Bernoff.

What does that mean? Specifically, a customer-obsessed company “focuses its strategy, its energy and its budget on processes that enhance knowledge of an engagement with customers, and prioritizes these over maintaining traditional competitive barriers,” according to Bernoff.

For his report, Bernoff looked at Michael Porter’s five forces as a framework for analyzing competition. “There is no longer any barrier to potential entrants or substitutes — in a digital world, competition can come from anywhere,” Bernoff noted in a blog post on Monday. “Customers have real-time information about pricing, product features and competitors; they hold all the advantages.”

As such, brands should spend less on surveys whose results arrive too late to act on; instead, they should invest in real-time listening to social media.

Also, brands should change their service unit. “You invest in a comprehensive cross-channel customer-experience program — and stop treating your call-center workers as slaves,” Bernoff explained.

In the area of sales, brands should stop encouraging their sales force to cram channels and concentrate on connecting directly with end-consumers.

Furthermore, Bernoff suggested that brands take cash from their email and ad blasts and spend it on interactive content and mobile apps that create what he calls “real connections.”

“This is a corporate wide shift in thinking,” Bernoff added ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-update-dead-men-walking/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/top-25-frequent-flyer-programs-compared/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/top-25-frequent-flyer-programs-compared/#comments Sat, 11 Jun 2011 18:58:08 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2877 Important Editors Notes: The information below is a little advanced but well worth the 3 minutes it might take to go through the introduction. There is a paradigm shift of consumer demands taking place which are very important to understand. INTRO: Whether you are Southwest Airlines or Ford Motor Company, we offer solutions which are vastly superior to what other Fortune 500 companies have used for years. In the past they have worked somewhat well, but the entire customer demographic is changing with the economy and digital age, and very few have solutions designed to meet these new customer demands. The research is pouring in and getting stronger about the brand damage occurring with improper solutions, non targeted and relevant communication, improper offers and much more. Brands and business will LOSE customers at a rapid clip unless they wake up and start listening. The reverse is also true, those who offer what consumers are looking for FIRST will establish their brands and business for years and build loyalty and increased profits for a long time. First mover is HUGE. You don’t need to read the entire article below, but try and read the introduction and realize that brands/business/retail which do things right first and listen to the new customer demands will dominate and prosper for years. It does not matter if you are Southwest Airlines, Ford Motor Co., Miller Beer or Jims Pizza with one location in Denver. The rules are the same and business models of any size can benefit by simply listening to what their customers are requesting and delivering it to them in a simple, convenient, relevant method. We know what they want and we know how to deliver it. Most companies will not even take the time to study the mounds of research needed to deliver proper solutions, but we do. No matter your size or brand, the time for first mover advantage is now. Article intro below: Frequent Flyer loyalty is a huge multi-billion dollar business. We have written numerous articles about these programs at www.wildboarstraining.com The two most important paragraphs of the research have been moved to the top, and they confirm what we have warned about for years. Points based programs, visitation incentives such as 15 visits for a free cup of coffee, confusing redemption rules, and other similar type of problems (such as miles earned for dollars spent) do nothing more than confuse customers. The new research shows people are fed up with this chaos and they are disengaging from the brand even though the brand is TRYING to reward them. This is also happening with email blasts, irrelevant communication, poor offers, lack of special benefits and many other fundamental mistakes which 95% of loyalty solutions make every day. They used to get away with this, not any longer. Mission Critical for ROI: The proper solutions are now more important than ever, the new consumer is demanding competence and will no longer put up with companies, restaurants, bowling centers (or any retail business) who do not listen to their requests. Brands can now cause MORE DAMAGE by TRYING to do things right than not doing them at all! This is new, but proper roll-out of loyalty solutions and offers are paramount for increased profits or survival in the digital age. Without going into too much detail, one of the simple solutions to the multi-billion dollar problem for the Airlines is CASH BACK REWARDS. Consumers have requested simple, effective and immediate cash back rewards for years and yet very few companies even validate this one single request. We have solutions for you to partner with these airlines in a vastly superior way than they currently provide with their own frequent flier programs. Imagine if you earned $5.00 in rewards which could be spent on ANY SOUTHWEST AIRLINES ticket when you spent $100.00 at the bowling center or restaurant? What if Southwest Airlines were the exclusive sponsor of your restaurant or bowling center? Everyone understands what $27.00 is, but we don’t know what 6000 miles will do for us. Imagine if industries such as auto, entertainment, etc. were to pool their influence and offer to drive millions of customers to a specific brand with proper offers tied to a loyalty platform for synergy. For example, what if the sport of bowling with 70 million participants were to understand how to drive their members into Southwest Airlines, Pizza Hut, or Ford Motor Company on an exclusive basis? What if a major restaurant chain or fast food chain were to cut exclusive Pepsi deals with Pepsi products vs. Coke? Very few understand ‘bigger picture’ loyalty with exclusive business synergy tied to world class loyalty solutions. There are many reasons why we have yet to see this develop and the big word is YET. The fact that we see very few world class loyalty platforms is probably the reason. Some of the most fundamental, error prone loyalty programs are used by Fortune 500 companies who are supposed to be leaders in their space. Instead, they are sorely lacking in innovation, research and proper solutions. This gives certain brands a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to catch their competitors off guard and move in with first mover strategies which will establish them until the next paradigm shift occurs. Obviously, we can’t go over all the details here but we are experts in this field and it opens up all kinds of opportunities for our clients whether they be a single location restaurant owner or bowling center. We can show you how to take advantage of this void and prosper for years. I have all the info on the airlines and scores of other programs but just the move to simple cash back as a basic first step would be a huge improvement. In addition to the simplicity and effectiveness of cash back, another key benefit is flexibility, tiered benefits, membership privileges and business synergy. Cash back solutions tied to the transaction give opportunities to treat customers differently based on spend or visitation. Whether this be a Platinum Membership or Kids Pass or anything similar, the ideas are numerous, simple and drive FULL PRICE into the register without discounting. Proper loyalty solutions always work if the owner is willing to listen, learn and engage with customers.

The top 25 frequent flyer programmes compared

There is, however, a consumer-facing problem that is common to many of today’s airline loyalty programmes: excessive complexity. While airlines are complex enterprises with many hundreds of variations of tickets, seats, classes, routes, destinations, customers, and even baggage and security rules, the customer should not have to understand and negotiate all of these complexities in order to work out what reward they can get for flying from Point A to Point B next month. Most frequent flyer programmes offer different tiers or statuses (which are clearly necessary to differentiate between high-end benefits for profitable customers and low-end rewards for occasional passengers), but programme members are understandably confused by a wealth of tier points, elite status qualifying miles, qualifying segments, qualifying miles, partner points exchange rates, redemption mechanisms, vouchers, class upgrade options, and so on. The traditional long-haul and domestic airlines and their frequent flyer programmes have faced increasing competition over the past few years, not only from each other but also from a vast array of smaller start-ups and low cost, budget carriers. An increasing number of ‘business class only’ airline operators has added extra pressure to a market that relies heavily on business and first class fares to subsidise operations. And business growth has been made even harder to achieve by increasing numbers and complexities of security checks and updated airport procedures, all of which have conspired against the humble passenger and caused many people to seriously re-think any plans they have for air travel. The simultaneous rise of internet-based phone calls (such as Skype), online meeting and presentation services, and of course video-conferencing has provided many business people – who would previously have had to travel by air – with an alternative way of conducting business without the cost or inconvenience of leaving the office. These factors have combined to spur airlines across the board into ever-more clever and innovative frequent flyer programme developments. Some of the new features focus on the airport and its associated services, while others focus on the flight itself. Almost all focus on passenger comfort and convenience, with almost all higher tiers (the so-called ‘elite’ frequent flyers) being offered faster ways of getting through check-ins, security checks, baggage collection, and transfers. There has also been a mass move among the larger airlines into online loyalty malls and new mileage redemption options that start at lower levels than the traditional 25,000 or 35,000 miles-per-seat award ticket. The higher classes of travel (business class, premium class, first class, and half a dozen other names describing non-economy classes) are clearly the focus of airlines’ attention. This report’s authors predict that this trend will continue to grow, driving a significant wedge between airlines that carry economy passengers (for whom personal service can be expected to decline in line with decreasing prices) and those that carry business and luxury passengers (for whom personal service will increase thanks to the lower financial and staffing overheads caused by the loss of economy class). There is, however, a consumer-facing problem that is common to many of today’s airline loyalty programmes: excessive complexity. While airlines are complex enterprises with many hundreds of variations of tickets, seats, classes, routes, destinations, customers, and even baggage and security rules, the customer should not have to understand and negotiate all of these complexities in order to work out what reward they can get for flying from Point A to Point B next month. Most frequent flyer programmes offer different tiers or statuses (which are clearly necessary to differentiate between high-end benefits for profitable customers and low-end rewards for occasional passengers), but programme members are understandably confused by a wealth of tier points, elite status qualifying miles, qualifying segments, qualifying miles, partner points exchange rates, redemption mechanisms, vouchers, class upgrade options, and so on. Now compare this situation to a supermarket retailer’s “points means rewards” loyalty card programme, in which shoppers understand that every US$1 they spend earns them 1 loyalty point, which equals US$0.01 in rewards, and in which redemption is as simple as walking up to a checkout counter. If frequent flyer programmes are really aiming to differentiate their respective airlines in the mind of the time-pressured traveller, airlines must surely take a step back and re-examine their loyalty offerings with a view to simplifying them and making them more predictable and comparable. Case studies: what works, what doesn’t, and why… Our latest report, ‘The Loyalty Guide 4′, covers airline loyalty programmes and initiatives in detail, with over 1,000 pages of solid loyalty marketing data, practice, and theory – everything you need to know in one global report. It explains customer loyalty and engagement, metrics, best practices, concepts, technologies, models and the latest tools and innovations. It’s packed with detailed case studies, research, market sizes, forecasts, models, charts, illustrations, and materials to support new initiatives, presentations and proposals. The report presents detailed case studies and programme summaries for 25 major airlines, with programme developments and membership figures in all cases, including: 1. Air Canada (Aeroplan)
2. Air France/KLM (Flying Blue)
3. Air New Zealand (Airpoints)
4. Alaska Airlines (Mileage Plan)
5. American Airlines (AAdvantage)
6. British Airways (Executive Club)
7. Brussels Airlines (Miles&More)
8. China Southern Airlines (Sky Pearl Club)
9. Continental Airlines (OnePass)
10. Delta Air Lines (SkyMiles)
11. Emirates (Skywards)
12. Etihad (Etihad Guest)
13. Frontier (Early Returns)
14. Jet Airways (JetPrivilege)
15. JetBlue Airways (TrueBlue)
16. Lufthansa (Miles&More)
17. Malaysia Airlines (Enrich)
18. Northwest Airlines (merged with Delta)
19. Qatar Airways (Qmiles)
20. South African Airways (Voyager)
21. Southwest Airlines (Rapid Rewards)
22. United Airlines (Mileage Plus)
23. US Airways (Dividend Miles)
24. Virgin Atlantic (Flying Club)
25. Virgin Blue (Velocity Rewards) The report also charts the latest developments and loyalty offerings for more than a dozen other airlines around the world, including Aeromexico (Club Premier), Air China (Companion), AirTran (A+ Rewards), bmi (Diamond Club), EgyptAir (Aeroplan), Flybe (no loyalty scheme), Kulula (Jetsetter Club), Porter Airlines (VIPorter), Qantas (Frequent Flyer), Scandinavian Airlines (EuroBonus), Spirit Airlines (Free Spirit), TAM Brazil (Multiplus Fidelidade), Turkish Airlines (Aeroplan), Virgin America (Elevate), and WestJet (Air Miles Canada). Among the hundreds of airline loyalty facts, figures, insights and consumer research detailed in the report: 1. The latest FFP membership figures for 28 major airlines
2. Air travel loyalty best practices
3. Strategies to reinforce the value of FFP miles
4. Key factors for building strong FFP relationships
5. How commoditised FFPs can still find value in data
6. Why airlines’ main business challenge still lies with their loyalty efforts
7. The ten major trends governing the future of FFPs
8. The business benefits of an FFP in tough economic times
9. How airlines can generate more income from their loyalty offerings
10. The growing problem of frequent flyer ‘breakage’ (unredeemed miles)
11. The potential spread of FFPs to airports Find out all about the principles, practicalities, measurement, analysis, and bottom-line effects of customer loyalty, and gain expert guidance from dozens of loyalty marketing thought-leaders worldwide. Find out how to gather and use customer data to increase customer profitability, reduce churn, and to monitor and increase customer frequency, spending, and share of wallet. Most importantly, find out where competitors are succeeding or failing, and why. SUMMER OF LOYALTY READER OFFER: Until 30th June 2011 you also get £100 off the usual price of £1,095 for the electronic (PDF) edition. The Loyalty Guide 4 gives you a complete, portable reference library of customer loyalty, engagement and marketing strategy. A free 50-page Executive Summary, chapter samples, table of contents, text searching, licensing and ordering details are also available online now at http://www.theloyaltyguide.com ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/top-25-frequent-flyer-programs-compared/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/coupons-without-discounting/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/coupons-without-discounting/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:20:34 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2866 363 Billion Coupons printed every year with 99.2% thrown away. This gigantic waste, poor tracking, expensive communication tool has led to the new age of ‘digital coupons’. We have tons of research on this subject but what many of these digital coupon solutions or ‘daily deal’ Groupon type programs are missing is how to protect full price but still drive value. If you are going to use traditional coupons, then CHANGE THE MESSAGE for higher ROI. There are coupon distributing firms such as BMA in the bowling world which will organize distribution. But, instead of just a one off campaign, they are now plugged into a turn-key loyalty program to make the ROI much more significant.

Almost every traditional coupon references a discount (probably due to the fact there is no loyalty solution present and even if there were, the current programs leave much to be desired and don’t advise how to market correctly with proper offers).

Change the message and deliverability of coupons and use them to drive frequency and spending while plugging the visit into a loyalty platform and you have the holy grail. Here are three simple concepts for coupons which can accomplish the above while increasing frequency, spending, visitation and engagement. We have many more with professional consultants and distribution companies standing by waiting to help.

Try sending these coupon offers via text for even higher response once we build your database for you!

1. Double cash back coupon. Bring the coupon on your next visit and spend as much as you wish and earn DOUBLE or TRIPLE cash back rewards on the entire ticket! Try putting a minimum spend such as $20.00 to get DOUBLE REWARDS and $40.00 to get TRIPLE rewards! This special coupon can be targeted to be used during certain time frames such as July 4th weekend. No expense on redemption, higher spending on the visit and a balance to bring them back at full price in the future.

2. Double Fundraising Coupon – Same concept as above but notify certain schools or churches to distribute the coupon for you without any cost. Let them know on July 4th the fundraising donation percentage is DOUBLED or TRIPLED for every member of their specific school or church. Real time accountability and transparency with our Cause Marketing makes this a reality and confidence that donations are accurate to the penny. Simply run a report for donations and visit that day and double or triple the amount with a special check back to the non-profit. See video below for bowling example.

   http://screencast.com/t/FWoZMLTNno

3. Free Platinum Membership (to bowling center or restaurant) with $25.00 purchase this weekend. See video here http://screencast.com/t/jA8c1AExVqvb

   The key to this solution is that there is no hard cost to a $19.95 Platinum Membership or $29.95 Platinum Membership. With bowling we use 1 free game of bowling every day of the year with automatic block. 365 games of bowling FREE is a huge profit driving increased frequency. See a sample of this program here

   http://screencast.com/t/GS5ozn5RxTAb

   Restaurants use one free appetizer every day of the year, one free hamburger every day of the year or any of the ideas in the video to get 1000s of people joining your restaurant or center for increased frequency and spending when they come in. No advertising costs to bring them back.

1. New customer acquisition without any cost until after the customer is paying full price.  The simple ability to acquire new customers is difficult but with cause marketing, there is no expense until after a full price purchase is realized.
2. Complete paperless database building to communicate with new customers for years (at no cost) after the first visit.  This database is tied to the transaction so communication will be relevant, based on their needs and specific to their concerns.
3. No more discounting.  Cause Marketing protects profit margins making customers feel better about paying full price.
4. Less defection and more loyalty.  When tied to the transaction, almost 90% of consumers have indicated they would visit more often, spend more money, and make more of an effort to visit businesses that support what they believe in compared to those that do not.  Not a blanket check, but a percentage of the ticket tied to the transaction or purchase.
5. Better customer service and value to the business.  Automated thank you follow up notes which update the customers donations and rewards designed to cement the emotions of good will, community support and drive future visits.  The equity of the business also grows as a working database tied to the transaction is valued in the neighborhood of $100.00 – $200.00 per name. 
6. Convenient and easy.  Complete transparency with real time access to donations without any paper, coupons, flyers, etc.  Each administrator receives a private user name and password to assure the donation percentages are accurate to the penny and that every visit is accounted for. 
7. Saves money, eliminates the free handing out of money and the pressure to write checks to every non-profit with their hand out.  Many business owners despise the numerous requests for money without any commitment by the recipient to visit the business.  Cause Marketing puts an end to this dilemma and creates an incentive to visit for ongoing support.
8. Increases cross promotion.  Ability to expand beyond the business and raise even more money for local communities with business synergy (non-compete business working together and driving customs back and forth). This allows business owners to get paid in advance from sponsors or surrounding business owners while driving new visits to their location. 
9. Shows value with each purchase.  By combining support and appreciation of the customer (with cash back rewards) along with support of their heart felt need (donations to their non-profit, both happening at the same time) two of the most important emotions in retailing take place on auto-pilot endearing the customer to the place of business.
10. Good will.  Makes a business owner feel good about their business while lowering costs, increasing profits, raising average ticket, eliminating discounting and raising frequency.  Cause Marketing is one of the few (if not the only) solutions which guarantee success since there is no expense until after the full price visit occurs.

1. Approach a local bank about branding their logo or branch on the loyalty card as exclusive sponsor in their space.
2. Include the banking information and agreed upon promo on the thank you email to every customer.
3. Each bowling center offers FREE GAMES of bowling to every banking customer so the bank enhances customer service and hands each customer a free gift when they visit the branch.  This gets the bank promoting the center and vice-versa.
4. Offer double cash back rewards if the customer pays with the banks branded credit card or debit card.
5. Offer 365 Free Games of bowling, one per day every day of the year to anyone who opens any type of account with the bank.  We track everything like you see here http://screencast.com/t/GS5ozn5RxTAb
6. Offer MATCHING fundraising on behalf of the bank with your cause marketing strategy.  If the bowling center is donating 5% on every transaction, then the bank agrees to match this donation amount.
7. Give a FREE CORPORATE BOWLING PARTY once per year for all the employees and staff – food and drink extra

SUMMARY:  There is much more, I don’t want to get too detailed here.  The key to this strategy is to endear the banking brand and logo to everyone in the community.  Instead of thinking bad thoughts about our financial institutions (which is the current mindset) we replace negative thoughts with positive emotions and tie these emotions to every purchase.  Each time consumers save money, earn rewards, support their community, save money and sustain the environment, the banks logo and brand is being viewed at the time of the transaction.  When the thank you email is sent, it cements the emotion and gives a good reason to bank with that branch.  When checks are delivered to the schools, the bank attends or sends a separate check with the proprietor to further endear the brand to local non-profits.  Our solutions have 100% accountability and transparency, something banks need to be associated with to reverse the trend of suspicion and hidden agendas.   These benefits are priceless to a bank or financial institution and very profitable for our clients.  Contact me for a custom presentation for your bank,.

Loyalty to financial institutions: the way ahead

It’s often said that it can cost up to seven times more to acquire one new customer than to retain an existing one. But in the financial industry, the costs reach a whole new level: acquiring one new customer can exceed US$350. As a rule, of these 20% will be very profitable, 20% will cost money to retain, and the middle 60% will pay for themselves while generating marginal revenue, according to Harvard Business Review. With statistics like these, a customer engagement and retention plan based on extensive data collection and analysis is imperative for the long-term health of companies in the financial industry

Financial institutions must therefore find a way to retain profitable customers, make marginally unprofitable customers into profitable ones, and reduce the marketing budget spent on the most costly customers. To do that, and to increase customer loyalty, financial industry firms need to constantly monitor their customer portfolio and actively manage their marketing efforts based on the changing behavior of their customers

Important Business Stats Below

Editors Notes:  It’s being referred to as the ‘old normal’ and consumers are returning to their roots in droves and expect business owners to follow and listen.  If they don’t, these same consumers have promised they will vote with their pocket book and search out merchants who do.  Research indicates this trend has staying power since it’s the way consumers have really felt all along.  Consumers still want businesses to support them but they also expect the business to support local causes and they want these benefits tied to the transaction so they feel there is a connection between their purchase and making a difference.  Research like the amazing statistics below is why we created www.bowlingrewards.com and www.loyalpatron.com.  We are one of the few loyalty companies in the market that tie BOTH of these emotions directly to the transaction and then cement the emotions with automatic thank you and transparency.  We supply what customers have indicated they desire from a business.  When business owners listen to their customers, profits increase.  Why don’t we start listening today?

The Positive Effects Of Cause-Related Marketing

Date: April 05, 2011
Author: Mark Dolliver , Contributing Writer , CMO.com

Any marketer who’s not a novice can recall when terms like “cause-related marketing” and “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) were exotic novelties. But now it’s a given that consumers believe companies have obligations beyond making money for their owners. In fact, it is getting more difficult for a company to connect with customers and prosper if it doesn’t stand for something more than its bottom line.

If people’s attitudes toward corporate behavior are shifting in a lasting way, the trend stems from a change in the way they regard themselves as consumers. In Young & Rubicam’s BrandAsset Valuator polling, 65 percent of respondents agreed that, “Since the recession, I realize that how many possessions I have does not have much to do with how happy I am.” The same proportion agreed that they’re now “happier with a simpler, more down-to-earth lifestyle.”

John Gerzema, vice chairman of Y&R’s BrandAsset Consulting, suggested to CMO.com that consumers’ current frugality is apt to be durable because it’s actually the long-term norm. “It’s not a ‘new normal,’–it’s the ‘old normal,’ ” he said. “Modern consumerism of the past 30 years is an anomaly, and, in fact, people are reverting to older, much longer-held values.” In the process, consumers “are moving from mindless to mindful consumption,” said Gerzema, who co-authored the book Spend Shift, which examines the phenomenon, and annual “Goodpurpose” study by Edelman, 87 percent of U.S. respondents agreed that “business needs to place at least equal weight on society’s interests” as it does on its own interests. The BrandAsset Valuator polling found 71 percent of its respondents endorsing the statement, “I make a point to buy brands from companies whose values are similar to my own.”

A Cone report, titled “Cause Evolution,” offers further detail on these tendencies. A landslide 83 percent of those polled said they “wish more of the products, services and retailers they use would support causes”; 81 percent said they want companies to give them the opportunity to “buy a cause-related product”; and 80 percent said they’d be “likely to switch brands, about equal in price and quality, to one that supports a cause.” Polling by Penn Schoen Berland (in association with Burson-Marsteller and Landor Associates) found 55 percent of respondents saying that, when choosing between similar products, they’d be more likely to buy the one “with added social benefit.” Nor, apparently, is this just an airy sentiment: The Cone survey found 41 percent saying that in the past year they’d “bought a product because it was associated with a cause or issue.”

“What the recession has taught us is that our greatest deficit isn’t economic–it’s social,” said Robbie Blinkoff, an anthropologist who is co-founder of Context-Based Research Group, an ethnographic research and consulting firm that has worked with ad agency Carton Donofrio Partners to produce recent studies of the shifts in consumer attitudes. “We’re trying to regain our sense of social, and corporations have jumped on the bandwagon, absolutely,” he told CMO.com. “They have lots of resources and infrastructure, so they’re the ones who can really do this and get people connected around a cause,” adding the caveat that “a sense of social is difficult if not impossible to scale.”

Outsourcing Responsibility
Amid the public appetite for CSR, there’s even some indication that consumers have, in effect, outsourced civic behavior to companies rather than assuming the full burden themselves. A study by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business found that consumers who buy products involved in cause-related marketing campaigns “end up giving less money to a social cause or charity.” And that’s true even if the consumer were going to buy the product anyway, “regardless of its link to a cause.”

While mainstream consumers do care about how their purchases affect the world at large, marketers should be careful not to ignore an accompanying reality: Most people haven’t ceased to care first about themselves. As president/chief operating officer of the Hartman Group, whose specialties include researching and advising on sustainability issues, Laurie Demeritt told CMO.com she has noticed a certain obliviousness to this on the part of some clients: They seem surprised when she suggests the consumer’s self-interest needs to be part of the equation: “They think, ‘This is about saving the world–isn’t that enough?’” she said.

Sure, consumers are happy to help save the world. But they must see the benefit to their own households. Demeritt pointed to household-cleaning products as a case in point: “The entry point [for broad social concern] is that, ‘I feel good about this because I’m not putting toxic chemicals on my counter.’” That gets them thinking about how the product might affect the wider world. “Then they start thinking about whether there’s animal testing, about what they’re putting down their drain,” she said.

What sort of behavior matters to consumers when they rate a company as virtuous or unvirtuous? Surveys offer some guidance. The one by Penn Schoen Berland asked respondents who know what “CSR” means to pick the foremost behavior companies “should be doing today to be considered ‘socially responsible.’” Atop the standings in widely scattered voting were “be environmentally responsible, create energy-efficient products,” and “treat employees well, equal-opportunity employer, good pay/benefits,” each cited by 16 percent of respondents. Getting at the issue a different way, Cone’s survey asked respondents to identify the issues they think companies should address. “Economic development” (including job creation) and “health and disease” were both cited by 77 percent of those polled, with hunger right behind (76 percent). Nearly as many cited “education” (75 percent) and “access to clean water” (74 percent).

Read more: http://www.cmo.com/branding/positive-effects-cause-related-marketing?cmpid=SNL7011#ixzz1NBJW2GQA

Q1: When a client issues rewards (not redeems them but issues rewards), can they claim a tax deduction on issuance at 100%?

CPA Response: The answer will depend on how the merchant records revenue. There are two acceptable practices of recording (issuing) reward points while conforming to GAAP recognition of revenue – the incremental cost method or the deferred revenue method.

Under the incremental cost method, a business owner can deduct the expense for the costs of supplying the goods/services in the future, giving rise to a liability on the balance sheet. In essence, the seller recognizes that it is likely to incur some incremental cost to fulfill its obligations to its customers when customers redeem the rewards.

Under the deferred revenue method, a business owner can recognize the rewards issued as a separate component of the sales transaction and defer the portion of revenue associated with the issued rewards until the rewards are redeemed. In essence, the seller does not recognize the full amount of the customer’s payment as revenue in the current financial period.

Q2: Do merchants need to carry unredeemed REWARD balances as of year end on the books as a liability at 100% or can they reserve based on their own breakage experience?

CPA Response: Unredeemed reward balances (liability) should be adjusted based on expected redemption rates.

Q3: Can retailers allow gift card balances to never expire?

CPA Response: In theory yes but gift cards that do not expire [and why so many retailers choose to assess fees and expiration dates] requires merchants to carry the gift card liability on the books indefinitely. Based on historical redemption and breakage statistics retailers can reasonably predict when a gift card balance will be redeemed and thus set a reasonable period of time for when consumers must redeem or lose the value.

Q4: Are merchants allowed to expire gift card balances so customers can’t use them if they don’t redeem within a certain period of time or set dormancy fees on a monthly or annual basis for non-use?

CPA Response: Each state has their own rules; several states have passed strong laws on retailer gift cards, resulting in many gift cards which no longer have expiration dates or fees. But, consumers continue to experience problems in trying to use their gift cards, especially with the growing number of retailers filing for bankruptcy. Bank gift cards with a major card network logo, such as a Visa or American Express gift card, have different laws. Here is a recap of the federal law passed in August of 2010 related to new gift card protections now in effect:

• Gift cards cannot expire less than five years from the date the card was purchased or money was last added to the card, whichever is later.
• No fees can be imposed if the card has been used within the past 12 months. If a card remains unused for 12 months, then there can be one fee a month.
• Stronger state laws continue to apply, including for both expiration dates and fees.

The bill covers both retailer gift cards and prepaid general use gift cards (the ones that often are branded as Visa, American Express, MasterCard, or Discover.) The law does not cover rewards, loyalty, telephone or promotional cards and does not cover paper gift cards or paper gift certificates. Please visit http://scripsmart.com/states/ for more details on gift card laws by state.

Q5: Are merchants allowed to expire reward card balances so customers can’t use them?

CPA Response: Reward card balances do have expiration dates so merchants can expire reward balances anytime at their discretion. The business issuing the rewards would disclose the terms on how and when their customer can redeem rewards, what the cash value is, when the rewards expire etc.

Q6: Do merchants need to carry unredeemed GIFT balances as of year end on the books as a liability at 100% or can they reserve based on their own breakage experience?

CPA Response: The sale should be deferred until the customer redeems the gift certificate or it expires.

Q7: How do we account for merchants who agree to pay donations to non-profit organizations whose members use a loyalty card at the merchant’s place of business?

1. Cash back rewards with instant redemption for simplicity and flexibility.
2. Support of their heartfelt need or local community tied to the transaction.
3. Relevant communication based on their wants, desires, and needs

According to research released today, 50 percent of retailers and almost as many manufacturers (48 percent) utilize rebate programs as part of their customer loyalty and promotions mix. Half of the retailer and manufacturer respondents said the top benefit of rebates is customer retention; evidence that today’s new rebate programs that have begun to incorporate features such as electronic redemption, quick payment and mobile locating, are resulting in pleased consumers and powerful ROI for businesses.

The analyst report, Rebate Optimization in Retail: Driving Customer Responsiveness, was compiled by the Aberdeen Group. The report draws from aggregated research of surveys, interviews and data analysis to reveal the pain points, strategies, processes and technologies that enable retailers and manufacturers to utilize rebates to drive revenue and customer loyalty.

Some key findings of the report include:

• Roughly half of businesses surveyed (50 percent of retailers and 48 percent of manufacturers) utilize rebate programs.
• The top driver of rebate usage in retail is top-line revenue (64 percent), while the top driver in manufacturing is competitive advantage (61 percent).
• Customer retention is the top benefit of rebates for 50 percent of both retailer and manufacturer respondents. The second highest benefit for retailers (50 percent) is promotional and marketing spend ROI due to the shelf-level sales success of products with rebates. For manufacturers, the second highest benefit of rebates is customer conversion (46 percent).
• Both retailers (36 percent) and manufacturers (27 percent) identified building lifetime customer value (the value of future revenue from long-term customer relationships) as another top driver for the use of rebates.

Source: Aberdeen Group ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/aberdeen-group-research-on-rebates-loyalty/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/fascinating-new-customer-study/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/fascinating-new-customer-study/#comments Sat, 21 May 2011 17:54:51 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2795 ditors Notes:  Customer Engagement has changed and profits in the post-recession era mandate business owners realize this change and start communicating with customers and listening to their demands.  Any business model which chooses to ignore this paradigm shift will either lose substantial profits or go out of business.  Neither of these two options are desirable, why suffer the consequences when indeed listening and communicating is so easy to do?  Customers know you have the option so if you don’t listen, it’s just as if you are pushing them away.  and although they may frequent the business when they must (such as the only bowling center in town) they will frequent far less and spend much less as a result.  With www.loyalpatron.com and www.bowlingrewards.com we have included every necessary tool to increase profits and get paid in advance to lift revenue.  If you would like this whitepaper study, then let me know and I will forward it to you.

Here is the executive summary to give you an idea.  It’s fascinating and I am amazed by business owners who don’t think understanding customers is important.  Many continue the same old attitudes and will soon be flushed from the system and rightly so.  Download actual article. The game has changed.

The traditional business beliefs that brought success in the past will not bring success in the future. Whether you call today’s business environment the “new normal,”the “not normal,” or just plain unsettling, you know the old ways aren’t working. People are skeptical about their relationships with business. Whether they are customers, sales partners or employees, all are looking for relationships with organizations they can trust … organizations that care … organizations that align with their values. Yet the search is arduous and difficult. Too often, the real story is that businesses view people as a means to their profit end rather than as stakeholders in creating shared value.  So where do we look for answers to this perplexing problem? It takes a fresh perspective about business, about people, and about what really drives a mutually-beneficial relationship. It is commonly agreed that there is massive untapped potential in every stakeholder a business touches. Yet, to unleash this potential, we must be willing to shift our  beliefs about how to engage them. We must understand, enable and motivate them on their terms. A new framework for stakeholder engagement is needed … a framework anchored in the latest research relative to human drives and behavior. The goal of this framework is to create better business results that, at the same time, enrich stakeholders in ways that are most meaningful to them. It is about building a win-win proposition … Better Business. Better Lives. 

Maritz challenges stakeholder engagement ideas

Friday May 13, 2011

The Maritz Institute has published a white paper that delves into the latest scientific research on human motivation and behaviours, and challenges established business beliefs, calling for a whole new ‘multi-stakeholder approach’ to business.

The paper, entitled ‘The Game Has Changed: A New Paradigm for Stakeholder Engagement’, was researched and written to help business leaders navigate today’s business environment and more effectively engage all of their stakeholders, including employees, partners and customers. sschroed1 This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com).

“People are increasingly skeptical about their relationships with businesses,” warned Mary Beth McEuen, vice president and executive director at The Maritz Institute. “Whether they are customers, channel partners or employees, all are looking for relationships with organisations they can trust, that care, and that align with their own values. To succeed in the post-recession era, businesses will need to get in touch with people, and understand what is both meaningful and motivating on a personal level.”

A fresh perspective about business, about people, and about what really drives mutually-beneficial relationships, has already become imperative in today’s business world, the paper argues. For business leaders to achieve these relationships, Maritz advises adopting three core principles for better business practice:

1. Understand what makes people tick
   Re-examine assumptions about human nature and behaviour, based on the latest scientific research;
2. One size still won’t fit all
   Understand your stakeholders as people and seek to engage with them in ways they find meaningful and motivating;
3. Be people-centric
   Genuinely see people as the centre of business strategy, with the goal of serving people and creating shared value – as opposed to the previous mindset of extracting value from people.

Monday May 16, 2011

Businesses that actively engage with customers and are acutely responsive to their questions, comments and complaints tend to be rewarded with greater profits, according to voice-of-the-customer intelligence firm Allegiance, which has published a white paper outlining nine ways to boost customer loyalty.

Just one generation ago, customer loyalty was a completely different game than it is today. Today’s consumers can – and do – switch suppliers at the click of a mouse, despite a wealth of rewards programs, privileges, offers, discounts, and added value. In fact, Bain & Company recently reported that the average company loses between 10% and 15% of its customer base every year. sschroed1 This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com).

In response the white paper, entitled ‘Nine Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty’, identifies several strategies and practices that businesses can implement to help keep their customers loyal.

“Companies are losing customers at a staggering rate without really hearing from them or understanding why,” explained Adam Edmunds, president and CEO for Allegiance. “By identifying what drives customer loyalty and engagement, marketers can begin to develop best practices that will have a direct impact on customer retention and profits.”

Continue Reading.. More Info: http://www.allegiance.com ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/9-ways-to-increase-customer-loyalty/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/today-show-msnbc-features-loyalty/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/today-show-msnbc-features-loyalty/#comments Wed, 11 May 2011 23:17:23 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2782 MSNBC LOYALTY VIDEO 
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041440/ns/today-money#42973939

Editors Notes:  Here is an excellent 4 minute segment featured on the Today Show regarding loyalty programs.  Note these women being interviewed assume that every merchant should have a program in place in order to get their shopping dollars along with millions of other women and customers who think the same way.  They also imply that merchants are able to gather data tied to the transactions to send RELEVANT offers due to advances in loyalty program technology.   They speak as though this is common practice and every merchant should have this in place.  Loyalty programs are pure gold to business owners yet we see very few small business owners employing them even though they have the greatest need to increase profits and reduce costs.  If your business does not have Loyal Patron or Bowling Rewards, then find a company to get your business into the 21st century, the evidence is so overwhelming, it should be the easiest business decision you will ever make.  We have independent reports to help you shop as we feel the closer you investigate the better we look.

There are only a handful of companies in the loyalty space which understand how to deliver offers and tie the proper offer and reward back to consumer with transaction data.  We don’t know of any company using all the capabilities you can find with www.loyalpatron.com or www.bowlingrewards.com   As an example, you will see CVS referred to which illustrates my point.  CVS can track the transaction purchase but they follow up with a paper coupon offer rather than loading cash back rewards on the card itself.  This is a very fundamental mistake (among others we write about on www.wildboarstraning.com) and we see other loyalty programs filled with these types of mistakes from companies such as Office Max, Ace Hardware, Staples, Best Buy, and many others.  Very few loyalty solutions understand how to integrate email and text to the transaction and even less understand what consumers want and the proper offers to supply when communicating with them. 

CAUSE MARKETING RADIO INTERVIEW VIDEO http://www.wildboarstraining.com/research/wild-webinars/ 

Here is my latest Cause Marketing radio interview as a further illustration.  Loyalty numbers discussed in the MSNBC piece are impressive, but the Cause Marketing numbers are even more profitable for business owners and yet we don’t know of one loyalty vendor (other than ourselves) which ties Cause Marketing to the transaction and integrates both of these inside of a cash back rewards and loyalty program with integrated text and email.  When both the customer is valued and appreciated while supporting their heartfelt need at the same time, oh my goodness, the benefits are outstanding. 

If you are a business owner sitting on the fence, it is very important to get started in building a database without paper forms or sign-up sheets, learning what your customers purchase, when they come in and what they like.  We are no longer in a transaction based retail world but one where relationships and relevance are key.  Show your customers you value their business and care about their needs and your marketing and advertising budget will plummet while your profits increase substantially.  Who does not want that? ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/today-show-msnbc-features-loyalty/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/national-radio-interview-cause-marketing/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/national-radio-interview-cause-marketing/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 17:01:21 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2768 My latest interview has just been released on You Tube explaining Cause Marketing.  Feel free to forward this link to schools, churches, or other non-profit leaders and let them know there is a new way to raise money with no change in behavior, no volunteer work needed, no expense and donations pour in 24-7, 365 days per year.  The biggest winner in these programs is the business owner, watch the 5 minute interview and find out why below.  My previous interview on rewards programs is also below in the sig file if you would like to review. Loyal Patron Radio Interview – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK8u5j2E0HU News Broadcast Loyal Patron in Action Loyal Patron General Overview Slideshow Loyal Patron Integration of Customer Loyalty Suite
  ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/national-radio-interview-cause-marketing/feed/ 0 http://youtu.be/-34FZvYQrEs http://youtu.be/-34FZvYQrEs#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 12:37:55 +0000 amiller http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2764 Restaurant consultants XPect Restaurant Marketing Solutions interviewed our own Steve Schroeder to discuss cause marketing strategies inside the loyalty industry.   The Xpect Information Network talks to restaurant industry experts about the strategies and techniques that successful restaurants around the country employ to maximize their business.   Watch the video now.

1. Customer trust is absolutely essential today. We are no longer dealing with transactions, we are dealing with relationships.
2. Customers expect business owners to operate in THEIR best interests and to prove it with actions. They want programs in place that value their business, reward them with every visit, and support what they believe in. Since trust is so important today, businesses who supply accountability and transparency with these solutions will prosper for years.
3. Customers want business owners to advertise to them if it’s done properly. They do not mind giving data if it’s used properly with relevant offers and value saving programs where they are recognized. For business owners who use typical communication models such as email blasting, the customer will simply ignore communication, opt-out or take their business elsewhere. They need to trust you have their best intentions at heart and the systems in place to make it a reality. This is one reason why our cause marketing solutions combined with cash back rewards are so effective. These are the top two emotions in the history of retailing, take place at the transaction, and are fully accountable and transparent. This is what consumers want yet very few businesses can deliver. Make this a reality in your business and watch profits grow.

You missed a great webinar last week, Have You Earned Your Customers’ Trust? Martha Rogers, Ph.D., Founding Partner of Peppers & Rogers Group, and Mariann McDonagh, CMO of inContact shared five ways to gain, build, and retain trust in this hyper-competitive environment.

Every time a customer interacts with your company and it doesn’t meet their expectations, you’ve discounted that relationship. Whether it’s through your contact center, email, in-store, or social channels; every interaction should send a consistent message that you have the customer’s best interests at heart.

Watch the complimentary 1to1 Webinar now to find out how your organization can build a level of customer trust that improves retention and increases loyalty and engagement.

WATCH IT NOW

The 1to1 Webinar Team
1to1webinars@1to1.com

1. Let us create a banner and email promotion offering to pay the gas prices for customers who drive to the center or location.  If a customer uses 1 gallon of gas to drive back and forth to the center, then offer to load $4.00 of free bowling or free food on the card to cover their gas.  You can do this with special weekends, promotions or holidays and the good will is outstanding.  One year we offered to pay the gas for the ENTIRE YEAR to anyone who joined a league.  How did we do it?  We just estimated one gallon per day per week to drive to league.  We took 36 weeks of league and multiplied it by $4.00.  We loaded $150.00 of free bowling on every league members card to pay for their gas the entire year.  People loved it and they came in much more often.
   
   
2. Create a partnership with one particular brand such as Exxon or Chevron.  Contact the local owner and let him know you are willing to drive all your customers to their gas station on an exclusive basis.  When customers visit this particular location, let the owner know that the bowling center (or restaurant) will give each person a free game of bowling (worth $4.00) for every 10 gallons they purchase at that designated location, thus the gas is FREE!  This can be an outstanding partnership and many centers/restaurants will get $3,000 – $5,000 per year as exclusive sponsorship or arrange unlimited free gas for themselves in return for rewarding their customers to visit that particular gas station.   We can arrange special marketing materials and really increase revenue and visitation to their gas station.
   
   
3. Offer 10% rewards on bowling equipment for every gas receipt brought into the center.  We did this at one time with Motel 6 for the Western Region PBA Tour and the results were outstanding.  We can work a special deal with a selected gas station similar to above or multiple gas stations.  We can also arrange a special sponsorship from a ball manufacturer.  If you reward customers for spending money in their community at selected places such as country clubs, bowling centers, restaurants, oil changes, gas stations, etc.  The customer can bring in their receipt and earn a reward from you and they LOVE IT!

Here is the newsletter   Click to view this email in a browser

]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/why-high-oil-prices-can-be-good/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/monday-morning-management-report/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/monday-morning-management-report/#comments Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:14:24 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2729 Shocking News:  Although 87% of customers have indicated they desire the 4 things below, less than 1% of business owners are delivering their request.  Need your business to grow?  Just listen to your customers, here is the update. Here is an excellent newsletter from Paul Kreins, bowling and marketing consultant.  This newsletter can be used by any retail business to increase revenue as the theme of this lesson is to follow Walt Disney and the Disneyland model.  What is this model?  Listen to the customer and give them what they want!  This is exactly what we do with www.bowlingrewards.com and www.loyalpatron.com   Here is what an astounding 87% of customers have indicated they want.

1. Cash back rewards to value their business and use for their next purchase.  No points, no coupons being mailed for redemption.
2. Relevant communication NOT an email blast but the ability to query the data and send offers based on purchase or visits.
3. Special offers and members only benefits.  Learn how to create a membership into your business, it’s easy and lucrative.
4. Support of their local community or heartfelt need with every purchase.  Not blanket donations but tied to the transaction.

A whopping 87% of consumers surveyed have said they would frequent a business more often and spend more if the business would just listen and supply the above.  All you need to do to grow your business is listen, we have the solutions for you.  Click to view this email in a browser ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/monday-morning-management-report/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/u-s-loyalty-memberships-value-register-in-the-billions/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/u-s-loyalty-memberships-value-register-in-the-billions/#comments Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:47:24 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2705 ul.a {list-style-type:disc;} ul.b {list-style-type:circle;} ul.c {list-style-type:square;} ul.d {list-style-type:none;} ol.e {list-style-type:decimal;} ol.f {list-style-type:decimal-leading-zero;} ol.g {list-style-type:lower-roman;} ol.h {list-style-type:upper-roman;} ol.i {list-style-type:lower-alpha;} ol.j {list-style-type:upper-alpha;} ol.k {list-style-type:lower-greek;} ol.l {list-style-type:lower-latin;} ol.m {list-style-type:upper-latin;} ol.n {list-style-type:armenian;} ol.o {list-style-type:georgian;}

Editors Notes:  Two huge whitepapers for you to access.  Just in case you are too busy to study these whitepapers, here are the brief highlights for your review.  Notice the graph on restaurants, wide open market! Over 2 billion loyalty memberships in the U.S. alone (over 18 per household) Value of rewards earned is over 48 billion with an average of 33% unredeemed or (breakage) Shocking news of restaurants below.  See Chart Top 2 take aways by industry experts is what we have been teaching for years Pursue new, innovative value propositions. Want to stand out from the pack? Innovativerecognition benefits and brand-enhancing rewards are only the starting point. It’s time to take mere perks a few steps further and to borrow inspiration through partnerships with other industries — from Fuel and Grocery to Non-Profits and Restaurants. Too many programs are still designed for simple frills, simple thrills — and fail to evolve to meet the advancing needs, values and demands of today’s canny consumer. Strategic alliances offer the ability to join forces with other companies and create richer, faster ways to earn rewards and status. Break down the silos. So many companies have invested in programs because they change customer behavior. But how can those insights transform the entire customer experience? Insights from the most valuable and highest-potential customers can help a marketer deliver more relevant, targeted promotions. That use of data insights is now table states in a saturated loyalty environment. Instead, marketers should use their insights from customers to ensure the experience they deliver is custom-made to speak specifically to their best customers’ fast-evolving needs — from their email inbox to the layout of the stores they visit to the merchandise presented to them on store shelves. Only then will they get to the front of that crowded wallet.

]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/u-s-loyalty-memberships-value-register-in-the-billions/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/groupon-research-article/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/groupon-research-article/#comments Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:15:00 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2694

Editors Notes:  Groupon Research Article Below – A brief note on the math

1. Instead of using Groupon, try the same type of Groupon offer to EXISTING CUSTOMERS.  Approximately 75% of Groupon users known as ‘Groupies’ have already visited the establishment (they already are existing customers) so you can reach 75% or more of the same people without spending near the amount to bring them in.  These ‘existing’ customers already enjoy your food (or entertainment) and should be the ones rewarded with special offers rather than those who will be here today and gone tomorrow.  Restaurants (or general retail) don’t need any NEW customers, (especially groupies who are not loyal to the establishment but loyal to the discount) they just need existing customers to come back more often.  Merchants can utilize a cause marketing solution for new customer acquisition which can be even more effective in driving new visits than Groupon, and at a much higher profit margin.  Email comments for details

2. Instead of DISCOUNTING items or merchandise by 50%, offer a 50% Gift Card Bonus or Reward Bonus instead.  This offer feels the same as a discount to your customers since it’s money they can use at the establishment and probably has more flexibility than a Groupon offer.  In addition, these types of promotions fill your register with tons of advance cash and will increases frequency from customers who are comfortable with your establishment and are ready to pay full price!  When these ‘existing’ customers come back to use their 50% bonus, there is no split on the difference, (normally given to Groupon) all the cash is kept by each merchant and in fact has already been deposited by the business owner.  The business owner is literally running his own Groupon offer with more customers with a fraction of the cost and will not be stuck in a discount hole giving away 75% of every dollar.   As you know, Groupon offers no database building, no follow up, nothing to really track results, it’s a desperate move by business owners who may not know of better solutions.

3. Here is an example.  Promote a 50% gift card load bonus within the store, (we customize all the materials to promote the offer.) Give customers the option to spend ANY AMOUNT of money and receive a 50% BONUS!  In other words, if customer A loads $20.00 on their gift card, they would receive a $10.00 bonus!  Business owners can use the gift card balance, rewards balance or the custom widget balance for even higher profits.  For example, a different offer might be to load $20.00 on the gift card and receive 10 hamburgers FREE OF CHARGE!  This looks like even MORE than 50% but serves as a better trigger for increased spending and frequency.  The merchant would collect $20.00 in advance and add 10 to the Hamburgers category (custom category can be anything such as hamburgers, free games of bowling, appetizers, drinks, you name it.)  Merchants might limit the redemption of Hamburgers to no more than two per day assuring 10 more visits in the future at full price!  They accomplish this task while getting paid $20.00 in advance and keeping all the profit!  The offer is good to all existing customers and is a huge incentive to load money on their gift card.  We track gift, rewards, membership, loyalty and custom meals all on one card so the options are numerous for the business owner to take in real money while issuing monopoly money in return. 

   If they choose the rewards option, customers might load $20.00 on their card and the business owner will issue a DIFFERENT CARD to use as a gift which the customer can give to friends, colleagues, or business partners without any added expense on his part!  Now that’s a creative way to bring in new customers and all while protecting price points without any discounts, advertising fees or distribution expense.  Let your customers do all the work, reward them for it and boom, you have a revenue generating powerhouse.  Let customers do this with ANY amount of money or put a limit on the amount if you prefer.  Customers might load $100.00 on THEIR gift card and receive 5 $10.00 gift cards to use as gifts for friends, colleagues, business associates or thank you benefits for customers at their business    The corporate strategies with these types of promotions are endless and far cheaper than Groupon with much better success!  

4. The cost of issuing 50% cash back rewards along with gift and rewards load bonuses to existing customers if far less expensive than taking 50% off certain purchases and then splitting the remainder with a marketing arm like Groupon.  If this were not enough all the other benefits of a loyalty program are in full effect as well such as database building, integration with text or email, follow up thank you notes, tracking, ROI verification and much more.  You now have customers who are used to paying FULL PRICE as compared to groupies who are loyal to discounts and want them with every visit.   Here is the article.

November 23, 2010, 7:00 am

Doing the Math on a Groupon Deal

11/30/10 | Updated to include possible Google offer.

I have been reading with great interest (especially here) the stories of retailers sharing their experiences using Groupon. For those of you not familiar with Groupon, the company partners with local businesses to send a daily coupon e-blast to its members. The members who buy the coupon get 50 to 70 percent off on a product or service, and Groupon splits the proceeds with the retailer — usually leaving the retailer with about 20 to 25 cents on the dollar of retail value.

I have never seen anything that is both so celebrated and demonized at the same time. There has been talk that Groupon might be worth as much as $3 billion (it now looks as if Google thinks Groupon might be worth as much as $6 billion), and yet here are some blog comments from retailers who’ve tried the service:

• “It is for desperate businesses.”

• “The financials just can’t work out.”

• “Groupon is the worst marketing ever.”

• “We did Groupon. It was O.K. It brought in new customers — we kept most of them. But the margins are a killer.”

As a retailer who has used Groupon — as well as traditional advertising — to build my business, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Is Groupon the worst marketing ever? Or is it the best marketing ever? Probably both. One thing is for sure: Groupon is a beast.

What else would you call something that can deliver 2,000 customers to your store? It’s a beast that can propel your business or smother it. It depends on your business. It also depends on you. Here are some key factors:

The first is the type of business you have. How many potential customers in your area don’t know about you? Do you have excess capacity? Can you handle a surge?

The second factor is about branding. Do you believe that by giving out a large discount you risk damaging your brand? It is a judgment call. I am sure that it is a bad idea in some cases.

And then there is the math, which may be the most important factor. I have seen it attempted many times — but if it is not done properly, it can result in very misleading conclusions.

Groupon is advertising. If you don’t need or believe in advertising, there is no reason to look at this. It costs money. Instead of writing a check for an ad, you are choosing to lose money on sales. This can wreak havoc on the brain cells of a good retailer who is always watching profit margins. It can feel wrong, especially when the coupon customers don’t spend more than the amount of the coupon.

That is why it is critical to do the math. Math is cold and unemotional — and eye-opening. Unfortunately, it is much easier and much more accurate to do the math after you try the program, because you will not have to guess on as many numbers. There are eight key calculations you need to consider to determine whether this is a better advertising vehicle than something else you may already be doing:

1. Your incremental cost of sales — that is, the actual cost percentage for a new customer. If you are giving boat tours and have empty seats, your incremental costs for an additional customer are next to nothing. If you are selling clothes, your incremental costs might be 50 percent of the sale price. Food might be 40 percent. In any case, don’t include fixed costs that you would be incurring any way.

2. The amount of the average sale. If the coupon is for $75, will the customers spend more than that? I have seen more than one retailer complain that nobody spends more than the value of the coupon. That’s unlikely but I am sure it can feel that way, and that is my point: Keep track.

3. Redemption percentage. You don’t really know until the end, but from my experience and from what I have heard, 85 percent is a good guess.

4. Percentage of your coupon users who are already your customers. I’m sure this number varies tremendously depending on the size of your city, how long you have been around, and the type of business.

5. How many coupons does each customer buy? (The more they buy, the fewer people are exposed to your product or service.)

6. What percentage of coupon customers will turn into regular customers? Again, it can seem as if they are all bargain shoppers who will never return without a discount, but that’s almost impossible. Is it possible 90 percent won’t return? Sure.

7. What is the advertising value of having your business promoted to 900,000 people — that’s the number on Groupon’s Chicago list — even if they don’t buy a coupon?

8. How much does it normally cost you to acquire a customer through advertising? Everything is relative.

Let’s look at an example of how this might work for a restaurant. Suppose you sell 3,000 coupons with a face value of $75 for $35. Then let’s assume the following:

1. 40 percent incremental costs (mostly food).
2. $85 average ticket ($10 more than the coupon).
3. 85 percent redeemed.
4. 40 percent used by existing customers.
5. Two bought per customer.
6. 10 percent come back again — or send friends.
7. $1,000 advertising value.
8. $125 typical cost to get a new customer through other advertising methods.

Now, let’s do the math:

Number redeemed: 3,000 x 85 percent = 2,550.

Revenue:
3,000 x $35 x 50 percent = $52,500 (Groupon sends a check).
2,550 x additional $10 = $25,500 (additional money spent by each customer).
total revenue = $78,000 (plus, you also get the $1,000 advertising value of having all those people introduced to your product or service).

Expense:
2,550 x $85 (average retail value) x 40 percent incremental cost = $86,700.

In this example, the restaurant took in $78,000 at a cost of $86,700, which means it cost $8,700 to run the deal. The key question is how many return customers the restaurant will get for that expense. If you divide the 2,550 total coupons by two (the average number of coupons bought by each customer), you get 1,275 customers. Multiply by 60 percent (to exclude existing customers) and you get 765. Multiply again by 10 percent (the percentage of new customers who return), and you get 76 new repeat customers.

Divide the $8,700 cost by 76 new customers, and the restaurant paid $114 for each new regular, which in this example is roughly what we assumed it would cost with conventional advertising. The question the restaurant has to answer is whether it was worth the trouble to get 76 customers — especially given that it probably annoyed some of its existing regulars. On the other hand, maybe it kept some of  its employees busy when they otherwise would have had short hours.

But keep this in mind: because of the huge volume, if you change any of the variables, you can get very different results. For instance, if the customers had spent an average of $95 instead of $85, the restaurant would have actually made money on the promotion — something it’s almost impossible to do with traditional advertising. Of course, it goes the other way, too. If the customers spend only the $75 coupon amount, the cost to the restaurant will be $24,000 — an expense most owners probably never even consider.

Best marketing ever? Worst marketing ever? It all depends on a few little numbers. Here is the big difference between traditional advertising and Groupon: Traditional advertising requires spending some money and knowing that it can be lost if the ad doesn’t work. With Groupon, you spend no money up front but you mess with your formula for making money. You can win big and you can lose big.

It is a new world. The old math still works in it.

Jay Goltz owns five small businesses in Chicago.

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Dunkin Press Release Below:   Here are the most obvious mistakes see if you can find two more.

1. The $1.00 reward for every $20.00 spent is a big mistake on at least two fronts.
   1. The reward is much too low.   For small ticket items, 10% should be the minimum.
   2. Instant gratification is not here, the value of my visit is not realized until later.  With this small of a reward, let people see the benefits of their purchase and the ability to redeem immediately.   The value will be lost with millions of customers.
2. The auto recharge bonus is a good idea and 10% re-load bonus is good although it should be in the store as well as auto-reload.  Millions will not choose auto re-load and they should have a load bonus in place at each location to capture money in advance.  This would increase revenue by millions of dollars if marketed correctly.

3. Dunkin should not have the $1.00 reward expire in a month which looks like it will, in other words, you must spend $20.00 in a month or the previous $18.00 gets lost and not carried over to the next month.  This is a fundamental mistake.

4. Oh my goodness, coupons in the mail, this is an absolute insult.  Why have a rewards card if you can’t load the reward on the card and save millions of dollars in postage fees, delays, customers forgetting their coupons and much more.  It’s one thing to waste millions of dollars and quite another to waste millions while aggravating your customers at the same time.

2.  Restaurant Strategy #1 – Memberships – http://screencast.com/t/ieELR88qmB1w

3.  Restaurant Strategy #2 – Query of the Database – http://screencast.com/t/oEOvOHJwx

4.  Restaurant Strategy #3 -  Gift Card Pre-Load – http://screencast.com/t/Gn1K3siN6FB

ENON, Ohio — Speedway added new benefits to its Speedy Rewards loyalty program. The convenience store and gas station chain introduced a number of brand-specific beverage clubs, including the Coca-Cola Club for Coke products; the Pepsi Club, Mountain Dew Club and Gatorade Club for Pepsi products; and a general Milk Club, according to the In-Store Marketing Institute.

Each beverage club rewards consumers with one free single-serve beverage after their sixth cumulative purchase.

Similar product clubs already offered by Speedway include the Reese’s Club for Hershey products and the Food Club, which gives customers 1,000 Speedy Rewards bonus points for every six purchases of sandwiches, pizza slices, grill items or other food products, according to the report. Bonus points also can be accrued by purchasing specific brands, depending on the current promotion.

Loyalty card holders can redeem their bonus points for in-store purchases or gas discounts. They can also visit www.speedyrewards.com to turn their cards into debit Pay Cards. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/membership-update/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/win-500-00-masters-contest/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/win-500-00-masters-contest/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:52:29 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2648 The Masters is this weekend.  Contests should be running right now such as1. Choose any player and earn $1.00 in rewards for every birdie while watching the tournament in our lounge.

2.  Pay $5.00 per player and if they are on the LEADER BOARD by Sunday win $15.00 in rewards!

3.  Win $50.00 in rewards if your player WINS the tournament.

4.  Double cash back rewards on all food and drinks while watching the Masters in our lounge.

5.  Special Prizes and Rewards during the tournament, come and watch to find out!  Lots of prizes and fun on the fly!

6.  Free rounds of golf from sponsoring Country Clubs with ways to win equipment from Taylor Made.

7.  Many other ideas and this is just the Masters, what about NCAA tourney, the NBA Playoffs, MLB, etc. etc.

If your business is not running sports contests just about every day of the week, then a great deal of revenue is being left on the table.  Major sporting events take place just about every day and they are an ideal way to engage customers, increase spending and frequency, enhance relationships,  and make visiting the location fun and exciting.    

You do need the proper loyalty program in place which tracks everything, allows custom categories, varies rewards on selected items and a few other goodies but of course we have everything in place for this very type of marketing.  We can even design the email, create the offer, send the text or email, create marketing materials around the program and much more with our full service option.  Just let us know you want to start running contests EVERY DAY and we will give you all kinds of ideas.  Winning is fun and when customers WIN anything at your business, frequency and spending go way up. When was the last time your customers won anything?  If the answer was not TODAY, you are leaving all kinds of revenue at the table.

one of the most storied rivalries in the sporting world definitely has my attention. While the baseball season can get to be a bit of a grind sometime around July, right now it’s fresh and exciting… and I always have time for Yankees-Red Sox games. This weekend features a Friday-Sunday set between the Bronx Bombers and BoSox at Fenway up in Boston. We’re giving away Free Bets every day. It’s as easy as making “prop bets” on the daily baseball games and we’ll drop the $25 into your account. Here are the details: - Anyone who wagers $125.00 or more on the Baseball Props on Friday will get a free $25.00. The same for Saturday and again on Sunday. That’s three days of “Free Bet” promotions. **(the $125.00 or more can be in one single wager, two wagers, three wagers or more… as long as it’s $125.00 or more). We’ll deposit the $25 free bets into your account on Monday. Good luck and enjoy the games! Check the betting options at Sportsbetting.com Good luck! “Masters” Twitter-Only Bonuses and Contests	With March Madness behind us, we turn our attention to the NBA, baseball and this week, the Masters! We’ll be running a special “Masters” Twitter-only contest on Thursday or Friday and again on the weekend. We also have a special Twitter-only bonus planned this week. If you’re not already following us on Twitter, you might want to check us out. I’ll be Tweeting the details of the specials throughout the week and weekend. Again, you can follow us here. Santa Anita Derby: Double Your Winnings	Lots of winners from last week’s “Double-Double” contest, the most ever for this promotion – congratulations. This week we’re highlighting one of the biggest races of the spring season, the $1 million Santa Anita Derby from, of course, Santa Anita as our Racebook “Double-Double” special. Here’s how it works: Anyone who places a “to win” wager on this week’s featured race, the Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita on Saturday, we will double your winning wager (up to $100.00). The bonus will be credited by Monday at 5:00 PM ET Check out the horse racing odds at Sportsbetting.com Good luck!
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]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/win-500-00-masters-contest/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-cause-marketing-research-3/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-cause-marketing-research-3/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:13:19 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2637 Editors Notes: The article below is a must read for any business owner.  I recently spoke to an expert in marketing who said he ‘hoped’ the reports I send out are not true.  Sorry folks, they are.   I don’t make this stuff up, I report the facts.  The entire marketing world is CHANGING before our very eyes just like technology.   Just look at recent developments with Facebook, Groupon, IPad2, mobile apps and much more all of which did not even exist a short time ago.   Whether you are a bowling center or a restaurant, if you don’t utilize and implement solutions which customers are now demanding then one of two things is going to happen to your business.

1. A significant drop in profits from current level or what could have been realized.
2. BK

Neither of these two options are pleasant events and yet they are inevitable.  Just because your business NEVER did certain things in the past and flourished, does not mean you can get away with the same marketing in the future.  Business owners who ignore research and new customer demands do so at their financial peril.  We offer our clients everything they need to prosper and grow in the new digital age and CAUSE MARKETING is HUGE.  Just read the stats below and realize the power of supporting local community with a percentage on every transaction.  Business owners who LISTEN to their customers will profit tremendously while competitors who don’t will fall by the wayside.  The Positive Effects Of Cause-Related Marketing Date: April 05, 2011

Author: Mark Dolliver, Contributing Writer, CMO.com

Any marketer who’s not a novice can recall when terms like “cause-related marketing” and “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) were exotic novelties. But now it’s a given that consumers believe companies have obligations beyond making money for their owners. In fact, it is getting more difficult for a company to connect with customers and prosper if it doesn’t stand for something more than its bottom line.

If people’s attitudes toward corporate behavior are shifting in a lasting way, the trend stems from a change in the way they regard themselves as consumers. In Young & Rubicam’s BrandAsset Valuator polling, 65 percent of respondents agreed that, “Since the recession, I realize that how many possessions I have does not have much to do with how happy I am.” The same proportion agreed that they’re now “happier with a simpler, more down-to-earth lifestyle.”

John Gerzema, vice chairman of Y&R’s BrandAsset Consulting, suggested to CMO.com that consumers’ current frugality is apt to be durable because it’s actually the long-term norm. “It’s not a ‘new normal,’–it’s the ‘old normal,’ ” he said. “Modern consumerism of the past 30 years is an anomaly, and, in fact, people are reverting to older, much longer-held values.” In the process, consumers “are moving from mindless to mindful consumption,” said Gerzema, who co-authored the book Spend Shift, which examines the phenomenon, and recently spoke at the Adobe Summit 2011. “They still buy, but spending is less about materialism and more about voting for their values with their dollars.”  

Judging from ample polling data, companies had better pay heed. In last fall’s edition of the annual “Goodpurpose” study by Edelman, 87 percent of U.S. respondents agreed that “business needs to place at least equal weight on society’s interests” as it does on its own interests. The BrandAsset Valuator polling found 71 percent of its respondents endorsing the statement, “I make a point to buy brands from companies whose values are similar to my own.”

A Cone report, titled “Cause Evolution,” offers further detail on these tendencies. A landslide 83 percent of those polled said they “wish more of the products, services and retailers they use would support causes”; 81 percent said they want companies to give them the opportunity to “buy a cause-related product”; and 80 percent said they’d be “likely to switch brands, about equal in price and quality, to one that supports a cause.” Polling by Penn Schoen Berland (in association with Burson-Marsteller and Landor Associates) found 55 percent of respondents saying that, when choosing between similar products, they’d be more likely to buy the one “with added social benefit.” Nor, apparently, is this just an airy sentiment: The Cone survey found 41 percent saying that in the past year they’d “bought a product because it was associated with a cause or issue.”

“What the recession has taught us is that our greatest deficit isn’t economic–it’s social,” said Robbie Blinkoff, an anthropologist who is co-founder of Context-Based Research Group, an ethnographic research and consulting firm that has worked with ad agency Carton Donofrio Partners to produce recent studies of the shifts in consumer attitudes. “We’re trying to regain our sense of social, and corporations have jumped on the bandwagon, absolutely,” he told CMO.com. “They have lots of resources and infrastructure, so they’re the ones who can really do this and get people connected around a cause,” adding the caveat that “a sense of social is difficult if not impossible to scale.”

Outsourcing Responsibility
Amid the public appetite for CSR, there’s even some indication that consumers have, in effect, outsourced civic behavior to companies rather than assuming the full burden themselves. A study by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business found that consumers who buy products involved in cause-related marketing campaigns “end up giving less money to a social cause or charity.” And that’s true even if the consumer were going to buy the product anyway, “regardless of its link to a cause.”

While mainstream consumers do care about how their purchases affect the world at large, marketers should be careful not to ignore an accompanying reality: Most people haven’t ceased to care first about themselves. As president/chief operating officer of the Hartman Group, whose specialties include researching and advising on sustainability issues, Laurie Demeritt told CMO.com she has noticed a certain obliviousness to this on the part of some clients: They seem surprised when she suggests the consumer’s self-interest needs to be part of the equation: “They think, ‘This is about saving the world–isn’t that enough?’” she said.

Sure, consumers are happy to help save the world. But they must see the benefit to their own households. Demeritt pointed to household-cleaning products as a case in point: “The entry point [for broad social concern] is that, ‘I feel good about this because I’m not putting toxic chemicals on my counter.’” That gets them thinking about how the product might affect the wider world. “Then they start thinking about whether there’s animal testing, about what they’re putting down their drain,” she said.

What sort of behavior matters to consumers when they rate a company as virtuous or unvirtuous? Surveys offer some guidance. The one by Penn Schoen Berland asked respondents who know what “CSR” means to pick the foremost behavior companies “should be doing today to be considered ‘socially responsible.’” Atop the standings in widely scattered voting were “be environmentally responsible, create energy-efficient products,” and “treat employees well, equal-opportunity employer, good pay/benefits,” each cited by 16 percent of respondents. Getting at the issue a different way, Cone’s survey asked respondents to identify the issues they think companies should address. “Economic development” (including job creation) and “health and disease” were both cited by 77 percent of those polled, with hunger right behind (76 percent). Nearly as many cited “education” (75 percent) and “access to clean water” (74 percent).

Next: Choose Your Cause With Care

Read more: http://www.cmo.com/branding/positive-effects-cause-related-marketing?cmpid=TT82#ixzz1IkYTrCnG

 Entertainment Center General Overview

http://www.bowlcard.com/pdfs/BR_General_Overview.pdf

Key Slideshows

http://www.bowlcard.com/pages/program_overview. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-cause-marketing-research-3/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/groupon-the-debate-continues-even-if-successful-is-it-a-one-off-program/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/groupon-the-debate-continues-even-if-successful-is-it-a-one-off-program/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:54:32 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2632 Restaurants vs. Groupon: The Debate Continues Last week we featured some less than flattering perspectives on daily-deal sites from our discussion forum. The following is from an operator who tried Groupon on one occasion and felt it worked out fairly well in his situation.

“I’ve had positive experience with Groupon and wish you would add the following notes to the warning you posted:

1. You can negotiate a more favorable split than 50/50 with the Groupon administrator. I have done a 60/40 deal.
    
2. A significant percentage of vouchers purchased do not get redeemed. We sold 1550 vouchers and about 1250 have been redeemed with only a few weeks remaining til the end of year expiration.

   These two factors make it reasonable to expect you can cover your food & beverage cost on the redemptions.
    

3. The front of house staff make out extremely well and were very welcoming to the Groupon redeemers. The wait staff get tipped on the full amount and since the Groupon redeemer’s only outlay is tax and tip, the guests tend to tip well. The kitchen gets a lot of exercise, not a bad thing.

   This makes it a smart play for a restaurant that needs trial — a new place (or in our case, six months into a newly renovated re-launch).
    

4. Size the voucher to be more than is typically spent by a party of two. Our average check for a party of two is $42, so we made the Groupon $50. This meant they tried apps or desserts they would not typically try.
    
5. We found more than half the redeemers spent more than the $50, either with larger groups of people in the party or with splurge spending (bottles of wine rather than wine by the glass –good margin on such extras). Waitstaff wasn’t afraid to suggest bottles and became more adept at selling wine.
    
6. Time the offering for a slow period. We went out in mid-January. The initial flurry of activity was welcome and made for a stronger Jan-Feb than we ever had before the re-launch. We bumped up 25% in cash sales and have never come back down. Don’t forget a huge number of people get pitched, a fraction buy the deal, the rest get exposed. The happy Groupon redeemers write Yelp reviews etc etc. and the buzz makes others say, “I should have bought it.”

Of course if you give bad service or etc you’ll get whacked with bad reviews, but what else is new? Just do your job.”

In a follow up we asked, would you do it again?

“One time only. I agree, repeating would be detrimental.”

This operator’s experience with Groupon reinforces our belief that there are very few absolutes in the restaurant business. However, one account of a favorable daily-deal promotion does not minimize the importance of carefully considering your own unique market, operation and situation before venturing too quickly into any new promotional activity.

The member’s forum has several dozen discussions about Groupon. The pros and the cons. To read more or get involved in those discussion, you can search for Groupon using our forum search feature. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/groupon-the-debate-continues-even-if-successful-is-it-a-one-off-program/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/women-more-promiscuous/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/women-more-promiscuous/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:45:13 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2629 Editors Notes: When it comes to loyalty women desire multiple partners. But, you can see clearly behind the scenes in all the research including below and what customers are requesting, here you go

1. All customers want higher rewards with simple instant redemption. For those who listen, customers have indicated they will REMOVE competitor programs in their wallet and go with the program that listens to them! This is huge.
2. Men and women are rethinking how much plastic should be in their wallet and trying to keep the plastic which offers the most value. There are very few properly designed loyalty programs, the merchants who offer them, will benefit for years.

Men stick to one loyalty card; women shop around Monday March 28, 2011

When it comes to the choices they make about loyalty programme memberships, women are much more likely than men to engage with multiple loyalty schemes, according to a survey by Air Miles Canada. The survey found that more than 80% of Canadian women belong to more than one loyalty programme, compared to only 69% of men. In fact, one in four women (25%) said they carry at least five loyalty cards in their purse. According to Patrick Sojka, founder of Rewards Canada, “Women may want to make the most out of every purchase, signing up for a variety of loyalty programmes, but men tend to have more credit cards. In both cases, consumers will eventually re-assess all the cards they carry to get the most out of them.” While both men and women acknowledged the need to reduce the amount of plastic in their wallets, their approach to spending and the cards they use are very different. When it comes to credit cards, men are more likely to have more than one credit card (61% of men, compared to 53% of women), and one in every four men (25%) say they have too many credit cards in their wallet. Men also appear to be more ‘hands on’ about managing their credit cards, as 42% agreed that they need to reassess the credit cards they have, compared with only 35% of women. While two out of five men and women (40% each) say they frequently join loyalty programmes to ensure they are getting the best value out of every purchase, more than one quarter (27%) of those polled say they have too many loyalty cards in their wallet and agree that earning more points with fewer programmes would be more beneficial than earning fewer points in more programmes (82%). Nearly two out of every five Canadians attested to having credit or department store debt, with women being more likely than men to say it affects their spending habits (74% compared to 63%). Despite this, 39% of Canadians said they don’t actually use the loyalty cards in their wallet. More Info: http://www.airmiles.ca

USA Today 16 page loyalty insert March 2011 –

1. Do we have a minimum of 10% cash back rewards being issued with the intention of increasing this amount later?
2. Do we have anything pre-loaded on our cards such as $5.00 or $10.00 in rewards or a free meal?
3. Do we have a fundraising component in place of at least 5% donation back to local non-profits?
4. Do we offer double and triple rewards on certain items and make these offers visible to our customers?
5. Do registered cardholders receive special promotions or benefits that are not available otherwise?

Ok, let’s get down to a few specific ideas to increase engagement and thus activation of the card which then leads to a vibrant and growing database.  First, not all customers will activate cards on their own and will often need a little push or gentle reminders of some sort no matter how strong the offer might be.

Regardless of the strategy employed, program success starts at the top since program results are directly tied to the effort and promotion by staff and employees.   We have published a list of some best practice strategies designed to increase awareness and engagement of both customers and employees alike.

1. Always Ask Customers for their Rewards Card at Checkout

One simple question asked by clerks (or waitresses before ordering) on every single sales transaction will start the process of changing your organization’s culture to one that embraces the power of cash back rewards and customer loyalty communication. Remember, a number of benefits are triggered when you get customers engaged so it’s important for your staff to realize just how important this step is to the profitability of the business and thus their future employment.  Happy customers give bigger tips and busy locations keep everyone happy, so it’s very important to get everyone involved in communicating and reminding customers of your program.    Look at the Game Stop employee below, now that’s engagement!  Due to the company putting an emphasis on the program, Game Stop signed up 6 million customers in the first two months alone.

When your employees get behind the program your customers get the message and everyone benefits as a result.

2.  Apply a Removable Sticker to Cards Advertising an Activation Bonus

This easy strategy helps clerks advertise the activation bonus to customers by placing a sticker over the front of the card with a prominent message, “Activate Card for FREE $10 Reward.”  Customers are used to activating credit cards in the same manner so the message is simple and familiar.  This strategy will undoubtedly quicken the pace of customer activations and help you build your greatest business asset, a customer database.  Most plastic card printers can apply removable clickers to card batches for extra fees or merchants can ask their staff to apply them manually one at a time.   Either way, it’s a small price to pay for increased visits, customer good will, lower advertising costs, and a growing database.

3.  Design and Print Point of Sale Collateral

Notice the gentleman above for Game Stop not only has a giant lanyard, he is carrying a flyer describing the program to their customers.  Design and print display materials will help educate customers on the benefits of your program and give employees a tool to help them be more efficient.  We have an entire graphics team ready to help with any ideas, offers, posters, banners, etc. or coordinate materials with your own company’s graphics team. Either way, get something in place which helps explain the benefits.

Click here for examples of creative marketing materials.

4.  Remind Customers to Activate After Checkout

The printed transaction receipt shows the activation status of a customer (Yes or No) so you can see at a glance whether or not the card is activated.  A “Card Not Activated” message also returns to the terminal when trying to redeem rewards with a card that has not been activated. Train your clerks to pay attention to these messages on screen and when printing loyalty receipts and remind customers to activate later so they can redeem rewards earned on their card.  Remind customers politely they will never lose rewards when the card is not activated and can accumulate rewards anytime.  You just want to remind the customer in order to unlock preloaded or earned rewards on their card they need to activate their card at their convenience.  This procedure is another change that helps change your organization’s culture to one that embraces customer loyalty to the mutual benefit of all parties.

5.  Setup Dedicated Rewards HQ

Whether the location is a bowling center, restaurant, mini golf, or other entertainment venue, the idea of moving traffic away from the main cash register is the thought process behind this strategy.  Even if your business does not have an additional location to process or explain the program, consider setting one up or supplying a laptop at the end of the desk where customers can register their card right on the spot.  This process can be as simple as having some type of computer or netbook available for customers to register their card.

Why would they do this?  Offer an incentive on the spot.  Maybe a free appetizer is supplied for customers who activate their card immediately.  How about a free game of bowling, one free round of mini golf, a free movie ticket, or something of value to get customers to spend 2-3 minutes to activate their card on the spot.  Make the offer as strong as possible and instant activations will increase substantially.  Casinos are an excellent example to model this strategy.  Notice with virtually every casino that the rewards program is not handled at the check in desk for room reservations.  Clerks will often show customers where the rewards station is located and let them know about a special offer for visiting the rewards station and signing up for the rewards card.  Casinos have known for years how important it is to reward people for spending money and building a database for future follow up.   You cannot go wrong emulating casino loyalty strategies.

6.   Hire a Chief Customer Officer (aka Rewards Rover)

Known in the industry as Chief Customer Officer (CCO) this new position in the ‘C’ suite can be worth their weight in gold bullion!  The Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is one of the most important positions in the company.   Among other duties, CCO’s will visit schools, churches, synagogues, little leagues, rotary clubs etc. and explain the program and help non-profits engage in best practices so they understand their responsibilities in creating donations and driving visitation to the business.  In addition, CCO’s mingle with customers inside the doors providing exceptional customer service, explaining the loyalty program, signing up additional non-profits, and increasing revenue in a variety of ways.  Many businesses have never considered hiring a CCO but with a world class loyalty solution in place, it makes a lot of sense as there are numerous ways to increase pre-paid sales, gift card loads, frequency, spending and much more.  The CCO removes the pressure from other employees in understanding these strategies and in fact helps and trains them to be better customer service personnel.

7.  Raise Prices for Non-Members Only

Almost every supermarket employs this strategy and enjoys nearly 100% activation success as a result.  How do they do it?   Lower prices is the key and all those little yellow signs with sale items cause virtually every customer to carry a card and activate it for lower prices.  With nearly 100% activations, it might be a good idea to copy such powerful success.   The supermarket strategy means placing lower prices on the menu or throughout the business which members only can participate.  Alternatively, leave prices the same but add $1.00 for every item or to the ticket as a whole for everyone who does not have an activated card.  For those customers who don’t wish to activate their card, they are simply giving permission to charge a higher fee.  Very few frequent customers will not activate their card especially if membership is free.   Even if they forget, then give them a break and offer them another chance.  This way you turn a negative into a positive with a promise to activate.  Customers will leave the business with a feeling and commitment that help share in receiving value and that’s the way it should be.

8.  Run Members Only Promotions and Contests

There are many ways to increase activations by running special promotions and contests for members only which are simple and effective.  Some of the promotions can focus on more of a ‘soft benefit’ mindset.  These ‘soft benefits’ are experiences, prizes, or specials which money can’t buy or does not have monetary value.  Rewards and membership takes on a whole new value and really gets customers engaged while increasing profitability.  Here are just a few ideas using a restaurant as an example.  No matter if the business is a restaurant, bowling center, mini golf, cleaners, etc. each idea can be customized.

• Members receive 1/2 price appetizers.  Instead of offering 1/2 price appetizers to everyone, make the benefit for activated members only.  Customers should be able to request a card and activate on the spot through their smart phone to get their 1/2 price appetizer right away.
• Members receive a free Pepsi today or free glass of wine or beer.  When the waitress comes over to take their order she mentions that the first drink is free today for our members.  She also mentions all kinds of other benefits such as cash back rewards, contests, fundraising and points them to the table tent or hands them a postcard which explains the program.
• Double cash back rewards TODAY for activated members.  This way EVERYONE gets something such as 10% cash back but only activated cardholders receive DOUBLE the amount which makes people feel they are missing out for not activating their card.
• Members who activate this month are entered into a contest for a $50.00 gift load from the restaurant.
• All activated members might be entered into a contest to win tickets to a concert which is sold out or events where getting tickets are very difficult.  Sure, this has a monetary value but winning goes beyond money since it offers a prize which is difficult to come by based on any price.
• Offer special items donated by neighboring businesses for free such as a round of golf and cart at the country club.  A nice presentation next to the pies with donated prizes from other local business owners puts a rewards store mentality right inside your restaurant.
• Members might have special seating arrangements, move to first in line or have reservation priorities.   Members might get special offers to vintage wines or products which are not available year round or in limited supply.
• Members might be invited to a special party once per year as special ‘thank you; banquet where to food is more buffet style and free of charge. Any type of Christmas party or Thanksgiving type menu might be for members only either at special rates or free of charge once or twice per year.
• Merchants might even consider letting members redeem rewards on special items they sell in the store.   Non-members are not allowed to use their rewards for these items, only members.  Merchants might do this all the time with items in the business such as dressings, spreads, pies, cakes or whatever the restaurant might offer.

For even more ideas on membership strategies, please review our whitepaper, Pirates of Profits – All Aboard the Member Ship.

9.  Motivate Employees with Incentives

Motivating minimum wage employees with incentives and cash is powerful method for lighting a fire in their bellies for pushing card activations.  One restaurant client organized a platinum membership level which sold for $20.00 per year. This membership fee included a free appetizer with every purchase, one appetizer per customer per visit.  There were additional specials and offers throughout the year for platinum members such as double cash back rewards and other similar type benefits mentioned in this article.   Employees, waitresses, and staff received $10.00 of the $20.00 membership fee for explaining this to customers and selling the membership card.   And the results? One employee earned over $700 for the day selling the program to customers who visited.  All the employees were excited to pick up an extra $50 or $100 per day.   Everyone was engaged and results were fantastic with a huge increase in activations and memberships.  Another restaurant client incentivized their employees with 2% of all sales generated from non-profit fundraising groups they personally signed up or referred for signup.  The result?  The merchant received dozens of new fundraising accounts from local non-profits who are racking up sales and donations.  Simply ingenious.   We love it all!

10.  Employ Corporate Strategies

There is a ton of corporate business to be realized by merchants by either sending someone out into the community or by having the proper presentation materials inside the store.  Most customers are employees somewhere local and when they learn about the many business ideas, they will take the information back to their boss and merchants will pick up a considerable amount of extra cash.  The simplest strategy is to offer owners of small business special business packages for their employees with added rewards for managers or owners.  For example, let neighboring business owners know if they purchase gift cards for their employees, you will match their purchase by 20% with a free rewards card for their family.  In other words, why don’t they buy 10 $50.00 gift cards to give to their employees for Christmas, birthday, employee of the month, anniversary, good sales week, all kinds of things that owners and managers need to reward.  When they purchase these 10 gift cards for $500.00, you give the manager or owner a $100 gift card in return for his family.

One of the most common objections clients voice when choosing a loyalty program is whether or not that program integrates with their current POS (Point of Sale) system.   This objection does have some merit but there are many other important aspects to consider ‘beyond integration.  In actuality, there are scores of critical issues which should be considered when it comes to choosing the proper loyalty program such as ease of use, automated database collection, cause marketing solutions, use of cash back rewards currency instead of points, multiple applications on the same card with separate balance tracking, business synergy capabilities with cross platform loyalty options, accountability and transparency, and working with consultants with actual expertise in customer loyalty.  POS integration does save a few seconds of time during the card swiping process, but that time saved pales in comparison with other important issues.   There are also several limitations to POS integration that actually cause more inefficiency in the loyalty lifecycle you’re going to learn about in this article.

When shopping for loyalty programs many merchants do not realize what to look for and are not even aware of what to ask or how to investigate.  They are literally clueless when it comes to loyalty and may not even understand the terminology even when they are clearly verbalized.   Due to their ignorance, many merchants look at cost rather than ROI.  They have no idea that installing the wrong loyalty program may very well cost themselves tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue each year!  Just be aware that integration often comes out of a mindset of not knowing what to ask.  The business owner defaults to the only question he or she understands.  If you grasp this psychology ahead of time, the question or concern of integration won’t throw you for a loop.  Rather, you should act as a consultant and immediately break down all the important issues which may be far more important than saving a few seconds at checkout.

Remember this point when speaking to a merchant… Does the customer care whether or not the loyalty program integrates with the POS?  The obvious answer is of course not, customers prefer value, convenience, cash back rewards, relevant communication and much more.  They could give a rats ass about integration, they don’t even know what the term means.  If the transaction takes a few seconds longer to value their business, they are absolutely fine and in actuality prefer being treated as a person rather than as a transaction.  Sometimes business owners forget who the boss is, it’s not them; it’s the CUSTOMER.  Remember the phrase…’The customer is always right?’  Maybe we should look at what THEY want rather than what WE want.  When we put the customer first, they usually return more often and spend more money when they do.  Frequency and higher spending is the name of the game, not POS integration.

Having said all the above, does that mean we don’t care about integration or think it’s not that important? Of course not.  We think it’s important since our clients think it’s important, but it’s one of many issues, not the end all be all to customer loyalty.  We currently integrate with Micros and are planning integration with Positouch and others during 2011 and beyond.  We constantly perform due diligence with other POS system vendors to determine potential partnerships.  However, since each POS integration project costs roughly $25,000 in development, configuration and testing, we must carefully weigh each opportunity including market share and number of client locations brought under contract with integration.

Since there are so many POS systems in the marketplace, and because integration is NEVER guaranteed to succeed even when it is systemically possible, we need to make you aware of how to overcome this objection.  The bottom line is you need to know how to successfully rebuttal this issue if you plan on having a bright future in loyalty program sales.

POS System Overview

The term Point of Sale (POS) system can technically refer to either a credit card machine (VeriFone, Hypercom, Nurit, Ingenico etc.) which handles credit card processing and/or sales transactions.  However, the term usually refers to a more robust cash register type system with customized buttons based on the products being sold from that particular business.  This POS system probably handles most of the key operations including cash management, order tracking, inventory control, and credit card processing.   Some of the more widely deployed POS systems in the restaurant and entertainment industry include Micros, Aloha, Positouch, Agilysys, Restaurant Manager, Digital Dining and hundreds of other systems.

For the purposes of this article, we are going to focus on integration with the major POS systems rather than credit card terminals since credit card terminal integration does not really constitute a POS system and is much simpler to replace or swap out.  If a merchant will not order your loyalty program due to the hassles of installing a new machine or swapping out a credit card terminal then he is just making an excuse and never planned on ordering in the first place.

Several POS system vendors (especially the larger ones) do offer integration with 3rd party gift and loyalty interfaces but this is not always the case.   Some vendors support 3rd party integration for gift cards but not for loyalty.   Furthermore, even if a particular POS system does offer the ability for 3rd party integration, there can be obstacles. First, the local merchant might not have the appropriate hardware and software installed to support integration such as the proper version of Windows Server or the proper version of their POS software.  These compatibility issues represent obstacles the merchant might not want or is even able to overcome since their POS dealer controls what versions of software are installed.  Furthermore, the POS dealer, who controls the merchant’s POS network, might not even allow integration to proceed.   The local POS dealer might be concerned with security issues allowing another company to interface with their network or the POS dealer might want to promote their own company’s gift and loyalty module (usually an inferior points bases system).

Using a POS vendor’s own in-house gift and loyalty module can be very risky for the merchant.  Many business owners are not happy with their POS system and with 100s of choices in the marketplace and new systems coming online all the time, the likelihood of them switching in the near future might be greater than they realize.  What happens if the merchant runs their in-house loyalty program offered by the POS vendor and then wishes to switch to a different POS system?  Extracting the right loyalty data for import into another system is not only messy, it could be impossible. You should bring up this point to prospective clients who are considering installing a loyalty module offered directly from their POS vendor.   Remember, what you hear is not always the truth.

There are literally hundreds of POS systems across the restaurant and retail landscape.  It is systematically impossible to integrate with ALL of them not to mention prohibitively expensive.  There are no rules, no standards, and no policies governing POS integrations.  Each vendor handles integration in their own unique way.  However, since this issue comes up on a regular basis, a salesperson needs to know what’s involved, how to explain the issue, and intelligently inform the business owner so they can make the proper decision.  Here are the three main reasons why clients believe integration is important.

1.  Increased Processing Time: The merchant thinks the extra step will take too much time.  In reality, the process takes maybe an extra 5 seconds and can be the most important 5 seconds a business can spend with their customer.  Just ask yourself the following question.  What if you told your wife you were too busy to process another transaction and although you would like to value, appreciate and reward her faithfulness, she was simply not worth the 5 seconds or the hassle involved.  Instead, you wanted a wife who was integrated into your daily planner.  This conversation would probably not go very well and your customers prefer that you pay attention to them rather than save a few seconds.  You might suggest the business owner ask his wife for verification.  You see, sometimes it takes a little time to develop a relationship.  You can’t treat customers like a wham bam thank you mam and hope to build loyalty.  If you like this little analogy you’ll like the real truth even more.  Unless the loyalty program outsources the process of database collection (like we do) the merchant is not saving time.  He’s wasting it (more on this topic below).

2.     Lack of Reconciliation Reporting & Controls: The merchant thinks there is an increased risk of reconciliation issues or lack of controls which employees might abuse on a 3^rd party system rather than an integrated solution.  In reality, our reporting, security and fraud monitoring capabilities are probably vastly superior than anything the business has in place now.  Even if they are not superior, they are perfectly adequate for reconciling transactions and redemptions back to POS.

3.     Closed Loop System: The merchant thinks there is an advantage to keeping all processing modules and customer data collected at the point of sale under the same umbrella (i.e., the POS system).  There is one clear advantage and that’s being able to process the gift or loyalty transaction at the same time as the normal ticket transaction.  The advantages usually stop there unless the data can be queried and tied to the transaction for subscriber list generation.  If the merchant houses their data on their local system onsite as opposed to the security and reliability of professional data center management, then additional disaster recovery risks arise for the business owner that should be considered.  Lastly, you can reassure your clients with 100% certainty on the safe use of 3^rd party applications.  Many retail heavyweights in the Fortune 1000 space utilize VeriFone Omni terminals which are often placed directly next to POS systems to run some kind of special application they just cannot do from their POS system.   If integration isn’t necessary for the likes of Staples or Dick’s Sporting Goods, then it’s probably not necessary for Jake’s Seafood House either?

Regardless of what the merchant thinks or understands, when this issue arises you face a flee or fight decision and we hope you’ll stay around for the fight.  The worst possible mistake we can make when communicating with our potential customers is agreeing with them on faulty assumptions or the perceived liability of integration.  Once you agree with the customer or show a lack of expertise in dealing with these issues, the merchant will lose confidence in your ability and the solutions you represent.  Closing ratios will plummet, frustration will increase, and it’s all due to a lack of knowledge or preparation on your part.  There is no reason to leave dollars on the table and merchants will appreciate a skilled representative (looking to educate rather than sell) in order to make the best decision possible about their business.   You will not win the sale every time on this issue.  Depending on your skill level, you might not even win most of the time but if you believe passionately in the program and are confident in your rebuttal abilities, you’ll land several wins that otherwise would be losses.

Now that you’ve been prepped with some background information about POS systems, let’s dive into some play by play scenarios and learn effective rebuttal strategies to turn this perceived liability into an asset.  By mastering these techniques, knowledge and information contained in this article you will be much better prepared to deal with these situations when they inevitably arise.

The Power of Database Outsourcing

The objective in using this type of Q&A is to better understand how the merchant is currently collecting their customer data (if at all) and how much time, effort, and expense is going into the process.  When we compare the time (and expense) it takes to properly build a customer database (without paper forms or outsourcing the input of data) against the time it takes to process a transaction through a non-POS integrated system, the answer is obvious – – – our program SAVES time rather than adding to it.  What if 5 seconds longer on the transaction also saved 40 hours per week in manually inputting data from business cards, fish bowls, sign-up sheets, asking customers for information at POS or other similar type of collection methods?   Over 90% of businesses don’t even try to collect customer data and less than 1% of the 10% who do, collect their data properly so the market is wide open to our solutions whether or not integration with their POS is possible or practical.

You see, collection of customer data which is tied to the transaction for relevant communication is THE MOST important element in loyalty marketing.  Everything else PALES in comparison so any business owner asking about integration without having an efficient data collection process is demonstrating their ignorance.   Of course, you don’t need to insult the poor business owner, but you certainly need to redirect the conversation to more important issues such as the survival of their business.  Have you noticed in all the press releases of major restaurants and retail businesses filing bankruptcy, they never talk about what type of POS the business used.  However, in the recent BK filings of Borders (Feb 2011) the company did emphasize their new found dedication to customer loyalty programs and the fact they did not pay attention to this prior was a key mistake which helped lead to their decline.  Borders had an excellent POS and was using a cheap loyalty substitute which was integrated with their system, but it was not tied to the transaction and failed in a number of other fundamental strategies.  Would the proper loyalty program have saved Borders?  We don’t know for sure, but the company did reference this very issue in their bankruptcy filing papers as one of the key factors they should have improved upon.  The lesson should be obvious, don’t worry about POS integration until we have customer data nailed to perfection.

Most POS points based programs or those which integrate with POS, do not have an automated database building function, let alone a customer service help desk that personally answers phone calls and emails from cardholders on behalf of the merchant.  In order to do database building correctly, the process should really be outsourced to professionals.  This is why over 90% of merchants you visit don’t even know how to build a database or do not even try.  Of the 10% who are attempting to build a database, most use fish bowls, business cards, paper sign up forms, annoying questions at checkout and other similar type methods which consumers despise.  If this were not bad enough, recent surveys have indicated that ‘blasting’ to a database is now causing more harm than good.  Business owners who now believe they have a database to communicate with may be very well losing customers if their program is unable to ‘query their data’ and send relevant information to their customers.  Less than 1% of all programs have this capability so the odds of this being in place are very rare.  This is just one example of how business owners mistakenly place integration over database building and database building is far more important to the value of a business.

As a matter of fact, you might very well consider database building as the main topic of conversation with every sales call.  Most business owners realize the value of data, understand they are not collecting it properly and indeed are looking for a solution to lower costs and communicate with their customers.  If you focus on this concept alone and how our solutions are superior to others in the market, your success should increase dramatically.

Here are a few examples:

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, how do you currently build a customer database?” (By the way, this is an EXCELLENT way to start the conversation)

(Note there are only three possible answers to this question as follows)

Merchant: “I don’t even have a customer database.”  (Most common response)

OR

Merchant: “Through paper sheets and sign up forms which are then entered into my system at a later date.”

OR

Merchant: “I ask customers for their phone number or email address during check-out and then enter the data right away”

Based on the response received from the merchant, there are a number of follow-up comments we might choose.  In addition to data collection, we shine in all areas of data utilization and implementation, so you will almost always have a better solution ready to present no matter which answer you might receive.  More than likely, there is not even a proper method in place for collecting the data.  But, in the small chance there is, the follow up and use of this data is more than likely not being utilized correctly.

Sample suggested replies are as follows:

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, would you be interested if I could show you a better way to build your database, an option which eliminates paper signup sheets, tedious data entry, improves accuracy, and saves time as well as money?”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, do you know how long it takes for you to collect and enter this data supplied by your customers?”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, do you think the time it takes you or your staff to collect this data, decipher and transpose the information and then enter this data into your system might be better spent elsewhere such as actually running other areas of your business?”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, do you realize the proper collection of data is the most important aspect in building your business and maintaining profitability in the digital age?”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, were you aware that blasting to a faceless database could be annoying your customers or even cause customers to defect to your competition?”

There are many different ways to reply along this line of thinking.  Once we have some type of answer, we can then start moving into the following areas.

Sales Rep: “What type of information do you collect anyway?  Is it just an email address? How do you know the email address is legitimate or spelled correctly?  Is the data tied to a transaction so you can see which customers are ordering certain items?  What kind of options do you have with your data, or how do you utilize it?”  Would you like to be able to use this data more effectively such as knowing who your top 100, 200 or X number of customers are by zip code, purchase behavior or frequency?  How attractive would it be for you to push a button to communicate to these selected (targeted) customers and bring them back more frequently without any advertising costs?  Do you have a system in place for birthdays, anniversaries, utilizing either professional email or text?”

Sales Rep: “Did you know many of your customers prefer to speak to a live human being when it comes to supplying data, learning about your business or communicating with them in the future?  Did you know we provide a call center on your behalf for this very reason?  This call center is staffed with live human operators who assist YOUR customers and help them activate their cards over the telephone and personally answer emails on your behalf.  These hard working folks thus help you build YOUR database.  Immediately upon registration the customer’s marketing data which has been collected on our end magically appears inside of your private and secure database with double opt in validation.  There’s no time, no manual input and NO PAPER FORMS needed.  Does your POS vendor offer this type of service?  How much would it cost to hire a staff like this to work on your behalf?”

Sales Rep: “Mr.  Jones, you mentioned earlier being concerned about the time it takes to perform an extra transaction outside your POS system correct?  Well, your current system of collecting customer data sure takes a lot more time doesn’t it?  Were you also aware that even with integration, there are still two card swipes, one for the credit card and another for the gift and rewards card?  So in reality, there is not much extra time added with a non-integrated solution is there?  In reality, a lot more time is added in the acquiring and inputting of data, much more so than a few seconds at the time of sale.  Do you see how we will actually SAVE you time rather than add to it? More than just time Mr. Jones, we are building your database and establishing relationships with your customers.  Today’s customers are more concerned with relationships, convenience, and relevant communication than they are being hustled out of the restaurant as though they are nothing more than a transaction.  Does this make sense Mr. Jones?  Mr. Jones, would you be interested in a system like this which not only saves valuable time and money but gives you a turn-key solution to communicate with your customers and show you care?”

The Power of 24×7 Fundraising

Collection of data is a obviously an extremely important consideration when describing the differences between our program and other competitive programs that integrate with POS systems but there are others and we want to cover the big areas in this article.  Cause marketing / fundraising with cash back rewards currency is almost always a major differentiating factor and a hot button topic for many business owners.    During the sales pitch, you need to hammer fundraising and the merchant’s unique ability to use our program to network with local non-profit organizations because there is a very good chance any competitive loyalty program the merchant is considering that integrates with POS is not addressing this critical area.

Here is a list of questions we might consider in getting the conversation started in the right direction.  Also notice how these conversations or questions often relate to database building.  For example, even though cause marketing might be a great strategy to drive new business, what system is in place to track this new business and communicate with these customers after their initial visit?

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, are you interested in increasing business from the local non-profit community in your town?”  Possibly on an exclusive basis within your market? How would you feel if Pastor Jones or Rabbi Smith were to encourage their members to frequent your sub shop as compared to Subway or Quiznos?”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, do you offer any fundraising programs or cause marketing strategies in conjunction with visitation to your business?”  Do you know the difference between the two?”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, does your business ever receive requests for donations or gift cards from local non-profits?   (NOTE:  Many businesses receive numerous requests from non-profits seeking gift cards or donations).  We have noticed that many business owners are very agitated with the constant requests for money but are often torn between saying no and causing bad feeling or negative Word of Mouth inside the community.  They are looking for a way out and you have it.”

Sample replies might include…

Merchant: “Yes I’m bombarded with requests for donations.  People come in every day asking for money, gifts, or free products and services.”

Merchant: “We host fundraising events all the time.   We have groups who book their fundraising ‘parties’ here and we give back 10% to 20% of what is spent.”

Merchant: “Actually, we have informed selected non-profits to hold onto their receipts, total them up and bring them in each month for a 10% donation.”

This line of questioning gets the conversation moving in the direction of fundraising, community involvement and how supporting selected groups has always been good for business.  Most business owners understand that a properly designed fundraising strategy pays back many times over.  Even with old school fundraising, if the ROI is not there, many business owners still feel an obligation to support their community. The problems with many traditional fundraising concepts include:

1.  They are not tied to the transaction

2.  They are usually selective, not everyone can be supported

3.  There is no tracking or reporting to show which group is supporting the business

4.  There is no accountability or transparency on the non-profit side

5.  They often involve paper, coupons, or other difficult to organize materials.

In other words, the technique involved in establishing and implementing a fundraising strategy leaves much to be desired and something we can improve tremendously.   We help expose these obvious flaws and then show them how to turn donations and fundraising into a customer acquisition powerhouse via cause marketing.  Once we get the dialog moving in this direction, it’s easy to help the merchant  visualize the increased results.  Not only does the thought of new customer acquisition and increased frequency excite the merchant, but having a tool in place to stop the constant requests for money in a positive manner is worth a great deal to many merchants.  One local merchant put a banner in front of his store with the following message:

NEED MONEY?

If your non-profit needs funding, come in today!

Needless to say a number of curious people ask how the program works.  He then issues free cards with games of bowling or a free meal loaded on the card and lets them know they can earn 5% on everything they spend for the entire group.   No matter what their size might be (whether a 30 member lacrosse team or 5000 member University), he supplies as many cards as they request free of charge.  The group can then hand these cards out to their members and each time they visit (for years on end) they raise money by simply frequenting his business.  We have even devised a strategy to increase donations when they visit during slower periods or when they market or promote his business inside of their non-profit location.  There are many very powerful ways for business owners to achieve record results when they implement a powerful cause marketing module.

Some additional fundraising questions:

Sales Rep: “Would you be interested in running a fundraising program which encourages consumers to visit every SINGLE day and not just on the days when planned banquets are hosted?”  Would you prefer when they visit they pay full price without any advertising fees?”

Sales Rep: “Our loyalty system offers an unbelievable fundraising module which automatically tracks the sales from non-profit cardholders who come in and spend money.   We then report the donation of each cardholder directly on their printed receipt and notify the administrator in real time!  The entire process is automated, electronic, accountable and secure.  No box tops, no flyers, no coupons, no distribution expense, no discounting, no planning, just simple and easy fundraising (and database building) with every visit.”

Sales Rep: “Imagine having the ability to blanket the many different schools, churches, little leagues, soccer clubs, and other non-profit associations in your community with your very own custom branded gift, rewards and fundraising card.  We might even ‘load’ these cards with $5.00 – $10.00 in rewards of offer a free sandwich or lunch to drive the initial visit and build your database.  Once they come in to use their ‘free money’ or eat their ‘free meal’ we have them for life with a way to communicate with them, gather their feedback and value their business with the push of a button.  Each and every future visit rewards the customer, supports their community and helps sustain our environment.  These types of programs are WIN-WIN for everybody, wouldn’t you agree?”

Sales Rep: “We can even give non-profit leaders their own unique logon ID and PW to check sales and donation activity from their own members IN REAL TIME!.   With all the greed and corruption of our current economic climate, non-profit associations are wary of being ripped off or misled. Our system utilizes a trusted 3^rd party platform which provides complete transparency and accountability.  Real time reporting means both parties (you and your fundraising clients) will be aware of all donations, amounts due and how those funds were created, down to the very penny.  Merchants can decide in advance along with the non-profit regarding the frequency of payments, percentages of donations, specials during certain periods and more.  Fundraising clients will love this new found automatic fundraising model without any real change of behavior and promote your business all over town!”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, does your POS system or current rewards program provide you with this powerful fundraising capability?   Do they provide you with a turnkey system to attract new customers from outside your business while encouraging pastors, rabbis, principals and other leaders of influence to promote your business throughout the community and send their members to your restaurant over and over again?”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, between us, if we can increase sales of your business by as much as 20% just through the fundraising channel alone, is it that not worth a few extra seconds to swipe a card through a different system not integrated with your POS?   Or would you rather keep sales flat and not grow?”

Reconciliation & Fraud Monitoring Controls

Another area merchants might be concerned about is the ability to track mistakes, fraud, and/or abuse of the system.  In their mind, the merchant frets over the internal controls of using a 3^rd party system which they think might increase the risk of abuse.  All retail merchants (and especially restaurants) worry about employee theft, mistakes and abuse.  As a matter of fact, it’s often one of their most pressing concerns and weighs heavily on their minds, even when they sleep!  For this reason, we have designed a robust set of fraud monitoring reports designed to accomplish one thing:  flag suspicious activity processed through the system and do so on auto pilot so the business owner does not have to worry about these things and can get a good night’s rest.  No batching, no hatching, the system can be set up by the merchant to notify him via email each day on the transactions processed the previous day most likely to warrant closer review.   It’s a good idea to bring up this topic because the merchant may be thinking about it even if he or she is not verbalizing it.  Here are some conversation starters:

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, we provide awesome reconciliation reporting.  Our system not only provides complete summary and transaction level details in real time in an attractive color-coded report, we also have the ability to email you this report every single day for your convenience.  Let me show you a demo report.”

Sales Rep: “Mr. Jones, we take fraud monitoring VERY seriously.  Does your POS system include fraud monitoring reporting to flag any suspicious activity? Can you flag high dollar loads, selected redeem transactions, multiple purchases or visits within the same day, or unusual sales activity?”

Sales Rep: “Can you flag high frequency transactions from the same card which may have taken place on the same day or over a period of days?  How about flag individual cards or specific clerks?  We can even track people who try to activate more then one card or activate without providing their email address.  We can do all these things and more and even email you the Fraud Monitoring report each day so you can stay proactive and not be forced to log-in and download reports.”

Other POS Integration Comparison Strategies

Aside from database building, fundraising and reporting, there are lots of other topics you can cover with merchants to separate your loyalty program solution from one that integrates with the prospect’s POS system.  Often times merchants don’t look past integration and thus fail to see the bigger picture of the entire  loyalty lifecycle  process.  Swiping cards, issuing rewards and building a database are all just cogs in a large wheel.  For example, once we actually collect the data how do we actually use it to effectively communicate with our customers and bring them back more often?  Let’s cover a few more conversation starters which may very well ring the hot button that turns the merchant around.

Sales Rep: “Does your system have the ability to offer real cash back rewards or is it limited to a points based system which is difficult to understand for both customers and clerks?  If you’re planning on installing a points based system, you might as well just flush tens of thousands of dollars down the drain every year.  Points currency does not even compare to the ROI generated from instant cash back rewards.  Why install a clearly inferior system that costs you untold thousands in lost sales just to save a couple seconds when swiping the card?”

Sales Rep: “Does your system automatically email your customers the next day thanking them for visiting and reporting current rewards balances while encouraging them to visit more frequently’?”

Sales Rep: “Can your system also be used to query your customer database in order to target selected customers and move them into specific groups such as VIP, Corporate Meetings, Happy Hour, etc.?”

Sales Rep: “Can you create email marketing and text message campaigns within minutes with your POS system?   Were you planning on using a separate specialized vendor (i.e., 3^rd party application) for email marketing and mobile text messaging to communicate with your customers?  If you were planning on using a separate vendor for email and text anyway then that means the component of loyalty involving communication with customers is not integrated with your POS wouldn’t you agree? That’s going to involve all kinds of uploads and downloads, imports and exports and dealing with opt outs and bounces.  Now that’s not only time consuming and a giant hassle it’s confusing and a waste of money as well.  You might be looking at two or three steps to accomplish what we can do with one.“

Sales Rep: “Loyalty is more than just a swipe of the card.  That’s just one part of the lifecycle.  If you’re planning on using a separate service to handle your email and/or mobile marketing then why not use our 3^rd party system which handles everything under one umbrella?  The only thing our system doesn’t do is integrate directly with your POS (yet) and I hope by now you have seen there are many more important issues to consider.

Sales Rep: “Does your POS system vendor work closely with you to design custom graphics for posters, table tents, postcards and other advertising collateral to ensure your marketing objectives align with your branding and your program is rolled out properly?”

Sales Rep:  “Mr. Jones, I am a customer loyalty specialist.  I work for a loyalty marketing company.  This is what I do for a living. You can call me anytime to discuss strategy, marketing, or any other need which might arise. I will work with you in order to help build your business save you thousands of dollars in possible mistakes based on my years of experience.  It’s hard to put a value on customer service and private consulting.  We offer much more than a box of software, it’s more like a partnership in working together so we can achieve the best results possible. Loyalty is much bigger than just swiping a card or saving a few seconds, the entire process must be organized and the right offers communicated to your customers in order to achieve maximum ROI.  I am here to help you make this a reality.  Does this make sense?”

At the end of the day, we will either educate the merchant on the many other important advantages beyond integration or they will be steadfast in their opinions and not willing to listen to the facts which only serve to interrupt their pre-ordained point of view.  At least we will not go down without a fight and make a good case for our solutions.  That’s what the sales process is all about– presenting all the facts and letting the merchant come to their own conclusion based on the facts.  NEVER apologize for lack of POS integration.   Apologies are lethal during the sales process.  Just explain the facts and you will close a much higher percentage of deals by simply educating the merchant with the truth.

1.  Hire a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) 

The Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is one of the most important positions in the company.   Among other duties, CCO’s will visit schools, churches, synagogues, little leagues, rotary clubs etc. and explain the program and help non-profits engage in best practices so they understand their responsibilities in creating donations and driving visitation to the business.  In addition, CCO’s mingle with customers inside the doors providing exceptional customer service, explaining the loyalty program, signing up additional non-profits, and increasing revenue in a variety of ways.   Many businesses have never considered hiring a CCO but with a world class loyalty solution in place, it makes a lot of sense as there are numerous ways to increase pre-paid sales, gift card loads, frequency, spending and much more.  The CCO removes the pressure from other employees in understanding these strategies and in fact helps and trains them to be better customer service personnel.  

A loyal employee is more valuable than a loyal customer…
Employees are also human, and they bond emotionally with your customers. The virtuous circle of ‘customer – employee – shareholder – customer’ has become well known in loyalty marketing. These groups go together and if the loyalty or even co-operation of any of the groups is lost, the chain breaks. To be completely successful, they must all work together, supporting each other, to build strong relationships. According to Frederick Reichheld, “the only way a company can build a loyal customer base is by building committed relationships with the employees responsible for serving those customers.” In fact, ‘loyalty leader’ companies identified by Reichheld were seen to out-perform their competitors by a factor of 2.2 in the stock market.  In the report we examine the reasons for the absolute importance of loyal employees; without their support the most sophisticated and costly loyalty and CRM programmes will simply not work. Recent research supports the view that top executives are at last not only realising this, but actually doing something about it. It would seem that while there is no shortage of businesses that pay lip service to employee loyalty – even featuring it prominently in their company policy – fewer actually have procedures in place that percolate through the business right down to the bottom and exert a real effect. The days when management could expect undying loyalty simply because they have employed someone have gone forever. 

Add to that the fact that in many cases, it’s actually the employees near the bottom of the ladder – those who are often treated most poorly and are underpaid – that have most personal interaction with customers, and it becomes clear that there is a problem. Without loyalty to the business there won’t be enthusiasm at the customer facing level, and that’s enough to nullify the very expensive marketing programmes that are intended to show the customers how important they are. In this time of almost universal cost-cutting resulting in employee cutbacks, fewer employees are being asked to do more and more work and – quite understandably – are becoming demoralised and discontented. It is becoming increasingly difficult for HR managers to maintain the loyalty of their employees. 

And of course, the level of employee loyalty is influenced by factors other than those within an organisation. For instance, the state of the general job market has a major effect on whether employees change jobs frequently or not. As more jobs open up, the opportunities to defect increase. So how should top management approach the challenge of increasing the loyalty of employees? Our report looks at some of the latest strategies and how well they’re working. And what exactly are the challenges facing these executives? Where should most money be invested for the best return on investment? The report clearly explains what’s needed, what works, and what doesn’t work. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/loyal-employee-or-loyal-customer/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/warren-buffet-prepaid-strategies-for-retail-restaurants/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/warren-buffet-prepaid-strategies-for-retail-restaurants/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:42:13 +0000 amiller http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2551 Warren Buffet loves to take advantage of cash flow.  If he were a small business owner, he would be figuring out a way to bring in instant cash NOW for products to be delivered later at a markup.  This ‘cash flow’ philosophy is very similar to a loan, but instead of seeking money from a bank, what if this up front money came from our customers in the form of a guarantee to purchase our products later at full price?  If the customer did not return to pay for our products, then we kept the money free and clear since we already had possession of it in our cash register.

Wow!  Sound too good to be true?  That’s exactly what an effective pre-paid strategy can do when we have the ability to track multiple balances such as gift, rewards, and ‘custom currency’ (widgets) on one card or one system.  The widget balance tracks anything the merchant wants in single integer format (1, 2, 3 etc.) whereas the gift and reward fields track balances in $.XX currency format.   Many business owners realize that the gift card industry is a multi-billion dollar powerhouse with millions of dollars in ‘breakage’ benefitting firms who sell large volumes of these cards to their customers. However, virtually every business in the gift card space does not have the capability to track three separate balances on one card (as our system does) and this opens up ‘big boy’ strategies for the smallest of retail merchants.

Just ask yourself the following question, (we will use a bowling center as an example and imagine we visit this bowling center as a customer several times per year).  If we had $100.00 in our bank account and were to leave this money for an entire year in our bank, how much interest might we earn at the end of a year?  Probably $1.00 or $2.00 if anything.   Instead of leaving this $100.00 in the bank, what would happen on my next visit to the bowling center if they told me they would give me 20% interest UP FRONT?  I would not even have to wait the entire year for my $1.00 or $2.00 in interest from the bank.  Instead of a few dollars a year from now, I would be given $20.00 immediately.

The only downside to my decision is that I must spend the ‘interest’ and the ‘deposit’ at the bowling center.  Still a good deal since I would have probably spent that money anyway and there is a lot I can do at the bowling center such as eat and drink.   Since I do eat and drink more than several times a year, I start thinking about coming to the bowling center more often so I can utilize my 20% interest payment.  This offer sounds much better than the bank and soon I am withdrawing money from my bank account and giving it to the bowling center!   If I don’t use my money or come back to the bowling center, the bowling center keeps my money anyway.  I don’t need to look for ‘lower prices’ any longer, I already earned 20% interest and my money is already spent.

Many business owners mistakenly assume that customers might be ‘spending this money anyway’ so they think to themselves, ‘why give my customer a reward for giving me money in advance’?  Again, this mistake comes from not understanding the math of frequency, increased average ticket, goodwill, cost of discounting and many other advantages which were not considered in their calculations.  When we take ‘real money’ out of the hands of our customers and replace that real money with ‘monopoly money’ which can only be spent at our business, we have the ideal Warren Buffet type strategy.

When the customer leaves with a balance on their card, the retail location now ‘locked’ that customer into much more frequent returns without any advertising or marketing costs to bring them back.  When Mr. Jones is trying to decide what to do the following weekend, the odds of him deciding on patronizing the business with a card balance burning a hole in his wallet are much better than without this reminder.  Industry statistics suggest the customer is 67% more likely to return due to the balance and this phenomenon continues with every visit since the balance accumulates with each purchase.

Mr. Jones understands that if he decides to redeem his card balance the money is ALREADY on the card just waiting to be spent.  Any other location Mr. Jones frequents requires NEW money to be spent rather than money which in his mind is already gone.  Las Vegas uses this mentality with chips, knowing full well that people spend much more aggressively when ‘real money’ is replaced with a substitute.  When rewards are redeemed, the business owner enjoys even more benefits in the form of a full tax deduction as an advertising expense since it’s tracked in ‘cash back’ rewards currency.   When a $3.00 reward is redeemed, this is $3.00 the business owner is ‘rebating’ (in tax terms) to the consumer and the amount is tracked and logged for deduction purposes.  Imagine getting paid in advance to guarantee a future visit and then getting a write off when FULL PRICE is paid by the customer.  On top of this advantage, the customer feels better about paying full price than he did if offered the same $3.00 off in the form of a discount.  The value is present with the pre-load interest payments and it’s much more convenient not having to worry about coupons, flyers, cereal box tops or other hard to manage pieces of paper.

The ability to track and load up to three (3) different balances (Gift, Rewards, and “Widgets”) opens up a myriad of marketing opportunities to take in real money from customers while providing them with monopoly money in return.  These types of strategies can even be designed to drive purchases to different profit centers or specific brands on an exclusive basis and thus opens up even more money from sponsors which benefit as a result.  Let’s go through a few different creative prepaid strategies you can advise your customers to implement immediately to fill up registers with cash.  The amounts and strategies can vary, but the concept is the same.

1. Mr. Smith, would you like to have lunch on us today?  Simply put $20.00 on your rewards card and feel free to walk over and order anything on the lunch menu, no charge!

1. Mr. Chesla, would you like to purchase $40.00 of bowling for $20.00?  Simply load $20.00 worth of bowling on the card and we will give you 5 free games worth an additional $20.00.

1. Mrs. Miller, would you like to purchase 15 lunches for the price of 10?  For just $100, we will load 15 lunches on your card you can redeem anytime you want.

1. Mr. Johnson, would you like to ____ (fill in the blank) bowl, play billiards, or hit golf balls for FREE today?  Simply load $40.00 on your card and you can play all day for FREE, we will even include a FREE LUNCH.  The amount never expires, there are no fees, and it’s our simple way of saying thank you for putting money on your card.

1. Mrs. Jones, has anyone given you a $50.00 bill lately?  Simply deposit $200.00 on your membership card and we will give you $50.00 in rewards.   Remember the $200.00 is YOUR money to use on anything in the restaurant with no strings attached, no fees and no expiration dates.  It’s our way of saying thank you!

Implementing a prepaid strategy does require work and a little training of the staff, but the rewards are worth it.  Merchants should learn how to market and package their products and services in creative ways to maximize operating cash flow when needed.   Please consult with your clients about implementing the right prepaid strategy for their own business.  We also suggest coordinating with your graphics department to help complement these ideas with marketing displays and other collateral to help advertise the offers to customers.   Please visit our Creative Services page for marketing ideas.

In addition, merchants often look for ‘overnight’ success when handing out fundraising (or cause marketing) cards rather than looking at the strategy as a long term relationship that needs to be nurtured and properly engaged by both parties.  Distributing cards is only part of the equation since both marketing and technology need unified support in order to realize the desired ROI.  For the clients that need more guidance, we have authored this article in order to document several ideas you can take back to your clients should they feel their fundraising or cause marketing solution is not working as well as they might have imagined.  In virtually all cases, implementing even a few of these strategies will increase awareness and engagement much more quickly and thus deliver the desired return over the long haul.

1.  Hire a Chief Customer Officer (aka Rewards Rover)

The Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is one of the most important positions in the company.   Among other duties, CCO’s will visit schools, churches, synagogues, little leagues, rotary clubs etc. and explain the program and help non-profits engage in best practices so they understand their responsibilities in creating donations and driving visitation to the business.  In addition, CCO’s mingle with customers inside the doors providing exceptional customer service, explaining the loyalty program, signing up additional non-profits, and increasing revenue in a variety of ways.   Many businesses have never considered hiring a CCO but with a world class loyalty solution in place, it makes a lot of sense as there are numerous ways to increase pre-paid sales, gift card loads, frequency, spending and much more.  The CCO removes the pressure from other employees in understanding these strategies and in fact helps and trains them to be better customer service personnel.

2.  Create Marketing Displays and Collateral:

How GameStop’s recently launched Power Up Rewards powered up to 6 million members in just a few months.

The main idea is to make sure employees are engaged and we have a number of ways business owners can increase exposure and get employees on board.  Any type of promotional materials inside the location will be a big help in driving awareness and involvement. Your clients might order card sleeves, table tents, posters, flyers, banners or other similar types of presentation materials which explain the program when the card is handed out. Education is critical and merchants should take every opportunity to educate their consumers whenever possible.  Materials should be displayed with an emphasis dedicated to helping organizations raise money on a continuous basis. Visit our Creative Services page for samples to get an idea on possibilities.

3. Set a Meaningful Fundraising Donation

The fundraising donation should be defined as something really meaningful that gets both consumers and non-profit leaders really engaged. It’s tough to engage people when the donation is only 2% or 3% of the sale.  Unless the average ticket is substantial, the minimum donation should be 5%.  Even then, 5% is a good starting amount with many ways to increase this donation based on frequency, spending, or promotion within the non-profit facility.  Many merchants fail to realize that donations and reward percentages are only realized after a FULL PRICE sale without any advertising or distribution costs.  The painful irony is these very same merchants will not hesitate to run 20% off promotions or 2 for 1 sale offers which are far more expensive that increasing donations and rewards tied to actual sales transactions.

Donations and rewards are not really an expense at all.  Both of these balances not only show consumers you value their business, but they act as a trigger to increase spending and visitation on future purchases.  In addition, they inspire Word of Mouth (W.O.M.) champions as reported in numerous studies on www.wildboarstraning.com Many merchants will admit the best form of advertising is word of mouth and they now have the solution to take W.O.M. to the next level.  But to get to the next level, merchants can’t be skimpy on rewards and donations thinking they are an expense.  Discounting and traditional advertising are the real expenses and both can be sharply reduced or avoided with the proper cause marketing and loyalty strategy.

The properly designed program creates tremendous goodwill and generates many more return visits with a higher average ticket.  This does not even count the many new customers who choose a specific venue as a result of donation support to their charitable organization.   As mentioned above, a minimum donation percentage should be 5% but 10% or 15% is even better.  Not for the non-profit but for the business owner!  Consumers will pay it forward exponentially much more so than if the donation ratio was 2 or 3%.

4. Set a Robust Cash Back Reward

One of the worst mistakes a business owner can make is reducing rewards (similar to fundraising donations covered above.)  Again, this mindset comes from misguided understanding of frequency, spending and visitation. Business owners often forget about discounting and distribution expense so instead of a 20% discount (which almost 100% of merchants are willing to give) the same amount might be split with 10% fundraising and 10% rewards and the ‘expense’ of these two combined is much lower than a 20% discount.  Check out our video here for additional explanation or review our whitepaper on Understanding the Math and Value of Rewards.

When you encounter this mentality you need to realize education is the key and become a master at the math illustrated in the video and whitepaper above.  Rewards issuance and fundraising donations are not expenses, they are both triggers to increase revenue.  In the case of rewards, the issuance alone costs the merchant absolutely nothing and generates incredible consumer goodwill practically guaranteeing a return visit.  Often times the customer won’t even redeem the reward but still increases frequency due to the accumulation of rewards and the feeling of good will and support to their heartfelt need. Customers who do redeem their reward become EIGHT TIMES more profitable than does who do not.

The reward is extremely important for satisfying consumer’s own need for appreciation while simultaneously supporting the consumer’s emotional needs to support their charitable organization. Verify both the Reward Ratio and the Donation Ratio are at least 10% EACH (not combined) for best practice program design. Merchants cannot go wrong with an aggressive reward and donation structure, especially when customers are paying full price (no discounting).

5. Contact the Local Press

Contact the local media since the idea of a fully accountable and transparent fundraising program is much more news worthy than a bear stuck in a tree.  Seriously, the local news spends quite a bit of time on trivial stories and this program can be a huge benefit to the schools, local business, and consumers alike so the local media needs to be made aware of new technology designed to support the community and small business.  Big corporations use the media all the time to publicize their own charitable interests so why not smaller businesses?  One idea is to host a press conference at one participating facility and invite non-profit leaders and volunteers from all over town to come in and kick off their fundraising program.  With school leaders, nonprofit decision makers and key business personnel present, the news will pick up the story and help spread the word.  The key idea is find a way to let the entire community simply know you have the capabilities to reward them and fund their charitable organization with no change in behavior and complete accountability.  The non-profit capabilities of our program should give you exposure in a variety of ways, contact newspapers, radio, any type of media you can think of for free publicity.  When the program is explained, you may very well qualify for added coverage without any cost.

Once people know what you have, the entire program grows very rapidly. After all, who does not want free food and free fundraising without having to sell anything, ask for volunteers, or change any behavior other than eating pizza? A stored value program that delivers 100% accountability and transparency through a trusted 3^rd party source is one the most powerful innovations in the history of fundraising and all that’s required is to let the press know, let people know, and let the community know. Anything that gets the word out, will increase the expansion and engagement of the program tremendously and be a triple win for everyone involved.

6. Recruit Sponsors to Finance Program Expenses

Printing the right number of plastic cards and designing marketing materials has hard expense associated with it, so why not find sponsors to underwrite 100% of the costs in either cash or trade?  Make sure you are familiar with all the ways our cause marketing program is vastly superior in advertising value than any other venue these sponsors or business owners currently employ.   Help your merchants write letters and presentations targeting corporate sponsors with whom the client does business already.  Pepsi or Coke, Sysco or U.S. Foods, car dealerships, real estate agents, financial planners, you name it, there are scores of business contacts that can benefit tremendously from being tied to a local community fundraising program.

There’s no shortage of opportunities to plug many different types of sponsors.  Whether it simply be logos imprinted on the card, promotions inside of the automated thank-you note emails, offers printed on the very receipts of each purchase, custom category capabilities to drive visits or purchases to the brand, custom header or footer messages online, exposure inside of select facilities or non-profits via posters, displays, banners, table tents etc. the opportunities are numerous.  Make sure and become an expert on the many different ways our program can be set up to promote sponsors and drive visitation to their brand or increase purchases of their brand on an exclusive basis.  Merchants might even offer sponsors extremely valuable promotions or incentives tied to the actual purchases of that brand which go way beyond branding exposure. For example, Pepsi would probably pay for a sponsorship premium if select business owners were to run a promotion offering DOUBLE REWARDS  on the entire ticket whenever a large Pepsi or any Pepsi bottled beverage product is ordered.  Not only can sponsorship fund all program expenses, the merchant can generate additional revenue in the process.

7. Train, Engage and Motivate Employees

Make sure the client’s employees are engaged and expertly familiar with the fundraising and rewards program so they can properly explain it to customers upon request.  One motivation idea we love is to create a bonus structure for the employees who introduce the most non-profit groups to the business.  We know of one restaurant who is giving 2% residual income to their waitresses for all non-profit group sales activity when they sign on to the program.  This particular business owner now has all the employees asking customers if they are tied to any church, soccer club, school etc.  The staff will then forward the lead or key administrator contact to the business owner for follow up and enjoy a nice bonus as a result.  There are many simple ideas that can be implemented to engage employees.  Let business owners know that a successful program leads to happy customers and when the customer is happy, employees benefit.

8.      Send Email Campaigns to Fundraiser Participants

The customer database can be queried based on individual fundraiser participation and that means your clients can send individual email campaigns to each specific fundraiser database.   You can easily help merchants communicate the program’s virtues by coordinating efforts utilizing full service graphics specialists.  Merchants need help with proper offers, the best message, who to target, what to say and many other strategy decisions.  Don’t leave these decisions up to your clients.  Proactively help your clients send the proper email campaign to get customers more engaged and regularly communicate the value, advertise new specials, highlight ongoing money raised on a monthly basis, and even rank the top donation generators inside the non-profit organization to stir friendly competition and drive more sales back to the business.

9. Meet Regularly with Non-Profit Leaders

Aside from all the great marketing work the business owner can do as illustrated above let’s not forget what the non-profit leadership can and should be doing in conjunction with the program. Non-profit leaders should be shouting the program’s benefits from the rooftops filtering down information and updates into their newsletters, email campaigns, personal phone calls to members, posters hanging inside facilities, special snail mailings explaining the virtues of the program, closed circuit TV advertising inside facilities and everything else possible to keep awareness at a peak.

There is no shortage of ways to promote the merchant’s fundraising program so what exactly is the non-profit doing?  Remember, these are the same institutions that would spend countless hours and money on car washes, cookie sales, pancake breakfasts and other programs requiring kids to sell items door to door or in front of Wal-Mart.  Don’t let these non-profits off the hook regarding their responsibility in fundraising.  This program has far more potential than other programs they devoted extensive and time and expense too in the past.

You might also advise your merchants to be selective in whom they distribute fundraising cards and base their decision on what each non-profit group might do to fulfill their responsibility inside the program.  Non-profits can do quite a bit but their default mindset is to sit back and let others do the work.  It’s very possible that they are not familiar with all the ways they can keep the news and information fresh so don’t assume they are aware of this and help them realize a little promotion goes a long way to their bottom line.  We recommend business owners host periodic complimentary lunches in order  to sit down one on one with these leaders and review the program’s activity and marketing strategy.  We have found that most non-profits need accountability and reminders even though they are the beneficiary.  Many non-profits so used to old school techniques they often forget about their responsibility in this type of program and how their engagement can be a key to its success.  This quarterly meeting is also an excellent opportunity for the business owner to hand the non-profit administrator their donation check and keep everyone on the same page with effective communication.

BORDERS CHAPTER 11 Plan: Did you know that in the filing of the Chapter 11 papers, the CEO of Borders has stated a new commitment to loyalty solutions will help pull the company out of its problems? Don’t wait until it’s too late, there are many signs on the wall to prepare and strengthen your business now.

My Panera’s effective surprise and delight Filed Under (Restaurant/QSR, Retail) by Fred Thompson Share: Posted on 03-2-2011

It’s now 6 months after Panera extended the MyPanera program into Chicago and other major markets, and I can see why Panera is counting on this program to help them drive top line sales — there is a lot to like about this program which embraces soft rewards within a “surprise and delight” approach vs. a structure-heavy traditional rewards program. The program is grounded in showing appreciation and rewarding customers in unexpected ways, and it delivers against these goals in three key areas:

• This program has a great communication cadence. Rewards come quickly (how about a free dessert after one visit?) and additional offerings are varied and frequent (seem to be appearing every 2-4 visits afterwards). Panera has embraced the concept of proactive gifting driving future visitation and purchases, a key differentiator from traditional QSR loyalty models.
• The majority of the rewards are “thank-yous” vs. % and $ off. MyPanera does not have a heavy “upsell” feel to the program. Most of the rewards at register are Free items, and Free works much better than the % off. The architects of this program have largely avoided % and $ off items that can feel like “non-rewards” to customers, and I’m hoping a few of the recent $-off rewards remain in the minority. or go away.
• Strong focus on in-store experience. The program quite simply enhances the in-restaurant experience. I find myself waiting anxiously for associate to tell me what special treat I have received. It’s fun, and enhances the interaction while not sacrificing speed at register.

There is still opportunity for this program to evolve and expand, and Panera’s ability to identify customers and drive repeat visits could be greatly enhanced if the scale of rewards & benefits were better communicated. Prospective members should not be left wondering if the rewards were going to be meaningful for them, especially when being asked to subsequently register online.

And while Panera indicates they are tailoring these rewards based on members’ purchasing history, the free item rewards appear fairly broad-based according to some sampling over the past few months. There is a great opportunity here to increase rewards relevance as well as further entice members to buy add-on items, and this is a capability we anticipate will be strengthened as the program’s data history becomes more robust.

It’s delightful to see a program like this cited as a major driver of financial results, as Panera did in their mid-February WSJ article. With a few small (but key) changes, the MyPanera program could quickly evolve to an even stronger customer loyalty driver, and a dominant element of Panera’s business intelligence strategy moving forward.

Fred Thompson is a COLLOQUY contributing writer and Partner, Retail Practice Lead with LoyaltyOne Consulting. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/my-panera-restaurant-membership-2/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/fundraising-opportunities-at-suburban-lanes/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/fundraising-opportunities-at-suburban-lanes/#comments Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:43:16 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2509 Here is an example of what one client is doing.  $20.00 of bowling for $10.00 and the non-profit keeps the $10.00.  They are holding meetings for the community, and engaging in all kinds of activities and updates.  We have the solutions, if you can provide a little elbow grease, the business will grow guaranteed.  Any business can do this with any denomination desired and then move the customer to Platinum Membership when they arrive.  Call for more info. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/fundraising-opportunities-at-suburban-lanes/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/restaurant-video-marketing-tip-of-the-week/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/restaurant-video-marketing-tip-of-the-week/#comments Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:37:50 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2505 Restaurant Marketing Tip of the Week #2 – Bowling Centers have a unique way to increase food and drink sales by driving exclusive rewards to open play (and/or shoes) while customers pay full price and purchase more food and drink.  We can even synergize the pro shop and drive rewards to exclusive brands of equipment.  We have seen centers increase their profits by 200% or more with simple ideas we set up for them.

Here is a video which can be used for any stand alone restaurant, snack bar or lounge.   Bowling centers have far more capability to increase revenue since food and drink is one of several profit centers.  Bowling Centers should also have a membership program in place for their center.

Many centers are familiar with Kids Bowl Free, this would be an ideal Platinum Membership benefit with all the games loaded on the card (like chicken sandwiches in the video.)  We can text or email the kids anytime to come in and no coupons are necessary.  Everything is loaded on one membership card and centers would keep every penny of the membership fee.  They could do this for many different groups such as league bowlers, and run a tiered membership program which would bring in 10s of thousands of additional fees every year whether or not any customers even showed up.  

Creating Memberships for added profits and frequency.

http://screencast.com/t/jkhX3QOggqP ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/restaurant-video-marketing-tip-of-the-week/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/5-key-loyalty-trends-2011/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/5-key-loyalty-trends-2011/#comments Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:30:32 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2489 Editors Notes Research Article Below: At times,  these articles focus on marketing experts awareness, let’s bring this one down to size for business owners.  Whether we own a bowling center, restaurant, golf course, or cleaners, it’s all the same.  The new digital age is empowering the customer and if we simply listen to our customers and give them what they have requested our business will grow faster than ever.

1. Customers will use Social Media to promote businesses which offer what they have requested.  These same customers will also use Social Media to communicate with others NOT to frequent certain businesses.  Customers want their community to be supported with every transaction and they want a simple, easy way to track and receive these donations.  They also want to be rewarded with every visit and want to feel value and appreciated for frequenting the business. 
2. Over 87% of consumers prefer cash back rewards and close to 90% indicated they would frequent a business more often if donations were tied to the transaction.  These are the top two requests and very few business owners implement them. 
3. Notice #2 trend has a lot to do with #1.  For business owners who insist on not listening to their customers, their business will pay a steep price.
4. The top 3 retail emotions are community support, personal value, green benefits.  We supply all three.
5. Relevance, there is the R word again.  No longer can you BLAST to a database, send relevant offers based on spending, age, frequency, groups, etc.  You must have a system tied to transaction so you can communicate with 30-40 year old female league bowlers or 18-24 year old cosmic bowlers in a certain zip code.  Communication needs to based on spending, purchases, visitation habits, etc.  Most business owners today are blasting to a database and will cause more damage than good while wasting money at the same time.   Text messaging will be even more strict than email. 
6. Stop with the same old points based programs or punch cards.  If you ride a horse to work then keep using them but if you have an automobile, then ramp up your loyalty program as well.

Loyalty Update:  Radio Broadcast Interview You Tube  http://bit.ly/xpectrewards

Here is an example of Cause Marketing with our Beaver Pride solutions in Minnesota.  This is an email template we created for them and notice the following in red.  Every community should have something like this to help support business owners, non-profits and cardholders alike.  Everyone wins.  Watch the video below when the local news interviews these gentleman on all they are doing for the community.  Will your business be one associated with helping the community while increasing the bottom line at the same time? 

1. The first red arrow summarizes the donations for the previous month
2. The second red arrow totals the donations to date
3. The first red box promotes new merchants which can be looked up and mapped inside their site
4. The third red arrow breaks down the transactions by cardholder and recognizes consumers for shopping at local merchants.   Consumers love this, it becomes a contest as to who can frequent participating merchants the most.  Contest can be run with sponsors DONATING prizes to these consumers for supporting local business owners.  If you are a business owner, how do you like the idea of companies giving away $1000s of dollars on your behalf so people in the community spend more money with you?  There is no reason why any business owner would not want to participate.  Advertising is reduced or eliminated, price points are protected, new customer acquisition increases, frequency goes up, average ticket goes up and all of this while supporting the local community with every transaction.
5. The fourth red arrow promotes a few merchants who are increasing the benefits this month
6. The sponsor box below shows sponsors like Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper and others who pay for the entire program and help support the community due to proprietary loyalty benefits we provide.

Editors Notes:  First off, any business without a loyalty program rewarding their customers at the time of purchase is making a clear decision to ignore every major study on how to increase sales and protect price points.  

Secondly, it’s NOT the points that make a difference it’s the reward and value associated with ANYTHING.  In other words, if POINTS work, then you can bet your bottom socks that the more relevant solutions work even better!  We have written for years that even TERRIBLE loyalty programs work to a certain extent since consumers are starved for recognition, value, good will and much more.  When you take a loyalty program and focus on BEST IN CLASS research based on what customers are saying, the results are obviously superior.  The amazing truth is that most business owners don’t seem to care about building their business.  They complain about the economy, groupon, and many other things, but they don’t take the time to install a loyalty program when every analyst in the world keeps sending research like below. 

Neuromarketing, Neuroscience Research

Every merchant seems to have a loyalty program these days. It makes sense to reward customers for their patronage and encourage even greater frequency. But, it appears there’s one kind of loyalty reward that may be more effective. One study showed that “irrelevant information” (in this case, largely valueless loyalty points) changed consumer buying decisions.

…irrelevant information may influence choice even when there is an easily justified basis for choice other than the irrelevant attribute. [From Irrelevant Information and Mediated Intertemporal Choice by van Osselaer, Alba, and Manchanda.]

What the researchers identified in their experiments was went beyond the logical and expected effect of a loyalty program: the mere presence of point values influenced customer buying decisions. Even when the value of loyalty points was less than the value of a real-money price difference, they were swayed by the loyalty points:

Choices were influenced by points even when consumers were provided with other truly discriminating information (e.g., price) and the irrelevance of the loyalty points was readily discernable. This implies that irrelevant information can influence choice when other, easily justifiable bases for decisions are available and, therefore, that irrelevant information can function as more than a tie-breaker. [Emphasis added.]

Maximizing Loyalty Program Impact

The Neuromarketing takeaway from this research is that exposing customers to point values at the time of purchase can amplify the effectiveness of the loyalty program. Want to encourage sampling of a new product, or drive upgrades? Or get a customer to visit you instead of your competitor? Try something along the lines of, “100 extra Rewards Points with every purchase!”

Loyalty Inflation?

It might be worth setting the value of the loyalty currency in a way that lets you use larger vs. smaller numbers. E.g., “100 points” might be more effective than “1 point” even if the value was the same. I’ve often wondered about the effectiveness of airline mile restaurant promotions. I often get notified that a local establishment is offering “triple miles” if I use my airline-branded credit card. The final number of miles earned seems rather paltry, and I don’t think my purchasing behavior has been affected at all.

Then again, maybe at some level my brain HAS responded with, “Oooh! Three times the points!” and my rational, conscious thought process has merely justified the dining choice on a seemingly logical pretext ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/important-neuromarketing-loyalty-update/feed/ 0 http://www.youtube.com/user/XpectResultsNow#p/u/10/tK8u5j2E0HU http://www.youtube.com/user/XpectResultsNow#p/u/10/tK8u5j2E0HU#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:47:22 +0000 amiller http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2451 Restaurant consultants XPect Restaurant Marketing Solutions interviewed our own Steve Schroeder to discuss rewards programs inside the restaurant industry.   The Xpect Information Network talks to restaurant industry experts about the strategies and techniques that successful restaurants around the country employ to maximize their business.   Watch the video now.

Download The Value_Proposition Whitepaper Now

BORDERS CHAPTER 11 Plan:  Did you know that in the filing of the Chapter 11 papers, the CEO of Borders has stated a new commitment to loyalty solutions will help pull the company out of its problems?  Don’t wait until it’s too late, there are many signs on the wall to prepare and strengthen your business now.   My Panera’s effective surprise and delight Filed Under (Restaurant/QSR, Retail) by Fred Thompson  Share: Posted on 03-2-2011 It’s now 6 months after Panera extended the MyPanera program into Chicago and other major markets, and I can see why Panera is counting on this program to help them drive top line sales — there is a lot to like about this program which embraces soft rewards within a “surprise and delight” approach vs. a structure-heavy traditional rewards program.  The program is grounded in showing appreciation and rewarding customers in unexpected ways, and it delivers against these goals in three key areas:

• This program has a great communication cadence.  Rewards come quickly (how about a free dessert after one visit?) and additional offerings are varied and frequent (seem to be appearing every 2-4 visits afterwards).  Panera has embraced the concept of proactive gifting driving future visitation and purchases, a key differentiator from traditional QSR loyalty models.
• The majority of the rewards are “thank-yous” vs. % and $ off.  MyPanera does not have a heavy “upsell” feel to the program.  Most of the rewards at register are Free items, and Free works much better than the % off.  The architects of this program have largely avoided % and $ off items that can feel like “non-rewards” to customers, and I’m hoping a few of the recent $-off rewards remain in the minority.  or go away.
• Strong focus on in-store experience.   The program quite simply enhances the in-restaurant experience.  I find myself waiting anxiously for associate to tell me what special treat I have received.  It’s fun, and enhances the interaction while not sacrificing speed at register. 

There is still opportunity for this program to evolve and expand, and Panera’s ability to identify customers and drive repeat visits could be greatly enhanced if the scale of rewards & benefits were better communicated.   Prospective members should not be left wondering if the rewards were going to be meaningful for them, especially when being asked to subsequently register online.

And while Panera indicates they are tailoring these rewards based on members’ purchasing history, the free item rewards appear fairly broad-based according to some sampling over the past few months.   There is a great opportunity here to increase rewards relevance as well as further entice members to buy add-on items, and this is a capability we anticipate will be strengthened as the program’s data history becomes more robust.

It’s delightful to see a program like this cited as a major driver of financial results, as Panera did in their mid-February WSJ article.   With a few small (but key) changes, the MyPanera program could quickly evolve to an even stronger customer loyalty driver, and a dominant element of Panera’s business intelligence strategy moving forward.

Fred Thompson is a COLLOQUY contributing writer and Partner, Retail Practice Lead with LoyaltyOne Consulting. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/my-panera-restaurant-membership/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/budget-bucks-is-that-cash-back/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/budget-bucks-is-that-cash-back/#comments Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:52:24 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2395 Better late than never but there is quite a bit to be desired with the offer.  It’s good to see that major brands are starting to wake up to cash back rewards, after all they do have a number of 7 figure marketing folks who should be figuring this out based on all the research.  But, mailing a coupon weeks later is not the most efficient manner and very costly.  See if you can find the other problems and I will contact Budget and let them know they can add $25.00 to all of our cards and we will open up an account for them.

1.  Relevance

2.  Relationship

3.  Rewards

When the three R’s are followed correctly, then the fourth R kicks in ROI.  Although these three R’s sound as simple as Reading, Riting and Rithmetic, over 95% of business owners today are not following ANY of the three R’s even though consumers are screaming at the top of their lungs for them.  What a time to represent loyalty solutions, the offline retail world is just starting to wake up and beginning to realize that newspaper ads and little pieces of paper with discounts are no longer necessary.  Do you happen to know any business owners desiring to reduce costs, increase profitability and eliminate discounting?  If you can find one, they are a good start.

Email Trends Underscore Shifting Media Habits

Date: March 03, 2011

Author: David Gardner, Contributing Writer, CMO.com

Mobile and social platforms are making a significant impact on consumers’ brand engagement, according to a new survey by customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency Merkle.

Facebook, for instance, is used by nearly two-thirds of the online adult community, and a growing percentage of their time there is spent on commercial communications, also called permission e-mail, Merkle found.

However, Merkle’s survey of more than 3,500 consumers shows that e-mail remains the bedrock of consumer commercial relationships. “E-mail is still the most preferred method [of viewing brands,” said Rich Fleck, vice president of Merkle’s digital studies group, in an interview with CMO.com. “We’re seeing an uptick in social networking, but e-mail remains the backbone.”

In fact, nearly 75% of survey participants said e-mail is their preferred method of commercial communications, even over direct mail by a margin of nearly five to one. Overall, commercial e-mail usage has been gradually gaining market share--in 2005, 17% of consumers e-mail time was related to business, compared to 30% now--and is poised to surpass personal e-mail use in a year or two, according to the report.

Another interesting finding from the study was the symbiotic relationship between social networking--primarily Facebook--and mobile phones, which have become a “gateway” for consumers to read e-mails, surf the Web, and participate in social networking, Fleck said.

“It’s no longer about these separate, distinct marketing channels, but about the consumer experience as a whole, and smartphones have become tools to augment that experience,” said Lori Connolly, Merkle’s director of research and analytics, in a statement.  

One reason for the rapidly emerging growth of e-mail on mobile devices is “hyper e-mail checkers” who repeatedly check their e-mail; 43% of mobile e-mail users in the Merkle study do so four or more times a day. Merkle noted that those who use social networks like Facebook are likely to be hyper e-mail checkers, too.

"This means that the marketers sending email are likely to have a regular viewing audience of at least their brand and subject line," the report states.

Also useful to know about these Facebook users: On average, they like 12 company brands. In addition, friend referrals are important to them--and for Twitter and MySpace users, too. Some 20% of the respondents in the survey said they are likely to become a fan of a brand after a friend indicates a like for the brand.

For marketers, the challenge will be to adapt their digital marketing strategies for successful engagement.

“Seasoned digital marketers will confirm that many of the same questions regarding content and frequency are being asked of newer media--like mobile--as they were 10 years ago when commercial e-mail was fledgling,” the report states. “What has changed, however, is the customer intimacy of the newer media. The personal space [has] shifted to mobile, that intensely personal, always close device that demands more responsible marketing than has been required in the past.” ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/white-paper-the-three-rs-of-retail/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/video-training-rising-food-costs/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/video-training-rising-food-costs/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:29:43 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2381 Welcome to our new series, The Restaurant Tip of the Week.  This video discusses the math of rewards and how to eliminate discounting and handle rising food costs.  The possibilities of inflation, rising food costs, oil problems or Middle East turmoil are very real threats to profitability.  The time to prepare is now.  You Have Received A Video Email From Steve Schroeder – VP Sales Marketing You can view your video here. Please be patient. Your video may take a few seconds to load. ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/video-training-rising-food-costs/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/engaging-individual-customers/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/engaging-individual-customers/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:11:24 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2377 Side Note:  Notice the distrust of consumers as one of the driving motivations of change.  Transparency, accountability, community, and relevance are the 4 key words every business should ask of their loyalty provider.  If companies in the loyalty space are not experts in these four areas, hang up the phone. 

Editor’s Note:  The writing is on the wall (this comes from the book of Daniel and what happens afterwards is not pretty) blasting to databases either by email, text, or any other communication method will not produce the proper ROI and may indeed cause brand damage.  Solutions must be in place which are more personal and relevant in nature than simply offering everyone the same deal, discount or special.  There is quite a bit of ‘behind the scenes’ info in this article, but the theme continues from all over the world, customers are demanding more relevance these days and business owners must have a loyalty program tied to the transaction allowing them to communicate to customers based on age, demographics, spending patterns, visitation habits, birthdays, anniversaries and much more.  In addition ‘soft’ benefits such as membership privileges should be implemented immediately by almost every business model. 

Future marketing: engaging the individual customer

Thursday February 24, 2011 Suppose that, instead of marketing your brand to millions of consumers, you could market it to just one. Would it change your brand strategy, or your communication methods, or even your marketing philosophy? Of course it would, and that’s a key challenge for marketers today, according to Rusty Warner, vice president of product marketing for Alterian. Today, Warner argues, the individual consumer drives brand marketing. Sweeping changes in technology and society itself have shifted the focus away from mass marketing strategies toward models that recognise the importance of engaging consumers as individuals. sschroeder This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com). In response to these changes, forward-thinking businesses are redesigning their branding philosophies to accommodate the needs and desires of individual consumers. Although mass marketing still plays a role in the new marketplace, companies that fail to emphasise individual engagement do so at their own peril. The bottom line is that companies must become adept at reaching their customers at the individual level if they are to have any chance of rising above mediocrity, maximising ROI and achieving their strategic growth objectives. Looking backward – mass marketing In the past, traditional mass marketing was the most common method for brands to communicate messages to their audience. Consumers were treated as a collective. Market segmentation might have been a consideration, but the communication method was a one-way conversation in which companies dumped truckloads of information on groups of consumers. This approach was effective because of the assumption that information being fed to consumers by businesses was reliable and accurate. Consumers had no reason to doubt the messages they were receiving and no effective mechanisms for initiating individual dialogues with corporate brands, so they accepted the content marketers pushed at them. Looking forward – the changing consumer The twenty-first century has brought with it an erosion of consumer trust. Emerging technologies enable consumers to question the value of traditional brand messaging strategies, creating an environment ripe for the transition to individual engagement. Despite the continuing popularity of mass broadcast channels, technology clusters today are centred around individuals. Laptops, mobile devices, iPads, and so on facilitate unique user experiences. Consumers no longer take in information as much as they interact with it and, in many cases, create it for themselves and others. Changing social attitudes have reinforced the role of the individual. It’s important to dispel the notion that social networking and other technologies are the cause of shifting social attitudes. Instead, they are symptoms of social shifts that have already taken place. The end result is that consumers are empowered and fully aware of the influence they wield as a collection of individuals. They understand their options and have higher expectations about the ways they interact with the companies that are competing for their purchasing pounds. Engaging with individual consumers Engagement begins with relationship-building initiatives that forge connections between your company and your customers. Today’s consumers are prepared to exchange personal information with brands if they believe that the information will encourage the development of brand relationships. Brands are also engaging with individual consumers by providing dynamic and interactive content. For many consumers, the new norm is to interact directly with the content they receive from companies rather than being passive recipients of corporate messaging. One of the most productive ways businesses can engage consumers at the individual level is by initiating dialogues through social media and other online connection media. These dialogues open clear channels of communication with consumers and go a long way toward dispelling the attitude of distrust that continues to plague brand messaging initiatives. But to be successful, dialogue has to exist in a multi-channel format. When dialogue is established in multiple spaces (or channels), consumers gain the ability to interact with the brand in the way that suits their personal preferences and circumstances. Monolithic attempts at dialogue are doomed because they push the consumer into the same corner they were in with mass broadcast technologies, confined to information gathering through a one-size-fits-all communication source. Today’s consumer also expects companies that initiate dialogue to display a high degree of transparency. Brands that participate in dialogues with consumers need to be clear about who is doing the talking if they want to maintain consumer trust and loyalty. Consumers like to know there’s a real human being on the other end of the conversation. Companies that attempt to create consumer dialogues by transferring old marketing strategies into new technologies have no chance of connecting with savvy consumers – it’s no longer about pushing a message out but rather engaging in two-way dialogue. Another way many businesses are gaining a foothold in the struggle for personal customer engagement is through co-creation strategies, i.e. strategies that involve individuals in the process of developing products and services. Although the idea of co-creation isn’t necessarily new (e.g. focus groups), current technologies are convenient platforms for co-creation activities. In addition to enhancing the development of products and services, co-creation fosters personal engagement and recruits brand advocates, many of whom use technology to promote the brand among their friends and acquaintances. There are several things brands can do to jumpstart the process of engaging consumers as individuals: Acknowledge the limits of mass marketing Mass marketing strategies continue to play a role in the current marketplace, but they can no longer carry your brand’s message by themselves. They need to be integrated into a larger marketing strategy that emphasises the value of personal engagement.   Establish multi-channel dialogues A customer-as-individual approach mandates clear lines of communication with your customers and multi-channel dialogues. Avoid transferring mass marketing strategies into your social media efforts and other online dialogue initiatives. Instead, find ways to create dialogues based on transparency and co-creation activities.   Leverage expertise Personal engagement is becoming an increasingly sophisticated brand marketing strategy. CRM integration, email, web and social media marketing can be highly effective tools for individual engagement, and brands tend to experience the highest ROI when they tap into the expertise of qualified, third-party providers.   More Info:  http://www.alterian.com

]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/engaging-individual-customers/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/how-to-increase-activations/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/how-to-increase-activations/#comments Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:52:09 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2372 Editor’s Note:  Game Stop’s new loyalty solution is vastly improved over the older version.  We will spare the details here, but there are a number of good things Game Stop is doing which every business should copy.  First off, get employees engaged like the gentleman below, this is outstanding training and no customer enters Game Stop without having the loyalty program explained (with a nice flyer you see here.)  Secondly, make sure and have a membership program with ‘soft benefits’ which we can set up upon request.  Game Stop Pro sells for $14.99 and a majority of the members pay the fee for the added soft benefits.  Power to the Program How GameStop’s recently launched PowerUp Rewards powered up to 6 million members in just a few months ]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/how-to-increase-activations/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/word-of-mouth-champions-loyalty/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/word-of-mouth-champions-loyalty/#comments Sun, 27 Feb 2011 19:51:49 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2361 What is the best form of advertising?  Answer:  Word of Mouth

Editor’s Note Research Article Below:  The real power of social media is not in a bowling center, restaurant, or local business creating a Facebook presence or tweeting on Twitter.  Of course they should, but to ignore the real power of Social Media with word of mouth referrals is a big mistake.  The proper customer loyalty program will cause customers to share their experiences with 100s (if not 1000s) of friends and thus makes implementing a loyalty strategy even more important for basic business survival.

Cause Marketing has a huge impact in creating WOM champions and so does effective customer service communication tools using relevant information to show value and appreciation to customers.  We have all these tools in place now and the early movers will benefit tremendously.  The case for proper loyalty solutions has never been more clear.

Contact a loyalty expert today, every minute you wait is lost revenue.  If you need to enroll in our online course to earn your Master’s Degree and then your PhD. please visit www.wildboarstraning.com for the introductory Piglet Exam. They Are the Champions New COLLOQUY word-of-mouth research shows a steep rise in the use of social

 by Sharon M. Goldman2/25/2011 VOLUME 19 / ISSUE 1

In 2009, COLLOQUY conducted a consumer research survey exploring the intersection of consumers who participate in loyalty programs and their word-of-mouth (WOM) activity (“TalkTalk: The New Champion Customers”). In 2011, we returned to the topic, looking even more deeply at the relationship between loyalty and advocacy and the role of customers we call WOM Champion Customers (those who are both “Connectors” who are able to and do recommend brands they like and “Advocates” willing to recommend the brand). With 91% of WOM Champions surveyed saying they belong to one or more loyalty programs, the strong, powerful connection between Connecting and Advocacy is crystal clear.

We found that social media and word-of-mouth are closely intertwined when it comes to WOM Champions: Our survey results show that social media is significantly more useful and important to Champions than ever. In 2009, 27% of Champions said they used social media to recommend or discuss products or services. In 2011, 48% of Champions said they used social media—a jump of 77%. WOM Champions in general—both those who are members of a brand’s reward program and those who aren’t—also contribute more frequently to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter than non-Champions. On a monthly average, member WOM Champions contribute to social media sites 18.4 times; non-member Champions, 15.9 times; member non-Champions, only 12.6 times.

Not surprisingly, Facebook is the WOM Champions’ platform of choice for discussing or recommending brands: A whopping 85% of member Champions use Facebook, while 77% of member non-Champions do so. Twitter, too, is popular with member Champions—31% use Twitter, which is 63% higher than non-member Champions.

With the idea of “trialogue” becoming more prominent in 2011, social media is clearly fueling amazing growth of Champions’ WOM behavior. Only a few years ago, a WOM Champion was limited to one-to-one or one-to-a-few conversations conducted face-to-face, via telephone and email, or through other means. Champions continue to use such media, but today social networks allow far broader impact—both positively and negatively—as they share either satisfaction or displeasure with potentially thousands of others who can pass the word along.

You know who your WOM Champion Customers are: They’re likely found in the membership rolls of your loyalty program. They are your best customers, your brand advocates—take them seriously, because they can exalt your brand or tear it down through social media. They’re conversing in spaces where you should be working on trialogue as well as dialogue. Want to increase your loyalty success through social media? Get the conversation started with your Champions—today.

Sharon M. Goldman is a COLLOQUY Contributing Editor.

Notice consumers are members of 14 programs on average. Think they have ONE card that can work everywhere? Not a chance. Imagine the coalition potential of one card delivering instant cash back rewards on everyday purchases which can be used at multiple locations across town. All this one sentence does is deliver what millions of customers say they want and what most of our Fortune 500s fail to deliver.

What a crime! The list of popular rewards programs is nothing short of horrific. The Rite Aid program is terrible and Borders just declared Bankruptcy and they are the top two! If there was ever a list that verified the value of our services it’s this list of preferred programs. The only reasons customers like them is that there are so few who do it right, they are stuck with programs who at least do something. CVS and Staples fail in a number of fundamental ways and so do ALL of the others. The timing in delivering proper loyalty solutions to a starving marketplace and consumer has never been more needed. There is a HUGE void in competence.

This is essential stuff: Think I make this stuff up? Almost every business consultant is mentioning this as essential, mandatory, required, words of this nature and yet we see millions of businesses who don’t even know how to build a database. Representing proprietary solutions in this space has never been a more lucrative pursuit. Time to find the right partner and jump in. I think I know the right partner, but it’s sure easy being the right one, all you need to do is have a D grade point average and you are pretty much on top of the heap!

Top reasons for loyalty scheme recommenders Tuesday February 15, 2011 Consumers are most likely to recommend those loyalty and reward programmes that offer the most in terms of everyday value, according to the latest ‘Recommendation Index’ study from Zocalo Group and MARC Research, which examined what consumers seek in the brands they choose, and what influences their purchasing decisions. Each year, billions of dollars are spent by marketers to establish and manage reward programmes. Despite the fact that finance and travel programmes have the highest membership of any reward programmes, the most positively recommended programmes by consumers are those in the retail space. sschroeder This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com). According to the study, the most recommended reward programme in the US is Rite Aid, followed by Borders and Chase. While the average U.S. household has more than 14 reward or loyalty memberships, the study suggests that consumers tend to recommend reward programmes based on their most recent experience earning or redeeming rewards. Accordingly, consumers are most likely to speak positively about those programmes that reward “everyday” purchases and provide some form of instant gratification. Paul Rand, president and CEO for Zocalo Group, said: “Marketers spend so much in the loyalty arena that gaining insight into what really makes a programme highly recommended can be a big advantage. Consumers are very clear about what they value and recommend.” Unlike metrics that simply ask if the customer would recommend a brand, the Recommendation Index determines why, where and how often people recommend individual brands, and derives from that data a score that can be used to show how each brand compares to the overall category as well as its competitors. The index also provides insight into the positive and negative keywords and/or phrases used to trigger recommendations as well as the drivers of word of mouth. Perhaps not surprisingly, words associated with the most favourable aspects of reward programmes – “actual rewards”, “cash back”, “free” and “discounts” – led to positive recommendations. With retail often being attributed to “everyday” rewards, it makes sense that these words are used more often. Conversely, primary drivers of negative word of mouth and recommendation point to “problems with redemption,” “lack of benefits” and “expiring points” – all of which led to negative recommendations. These relate specifically back to the difficulty that consumers have in making use of the rewards they’ve spent time accruing. The average Recommendation Index for the reward programme category is 13.78 and offers a means for gauging the level of recommendation against the overall industry. The top ten US loyalty programmes were: Rite Aid: 24.61 Borders: 17.26 Chase: 16.38 CVS: 15.44 Staples: 12.36 Delta: 11.04 Visa: 11.03 Southwest: 11.01 Citi: 9.39 Kroger: 9.31 While finance and travel reward programmes lead in terms of membership and overall recommendation volume, retail brands have significantly lower overall volume and higher Index scores (in other words, they have a higher volume of positive recommendations than either finance or travel). This suggests consumers are finding greater value in and willing to speak more favourably about those programmes that provide everyday value. However, this does not discount the excitement that consumers generate around brands within the travel and finance sectors. Because programmes in these areas offer larger, one-time, harder-to-achieve rewards, consumers simply recommend them on a less consistent basis. “What this tells marketers of reward programmes is that it becomes essential to find ways to actively build more everyday reward programmes,” concluded Rand. Merrill Dubrow, president and CEO for MARC Research, added, “The Recommendation Index shows that there exists a tremendous opportunity to get people talking and recommending with greater frequency. Specifically in the retail category, conversation is overwhelmingly positive, so you can assume the increase in recommendations could potentially lead directly to an increase in sales for a brand.” More Info: http://www.recommendationindex.com

]]> http://www.wildboarstraining.com/latest-loyalty-research-impt-info/feed/ 0 http://www.wildboarstraining.com/wall-street-journal-loyalty-report/ http://www.wildboarstraining.com/wall-street-journal-loyalty-report/#comments Sun, 20 Feb 2011 01:11:55 +0000 Steve Schroeder http://www.wildboarstraining.com/?p=2332 Feb. 16, 2011, 8:01 a.m. EST

Wow, what a statement (directly under the title).  Sure this sounds like common sense, then why do over 90% of businesses I frequent not offer anything?  Small business owners are in crisis mode, any business not offering some type of reward to their customers or utilizing some type of  loyalty solution are ignoring every major research study in the market. 

There has never been a more important time to reward consumers and there has never been a more important time to do it right.   In spite of everyone agreeing on this basis assumption 80% -90% of business owners still offer NOTHING, what in the world are they thinking?  What a great time to be in the loyalty business

Loyalty programs handcuff unhappy consumers

“Every consumer wants something different,” he said, “but every consumer wants something.”

No one wants to give up their rewards over a surly customer-service agent

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By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Consumers increasingly find themselves unhappy with the customer support they receive from their cell-phone company, banks, retailers and other service providers, but in an unusual shift in behavior, some are willing to keep doing business with them anyway.

For the first time in six years of studies, the Accenture Global Consumer Survey reported a decline, albeit a small one, in the number of consumers who switched service providers because of poor treatment, even as customer-satisfaction levels fell in all 11 categories of providers studied.

Protect your bank account

At a time when fraud involving debit cards is on the rise, consumers may not realize that some banks won’t pay consumers’ losses in debit-card fraud. James Van Dyke, founder of Javelin Strategy & Research, talks with MarketWatch’s Andrea Coombes about ways consumers can safeguard their money.

Some 64% of consumers said they dumped one service provider in favor of a new one in 2010, down from 69% the prior year. That’s still a high number, however, and up from a low of 49% in 2005.

“The most primal behavior of consumers is when they switch providers,” said Robert Wollan, global managing director of Accenture’s customer relationship management practice. “Until now we’ve only seen that trend go in one direction.”

Why the shift? Partly it’s because consumers are less likely to talk directly with customer-service agents; instead, we’re using technology like automated phone attendants, live Internet chats and website self-service options. Wait periods are shorter, there’s no being put on hold for what seems like hours and it’s rare that the same information has to be repeated to multiple service agents.

What’s more, consumers are being pickier about what providers they choose, relying more on word of mouth. Also, social-networking sites are gaining popularity. Seventy-six percent of all respondents said they listen more to their friends and acquaintances about their experiences before choosing providers, and one in four said they trust reviews and comments posted online by people they know.

“Word of mouth has always been an important motivator for consumers, but it’s been thrust into new levels of importance” as social networking proliferates, Wollan said.

Loyalty programs are working

But there’s another emerging trend in satisfaction surveys: loyalty programs. As the traditional levers of promotion and marketing are proving a less-than-stellar means for attracting and retaining customers, companies are using loyalty program, and their perks, as a lure.

Some 52% of respondents said they opted in to loyalty programs in 2010, compared with 45% in 2009. And the percentage of consumers who stayed with their loyalty program climbed to 54% from 49% among retail consumers, to 53% from 45% among those with wireless-service providers, and to 51% from 49% among people in hotel programs.

Loyalty programs, it turns out, generate loyalty. If you’ve been building miles on your credit card or accumulating points for a free hotel stay, you’re not likely to give that up because you have to deal with customer-service agents who can’t solve your problem, according to the Accenture study.

However, it could also mean that when you opted in, you unwittingly locked yourself into a longer relationship with the provider than you might have wanted.

But here’s the good news for consumers: loyalty programs are more tailored toward individual needs and wants than ever before. Companies realize customers are in fact individuals who want to be treated uniquely, Wollan said. “Loyalty and loyalty programs have emerged as something that companies can really look to leverage,” he said.

“Every consumer wants something different,” he said, “but every consumer wants something.”

Jennifer Waters is a MarketWatch reporter, based in Chicago

1. A system tied to transactions designed to gather customer data for relevant communication is becoming mandatory for survival. We live in a technology driven world which causes change at rapid levels. Business owners that don’t keep up with new solutions and communication tools will suffer substantial loss or go out of business.
2. Membership benefits or ‘soft rewards’ combined with ‘hard benefits’ or cash back rewards are the most successful. Points are often referred to as the default ‘hard benefit’ option since very few have the ability to issue cash back rewards. Don’t worry, cash back is superior to points in every aspect.
3. Simply blasting discounts to a database shows a lack of understanding, creates very little (if any) loyalty and is actually causing more damage than good will due to customers awareness of better ways to communicate.
4. Business synergy for redemption is an excellent idea. We just spoke with one bowling center which uses ‘Auction Dollars’ as a custom widget which we can track separately from gift, rewards, fundraising and other categories. Customers earn these ‘auction dollars’ based on how much they spend or visit along with a variety of contests which increases their bottom line. Once or twice per year, they go out and purchase some very nice gifts which can only be purchased by their customers with their ‘auction dollars.’ Kudos to this group, very forward thinking and when programs like this are combined with ‘hard’ rewards such as cash back to their business models, the customer will be loyal for life, spend more money and frequent much more often all without any advertising expense.

How to form the best customer loyalty strategy Monday February 7, 2011 Most marketers accept that they need to know more about their customers, and that this knowledge should be centrally recorded so that it is available to employees when they need it. But the days when it was enough for ‘Mary in Haberdashery’ to know all about which lace sells and which one doesn’t, or who the best customers are and what they like, have long gone… That’s the point of a loyalty programme. Loyalty cards enable customer information to be recorded reliably, and are therefore seen by many marketers as being an essential part of retail. In other words, a retailer could judge the usefulness of a loyalty scheme by how it can help run the store more efficiently and profitably. sschroeder This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com). What the retailer sees in loyalty In fact, retailers without any means to consistently identify regular shoppers and link them with their transactions will become increasingly disadvantaged, usually underperforming compared to their peers and being penalised in the financial markets, according to studies by Hawkins Strategic, which found that there is a growing divide emerging in the retail industry between two classes of retailers: those that are ‘customer aware’, and those that are not. The idea behind becoming ‘customer aware’ is that the marketer must separate the means of linking the shopper to the transaction (i.e. the loyalty card or programme) from whatever marketing initiatives may be enabled by that capability (e.g. up-selling, cross-selling, customer engagement, win-back campaigns and so on). In other words, a loyalty scheme gives us a way to tie a shopper to the things they buy. But while any loyalty schemes use plastic cards to identify members at the checkout, many other mechanisms are becoming viable options. For example, biometrics, RFID (radio frequency identification) cards and tags, mobile phones with NFC (near field communication – a subset of RFID) and other equally innovative technologies are able to replace the humble card. It’s very much like the almost inconceivable move from loyalty stamps to mag-stripe cards so many years ago. These new mechanisms, when combined with digital communication, show real potential for truly personalised marketing – far beyond the simple database segmentation techniques that are pressed into service by even the largest loyalty operators today. What the customer sees in loyalty But customers have a different view of loyalty programmes. To the customers, the programme exists solely to reward them for their custom. If they think that they would prefer to be rewarded in some other way, they dismiss the programme as being unnecessary. The people on opposite sides of the counter assess the usefulness of loyalty programmes in totally different ways. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that many customers, when given the choice, opt for simple discounts instead of a loyalty programme – they are not taking into account the hidden benefits that a programme provides for them – the more effective stock control, the better merchandising and the greater personal relevance of marketing messages. However, it’s what the customer thinks of the programme that really matters. That’s why it’s important to listen to their views and to do whatever is possible to correct their misapprehensions. It must also be understood that loyalty cards are not a substitute for getting the basics right, even though they do add value to the retail proposition. During a recession, however, customers want even greater value than normal. But value is a hard thing to define because each customer has a different opinion about what they would find valuable. However, most would agree that value is essentially about convenience, quality, reliability, brand image, and most importantly the overall customer experience (starting in-store and continuing right through to the usage of the product). The benefit of loyalty cards to shoppers is two-fold: direct and indirect. Direct benefits are typically one of two types, being either price reductions or added value rewards such as flights or days out. Indirect benefits are less tangible, relating to the collection of, and response to, consumer data by retailers and suppliers to ensure that the products and services provided meet customers’ needs. Shoppers are less likely to consider these as benefits (for example, improved sales forecasting which improves store efficiency, and the resultant cost savings that are then passed on to the shopper through lower prices). What do consumers find most rewarding? Rewards range from ‘soft’ rewards (benefits and privileges) to ‘hard’ rewards like discounts or points. Hard rewards are nearly always popular – in general, consumers like to get money off – but the actual value of the reward is usually quite easy to relate to the amount spent. Much customer research has been carried out on what rewards customers prefer. The ideal loyalty programme will provide a blend of hard and soft rewards. For example, customers in lower tiers might be given hard rewards (e.g. discounts, points toward prizes, and so on) while customers in higher tiers get soft rewards (e.g. pampering and recognition). There are several categories of loyalty reward that have been tested by time and proved effective: Untargeted discounts Straight, untargeted discounts are generally of little value in building loyalty. They embody many of the disadvantages listed below. A business built on discounting without any other feature that attracts customers is very vulnerable to competition. Profit margin is eroded and products are devalued. In fact, an attempt to return to normal pricing is seen as an increase in prices. Advantages of untargeted discounts include: · They are easy to implement; · Customers can understand them easily; · The cost of the discount is predictable; · Customers like discounts; · They can attract new customers as well; · They are seldom vulnerable to fraud; · They present cross-selling opportunities; · They present multiple purchase opportunities; · They need no database; · Customers cannot complain of discrimination. Disadvantages of untargeted discounts include: · They can drive a bargain-hunt mindset; · Customers’ loyalty can be to the discount, not the brand; · Uptake can be hard to predict; · They can cannibalise future sales; · They erode the profit margin; · They can be easily matched or beaten by competitors; · Multiple discount offers can create unrealistic prices; · They can lead to product devaluation; · They reward all customers equally. Targeted discounts Discounts can be targeted at certain customers only, by either sending them via the mail or by issuing them electronically at the checkout via a mobile phone, or by controlling them via a loyalty card. Access Pricing is a good way of giving targeted discounts to better customers while at the same time increasing the customers’ involvement in the programme. Points-driven programmes Points are the most popular reward mechanism in most countries, although they are not a reward in themselves; they are a means to the reward. The range of possible rewards in points programmes is virtually unlimited. Points can be used to ‘buy’ discounts at a later date, they can buy privileges, they can lead to cash back or, quite frequently, can be used to obtain rewards from partners in the programme. This makes points-driven programmes very versatile. One of the great advantages of points is that the level of points issuance can be solidified at the beginning of the programme but the actual reward that a certain number of points earns can be adjusted according to circumstances during the life of the programme, without confusing the consumer. One of the main problems that operators of a single-company loyalty programme faces is that it may be difficult for loyalty programme members to build up enough points to obtain a worthwhile reward in a reasonable time. If points are the currency of the programme, then issuing partners as well as redemption partners can be included in the programme, giving members more opportunities to build up points. Soft rewards As the technology that enables tighter targeting improves, loyalty programme members are being rewarded with more and more personalised products and services, including concierge and personal shopper services, sports and theatre tickets, points-based internet auctions and family rewards. Most often the rewards that are remembered longest and are discussed with others are the soft ones; not simple discounts but memorable, greater-than-expected pampering. Exceptional service during and after a transaction is recounted much more often than the level of discount. And the delight is even greater if the reward is something other than the usual products and services offered. Companies with high value customers have known this and used it for many years: loyalty has been cemented in boxes at the opera, in seats at premium sports events, and in lavish dinners. But the concept isn’t limited to those very high value customers. Retailers who run continuity programmes have found that if the rewards are bought in specially for the programme – rather than taken from normal stock – the effect is greater. If a supermarket calls out an emergency repair service at no charge to the customer because her car will not start in its car park, the warmth of feeling is deeper than a similar value discount would produce. And feeling counts where loyalty is concerned. It is not surprising that the market for loyalty programmes that can provide these special, personalised rewards is growing. But privileges are probably the ultimate reward, usually reserved for the best customers (e.g. the Elite tier). Privileges are widely used by airlines in frequent flyer programmes. One of the big advantages of bestowing privileges is, because they cannot usually be bought, they have extra value. They also tie members in very strongly: once they have experienced the pleasure and convenience of the privilege (say, use of a special lounge, a limousine pick-up, a personal shopper or concierge) they are reluctant to do anything that may cause the loss of the privilege. In addition, a privilege can usually be used to build a stronger relationship or bond with the customer. Someone who is invited to a premium wine-tasting evening in a supermarket for instance will get to meet the manager and other high-level store employees. On future visits to the store, they will greet each other with more warmth, and the relationship will deepen even more. What’s the perfect reward offering? As we have seen, a loyalty programme’s rewards catalogue is absolutely crucial to its success. In fact, the rewards catalogue is arguably the most important weapon marketers have at their disposal because it can influence participation levels and therefore the success of both customer and partner relationship management programmes. A rewards catalogue has the potential to greatly influence a loyalty programme – either for good or for bad. Just as a well conceived and properly constructed rewards catalogue can boost response rates phenomenally, a badly constructed one can drive response rates down drastically. But the impact doesn’t end with response rates. In the mildest cases it can lead to what is known as “redemption inertia” (where participants in the programme accumulate enough points but never redeem them because the rewards just aren’t exciting enough). In more severe cases it can result in poor participation rates, high attrition in the programme and – most importantly – high levels of irritation among programme members. So what are the factors that lead to redemption inertia and low participation levels? Well, at a broad level it’s often down to insufficient attention being paid to the construction of the rewards catalogue. But more specifically, the main reasons are: Little or no excitement value Rewards catalogues often fail because they don’t excite the minds and emotions of the audience they’re aimed at. Even though it’s hard to believe, this is an every-day occurrence in loyalty programmes around the world. Not enough variety This can cause a loyalty programme to stumble badly. A catalogue that contains only a few items at each redemption level provides very little choice and leads to certain redemption inertia. Width of reward intervals Another thing that’s often overlooked is the width of the redemption interval; in other words, what is the points gap between different items in the catalogue? If insufficient attention is paid to the reward intervals, it will lead to irritation for programme members, as well as large unusable points balances in their accounts (a high ‘breakage’ level). Lack of aspirational rewards Closely related to the excitement value, the aspirational threshold determines the upward pull the catalogue exerts on sales. In other words, if there are no aspirational items (or if they are placed so far beyond reach of the average programme member), the aspirational threshold starts acting as a depressant for sales when consumers start to feel there’s no point even trying for the big rewards. The Wise Marketer recently published its latest 1,052-page report, The Loyalty Guide 4, detailing every aspect of customer loyalty marketing and customer engagement. The report explains the ideal structures for various types of loyalty initiative and rewards, providing guidance from experts in the field, best practices, market data, forecasts, ongoing trends, and a wealth of case studies showing how to construct the perfect rewards catalogue to engage members and achieve real sales growth as a result. Find out all about the principles, practicalities, measurement, analysis, and bottom-line effects of customer loyalty, and gain expert guidance from dozens of loyalty marketing thought-leaders worldwide. Find out how to gather and use customer data to increase customer profitability, reduce churn, and to monitor and increase customer frequency, spending, and share of wallet. Most importantly, find out where competitors are succeeding or failing, and why. For only £1,095 the report (in electronic PDF format) gives you a completely portable reference library of customer loyalty, engagement and marketing strategy. A free 50-page Executive Summary, downloadable samples, table of contents, text searching, licensing and pricing details can be found on The Loyalty Guide web site – click here. February 2011 only: take advantage of our ‘Feel The Loyalty’ offer and get £100 off the report before the end of the month – click here!