Wild Boars Training

Fuel Rewards for Restaurants

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:17:31 +0000

Editors Notes: 89% of consumers responded they are more prone to shop at stores and locations which offer rewards. 92% of consumers indicated a willingness to switch brands if the business they frequent supports what they believe in, especially on a local level such as their church, school, little league, etc.

What if you could do both at the same time and tap both emotions simultaneously! What if you could work in synergy with a major gasoline distributor like Exxon, Shell, Chevron, etc.? How about ALL THREE at the same time? This is very easy to set up, we can show you how and give you several options. Call me if you would like to discuss.

Millions of Shell consumers watch their fuel prices drop at the pump through participation in rewards programs

05/16/2012

Fuel prices are top of mind for many consumers and finding ways to save at the pump continues to be a priority. That’s why Shell wants to remind consumers that they can turn their everyday purchases on groceries into significant savings on high-quality fuel at participating Shell stations.

A recent study by the Convenience Consumer Insights Panel found that fuel savings programs are one of the ways consumers are looking to stretch their dollars. In fact, 89 percent of consumers responded they are motivated to shop more at grocery stores or other stores that participate in rewards programs.

Today, consumers in 130 markets across the country have enjoyed more than $200 million in fuel savings at over 8,000 Shell stations participating in grocery rewards programs. More than 3 million consumers are currently redeeming rewards at Shell to save at the pump by participating in programs across the country with a variety of grocers including BI-LO, Copps, Pick ‘n Save, Rainbow, Lucky (Northern California), Save Mart, S-Mart Foods and Winn-Dixie. While grocers and offers vary by market, consumers can expect to earn rewards that save either 5 cents per gallon for every $50 or 10 cents per gallon for every $100 spent on qualified purchases.

Saving on fuel through these loyalty rewards programs is easy! Consumers simply shop at their participating grocers and when they use their grocers’ rewards cards on everyday qualifying purchases, they also earn rewards. These rewards can then be redeemed for savings at participating area Shell stations.

Later this year, Shell and Excentus will launch the Fuel Rewards Network program, a rewards program that will allow consumers across the country to save significantly more at the pump by expanding the ways they can earn rewards. The Fuel Rewards Network program will allow consumers to combine or “stack” rewards earned from everyday purchases like groceries, clothing, dining out and more. With the ability to stack multiple rewards, consumers can lower their own price for fuel at Shell through their everyday purchases.

For more information about the grocery rewards programs, visit www.shell.us/grocery or find us on the On the Road tab on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shell. For additional ways to save at the pump and information on our approach on Smarter Mobility, go to www.shell.us/smarterdriving.

Using Memberships for Barter

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:46:53 +0000

www.TLSRewards.com Update

The proper membership program tied to a loyalty suite features numerous ways to increase spending, drive added frequency, work with non-profits, bring in up-front cash and more. One area that is often missed however is the use of barter and sponsorships. Let’s take a moment to explore these two areas.

Reference: 5 minute video here once you read below http://screencast.com/t/jA8c1AExVqvb

Attached is a sample membership card from a restaurant with some of the benefits on the back of the card and a ‘retail’ amount of $100.00 put on the face of the card in the lower left hand corner.
This ‘retail’ amount is very important to understand as we can use ANY AMOUNT to increase the value of barter and sponsorship. There is a lot of value listed on the back plus there are many other benefits for Platinum Members throughout the year. Sample ideas (which can be anything) might be

Double cash back rewards for Platinum Members
Special invitations or seating arrangements
Reservation priorities
Free Dinner on Birthday, Anniversary, or special day of choice
Special pricing at the lounge or bottles of wine
Special appetizers or food selection
Additional Fundraising Benefits
Ability to win prizes or spend rewards on items which are not available to others such as concert tickets, airfare, gift cards, and more.
Many other ideas which can be customized, tracked, and promoted with complete ROI

Once we establish our retail price (as you see here with $100.00) all kinds of opportunities exist for us to have other media promote our business free of charge. Many restaurants use these Platinum Memberships and give them to radio, TV, or any other media of choice to sell on their website for 1/2 price and keep all the money in return for free advertising and promotion.

Contact Groupon and let them sell your memberships for 1/2 price and instead of being discounted out of business, you are using monopoly money to attract new business. Remember, the actual price you were going to sell Platinum Memberships for was just $50.00 anyway, the $100.00 on the front is just a tease to show added value to others and get them to promote your business while driving new customers at the same time! Shhhh, don’t tell anyone When you sell the card for $50.00 it looks much less expensive at 1/2 price than it does at full price even though 1/2 price is full price…do you get it?

Remember, these memberships are nothing more than monopoly money which serve to bring customers back more often and spend more when they do! By giving a radio station 50 of these cards, we have now secured $5,000 of free advertising. The radio station can sell these cards, use them for prizes, give them to employees or any number of ideas they might have for their station. We might even put the radio station logo on the card.

You get free advertising and every card they hand out drives a new customer into the facility who will now visit more frequently due to the benefits.

SPONSORSHIPS: Notice on the sample card here that we have Miller/Coors as the sponsor logo on the back of the card. When the business owner uses exclusivity like this, then we can often arrange added marketing support since we have designed specific strategies to increase the pour rate of Coors over all the other beers served.

BONUS IDEA: Give non-profits Platinum Cards to sell and let them keep 1/2 of the money. You can even lower the cost to $50.00 giving them a tremendous value and creating an army of sales people who bring money into the business every day while attracting new customers at the same time.

Protecting Price Points

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:18:03 +0000

5 Minute Video http://screencast.com/t/jA8c1AExVqvb

Math Review Below AND inside the video.

This is a must watch 5 minute video on how to protect price points by issuing higher rewards. This 5 minute video starts out by explaining Platinum Memberships but goes into special offers any restaurant can use to increase value of full price and generate more return visits at the same time. This is very important to understand and of course if you want to charge a small yearly fee for offering these types of specials, that’s a very attractive option but it’s not a requirement.

Let’s review the math right here so we can illustrate, call me to go over the numbers. This is just one illustration the math works even better across multiple purchases and we don’t even count the frequency and increased spending which always occur, the illustration assumes NO frequency increase and NO increase in spending.

Let’s say Steak and Eggs is normally $6.95
Steak and Eggs Saturday offers the breakfast for $3.95 or $3.00 off
We will use a 30% food cost which is typical so our steak and eggs cost $2.10 in expense.

A. If we take $3.00 off an item with a discount special, we have $3.95 in our register with nothing in place to bring the customer back so our cost is $3.00 in lost revenue compared to charging full price.

B. Instead of taking $3.00 off the item, we advertise the special as free with 100% rewards so $6.95 in rewards is issued when Steak and Eggs is ordered on Saturday. Also remember that strategies like this protect discounting of other items due to all the specials which can be offered on other items.

C. We have $6.95 in our register instead of $3.95 but issue $6.95 in rewards for the next visit making the purchase look free to the customer. When the customer comes the next time to redeem their $6.95 in rewards the meal is free. The cost of our meal is only $2.10 so instead of a $3.00 immediate loss due to discounting, we now have a $2.10 cost but only when the customer returns for a future visit. As you can see, this is over a 40% lift in profits by offering a FREE meal as compared to a discount with 100% rewards and feels better to the customer.

D. In addition the $6.95 is a tax deduction as an advertising expense where discounting is not. This adds on another $1.00 – $2.00 savings per customer.

E. Also remember when a customer comes in and receives his FREE meal they are much more likely to purchase other items and price is no longer an issue since he feels he is getting the best deal possible with a free Steak and Eggs meal. Customers almost feel obligated to buy more as a thank you for the offer and the rewards always increase frequency, usually an average of 67%.

This means a customer coming once per month or 12 times per year will on average increase those visits to 19-20 times per year. Throw in another 6-8 visits per year and the math is a huge advantage on offering higher rewards and moving away from discounting.

Of course there are many other benefits such as building databases, ongoing communication, cause marketing, reminder emails and many more but just this one concept of increasing rewards and moving away from discounting can make a huge impact to the bottom line.

Spend 5 minutes and see a few ideas here

http://screencast.com/t/jA8c1AExVqvb

15 Ways Loyalty and Business Growth

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:39:32 +0000

Great article here with info on how to subscribe below. With all of these proven reasons on loyalty, you would think every business owner would be clamoring to find a loyalty provider. Show this to sponsors which is why a loyalty program is put in place so that everyone wins. Every vendor to a specific business stands to prosper with a proper loyalty program in place. When custom strategies are added to drive purchases on exclusivity then the value is even greater.

15 ways a loyalty strategy will create business growth

Many of the so-called loyalty programmes in operation today are not really loyalty programmes at all. Frequent customer is a more accurate term. To be loyal to a business is one thing, to use it frequently is another – it could be a result of circumstances that there is no other choice. Clearly, if another choice becomes available, then the distinction becomes critical. This means that most prudent businesses aim to create loyal customers, not just frequent customers. Of course, not all customers are potentially loyal customers, for a variety of reasons. So the ideal loyalty programme would be one in which already loyal and potentially loyal customers benefited, but other customers didn’t. This means that the customers have first to be sorted into groups, and different approaches have to be made to each group. Or, more likely, a programme has to be designed so that it will appeal to the desired group more than to the other group.

But why should you go to all this trouble? What are the real business benefits of setting up and running a customer loyalty programme? According to The Wise Marketer’s global loyalty marketing guide, ‘The Loyalty Guide 5′, the 15 key business benefits are:

1. Retain your existing customers…

The effect of the customer retention rate on actual, bottom-line customer numbers cannot be over-estimated. Global loyalty marketing consultant and author, Brian Woolf, has developed several invaluable reports which can be used to show the effect both overall and for different customer segments. His reports have shown that, in just five years, a company with a 70% customer retention rate will have lost two to three times as many customers as a company with a 90% retention rate. Not only does a loyalty programme provide a practical, hard reason for continuing to buy (the accumulation of points toward a reward, or higher levels of service) but it also provides information about the customers that allows their needs to be met more efficiently and effectively. This in turn makes them more likely to remain customers. In addition loyalty programme operators often report that, once a customer starts redeeming rewards, enthusiasm rises. In addition to simply retaining customers, the data from a loyalty programme can be used to better cater for their varying needs. Companies typically use this data to segment their customers for the purposes of marketing, sales and customer services. But customers are more complex than that. Their needs and desires differ from time to time, from occasion to occasion, and depending on the reason for the transaction.

2. Acquire new customers…

A loyalty programme should attract new customers to the business; how effectively will depend on how exciting and how valuable the rewards seem to be to the target audience. Acquiring customers is no doubt essential to any business, but it can be expensive if compared to nurturing existing good customers. It should not be the central focus of a loyalty programme; there are cheaper and more effective ways of acquiring customers. However, Brian Woolf’s work for leading retailers on many continents has led him to believe that it is far more profitable to retain and up-sell existing customers than to attract new ones. Using a four-year profile of new customer behaviour from a leading retailer, he has shown that, one year after becoming a customer, only two out of each thousand new customers (0.2%) were in the top customer segment and only twelve (1.2%) were in the second segment. Over half were inactive. Between 95% and 96% of the new arrivals were either in the lowest segment or had left by the end of the year. However, quality of new customers acquired can be raised by careful use of the existing data of a loyalty programme. This can be used to establish the demographic particulars of existing best customers, and then to target prospective customers with similar demographics in acquisition campaigns.

3. Move customers up-segment…

By grading rewards (for example, offering extra points for exceeding a specified spend threshold in a time period), customers can be moved up from one spend level to the next. A good example of this is TCC, a provider of best customer marketing programmes, which skews its rewards to encourage lower spending customers to move up through the spend segments. In one of the examples, the top spending band’s contribution to sales increased by 41%, the next band down increased its contribution to sales by 45% and the lowest spend band decreased its contribution to sales by some 7%.

4. Deselect unprofitable customers…

It can be more profitable to lose bad customers than to gain new ones. Cherry pickers (who buy only your discounted lines and nothing else) cost you money, as does any low-spending customer. They cost more money to service than they generate. Designing a loyalty programme that rewards better customers without rewarding this segment at all gives them less reason to stay. Hawkins Strategic found that in the company’s own supermarket, only around three in ten customers actually generate enough profit to cover the cost of servicing them. What about the other seven? Does it make sense to keep them as customers? To a certain extent it does: if they can be identified through a loyalty programme, efforts can be made to move them up through the segments and hopefully they will become more profitable customers. Moreover, while possibly not generating profit directly, they are contributing to the size of the business and also contributing to fixed operating costs (rent, rates, utilities and so on). However, the ‘worst of the worst’ could probably be profitably lost. So far, it seems that only financial institutions have gone as far as actually closing unprofitable customers’ accounts. The generally adopted approach is simply not to reward them in any way and hope that they will leave. A graphic example of how important intelligent deselection can be is Professor Philip Kotler’s adaptation of the Pareto Principle, in which the top 20% of customers generate 80% of the profits, while the bottom 30% of customers eat up 50% of the profits that the others produce. Now that’s a good reason to actively ‘fire’ your least profitable customers.

5. Recover defected customers…

The success rate in approaching ‘lost’ customers can be three to four times as high as it is when prospecting for new customers. For example, the rate for converting prospects might typically be 5%, while that for reactivating inactive customers might be as high as 15-20%. There are several reasons why customer win-back has a greater chance of success than acquisition; You have advantages with lost customers that you don’t have with prospects, including information about their past purchase history, where and how to reach them, and their preferred communication channel.

6. Increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)…

Customer Lifetime Value is increasingly being recognised as one of the most important measures of the worth of a customer. It takes into account not only the customer’s value now but the expected value over their projected lifetime as a customer. It is arguably the best way a marketer can demonstrate unequivocally that a programme is working: the CLV of targeted customers will rise.

7. Best customer marketing (BCM)…

Best customer marketing involves spending more time, effort, and money on the best customers in order to maximise the return on investment. The strategy has been honed to a fine art by marketers such as Brian Woolf and Hawkins Strategic. Not surprisingly, the principles of best customer marketing are the driving force behind the leading loyalty programmes in the world today.

8. Build relationships…

Building customer relationships is crucially important but not always as straightforward as it might seem. It has been said that relationship marketing is powerful in theory but troubled in practice – an unpalatable concept but probably one with which many marketers could identify. If ever there has been an example of “many a slip ‘tween cup and lip”, counting on the building of relationships with all and sundry in order to generate profits must be somewhere near the top of the list. Building a relationship with customers leads to improved behavioural loyalty and thus to increased bottom-line profits. That’s obvious, isn’t it? Well, no. In fact it doesn’t always work like that. It has been argued that attempting to partner with all customers, regardless of their characteristics, might not always be the best way forward. There are factors that alter the importance of the relationship/behaviour/profits equation quite significantly. Age is just one of these factors. Studies carried out in the UK in the 1990s concluded that customers under 45 were most loyal and those over 65 were least loyal. Yet other studies found no clear relationship between age and loyalty. It used to be thought that older customers were more loyal to brands than younger customers but even that is changing, with some studies finding no clear relationship.

9. Create advocates…

Advocacy is one of the highest forms of loyalty that a customer can show. Advocates are so satisfied and pleased with your offering that they tell their friends and associates. And to most people, a personal recommendation is far more convincing than any amount of promotional material.

10. Adjust pricing levels…

A loyalty programme can help formulate pricing structure. If enough best customers are happy to buy a product at a particular price there seems little point in reducing that price simply to attract cherry-pickers. The effect of changing prices can also be studied – for example, which customer segments buy significantly more or less.

11. Respond to competitive challenges…

A good loyalty programme’s ability to tie purchases to individual customers allows quick and accurate identification of customers who defect when new competition opens nearby. They can then be enticed back with customer-specific special offers or even direct contact. By way of example, a fairly small retail store had to face up to a competitor opening a much bigger store on the same parking lot. In anticipation, the small store was extensively remodelled, causing considerable disruption. Over the period of remodelling (a matter of several weeks) turnover dropped by 40%. However, a loyalty programme enabled management to identify regular shoppers and mail them a letter thanking them for their patience and enclosing some special offers. All but 183 customers returned to the store. The store management team then sent handwritten invitations and a US$10 gift certificate to those 183 customers. All but three returned. After the new competitor opened, the smaller store’s whole customer database was mailed an offer containing US$5-off coupons for US$50 orders in each of the following twelve weeks. Any customer using all twelve received an extra US$10 certificate. The result was that sales actually rose by between 6% and 7% over the months following the new opening. The competitor’s store (which was approximately twice the size) achieved less than half the sales of the remodelled store. This shows the power of knowing who your customers are.

12. Select stock lines effectively…

Knowing what your best customers buy frequently helps choose which lines to stock and which lines to expand on. When your stock range is adjusted to suit the more profitable types of customer that you already have, the entire store will naturally begin to appeal to more of the same types of customer, and a slow but sure process of ‘customer cloning’ begins, eventually leading to the removal of less profitable customer groups by simply dropping the lines that only those groups tend to buy, and building up the lines that better customers prefer.

13. Plan merchandising optimally…

Basket analysis can identify what lines are bought at the same time, particularly by best customers, and planograms can be planned accordingly to encourage cross-purchasing. The apocryphal story of a retailer (usually said to be Wal-Mart) discovering from basket analysis that men who buy baby nappies also buy beer (the refined version includes “on Friday evenings”) may be true or not. But there is a whole web site devoted to discussing its veracity – see here. However, this story, regardless of its origin, does illustrate the potential of the principle in its own bizarre way. Data similar to this is used widely to plan planograms for store merchandising. Of course, on one level, plain basket analysis without a loyalty programme is enough for this purpose. But add the dimension of knowing who the customer is, how much they spend, and where they live and you can confidently decide whether it is worth putting a display of nappies in the beer aisle on Friday evenings or not!

14. Reduce promotional and advertising costs…

Because advertising can be targeted instead of untargeted, significant savings can be made. There is no need to send out thousands of flyers that will be thrown away unread, or take pages of newspaper space that is irrelevant to many of the readers. And targeted advertising works measurably. The more sophisticated type of loyalty programme – such as the UK’s Tesco Clubcard – can not only target advertising material almost individually to its many millions of members but it can accurately measure the response rates to those advertisements. If Mrs Smith is sent a coupon for money off Whitesmile toothpaste, the system knows whether or not she redeems that coupon. That information is valuable not only to Tesco, but to the makers of Whitesmile toothpaste. Tesco’s Clubcard magazine, packed with targeted money-off coupons, is mailed to approximately 13 million customers four times a year. Not only does this form of advertising save Tesco money; it earns Tesco money. National UK magazines are reported to charge between £5,000 and £7,000 per page for advertising. Tesco is said to charge up to £37,000 for an A5 page (roughly half the size of a standard A4 magazine) – and brands pay it because it works. Buying space in the magazine is an accountable investment toward measurable sales; one particular toilet tissue brand saw a 27% increase in sales after advertising in this way. The cost-saving advantage of targeting can be astonishing. In one instance, a firm mailed an offer to 450,000 of its ‘better’ customers. The mailing generated US$22 in revenue for each US$1 spent. On analysing the response data, it was found that 97% of sales came from 13% of the ZIP codes. Can you imagine the difference that that made to the profitability of future mailings?

15. Select new trading sites…

Selecting a site for a new store is no longer a case of sticking a pin in a map, or choosing a site on a hunch. The loyalty card enables you to profile the demographics of best customers and – because it is often likely that the best prospective customers will have similar demographics – choose new locations much more accurately. In addition, if the addresses of existing customers are known, they can be plotted geographically and sites can be chosen where there are outlying pockets of customers or gaps in coverage. Get all the facts, figures and details at your fingertips… Our brand new report ‘The Loyalty Guide 5′ covers all of this in great detail, with over 1,300 pages of solid loyalty marketing data, practice, and theory – everything you need to know in one global report. It explains customer loyalty and engagement, social marketing, metrics & analytics, best practices, new concepts, technologies, models and the latest tools and innovations. It’s also packed with detailed case studies, research, market sizes, forecasts, models, charts, illustrations, and materials to support any marketing initiative, presentation or proposal.

Find out all about the principles, practicalities, measurement, analysis, and bottom-line effects of customer loyalty, customer engagement, and social loyalty marketing, and get expert guidance from more than 30 loyalty thought-leaders worldwide. Learn exactly how to gather and use customer data to increase customer profitability, reduce churn, and to monitor and increase customer frequency, spending, profitability and share of wallet. Perhaps most importantly, find out where your competitors are succeeding or failing, and why. A full executive summary, table of contents, downloadable samples, pricing and ordering info are online now at http://www.theloyaltyguide.com

52 Million Loyalty Members Rite Aid

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:32:24 +0000

52 million members and this is a marginal program at best. I do like #3 like the Load 2 Card coupon tool which takes special offers (via coupon) and allows the customer to load this on their card. We have proposed this a long time ago but taking mobile offers and loading them on the card would be even better than paper coupons loaded on the card

Rite Aid Finds Booming Success in Loyalty Program

Rite Aid has placed a substantial bet for the upcoming year on its booming wellness+ loyalty program. Total enrollment in wellness+ has increased to 52 million members after two years.

“We continue to embrace technology as a way to enhance the customer experience,” said John Standley, CEO for Rite Aid on a recent call with investors. “Our wellness+ program will continue to be the core focus of Rite Aid’s overall marketing and promotional initiatives. And in fiscal year 2013, we will expand the delivery of targeted offers to wellness+ members.”

Rite Aid is committed to finding ways improve and to deliver more value to its most loyal customers via the wellness+ rewards program. Wellness+ members accounted for 74% of front-end sales and 68% of prescriptions filled during the quarter ending March 3, 2012, up from 66% of front-end sales and 58% of prescriptions filled for the same period last year. The program has continued to increase the number of Gold and Silver members in the program, which is important because these customers continue to be the most valuable to Rite Aid.

There are several ways that the loyalty program is helping Rite Aid to grow its members:

At the end of this fiscal year there were 25 million active members, which is a 16% increase in active members over the same period last year.
New rewards were launched for members who earned 500 points and became Silver-tier members. In addition to a 10% discount on qualified front-end purchases for one year, these members can now also choose from several rewards choices including a health screening, membership to a well-known fitness center, a subscription to one of several general interest consumer and lifestyle magazines or a one-year GNC Gold Card membership. The new reward choices demonstrate the retailer’s commitment to keeping wellness+ fresh and relevant to customers.
Program enhancements like the Load2Card coupon tool enable customers to download online coupons directly to their wellness+ card and have the amount automatically deducted when they use the card to purchase items in the store.
Rite Aid recently completed the development of its new mobile app, which is available on both Android and iPhone platforms. The free app allows customers to use their smartphones to order refills by scanning prescription bottles, manage their wellness+ accounts, access the weekly circular to view sale items and locate a nearby Rite Aid store using GPS technology.
The more than 400 Wellness Ambassadors in Rite Aid stores use specially programmed iPads to help customers access quality information about over-the-counter products, vitamins and supplements. Wellness Ambassadors provide information to customers and act as a bridge from the front end to the pharmacy, where pharmacists are available to offer clinical advice and help customers select the right products for their specific needs.

Student Rewards 365

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:04:53 +0000

Check out this message it is very powerful and takes fundraising and cause marketing to an entire new level by rewarding kids (or adults with ideal College strategy) in a positive light with real rewards for behaving properly or getting good grades. Every business owner around a school would love an exclusive program in their space to attract parents and kids with the program below. Each business owner might sign on without any fees and pay a percentage each time the card is used. There are many ways and additional profit streams and local communities are just dying for this type of solution below. I am writing a paper on proper coalition strategies combining cause marketing, loyalty, and private database building and it’s the holy grail.

Video Business Alert

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:07:12 +0000

Video Business Alert: (1:53) Watch this two minute video and realize that the smaller GENERAL RETAIL sector is next. The time has come for Jims Pizza, Local Bob’s Catering, Neighborhood Cleaners, Toms Bowling Center, and the smaller local businesses to adapt or perish. The firms in this video waited too long and now find themselves out of business, don’t make the same mistake. First mover advantage is crucial.

The reason is simple, your competition is being presented with customer loyalty solutions designed to listen, engage and value their customers. Today’s consumer will simply NOT put up with inferior service, products or treatment. They have spoken loud and clear as to how they want local small businesses to treat and value their patronage and we know exactly what they want. They will search until they find it and once they do, they are very difficult to uproot. We have always known it’s 8X more expensive to attract a new customer than keep an existing one. You don’t want to lose your customers to a similar business because you waited too long to listen to them.

If you don’t move forward your competition will, and if they move first, it’s only a matter of time until we put your business in this video as another catastrophe that could have been avoided.

Customer Rewards How To Article with Commentary

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:44:46 +0000

How to Start a Customer Rewards Program

Giving something back to your best customers has become a competitive necessity in certain industries. Here’s how to keep your best buyers loyal. Just for starters we must remember that a rewards program by itself is not really a customer loyalty program, it’s just one aspect of a customer loyalty program. You will see punch cards, discount cards and other similar type programs referred to as customer loyalty solutions but in reality they don’t even belong in the space.

For ages, customer loyalty programs meant you got a little punch card to tally your purchases so you could eventually be awarded with a free coffee, car wash or sandwich. We still see punch cards today, many business owners still use them which includes some fairly large franchises such as Jimmy Johns and Einstein Bros. Bagels.In reality, the Starbucks Gold Card is nothing more than a punch card since it registers TRANSACTIONS rather than sale amounts.

There are even some aspects to the Starbucks program which are inferior to a punch card since it takes several weeks to receive a postcard in the mail after reaching my reward level. With Starbucks, once I accumulate 15 transactions (no matter how much I spend and this is a big mistake) I earn a free cup of coffee, but it takes 2-4 weeks to receive my postcard in the mail to redeem the free cup I earned. At least with punch cards I know where I stand and when I hit my target I can request my free coffee or bagel right then and there.

In the early 1980s, American Airlines decided it wanted to take the idea of nurturing its customer base a big step forward and give fliers something extra special. The airline created the first frequent flyer programs that allowed travelers to accrue miles for future flights — as long as they kept flying with American Airlines, of course. Notice the late start of customer loyalty into retail, the paragraph above mentions the 1980′s but that was only for airlines.Customer loyalty for general retail has just started to take hold within the last 5-10 years. This is why you rarely see a decent program laid out with proper design and implementation, we are still in the dark ages when it comes to loyalty.In addition, technology has moved much faster than the awareness from business owners as to the change in customer demands and why loyalty solutions are now a necessity for survival rather than a luxury to increase revenue.

The program was one of the first widely accepted customer loyalty programs in the country, and it set up a framework that became a standard not just for the entire industry, but also for what customers expect from airlines.

Today, customers are accustomed to seeing rewards in myriad forms at businesses large and small. Popular examples include special coupon discounts from grocery stores, Amazon’s Prime program, Zappos VIP membership, and numerous discount cards at retailers like Aeropostale and Barnes and Noble. Your credit card also probably offers you some payback the more you spend. Perfect example of miscommunication in the marketplace. Coupons and discount cards should not count as a reward or be included in an explanation of a rewards program. Even credit cards should not be counted in this category since they are not retailer specific.

Companies spend more than $2 billion on loyalty programs a year, and statistics show the average American household belongs to about 14 different rewards programs, even if they’re only active in six.

“They want to protect the customer relationship,” says Chris Cottle, vice president of marketing and products at Allegiance, which has provided customer feedback services to 1-800-CONTACTS and several banks, and is based in South Jordan, Utah. “It’s so easy for customers who are price-sensitive to slip away or go to a competitor. One of the ways you can make your customer relationship more sticky is through a well-planned and well-executed reward program.” Notice the words ‘well planned’ and ‘well executed’, programs fitting this description are very difficult to find since the providers themselves don’t understand what the word PROPER means. There are very few places to turn for business owners, banks (or any brand for that matter) to learn how to PROPERLY set up a rewards program let alone an entire customer loyalty suite with best practices.

Today, companies have new technologies to enhance the experience, from social media platforms that celebrate customers who promote your business to data mining tools that help target your customers, and help keep them coming through the doors for years to come.

Customer loyalty experts offer the following tips on how to start your own program.

Starting a Customer Rewards Program: Is it Right for You?

Does it make sense for your business to offer a loyalty program? It depends on what industry you’re in. For retail stores, restaurants, and travel companies, maintaining a customer rewards program is almost a necessity to stay competitive because programs are so widespread in those sectors, Cottle says. The real reason is that customers are desiring these types of programs and demanding the attention they have deserved for years. It’s very similar to any movement which has been suppressed and then desires their voice to be heard.

We see similar emotions in foreign countries all the time when they try and overthrow a leader. When the people’s voice has been ignored and they realize how to organize and let their feelings be known, they feel empowered and will not put up with the status quo any longer. A revolution of change occurs and the emotions are very powerful. For those who don’t listen, the results can be severe which is why we have seen so many large companies go bankrupt and why new books are released such as…No More Business as Usual.

A business that deals with customers on an infrequent basis, such as a repair service or landscaper, might not be able to pull in enough return visits to warrant offering a discount or other loyalty bonus, says Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the Chief Marketing Officer Council, a clearinghouse for ideas on relationship building and leadership among major marketing leaders, which is based in Palo Alto, California. But return traffic isn’t the only purpose of a loyalty program. A tax attorney, for instance, can use a rewards program or loyalty discount to encourage customers to refer more clients, Neale-May says. “In some cases, referral may be more relevant than loyalty,” he says. The tone of this entire conversation is off base. It’s very easy to tell from reading the commentary that these so called customer loyalty experts really have no idea what they are talking about.

Your company should have a little bit of data on your customers already before deciding to start a loyalty program. How much are your best customers spending on average? How often do they use your services? This is not accurate, you don’t need anything to start and you don’t want to reward just your BEST customers. Sure, there is merit if ‘firing’ some customers who cost more to service than the revenue generated but that’s fairly advanced.One key strategy of a properly designed program is taking ‘average’ customers or even ‘below average’ customers and moving them up the ladder in becoming a best customer. This is fairly easy to do with proper treatment and value.

There are many strategies which can be designed to treat ‘best’ customers with special incentives that others do not receive, but we need a system in place which rewards every customer for walking in the door. Most business owners have no idea who their best customers are and many don’t have a system in place to even build a database so the proper solutions will address this fact by making it easy to accumulate this data and then develop a proper strategy or promotion while the data is being gathered.

The proper program will make this very easy to do and will then track the visits with strategies to engage them more effectively and then move the up to ‘best’ customer status. This understanding is especially important now since there are so few programs which are properly designed and follow best practices. The business owner of today can steal a great deal of customers away from their competition by just following best practices.

Throw in a few creative promotions with advanced strategies or membership ideas and building a business, increasing revenue, and developing customer relationships is not that difficult and can be done with a fraction of the expense with previous outdated models.

Most companies first identify their most loyal customers, who are usually the top 10 percent most frequent or profitable patrons. Targeting them makes more sense than offering something like a broad discount for all patrons, experts say. Most companies don’t even know how to identify their top 10% of customers and the real need is not ‘companies’ as they are referred to here.The real need is for inexpensive, viable solutions to the millions of small business owners within the general retail space. Sure, there are strategies for big brands but big brands can be better served partnering with smaller retail on a local level with exclusivity.

“They’re probably worth five or six times more than everyone else, the other 90 percent,” says Bob Konsewicz, a strategic consultant for Maritz Loyalty, which has worked with AT&T, Bank of America and General Motors. “When you design those programs, you really want to design it for your best customers.” Yes these figures are more in line for companies like AT&T, BofA and GM, as mentioned here, three HUGE companies which should not be the target or reference of an article like this one. This is another big disconnect in the loyalty space when simple headlines are mixed with Fortune 100 branding strategies or loyalty initiatives which are totally different than the needs of millions of general retail business owners who are dying on the vine. This is discussed more in detail below.

Dig Deeper: Thinking Through Customer Loyalty

Starting a Customer Rewards Program: What Should You Offer?

Now you need to figure out what kind of incentives you are going to offer customers. Will it be a club card that provides a discount with every purchase? A points program that lets patrons cash in their loyalty for goods and prizes? Upgraded shipping? Should it be something free or an item or service only available through a paid subscription? Holy smokes, these comments really indicate these so called experts really have no idea what they are talking about.How about listening to your customers and providing them what THEY want, anyone out there listening?

Now you see why customers are so angry, they are tired of business suits and high level executives designing programs that do not appeal to what they have requested. They think the 1% are dictating policy for the 99%.

This is the entire study on VOC, the Voice of the Customer. This is another reason the marketplace is so wide open to proper solutions since these so called experts really have no clue. Some of their ideas are OK, but to mention points and discounts when figuring out how to reward people means they really don’t understand what is at stake.

The kind of program varies depending on your type of business, but experts say some general tips apply to everyone. They advise against limiting your rewards program to just discounts, because discounts don’t have a lasting impact on customers’ memories. Physical prizes or earned bonuses like frequent flyer trips resonate much more, Konsewicz says. “If you get a discount, it’s kind of over and done with,” he says. Correct on this one!

The ultimate goal of your program should be to underline your overall brand strategy. Starbucks, for instance, is able to lure people into its shops on a regular basis thanks to its ambiance of sociability, and a rewards card that accumulates points with each purchase. No no and no! Branding is highly advanced and that’s why they go into Starbucks, another Fortune 500 company. This might be true for GM, Ford, Starbucks, etc. but not true for the millions of business owners needing help. Even then, branding is another subject and nothing in this article even hints at a proper brand strategy.

The target audience of a piece like this should not be Fortune 500 companies. Ford is not going to be reading this article on how to set up a proper rewards program and then using this article in their next board meeting.

The advice here is so off the wall and back and forth there is no value. The real value from a piece like this would be to educate the millions of general retail merchants by teaching them how to synergize with bigger companies to work together on a local strategy to track results, drive increased business for both companies and develop a plan to take this same local strategy to a national level.

Brands like Ford have yet to figure out how to leverage the emotion of general retail and then develop a proper strategy to endear those emotions to drive added visits to their dealership. These strategies combined with proper loyalty solutions will have much higher ROI and ROE and develop strong brand loyalty at the local level of each dealer.

Repeat this in 1000s of communities and what looks like a local initiative now becomes a national brand building strategy with trackable ROI and full interaction with potential customers.We won’t go into detail on how to develop this here, but it can be a very powerful tool for large brands to use on an exclusive basis.

Cause Marketing is not even mentioned in this article and leaving Cause Marketing out of an article on rewards and loyalty is inexcusable. One of the best rewards we can offer people is the satisfaction of supporting what is near and dear to their heart while rewarding them at the same time.

These so called experts really have no idea on proper program design and how to merge everything they discuss into an effective program that could benefit any business no matter their size.

“The ultimate brand experience is: you will go and buy something from this company even if you don’t need it,” Cottle says. We create this all the time with strategies and go even further. We get customers to purchase the brand even though they may not even like the brand.We can do this with added value inside an activity or product that they do like and then offering greater value for purchasing the product than if they did not. We discuss this in our sponsorship presentation and it’s the holy grail when speaking with sponsoring companies.

You should figure out which relationships are most important for your business and design a rewards program that cultivates those customers, says Michael Hemsey, president of Kobie Marketing, which has worked with Verizon, Samsung and Lucasfilm. Here you go, another Fortune 500 giant strategy with three companies named which means absolutely nothing to Jims Pizza. Even the strategies set up for these big firms leaves a lot to be desired, there is no reference of proper brand development and strategy in this entire article. If the author desired to make the content attractive to companies like Ford, Sony, Lucasfilm and others then take the discussion to that level where it belongs with proper strategies rather than the content here.

Is customer tenure that’s most valuable? What about dollar-value of purchases? Would you rather be a company that delights clients with surprise bonuses or upgrades? Two other big issues should shape your decision: What your competitors are doing, and how much your company can afford to spend on the program. This is really another big company comment.Proper programs don’t COST money, they make money. There is very little up-front cost for any size business and customer loyalty solutions usually cost a fraction of any other strategy including classified ads or people in chicken suits! But, there are lot of poor programs out there which do waste money for larger companies so that is why you see the reference here.

Neale-May recommends researching your competitors and creating a program that either mirrors others, or one that distinguishes itself by offering something unique. This works even for smaller businesses: an independent print shop could look at the Max Perks program offered by Office Max and imitate it on a smaller scale, he says.Again, the Max Perks program is horrible and that’s being polite.

Programs where customers earn points are best suited for services where lots of transactions are involved, such as a credit card, Hemsey says. Restaurants that might see the same patron once every month or so are better off just offering a free drink or instant discount to loyal customers, he says. As you can see, these people really have no idea on how to set up a proper anything inside a customer loyalty strategy or program, they are literally clueless.

Some companies, such as Barnes and Noble, charge a fee for reward membership programs. But a program that comes with a sign up cost has to have a clear and appealing set of rewards, like flight upgrades for airlines or access to VIP events for retailers. Otherwise, customers won’t participate. “If it’s a strong enough offering, there’s no reason in the world they shouldn’t charge for it,” Neale-May says. Good point here!

Dig Deeper: How to Build Personal Relationships With Customers

Starting a Customer Rewards Program: Communicating With Customers

Making sure customers know about your program is a key factor to its success. At most retail stores, cashiers will ask customers if they want to participate. That kind of model doesn’t work well in a high-turnover sales environment where it could back up the line, such as a supermarket. Professionals say companies should use the full extent of their communication arms to spread the word, through e-mail, newsletters, and website updates.This is good, at least the professionals know something!

Your employees should be ambassadors for the program too, Hemsey says. They should understand the program fully and be able to relate its value to customers.

Customers want to see results as well: high-end consumers expect to be able to redeem rewards within three to six months, Konsewicz says. “That’s the biggest reason customers get out of loyalty programs,” he says. “They can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.” No, they want to redeem them right away, we are in an instant redemption mindset, people don’t like waiting 3-6 months for ANYTHING.

Claiming rewards shouldn’t be overly complicated either. And, when you do reward loyalty, make sure the customer knows it. Too often, Konsewicz says, a customer will get a reward in the mail — a book or gift card, maybe — without a note from the company explaining why. Anything in the mail is ridiculous whether it explains why or not!

Companies should be making that a much more meaningful interaction for the customer to make them feel special.”Make it a little bit more of an experience rather than a process they go through,” he says.Hooray! Another good comment

Dig Deeper: Managing Smart E-mail Campaigns

Starting a Customer Rewards Program: Using Social Media

Customer loyalty programs began with simple punch ards you kept in your pocket, and now they’re evolving through something else in your pocket: the smart phone. Loyalty programs are indeed evolving but you need a lot more understanding than just a cell phone.As you can see, if a program is not designed properly, just adding a cell phone to the mix does not fix the problem, it may actually make it worse.

The cell phone makes it easier to let more people know we don’t know what we are doing and in fact are not listening to them.When we design programs as mentioned above which is what customers DON’T WANT, the last thing we need to do is make them aware of our ineptitude. Before we jump into the mobile loyalty business, we better make we have proper design and strategies in place otherwise the damage could be significant.

While larger companies are still slightly nervous about using social media, the hospitality industry has really embraced it as way to identify loyal customers, Konsewicz says. A lot of that has come by offering rewards through FourSquare, the social media platform that lets users check in at locations with their devices. The Brooklyn Museum, for example, will award a free yearlong membership to the “mayor” (the person with the most check-ins at that location) on certain days.

Zicam, the cold remedy manufacturer, has used Twitter to send coupons to people who mention their products on short messaging service. Using social media is a much more effective way to reach the coveted 18- to 24-year-old demographic, who are less responsive to traditional advertising, experts say.

Dig Deeper: How to Use Location-Based Social Networks for Your Business

Starting a Customer Rewards Program: Using Your Loyalty Data

Loyalty programs aren’t just used to keep patrons happy. They can also help you gather important purchasing information on the buying habits of the customer base that can help you shape your business strategy. Amen!

Using a club card or a system that requires users to provide basic information can help you learn patterns and trends that an anonymous punch card can’t uncover. The data from rewards programs is a rich gold mine that’s often times untapped, Cottle says. Supermarkets use this information to know which promotional messages to send you. Travel companies use it to know which deals you might be interested in. Gold mine is the proper word. A database which can be queried and used for years to develop relationships is worth its weight in gold.

Companies can also use this to cross-promote or up sell: a customer that buys a lot of cookies at your bakery might be interested in a coupon for the dairy down the street, for instance. “It’s more about getting insight into your customer and leveraging that customer insight,” Neale-May says. Business synergy mentioned here is a great idea but a there are many better ways to this than with a simple coupon.This is more of an advanced strategy that should only be implemented after proper program design is in place for the original location.

Using purchasing habits to personally target consumers has been a successful strategy for Amazon and Google, and it’s one even smaller companies should adopt to eliminate waste in their advertising efforts, Cottle says. “As a consumer, generally I am excited to give those sorts of permissions,” he says. “If the company I’m giving it to is smart, that means I get less marketing and more targeted marketing.”Correct, we do need more online strategies like Amazon and Google used offline but the offline world is decades behind and just waiting for our solutions.

Dig Deeper: How to Send E-Mail Your Customers Will Love

Generation C Amazing Research

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:37:08 +0000

Must read info below, customers are changing very rapidly and proper loyalty strategies and program design are becoming more and more important. If you don’t understand all the facts below, understand that business must change and if they fail to adapt, they will perish. Within a few short years even strong businesses can die if they don’t pay attention to their customers changing demands. We are seeing this truth unfold with technology and we are now going to see it with customers and their relationships to business. We have these solutions covered for business owners, brands, or sponsors on multiple levels.

Meet Generation C: The Connected Customer

Marketers, educators, parents, it seems that almost anyone in the Generation X or Boomer demographic is scratching their heads trying to figure out Generation Y aka the Millennial. After all, it’s the first generation to seemingly possess digital prowess as part of their DNA. And, it’s the first generation to receive both a birth certificate and a social profile or presence upon delivery into this world.

A study published in 2011 by security company AVG and Research Now surveyed 2,200 mothers from around the world and found that 81% of children under the age of two currently have some type of digital footprint. 92% of U.S. children have an online presence created for them by the time they are 2 years old. In many cases, a digital presence is born before the child, with sonograms (23%) actively published and shared on social networks and blogs.

With every day that passes, Gen Y becomes far more important to the economy than we can realize. Yet the gap between how Gen Y communicates and connects and how businesses, educators, governments, et al. approach them is only widening. I often wonder whether or not we are simply trying to talk to ourselves in our approach when in reality, we are talking to strangers. This is important as without understanding what’s important to them and why, without learning their behavior or decision making cycles, or without empathy, we cannot reverse engineer nor create a meaningful and engaging journey. We cannot create bridges from where they are to us nor can we expect them to use them.

How well do you know Gen Y?

Here are some interesting points for discovery that get us thinking beyond what we think we know today:

59% update their social status in class.

29% find love through Facebook while 33% are dumped via TXT or Wall posts (SRS) – abbreviation for seriously

Millennials watch TV with two or more electronic devices

Only 11% define having a lot of money as a definition of success

Gen-Y will form 75% of the workforce by 2025 and are actively shaping corporate culture and expectations.

Only 7% of Gen-Y works for a Fortune 500 company as startups dominate the workforce for this demographic. Gen-Y expects larger organizations to hear their voice and recognize their contributions…increasing the need for an intrapreneurial culture.

Millennials trust strangers over friends and family. They lean on UGC for purchases.

They are 3x as likely to follow a brand over a family member in social networks

66% will look up a store if they see a friend check-in

73% have earned and used virtual currency

Gen-Y believes that other consumers care more about their opinions than companies do – that’s why they share their opinions online.

Gen-Y’ers are more connected on Facebook than average users managing a social graph of 696 Facebook friends versus 140.

If knowledge is the key to enlightenment, then perception and imagination are windows to engagement and relevance. We can learn all we want about Millennials, but if we can’t translate that into meaning or substance, we will continue to miss opportunities to build lasting relationships.

The gap isn’t just widening because of the growing pervasiveness of Millennials in our economy. As I introduced in The End of Business as Usual, anyone who places increasing emphasis on technology as part of their daily routine, in many ways, their behavior mimics that of Millennials and as a result, they prove elusive or immune to traditional marketing and service. In the book, I refer to this class of consumer as “the Connected Customer” and their behavior is noticeably dissimilar to that of their traditional counterparts. The connected customer is the stranger you must get to know as in comparison to the customers of the past, this group is only growing and it’s traversing demographics. As such, the connected customer becomes what we can or should now refer to as Generation C where the “C” represents connectedness.

Introducing Gen-C

No longer can we blame it on the youth. We must blame, if anything, the disruption of technology. Nowadays, age ain’t nothing but a number. It is how people embrace technology, from social networks to smartphones to intelligent appliances, that contributes to the digital lifestyle that is now synonymous with Gen-C.

A recent study published by Nielsen brings Generation C into light. In just one image, we can begin to comprehend the disruption of digital revolution on society. Call it the social economy. Call it the mobile or the app economy. Call it the connected economy. Whatever we call it, this incredible transformation that we’re witnessing, is indeed nothing short of a digital revolution.

The Last 10 Years

274 million American have Internet Access, which is more than double that of 2000.

81 billion minutes spent on social networks and blogs

64% of all mobile phone time is spent on apps.

42% of tablet owners use them daily while watching TV.

For the first time, the numbers of laptops have surpassed desktops within TV homes.

Women Rule Gen-C

In 2009, I discovered that in social media, women rule. As you can see in Nielsen’s report, women too rule Gen-C. Specifically, they rule social media and online video and TV viewership. With smartphones, men and women are tied in adoption. With tablets however, men rule.

Gen-C, By the Numbers

If you compare Nielsen’s graphic with that of IBM’s research on Social CRM, you can appreciate the full dimension of Gen-C as every demographic, in their own way, is adopting disruptive technology. And, it’s only becoming greater.

Platforms for Digital Access

Every digital experience has its springboard. Whether it’s a PC, tablet, smartphone, and soon, a connected TV, our ability to every platform unifies the 5-C’s of engagement, create, connect, consume, communicate, and contribute.

274.2 million Americans have Internet access

169.6 million visit social networks and blogs

165.9 million people watch video on a PC

70% of time using tablets is spent while at home versus 30% on the go

Content accessed on tablets is 1) News at 39%, 2) Sports at 34%, and Books at 31%

On smartphones, 117.6 million visit the Internet

App usage peaks at 5 p.m. among adults

Smartphones are used by 44% of all mobile subscribers in the U.S.

Video Continues to Kill the Radio Star: Engagement is Cross Platform

Nielsen found that consumers increased their online video consumption by 7% from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011. As you can see in the image below, online and mobile video consumption is significant.

Younger demographics watch less TV and watch video more online and on mobile devices.

With each generation, TV viewership rises with age.

Connected Customers are Multitaskers

Nielsen also shared the engagement habits and online activity of connected customers. As consumers watch a program, they are online with 1) 57% checking email, 2) 44% surfing the web, and 3) another 44% social networking.

When asked what they were doing while online during TV, some very interesting answers emerged. 29% looked up programming information related to the show. 19% looked up product information related to an ad. And, 16% looked up coupons or deals related to the ad.

The Top 5 Sites Visited While Watching TV

Facebook
Youtube
Zynga
Google

How Gen-C Spends their Connected Time

On PC’s and mobile devices, Gen-C is always on. Nielsen found that during October 2011, Youtube was the top destination for all online video content, accounting for nearly half (45%) of American’s total streaming time.

Social networking represents 21.3% of all time spent online using PCs.

Online gaming accounts for 7.7%

Email, in many ways still the largest social network in the world, represents 6.5%

55.8% of mobile phone time is spent in miscellaneous apps, with Angry Birds most likely accounting for a notable share of that time (just kidding).

Text messaging continues to test the limits of thumb dexterity and the ability to find new ways to abbreviate our vocabulary at 13.4%

Browser usage represents 11.1%

Social networking equals 5.5%

Interesting that email and IM are among the bottom of all mobile functions at 5.3%.

From e-commerce to Mobile Commerce

As Nielsen and so many other research reports herald, mobile commerce is influencing transactions and decisions. Mobile is just one of the many channels for emerging commerce including social, F-commerce, and more importantly, syndicated commerce. 29% of mobile consumers use their phone for shopping-related activities and more than 50% visit daily deal sites daily.

Mobile shopping activities include:

38% compare prices online while in shopping in a store.

38% browse products through websites or apps.

32% read online reviews of products.

24% search for or use online coupons.

22% have purchased a product.

22% scan barcodes for product or price information.

18% use location-based services to find retail locations.

My favorite state isn’t related to what people are doing, but what they would do if businesses innovated in their approach to commerce.

27% of male and 22% of female consumers would use their mobile phone to make payments in restaurants and shops if they could.

This is an EmerGen-C

Connected customers or Gen-C is only becoming more pervasive in society and ultimately your economy. If you look back at the Gen-Y behavior list and replace the words “Millennial” or “Gen-Y” with “Connected Customer” or “Gen-C,” the similarities are uncanny. Now’s the time to recognize how your customer landscape is shifting and to what extent traditional and connected consumers discover and make decisions differently. The customer journey is far more complex than ever before, where new touchpoints not only emerge, they introduce a new customer journey.

With connected customers, decision making is no longer signified by a simple funnel, nor can business models support decision making before, during, and post transaction across these distributed, but connected platforms. This is a time for augmented engagement strategies to cater to different types of customers differently not only based on behavior, but also based on their expectations, needs, and also the platform they use to connect, communicate, and make decisions.

The Importance of Wallet Branding

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:46:00 +0000

Note: Article Below

FYI: With cardless payment systems growing, it’s good to remind merchants and sponsors of the benefits of wallet real estate (see brief article below). Pre-paid visa cards referenced below are not nearly as strong as fully branded loyalty cards with cash back. There are a number of solid reasons to issue cards which can be carried in the wallet even if the use of these cards can be avoided.

Inside the recent presentation on sponsorship, a number of high level benefits were referenced such as ‘hypnotic’ results in a study from Forrester’s. Another slide talks about media synergy with the family viewing the commercial on TV and then being reminded of a card inside their wallet that triggers donations when the card is used. Another slide referenced the actual card in an advertisement when the kids were walking in school and mentions to use their card and purchase Pepsi (which of course has the Pepsi logo on the card).

There are other slides which connect emotions to the use of a card which I will not expound upon here but let me know if you are interested in these studies and the emotional benefits of advertising and branding which is the dominant theme inside of marketing today. The key today is triggering positive ‘emotional’ benefits rather than just transactional ones.

Cards in the wallet do not need to be viewed to be effective. Adam mentioned to me yesterday that he was ‘aware’ of his subway card inside of his wallet. This ‘awareness’ has even greater benefits than actually viewing a card or seeing a sponsor logo on a card. The more a card is used, the more this perception or awareness becomes a reality. When another ad is viewed such as an ad on TV, consumers actually view this card in their head and associate it with multiple transactions and multiple benefits even though the card may have never been used or viewed that day.

When the card is actually used or viewed it serves as more of a ‘reminder’ the many benefits and positive emotions that can occur if the card is designed correctly to trigger these types of emotions. This is another reason why Cause Marketing can have such a profound effect on potential merchants and sponsors who can share this ‘good will’ with every transaction. The new sponsor presentation also references good will, another important emotion to tie to the transaction when combined with value and appreciation of the customer.

Can all of this be done WITHOUT a card? Yes, but it’s much easier with a card since the card itself can be a visual reminder even though not required for use to trigger the benefits. Merchants and sponsors may enjoy many more ‘fictitious’ or ‘mental visualization’ views than actual views as their awareness of the presence of this card comes to mind at different times.

For example, if one of our cards has a Cause Marketing component where a customer’s church is being supported, when an offering is taken at that church, a visual image of the card may appear in the customers mind reminding him that transactions at certain merchants trigger the same benefits. He actually views the card in his mind without even taking out the wallet due to the fact that an announcement was made, offering was taken or an announcement of a financial need was spoken.

When I go to Dunkin Donuts or Dazbog to get a coffee, I actually visualize using my Gold Starbucks card at Starbucks even when I am inside of a competitors location. Physical cards which can be carried inside the wallet are the easiest and most effective ways to tap into the emotional benefits and trigger these types of benefits.

Of course, program design is also important. When I pull out my Ace Hardware rewards card, I don’t feel the same emotions as I do with an instant cash back rewards card since I despise the fact that they mail me a coupon rather than load the reward on my card. The better the program is designed, the higher the rewards, the better the donation, the more powerful brand images are seared on the customers mind. These emotions and mental views and reminders throughout the day can trigger numerous ‘mental’ views which can be much more important than an actual physical view.

The Importance of Wallet Real Estate

If you look inside your wallet, what do you see? If you are lucky, you see a bundle of cash (big bills are best). If you are like the majority of us, you are more likely to carry a stack of plastic; everything from your gym membership to credit cards.

What do you think about when you take one of these cards out of your wallet? Most people see them as a means to an end, a way to get cash fast, access to exercise (your gym), and perhaps even a way to earn points at your local grocery store. What most people don’t think about is that each of these cards is a walking advertisement for the company that issued it. Every time a card is used, a company’s logo is displayed. For the most part, this simple transaction goes unnoticed and unrecognized. Until recently!

Companies across the country are waking up to the idea of purchasing a share of their employee and their customer’s wallets. Prepaid Visa cards are the ideal tool to reward the people who are buying and selling your products while at the same time generating value from every purchase the cardholder makes. What better way to do this than by buying a little piece of Wallet Real Estate?

Here are a few examples of the impact of Wallet Real Estate.

I used to work for a company that rewarded me whenever I hit my sales targets. Every time I hit my monthly target I was rewarded with a predetermined amount of cash on a prepaid Visa card. It was amazing how much that carrot motivated me to close deals before the end of the month. Here’s where the company really benefitted by rewarding me this way: by directing all of my reward dollars onto a reloadable prepaid Visa card, they ensured that I was carrying their brand in my wallet. Every time I used the card I was asked where I received it, of course I let people know that I received it from my generous employer for hitting my sales targets. With all of this recognition, I was motivated to hit my targets month over month, without my realizing my employer had effectively hijacked my wallet and used it to their benefit. They now had a salesperson who was motivated to sell and that had people constantly reminding me of how great it was to sell for that company. There is no better employee than one who is motivated and recognized for their efforts.

To provide another example, imagine that you are in your grocery store and while shopping in the cereal aisle, you see a promotion on a specific brand of cereal. The offer states that if you purchase four boxes and claim a special code in the box, you’ll receive a $20 prepaid Visa card. You think to yourself ‘four boxes will get me a $20.00 card? What a great deal.’ My guess is that you will likely stock your shelves and make that purchase. When you return home, you follow the instructions, visit the appropriate website – which is completely branded by the company sponsoring the promotion – claim your purchases and click submit. Seven days later, you receive your prize: a $20.00 visa card completely branded and decked out with the companies logos and colours.

Count the number of impressions that their brand has made on you so far. This is just the beginning. Now you go out and spend your $20.00 on whatever you want. Of course you tell people about the promotion and about how easy it was to qualify for the prize. Without realizing it, you automatically become a key part of the marketing for the company who sponsored the promotion. The next time you are in the grocery store you are more likely to head straight for that brand of cereal when you are making your purchasing decision as you have developed loyalty to their brand. You’ve also impacted all the people you told about the card and the promotion. Chances are they’ll also check out your new favourite brand of cereal the next time they visit the grocery store. Rewarded customers become motivated marketers for your company.

We see companies making the move to motivating their employees and customers in an innovative and impactful way by using the power of Wallet Real Estate.

Thank You Note Sponsorship and Branding

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:13:43 +0000

Here is a sample thank you note which can be branded for any business or sponsor. The thank you note is the most powerful advertising a brand, sponsor, or business can receive bar none. I did not say that it reaches the most people or has the highest ROI since that is determined by a number of factors.

The thank you note cements the top three emotions in the history of retailing and passes the goodwill of these emotions to selected sponsors, often on an exclusive basis.

Support and Value of the Customer
Support of the Customer’s Heartfelt need
Green benefits with savings and convenience

All of these emotions are cemented with every transaction inside the most powerful two words….Thank you.

Another key emotion which is now important is trust. Due to our real time accountability and transparency which notifies third party administrators of the purchase and donation, consumers can now rest assured each and every purchase they make not only makes a difference in their community, but has been accounted for by a neutral third party. No coupons, no cereal box tops, no beer caps, and more importantly, every donation is tracked in real time. Many large companies such as banks and finance suffer from a lack of trust in the marketplace and now have a viable solution to start changing the image of their brand one community at a time with complete ROI analysis tools to check on results and verify success.

We can also throw in offers to visit these sponsors and have the card itself accepted at their location with special savings and benefits only received when working with selected business sponsors. All of these benefits are very powerful and hard to find anywhere in the marketplace.

As a matter of fact, I don’t know any company orchestrating the above inside a loyalty suite with a thank you note as you see here. Let sponsors know about the above strategy and how they can transform the image of their company and brand for a fraction of what they spend on other forms of marketing which don’t have near the potential or the ability to track results as we do.

There is even more available to them when we allow access to the data from the businesses they sponsor and develop ongoing relevant communication with these people on a platform of trust and value.

Best Practices Mobile Video

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:17:27 +0000

Best Practices In Mobile Video Advertising

by Srini Dharmaji, Mar 27, 2012, 10:14 AM

Savvy marketers understand the power of rich mobile media advertising — with a “call” to action simply a click away — to the tune of $1.5 billion in projected mobile ad spend this year alone, according to eMarketer. By 2016, over 70% of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video, a remarkable 20% increase since 2011. With analysts touting blockbuster figures like these, it has become crystal clear that mobile video advertising offers marketers one promising way to capitalize on the ever-expanding landscape of the mobile media ad space.

According to a recent report from AAAA Media Mind, mobile ads reach “one out of every three consumers.” Therefore, the key for most industry insiders is not if mobile video advertising is the best strategy for their clients, but rather how to effectively engage consumers in a way that translates into revenue and sales growth.

As with all newly chartered mediums, recommended methodologies and strategies are changing faster than marketers and publishers can react. The result is a wide spectrum of marketing campaign performance in need of industry insight to drive ROI, and most importantly, conversion. As the industry adapts to the introduction of new technology and digital capabilities, there are specific steps that marketers can take to maximize their mobile video advertising initiatives.

1. Introduce form to function. Today’s consumers are known to be media multitaskers. It’s not uncommon for mobile device owners to simultaneously watch television while using their web-enabled phones daily; 49% of consumers reported doing so according to recent data from Yahoo. Industry trends show more marketers are enhancing “traditional” print, broadcast and online media campaigns with mobile video advertising. It is imperative to take account of all consumer touchpoints within the brand experience– specifically when tailoring content that is appropriate to its given medium, like capping the mobile video ad experience to 15 seconds to increase consumer engagement.

2. Beware of bandwidth. Mobile video campaigns can increase unaided brand awareness by as much as 4 times when compared to traditional online video campaigns, according to InsightExpress. With that in mind, marketers should be diligent in delivering a consistent, high-quality brand experience by customizing mobile video ads to suit the user’s bandwidth capabilities. Mobile video streaming can be significantly compromised due to bandwidth limitations. Ads served on data networks, like 3G and 4G, should be optimized for lower bandwidth so as not to perform poorly and generate negative consumer engagement. Mobile video ads delivered over higher bandwidth networks, like WiFi, lend themselves to richer features like auto-expanding video overlays. By allowing the option for manual or auto-expanding animation, consumers can experience full-screen content with minimal latency.

3. Be engaging, not intrusive. Although pre-roll has dominated the online video advertising space for some time, there are additional options for marketers and publishers to consider. Studies show that the mobile device has the power to consistently elicit response from consumers because of its personal nature. As marketers seek innovative methods for increasing consumer engagement, the consumer experience must be top-of-mind at all times. For examples, tapless, muted video ads can be delivered within the banner space or as a video overpass. These are much better formats to deliver on mobile than content-invasive ad formats such as prestitials and interstitials that take users away from the content pages they intend to consume.

4. Think local. Relevance must not be lost in the sea of mobile video advertising options. In fact, when executed properly, mobile video advertising should enhance opportunities to localize and share content, and instantly drive conversion. Customized call-to-action overlays allow consumers to locate retailers, share products via social media networks and contact retailers with the click of a button — all from their mobile device!

5. Be consumer-friendly. Mobile operators are limiting data plans due to the explosion in smartphones and mobile. The wireless data pipe is finite, and growing mobile adoption means worsening connection speeds. Delivering data-intensive video ads can be a user experience challenge, both in terms of latency and quality. Innovative video ad formats such as intelli-video-banners offer a perfect balance for data rich video ads, wherein the starting banner ad unit can expand to a tapless video overlay when the user is on broadband WiFi, and mobile optimized streaming tap-to video while on 3G.

Mobile video advertising does not necessarily mean pre-roll or video ads stitched together with video content is some way. Intelligent use of connection, bandwidth, innovative ad formats and call-to-action with video can dramatically reduce the video acquisition cost per user while maximizing engagement and ROI for advertisers.

7 Ways to Romance Clients

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:54:42 +0000

Forget the long-stemmed roses and tickets to Broadway plays. I’ve found smarter ways to woo my company’s best clients

Forget the long-stemmed roses and tickets to Broadway plays. I’ve found smarter ways to woo my company’s best clients.

I’m often struck by the similarities between professional and personal relationships. In fact, I believe most of the fundamental strategies and tactics used in wooing a “significant other” hold true when one is in search of that next big customer. At the same time, maintaining a relationship with a significant other (or an important client) demands the same intellectual rigor one extends to the thrill of landing Mrs. Right (or Mr. Right, if you prefer).

Here’s a list of strategies I use to ensure my long-standing client relationships never grow old:

I send clients a “thank you for your business” note on each and every anniversary of the signing of our very first contract.
I share breaking news on competitors. Nothing, and I mean nothing, motivates a chief executive officer more than beating her competition to the punch. One of the best ways to make your direct client report look good is by arming him with competitive news before the CEO knows about it. He, in turn, can then present it to the CEO and look smart (and strategic) in the process.
I periodically ask customers what “non-public relations” business issues are keeping them up at night. I want them to know I care about their entire job universe and, with a little insight, just might be able to help find a new partner to ease some of their non-PR pain.
I ask if I can shadow a client (or his sales force) for a day. Nothing delights a customer more than an outside partner’s willingness to invest time in learning more about the business of their business. Sometimes, nothing comes out of it. Other times, I’ve been able to uncover subtle nuances that enable me to tweak the public relations program in order to make it even more effective. Regardless, the client always appreciates the extra time and effort invested.
I take time to periodically ask myself the following question, “What can I do to make my client look like a hero to his chief executive officer?” Again, sometimes I draw a blank. Other times, I come up with “Have you ever thought of doing such and such…” questions that show the client I’m really thinking about him and his career.
I put myself in my client’s customers’ shoes and experience the brand from the outside in. This is a game changer and never ceases to amaze a client. So, sometimes I:
- Become a mystery shopper and experience the client’s product in a neutral setting such as a Lowe’s or Home Depot.
- Visit the website to see how easy it to find critical information.
- Dial the client’s 1-800-customer service line to see how quickly my “complaint” is handled.
I then report my findings as well as any suggestions for improvement. I’ve yet to meet a client of longstanding who doesn’t appreciate the sweat equity involved in performing any of the above.
I hold periodic, internal account audits in which I invite employees who are not working on the client’s business to review what we’re doing and suggest alternative approaches. Once again, I sometimes uncover pearls and other times turn up nothing at all. But, I always make sure the client knows we’re investing additional time in thinking through creative solutions to his marketing challenges.

There are many other ways to remind a client of long-standing how important he or she is to your business. But, I’ve never been one to send a dozen long-stem roses, tickets to The Book of Mormon or box seats for a Knicks game. To me, that smacks more of old school client romancing and, frankly, turns my stomach.

It’s been said many times and in many ways that it’s much less expensive to maintain a current client relationship than go in search of a new one. Client turnover, like death and taxes, is inevitable. But, there’s a reason why we have seven or eight significant clients with whom we’ve partnered for 10 of my firm’s 16 years of business. And, the list I’ve provided above is a good starting point.

Membership Video for Bowling Centers

Steve Schroeder — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:13:46 +0000

Turn Key Employee Training For Restaurants

Steve Schroeder — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:11:38 +0000

Important Cause Marketing Illustrated

Steve Schroeder — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:02:30 +0000

Bowling Center Update: Cause Marketing with open play will increase business substantially. Your bowling center card can be used at multiple locations throughout the community with many ways to profit as a result. Ask us how.

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?

The first red arrow summarizes the donations for the previous month
The second red arrow totals the donations to date
The first red box promotes new merchants which can be looked up and mapped inside their site
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.
The fourth red arrow promotes a few merchants who are increasing the benefits this month
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.

AT&T Preparing for Membership Rewards

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:23:20 +0000

Editor: Membership Rewards is just starting to catch on. Trial phase is free then there will be a fee. Notice the attempt at business synergy with Starbucks. We are experts in this arena, the hottest trend in loyalty and we are developing a number of value adds to be ahead of the curve.

AT&T has just announced the launch of AT&T Plus, a new loyalty program for AT&T customers.

So far, the program is just in a trial phase, and participants are limited to a select few in a diverse range of geographies around the United States, including Minneapolis and Houston. The company says it plans to test the Plus program with these consumers and gauge their interest in benefits and rewards.

“Based on what our customers tell us, it may be something we look to roll out more widely in the future,” an AT&T spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. “It’s an example of our ongoing efforts to deliver a great experience for our customers.”

The Plus program, which is free for its trial participants, so far offers a rather snoozy set of benefits, which may include but are not necessarily limited to the following: a members-only phone number for customer service, no upgrade fees, no activation fees for second phone lines, a 25-percent discount for non-Apple phone accessories, and a $10 Starbucks gift card.

We’ll see what benefits (and/or fees) AT&T decides to tack on if and when the company deems AT&T Plus ready for public consumption. In the meantime, VentureBeat writers will probably be snarking privately about the irony of offering a loyalty benefits program while still seemingly shafting the majority of your customers with fun tricks like limited “unlimited” data plans and the flaunting of net non-neutrality for big-name corporate customers.

Business Warning Relevance

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:15:23 +0000

Your Competitors Are Working on Relevance. Are You?

Filed Under () By Phaedra Hise Share: Posted on 3/27/2012 2:06:55 PM

A friend tells me about her cleaning service’s clumsy attempt at social media marketing. They sent her a $25 discount coupon (she’s already a customer), the expiration date on the coupon was 12/31/11, and when she emailed the company to alert them to the mistakes, her note was bounced back with a “no-reply” error message. A marketing FAIL trifecta!

Of course, she immediately posted this on Facebook (and named the cleaning service), which unleashed a pack of similarly sharp-toothed complaints about generic, boring, or just plain wrong marketing attempts.

Attention, loyalty marketers: This is not your father’s direct-mail game. This isn’t even a direct email game. Today’s customers expect all communications and offers to be personalized, accurate and absolutely relevant. If you don’t give that to them, the fallout could earn you an embarrassing mention on Tosh.0, or a business-damaging blowup on Facebook or Twitter.

If you aren’t getting it right, one of your competitors either is already, or is well on its way to perfecting its mix of targeted communications. You can study a few examples in our current cover story, The Relevance Resolution…Finally? But for every company we profiled, there are several more who declined to go on the record. Here’s what we learned but didn’t include in the cover story:

Many companies out ahead of this trend aren’t sharing their experience. Why? Because they admit that it’s a powerful competitive advantage. And the more personalized the communications and offers are, the less likely their competitors are to know about them. In other words, assume that your biggest competitor is already quietly on this path.
Those who are seeing success with relevance-based campaigns are cagey about revealing ROI numbers. Off-the-record results are impressive, indicating just how profitable relevance can be. In other words, your competitors are delighted if you still think that personalized communications are “just too expensive and not worth it.”
Relevance has many forms. It can be based on demographic information, purchase history, or something trendier like location or time of day. Be open-minded about the options, and do a little data crunching to identify which are the most promising for your high-value, high-potential customers.
The organizational challenge is the biggest. Data is a solvable problem, even figuring out how to use it or combine it with other sources of information. But loyalty program managers tear their hair out over the silos and turf wars that block efforts at company-wide relevance in customer communications. Start there – sharing insights and encouraging buy-in throughout the organization.

Fortunately, my friend is happy with her cleaning service, so this snafu won’t cost them her business. Yet. Tempted though I am, I’m not going to tell you who the clueless cleaning service is. But I am going to send them a link to the cover story.

Softball Team Offering Club Cards

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:17:26 +0000

Softball Team Offering Club Cards

The Hastings Raiders Softball Program is trying out a new type of fundraiser this year, as they will be selling “Hastings Club Cards” for $20/each. Head Coach Dean Robinson joined KDWA Sports on Tuesday, with more details.

Captain Morgan Club Arlington Stadium

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:44:30 +0000

Texas Rangers Arlington Stadium Captain Morgan Club: See the press release on the Captain Morgan Club with a 2ft long hot dog below. There are no promotions in the Captain Morgan Club (since even these high level execs don't understand loyalty) but you can start promoting the branding and naming of locations like this for bowling, golf, restaurants, and more.

I am in touch with the Captain to show them how to really promote their brand. We don’t need the entire facility, restaurant or bowling center, just the lounge area or restaurant section can be called the Captain Morgan Club. With our Captain Morgan club, the promotions, benefits and rewards are going to be ongoing and drive added purchases to the brand both inside and outside the facility. It's not just Captain Morgan either, it can be anything similar with food, drink, banks, just about anything. Imagine the Bank of America Club Platinum Membership inside a restaurant. Business owners don't understand how to do this and when branding like this is tied to a loyalty suite, it opens up opportunities like this for the little guy which we can do better than Arlington Stadium.

I actually made a presentation over 8 years ago to the main vending company in Anaheim Stadium of the Los Angeles Angels on how to generate more business with a custom loyalty program and they loved the concept. The company I was representing at the time could not fulfill the requirements of what I needed to make it a reality and the plans to launch were put on hold. The company ended up selling out so we never pursued the plan which was going to encompass several stadiums as a test. We also made a presentation to the Oklahoma City Thunder but were not ready with the plans at that time either, we are now!

There are all kinds of opportunities with branding like this combined with a custom rewards and loyalty suite which makes concepts like this much better and more lucrative than what you see below. Every sport, just about any retail location can now create these types of deals and do a better job than the biggest stadiums due to loyalty expertise of proper program design and tracking of purchases.

Business synergy concepts are numerous with rewards earned at selected advertisers at the stadium being directed to advertising partners. I actually developed an entire marketing and advertising package which was very well received but did not have the capabilities to pull it off as we can now with our existing solutions. There are many things I can help you design that will be music to the ears of brands like Captain Morgan, Pepsi, Coke, Budweiser, Sysco, or just about any brand you can think of.

This is how you synergize media and partnerships so if you have any contacts inside of this type of business model, let me know and we can design a solution which may very well take hold across venues like this all over the U.S. Here is the release

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Can you imagine picking up a one-pound hot dog that's nearly two feet long, let alone eating the entire thing in one sitting?

Well, Texas Rangers fans can give it a try. For $26, fans at the new Captain Morgan Club in center field and at several concession stands at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington can attempt to clog arteries with not only the large dog, but a slew of toppings.

Courtesy of Texas Rangers This one-pound hot dog — two with all the fixings — will set you back $26 this summer at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Its name: The Boomstick.

Home >Sports >Rangers Blog

Comments 1 | Recommend 2

Captain Morgan Club to be name of new sports bar at Rangers Ballpark

By Evan Grant / Blogger
egrant@dallasnews.com | Bio
3:39 PM on Thu., Mar. 15, 2012 | Permalink

SURPRISE, Ariz. – The Rangers have once again rolled out the press release machine to announce a multi-year naming rights deal for the new restaurant/sports bar in the renovated center field area.

It will be named the "Captain Morgan Club." It is not named for Rangers PA man Chuck Morgan. Or for Rangers Captain. Here are all the details from PR maven John Blake:

The Texas Rangers and Diageo have entered into a multi-year agreement that includes the naming of the new restaurant/sports bar at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, it was announced today.

Captain Morgan Club is a climate-controlled restaurant/sports bar located in the first floor space of the office building complex in left-center field. The two-level facility will offer table and bar seating for approximately 230 guests and contains over 9,000 square feet. Captain Morgan Club will be open to all ticketed fans before, during and after Rangers home games.

"The Texas Rangers are very pleased that Diageo has extended its partnership with the team on this new facility," commented Rangers Executive Vice President, Business Partnerships and Development Joe Januszewski. "Diageo has been a great partner for more than a decade with their branding of the Cuervo Club and its new identity with Captain Morgan Club continues an outstanding association. We look forward to working with Diageo for many years to come."

"The new Captain Morgan Club will provide fans with an unparalleled experience at Rangers Ballpark," said Tom Herbst, Director of Marketing, Rums at Diageo. "We look forward to building on the strong partnership between two great teams – and introducing Rangers fans to some of our newest Captain Morgan offerings."

Captain Morgan Club will provide a unique experience for Rangers fans. The facility will include a full scale bar with a wide variety of Diageo branded products as well as a two-story dining area overlooking the playing field with floor to ceiling glass. A full a la carte menu will be offered including burgers, salads, sandwiches, and BBQ fare.

Fox Sports Southwest and 103.3 FM ESPN will have studios in Captain Morgan Club, and will have live pre and post-game show programming from the facility. Operated by the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington concessionaire, Sportservice, Captain Morgan Club is also expected to be open for select non-gameday events and will also be available for special event rental when the club is on the road and in the off-season.

Diageo, one of the world's leading premium drinks business, has been a Texas Ranger corporate partner since 1999 and has had naming rights to the season ticket holder Cuervo Club since it opened in 2001.

In addition to Captain Morgan Club, the Rangers' extensive offseason upgrades to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington include the construction of a 12,000 square-foot plaza area with multiple food and beverage options and other amenities, a Batter's Eye Club, and indoor Kid's Zone. In addition, the areas that previously contained bleacher seats have been reconfigured with Outfield Plaza seating and the visitors bullpen has been moved. The entire project, which encompasses more than 55,000 square feet in centerfield and the office building first floor, is expected to be completed by the first week in April.

By the time you add shredded cheese, chili, sautéed onions and fries, the entire plate could weigh two pounds. And it's likely to add more than that to your waist line.

"I don't know how many caories are in this thing, but it's got to be 2,000 or 3,000," said Casey Rapp, operations manager for Sportsservice, which handles concessions at the park.

Enterprise Memberships

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:12:26 +0000

Here is the Enterprise loyalty program with tiered membership levels, but not based on a fee but rather on performance. There are some good aspects to a program like this but it can be better organized for maximum monetization. Believe me, these companies are looking to work with brands who understand proper loyalty execution and program design.

Notice the flawed program design using points along with many other basic mistakes. At least these companies are trying but you can see just how much they lack in basic loyalty expertise, they don’t understand how to lay out programs correctly. By learning proper design along with much better solutions to make proper design a reality, you have solutions that virtually every company in the U.S. needs or is trying to implement.

Notice how many times I have sent research where the firms are RELAUNCHING or REDOING their loyalty program. Companies such as Starbucks, Enterprise, Loblaw’s, and many others not only make fundamental mistakes when launching their program but they keep making different mistakes when they re-launch their program costing their firms substantial revenue, customer engagement and other hard costs associated with not knowing what to do or having the proper solutions to do them.

It’s rather amazing that these are large, often publicly traded companies making these fundamental mistakes since there is no loyalty degree other than our Bachelor of Arts on www.wildboarstraining.com I am working on getting this degree as an undergraduate to business in Harvard and Cornell, but it will take a while.

That is no excuse however for high salaried VPs to be virtually clueless and cost their firms millions of dollars due to their ineptitude. The market is ripe for B.O.A.R.S. start the road to your degree today.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car relaunches loyalty scheme
Monday March 19, 2012

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has announced the launch of its new and improved ‘Enterprise Plus’ loyalty programme for regular car rental customers, recognising the company’s most frequent renters with a range of rewards and free rental days.

With every qualifying rental, Enterprise Plus members earn points they can redeem anytime on free rentals of any available vehicle throughout Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s network of more than 5,500 neighbourhood and airport locations in North America (including the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico). sschroed1 This article is copyright 2012 TheWiseMarketer.com).

Enterprise Plus is free to join, and is open to anyone at least 21 years old, including existing Enterprise Rent-A-Car loyalty programme members. Customers can enrol in the programme online, by calling Enterprise’s Loyalty Member Services line, or through any rental agent at branches in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Once enrolled and activated for points, members simply provide their membership number when booking a reservation online or over the phone, or have their membership number automatically applied to their reservation when they rent via Enterprise.ca.

As Enterprise Plus members rent more frequently, they can rise to Silver, Gold or Platinum status to gain access to even more reward options until the end of the next programme year. Each status level has its own unique set of benefits, such as bonus points and vehicle upgrades:

For the rest of the article visitwww.thewisemarketer.com and subscribe to their loyalty report, the early bird discount is expiring soon.

Qdoba Wild Boars Report

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:00:44 +0000

Qdoba Wild B.O.A.R.S. Report below www.wildboarstraining.com Here is another large franchise which is virtually clueless when it comes to loyalty program design. The reports actually show this program to be one of the most successful for loyalty in their space but that’s only due to the void of proper solutions which should be present. The market is wide open as you can see from a list of Fortune 500s below and more in the video at the end of this report.

Qdoba’s poorly designed program has me swipe my card on location but it’s really nothing more than punch card with a mag stripe attached. The program is supposed to give me one free burrito after I purchase 10 other burritos, but I don’t get a full punch for certain orders. In other words if I order double meat, added vegetables or anything like this on my burrito, it does not count toward my free purchase. This is another key problem cash back rewards addresses.

If Qdoba were to simplify their process, listen to their customers and follow best practices, they would offer 10% cash back rewards on my entire spend. This way, if I did spend another $3.00 for extra’s, I would be rewarded and recognized for doing so. I would also be rewarded for all other menu items where I am currently ignored with this present program.

For example…If I order 10 burritos now with double chicken and added vegetables (like I normally do) which ends up costing me around $3.00 extra per burrito, I don’t get a double chicken with added vegetables for my 11th ‘free’ one. I only get a generic burrito without any extra’s. This is huge mistake.

Plus, all other purchases are not rewarded at all. Drinks, chips, and many other items on the menu don’t count towards the buy 10 get one free program on this magnetic punch card.

In addition, every burrito is tracked as 100 points and when I get 1000 points I get a free ‘generic’ burrito and only selected ‘generic’ burrito’s at that. Instead of points why not offer me Russian Rubles instead? Why have a program where there is no standard of measure such as currency?

They also feature DOUBLE POINTS WEDNESDAY’s and report a large increase in business on these days. This is a very basic promotion but the results are good. This is how easy it is for businesses with proper loyalty solutions and promotions to lift business yet the entire market is virtually untapped.

There are many other mistakes we will not go into at this time such as the complete lack of Cause Marketing solutions which is a multi-million dollar mistake but that will be for later. Let’s take a snapshot of competitors

Qdoba – serious program design flaws mentioned above e
Jimmie Johns – punch cards – even worse
Einstein Bros. – punch cards even worse
Subway – no rewards program in 90% of stores, no gift card, all kinds of problems.
Quiznos – clueless on all the above
Starbucks – Same problems as Qdoba, a glorified punch card with numerous mistakes with millions of dollars in mailing fees for postcards when rewards could be placed on the card itself.
Ace Hardware: Mailing coupons and numerous other mistakes like Starbucks but worse.
Staples – same as above. Paper coupons, confusion on redemptions, expiration dates and more.

These are you so called experts with large budgets and their loyalty programs look like they have been designed by preschooler’s. The entire list of Fortune 500 companies have no clue when it comes to loyalty design and promotions and are constantly making numerous fundamental errors that would get many VPs of marketing fired in the online world. If Fortune 500s struggle, can you imagine the market when servicing mom and pops? These mistakes are not going unnoticed and their brands will pay.

We can no longer ignore best practices and not listen to what our customers really desire from the businesses they frequent. Unfortunately for customers, there are very few listening to them now. Fortunate for our representatives, you are like a kid in a candy store. If you did not get to watch this 1:50 second video below, please check it out and see the penalties for not listening while performing business as usual.

If you prefer not to get industry updates then reply back with STOP.

Very few businesses understand how to listen to their customers, less than 2% are doing so now and the rest don’t even a clue as to what to do. I doubt there will ever be a time like this in history where over 80% of business owners are clueless as to what to do and have no idea where to turn. The time to take control of the marketplace with relevant solutions is now.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

The End of Business As Usual from Brian Solis

The video sparked a brainstorming session by asking a few poignant questions:

Do we listen to our customers?
Do we truly understand them?
Do we create experiences, or do we simply react?

To view this email as a web page, click here.
Please add Qdoba_Mexican_Grill@marketing.qdoba.com
to your Address Book or Safe Sender list to ensure delivery to your inbox

This email was sent to: steve@bowlingrewards.com

This e-mail was sent by:
Qdoba Mexican Grill.
4865 Ward Road, Suite 500
Wheat Ridge, Colorado, 80033

Update Profile | Locations | Qdoba.com

Unsubscribe from: Qdoba Rewards

Jiffy Lube Text Spam Lawsuit

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:31:33 +0000

Editors Notes: The importance of doing things right is already rearing it’s beautiful head. You don’t need to AVOID text messaging as long as you have a loyalty suite attached so you can send RELEVANT information in the proper manner. Remember, the cell phone is going to be much more guarded than the inbox so the importance of proper communication, relevant offers, and doing things right is not only going to be an ROI difference maker, it could be save millions in a lawsuit. This is just the start of these issues and many more guidelines will emerge as texting becomes more prevalent. For firms like ours, the news could not be sweeter.

Jiffy Lube Franchisee Loses Bid To Dismiss Text Spam Lawsuit

by Wendy Davis, Yesterday, 6:29 PM

The ruling shows that SMS campaigns can prove dangerous for marketers, Internet legal expert Venkat Balasubramani says in a blog post. “The big takeaway from the order is that text message-based marketing is something that companies often screw up, and these screw-ups end up being costly,” he writes. “Rulings like these make me think companies should consider avoiding text message-based marketing altogether.

In a blow to Jiffy Lube franchisee Heartland Automotive Services, a federal judge has given the go-ahead to a lawsuit accusing the company of spamming customers with text ads for discounts.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Miller in the Southern District of California rejected Heartland’s argument that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which requires companies to obtain users’ express consent before sending them text ads, unconstitutionally restricts free speech.

Miller also disagreed with Heartland’s Jiffy Lube’s stance that it couldn’t be held responsible for the ads because it had tapped an outside company, TextMarks, to manage the campaign.

“Heartland should not be allowed to avoid TCPA liability merely because it hired a different firm to send advertisements to its customers,” Miller wrote in a ruling denying Heartland’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The case dates to last year, when several consumers filed a potential class-action against Heartland and TextMarks for allegedly sending unsolicited text messages advertising a “1 time offer” for 45% off an oil change.

The consumers argued that the ads violate the TCPA, which prohibits companies from using so-called automatic telephone dialing systems to make calls to cell phones unless the owners have consented. Other judges have said the law applies when companies use devices capable of generating phone numbers to send text messages without users’ permission. The law provides for damages starting at $500 per violation.

Heartland argued that the TCPA is unconstitutional because many common devices, including smartphones and computers, have automated dialing systems. Therefore, Heartland said, the law would infringe on free speech principles by preventing consumers from using iPhones or BlackBerrys to send texts without the recipients’ consent.

“Heartland posits that a person could be held liable under the TCPA if she were to send a dinner invitation to a friend of a friend using a machine that has the capacity to randomly or sequentially generate telephone numbers,” Miller wrote.

But the judge rejected that argument as too farfetched. “The court cannot conclude that use of personal electronic devices in the situations posed by Heartland would be restricted by the TCPA,” he wrote.

The End of Business As Usual

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 03:24:54 +0000

Must watch 1:38 video as a lead in to the new book The End of Business As Usual by Brian Solis, which is a wonderful read about the consumerism revolution we are currently experiencing.

The video highlights many MAJOR brands that have now closed their doors. I encourage you to watch the video and count how many brands you recognize. Realize the last phrase of the video…adapt or die.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

The End of Business As Usual from Brian Solis

The video sparked a brainstorming session by asking a few poignant questions:

Do we listen to our customers?
Do we truly understand them?
Do we create experiences, or do we simply react?

How would you answer those questions for your own place of business

At the end of his book, Brian Solis makes a very keen prediction based on those questions and the future of business.

Relevance Being Underserved

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:18:02 +0000

Editors Notes: Interesting brief below with only 8% of consumers indicating they respond to texting promotions. The key is relevance, the cell phone by itself will not be enough in the new digital age, it must be tied to loyalty suite of some sort which allows business owners to send relevant information rather than simple ‘text blasts’ to a faceless database.

The market is wide open and not being addressed, there are very few offerings which supply this for customers in any industry at any cost. Throw in the fact that most business owners have no idea on what type of offers or promotions to send even if they could query the data and you have a huge underserved market.

The reason numbers are dropping is that the cell phone is being treated like the inbox and that’s a recipe for low open rates, brand damage, complaints and angered customers. In today’s environment, you simply can’t rush in with new technologies and expect positive results unless you take the time to learn HOW to do things properly. Loyalty firms who stay on top of these trends and implement proper solutions based on research are pure gold to the marketplace and there are very few who provide this type of service.

Investors should be very interested in this type of information, firms who provide relevant solutions to merchants and white label their offerings to other firms are about to enter the glory days. You can literally count on one hand the firms who stay on top of these trends let alone provide the actual solutions based on the latest research.

FYI: The number one request now coming in from customers is some type of unique treatment that other customers do not receive and they are willing to pay a decent fee in order to be treated with special offers, promotions and SOFT BENEFITS. This is MEMBERSHIPS so the focus on upgrading this model is very important and on the cusp of the number one need in loyalty today.

The Relevance Resolution…Finally?
by Phaedra Hise3/9/2012 VOLUME 20 / ISSUE 1

The loyalty marketing industry has been on the verge of a quantum leap into consistent personalized communications for a long time now. Yet for many, achieving this goal remains a challenging mystery. It may seem too complicated, too expensive or perhaps even too privacy-invasive to gather the pertinent data for generating personalized communications. But several factors are combining to make such relevance more, well, relevant than ever. Fortunately, your team already has enough clues on hand to crack the code, solve the mystery, and reveal the “Relevance Resolution.”

For decades, loyalty marketers have aspired to embrace the skills of Sherlock Holmes, able to observe, analyze and connect seemingly random bits of information, then overlaying knowledge of his subjects’ personal history and behavior to understand their motivations and inner lives. If only marketers could learn about their customers with such accuracy.

It’s elementary, as Holmes would say. Merely observe and ask questions, and the information will come alive and tell you it’s story.

Marketers have long been espousing this level of analysis: Study the data, apply it to customer engagement, and create increasingly relevant communications. Whatever you want to call it—relevance marketing, personalization, relationship marketing, one-to-some, one-to-one—we all know how it works and why it improves customer relationships. And yet, for just as long as the concept has been alive, it’s been fairly widely ignored or just plain poorly implemented. For various reasons, companies still aren’t delivering relevant customer communications. The “Relevance Resolution” has yet to be fully revealed.

Panera Bread 10 Million Members

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:22:01 +0000

Editors Notes: Learn a little about your customers, givethem a few benefits based on their desires and even a mediocre program like Panera can increase profits substantially. There are several things Panera could do to better serve their customers, but as you can see, just about any decent program lifts revenue and engagement substantially.

Panera Bread’s loyalty program nearing 10 million customers

Christian Gooden

Cashier Peggy Rider helps customer Stacey Tullock of O’Fallon, Mo., decide on her choice at the St. Louis Bread Co. in St. Peters in this April 7, 2010, file photo. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com

Loyalty Research Numbers March 2012

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:15:34 +0000

Complete Article Located at www.thewisemarketer.com see below

Here are the important research numbers at a glance from Canada which mirror the U.S. These numbers are quite remarkable, read the entire story below. QUESTION: How in the world do over 90% of retail locations fail to have a loyalty program with research like below? Cash back engages even more than points based programs and the numbers below represent fairly poor loyalty options. Imagine the numbers if the loyalty program did everything consumers have requested. Note #7

1. 92% of consumers belong to loyalty program and average 6.4 loyalty programs per person
2. The more affluent customers tend to change their buying habits more often due to loyalty incentives.
3. 63% of consumers said they are more likely to continue doing business based on the loyalty program.
4. 78% said their buying decisions and shop strategically based on loyalty incentives.
5. Three main factors drive satisfaction, how fast they earn rewards, what they can spend them on, and relevant communication based on their purchase behavior.
6. Merchants need to focus on VALUE, GETTING TO KNOW CUSTOMERS, and RELEVANT COMMUNICATION
7. Consumers are even more loyal and particular to programs which offer membership benefits or privileges that not all customers receive. Soft benefits are very important to make them feel special.
8. Loyalty is becoming so important that consumers are defecting from businesses which don’t offer them.
9. Meaningful value beyond points and discounts is key to even greater success.
10. Protection of the data is paramount, if the data is sold, customers will defect and spread bad word of mouth.his arts copyright

Successful loyalty programmes are having a positive influence on consumer spending, and increased competition is driving those loyalty programmes to offer more than simple reward points, according to a survey by Maritz Research in Canada.

The study, entitled ‘Maritz Insights: The loyalty report’, examined how loyalty programmes influence consumers’ shopping and purchasing behaviour, and found that most Canadian consumers (92%) are a member of at least one loyalty programme, and that consumers hold an average of 6.4 loyalty cards, while those earning more than Can$125,000 per year hold an average of 12.3 loyalty cards. Visit website for full article

U.S. Canadian Alert

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:35:22 +0000

Editors Notes Important Article Below: Loblaw’s is a huge Canadian grocery chain but the interesting parts of the article point to the absolute requirement to RETHINK their entire loyalty strategy and launch a non-credit card rewards and loyalty program or get left in the dust from competitors who are learning very rapidly. In actuality, it’s just as important for every business owner to realize the importance of this pursuit. We have mounds of research indicating that the new customer centric digital age will leave a long trail of retail bankruptcies from business owners who are not preparing, not gathering data and not following best practices. It does not matter if you are a Fortune 500 or a Fortune 5,000,000. As a matter of fact, smaller retail business needs these solutions more than the big boys, but every business needs them in order to avoid profit decline or elimination from the market.

When huge publicly traded firms don’t know how to design proper loyalty programs you can see just how important understanding this area can be and why it’s so highly desired. You will notice the quote below from a stock analyst that Loblaw’s is in the ‘dark ages’ and in reality, 90% of retail is in the dark ages when it comes to loyalty. The time to understand, learn and implement best practices with proper program design has never been more important.

Loblaw targets a well-oiled loyalty program

marina strauss — RETAILING REPORTER

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

Last updated Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 8:14PM EST

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. (L-T34.22-0.11-0.32%) is racing to launch a new rewards card next year, in a bid to catch up to rivals’ loyalty program initiatives – and learn more about its customers.

Vicente Trius, the retailer’s new president, said at an investor conference that the company is working on a new card that it will roll out in 2013, although he didn’t elaborate on the details.

Loblaw’s loyalty-card efforts come just as competition is heating up with the arrival in early 2013 of U.S. discounter Target Corp. and its highly touted rewards program for U.S. customers. Domestic retailers, including Metro Inc. and Canadian Tire Corp., are also beefing up their loyalty offerings. They’re intent on tracking shoppers’ spending habits to help plan their own marketing and product rollouts, while also drawing customers who tend to shell out more when they use a rewards card.

Loblaw already has a PC MasterCard, but only a minority of its current customers are estimated to use it for rewards in their grocery shopping. If the retailer wants to better profit from understanding shopping patterns, the company must take steps to bridge that gap.

“I want to have information about our customers,” Mr. Trius, who has worked at international retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said at Loblaw’s first investors’ meeting in four years. “I want to know our customers better. I want to be able to communicate to them better.”

Loblaw used the rare investor conference to shed more light on Mr. Trius’s vision for the company, which builds on the base set by his predecessor: refocusing on food and expanding its financial services, private-label business and loyalty initiatives while reaching out to new Canadians and health-conscious consumers.

Mr. Trius feels the urgency today to convince investors that his strategy will help ease the pain of more investments in the retailer’s crucial information technology and supply chain systems, which in 2006 got the grocer into deep trouble when it was unable to get products to shelves on time. Last week, Loblaw spooked investors by warning that its profit would fall in 2012 from last year, dragged down by a further $110-million of spending on upgrades to systems, customer service and competitive pricing.

Now, Mr. Trius’ team is counting on developing a well-oiled loyalty program to provide it – and its suppliers – with a better glimpse into customers’ buying patterns to help map out purchasing, marketing and new product efforts.

Kenric Tyghe, an analyst at Raymond James, said Loblaw needs to do a “complete rethink” of its loyalty offering and not just a refresh – a change that is overdue. “Not only is Loblaw a distinct laggard in the Canadian grocery loyalty space, but also … despite recent competitor launches, the Canadian grocery loyalty space remains in the dark ages,” Mr. Tyghe said in a recent report, comparing domestic players to such European industry leaders as Sainsbury in Britain.

The opportunity for Loblaw “is to lead a revolution versus an evolution” in Canadian grocery loyalty programs, he said, urging it to roll out a standalone card, rather than one tied to a MasterCard as is currently the case for PC Financial, in order to gain more valuable customer information that it can also sell to its suppliers.

Loblaw generates less than 25 per cent of its sales from customers holding its PC Financial loyalty card, Mr. Tyghe estimated based on his rough calculations. (The company would not provide a figure.) At Sainsbury, more than 75 per cent of its sales are tied to its loyalty card, he said.

Nevertheless, Mr. Trius insisted on Tuesday that Loblaw isn’t lagging in the loyalty field, and said the company will leverage its new card so that it won’t be an incremental cost to the retailer.

The appeal of loyalty programs to retailers is multi-faceted: they provide customer information and, according to a new study by Martiz Canada, draw better-off shoppers. The higher the income, the more cards shoppers hold and the more committed they are to going out of their way to shop at places where they collect points, it study found.

In Target’s case, it provides U.S. customers a 5-per-cent discount on their purchases, while Canadian Tire is testing a rewards program that offers users 1 per cent back on their purchases and 3 per cent back on purchases made with its Options MasterCard. That far exceeds the 0.4 per cent rewards on purchases made with Canadian Tire money, or 2 per cent back on purchases made with the Options MasterCard. (In the rest of Canada, purchases made with the Options MasterCard provide 1.37 per cent back.)

Increasing Activations with Wheels of Fortune!

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:54:11 +0000

Wheels are a great way to enhance memberships and increase purchases at full price! As soon as a customer joins the business, they win a free spin right away and value is loaded on their card. Just one spin is worth joining a business (for $10.00 or $20.00 per year) but allowing members to earn free spins based on spending, selected purchases, promotional nights and more will get customers engaged and happy to pay full price just for a chance to win! Combine these wheel promotions with a complete loyalty suite for tracking and businesses have something quick and easy that’s guaranteed to lift revenue, build their database and protect price points.

Wheels can be set up for restaurants, bars, theatres, golf courses, just about any business model. Read some of the ideas below to drive spending to certain brands or just plain spending in the first place. A simple announcement to spend $10.00 in the lounge, $20.00 in the restaurant, purchase a Pepsi or Captain Morgan will cause all kinds of increase purchases at full price just to get a chance to win.

Impt New Loyalty Research Numbers

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:24:09 +0000

Editors Notes: Just a number of key insights below which are a must read for any business owner. Wow factor…93% of consumers said they would spend more if the business had a good loyalty program and 86% indicating they would visit one retailer over another if it had a good loyalty program. These numbers are STAGGERING! Program design is key for optimal ROI and with these kinds of numbers, there is NOTHING more important to a business than finding a good loyalty program and learning best practices.

The Wise Marketer – World Wide Research Statistics 2011-2012

Consumers who are loyalty reward programme members are far more likely to be word-of-mouth (WOM) champions for their favourite brands than non-members, and the more active their programme participation, the more likely they are to spread the word. In fact:

Reward programme members are 70% more likely to be ‘WOM champions’ (i.e. those who are actively recommending the brand) than the general population;
55% of reward programme members are self-described WOM champions;
Only 32% of non-reward programme members are self-described WOM champions;
68% of WOM champions in reward programmes will recommend a programme sponsor’s brand within a year;
Actively participating reward programme members are over three times more likely to be WOM champions;
Reward programme members who have redeemed for experiential rewards are 30% more likely to be WOM champions than those who have redeemed for discounts.

This suggests that the loyalty marketing database is often an under-utilised social network that could be better exploited in the pursuit of positive and profitable WOM activity. Indeed, all of the tools exist within the loyalty marketing database for cultivating and encouraging ongoing, profitable word of mouth activity, provided that loyalty marketers use that data to identify the ‘champions’ (brand advocates) and then reward them for positive WOM activity.

And there is also no question that customer loyalty drives greater revenue, with 93% of consumers saying they would be most likely to spend more with a brand if it had a great loyalty programme, and 86% saying they would be more likely to visit a particular retailer if there was a valuable loyalty programme to join. When Tesco launched its Club Card programme back in the mid-1990s, one of the top priorities of this major marketing innovation was that it should be used to bring the supermarket chain closer its customers. And, in today’s super-austere economic climate, consumers demand real value from their favourite brands: if they’re going to choose your brand and your loyalty programme, they expect to be totally ‘turned on’ by its benefits.

But what do consumers really want from a loyalty programme? Well, “high profile rewards” are at the top of the list, with 79% of consumers saying that they want to feel like they’re getting “the best benefits possible” from a brand. Second, 75% of consumers said they were lovers of the “feel-good factor”: they want to cause a little envy among their peers, getting exclusive extras just because they are members of the loyalty programme. This is all about spoiling customers with discounts at other brands that might touch their day-to-day lifestyles, or adding value to your products or services by providing programme-exclusive access to advanced services (such as free gift-wrapping). Consumers also said that they love a bit of “surprise and delight”, with 72% saying they want to feel that a brand could surprise them at any moment with a so-called ‘Random Act of Kindness’. Incorporating seemingly random (unpredictable) gifts into your loyalty programme gives you the chance to ‘go viral’ on the internet within minutes, and could provide an almost unlimited capacity for brand exposure while your main marketing spend is still only going on your most loyal customers

Interestingly, consumers generally don’t subscribe to the “points make prizes” reward strategy, saying that they just aren’t as excited by programmes that involve the collection of points (50%), and only 11% said that “collecting points to receive a gift from a catalogue would turn me on”.

It is therefore the immediacy of redemptions – or rather, the lack of it – which customers feel is the key problem with the points-mean-prizes model. One respondent commented: “I want something that gives me immediate value; I don’t want to accumulate loads of points to get little back”. And there are other problems with points. Consumers are smarter than ever about points games, and their response to a points-based loyalty programme could lead to a ‘points war’ between leading programmes – especially coalitions.

Loyalty programme communications are also crucial, not only in their content but also in their timing and frequency. Consumers don’t want to be hassled by over-frequent communications, with 29% being happy to be contacted by a brand weekly or more, while 64% prefer twice per month. Consumers also warn that they “like relevant, tangible, good communication that doesn’t seem invasive”, and that “loyalty is about generating goodwill through customer service”.

Money off vouchers get consumers most excited about a loyalty programme, with 64% saying that this is what they love to see. Customers said they want to receive “vouchers for a decent amount”, and they know they’ve got to show their loyalty to qualify for those benefits. Many said that offering a “recommend-a-friend scheme with a large percentage discount off your next purchase” was a key reward for them. This is good news for the marketer: the customers themselves have confirmed that money-off rewards will successfully drive profitable behaviour. But, for consumers, the most crucial aspect of a customer loyalty programme is the level of personalisation, with almost three out of four consumers being happy to provide additional personal information to a brand so they can be contacted personally with reward offers on special occasions.

Consumers are therefore most likely to recommend loyalty and reward programmes that offer the most in terms of everyday value, based largely on their recent experiences of earning or redeeming rewards. Accordingly, loyalty programmes must consider not only rewarding everyday purchases but providing some form of instant gratification to help build member engagement.

Not surprisingly, the words associated by consumer with the most favourable aspects of loyalty programmes are “actual rewards”, “cash back”, “free” and “discounts” – all of which tend to lead to positive word-of-mouth or online recommendations. Conversely, the key drivers of negative word-of-mouth were “problems with redemption”, “lack of benefits” and “expiring points”, suggesting that all the enthusiasm and engagement built up while earning points can be completely reversed by a simple snag in the redemption process.

Get all the facts, figures and details at your fingertips…
Our brand new report ‘The Loyalty Guide 5′ (to be published at the end of March) covers all of this in detail, with over 1,300 pages of solid loyalty marketing data, practice, and theory – everything you need to know in one global report. It explains customer loyalty and engagement, social marketing, metrics & analytics, best practices, new concepts, technologies, models and the latest tools and innovations. It’s also packed with detailed case studies, research, market sizes, forecasts, models, charts, illustrations, and materials to support any marketing initiative, presentation or proposal.

Find out all about the principles, practicalities, measurement, analysis, and bottom-line effects of customer loyalty, and gain expert guidance from more than 30 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. The complete executive summary, table of contents, downloadable samples, pricing and ordering info are online now at http://www.theloyaltyguide.com

EARLYBIRD 10% DISCOUNT…
Until 1st April 2012 there’s also an ‘Early Bird’ 10% Discount when you order your copy in advance! Get your hands on one of the first copies available at http://www.theloyaltyguide.com/earlybird

Today Show MSNBC Features Loyalty

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:29:26 +0000

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, yet less than 3% of general retail has anything like this. The CVS card illustrated in the video is a very poorly designed program and the few major brands who offer these programs have many flaws.

Loyalty programs are pure gold to business owners, especially when program design is set up to be a winner for every party involved. The marketing, offers, and promotions of these cards have changed and it requires a robust system to pull it off and benefit the retailer while making the customer feel special at the same time.

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. You need a firm with outstanding marketing expertise as well as IT solutions and knows how to fit the two together. Small business and general retail is decades behind the game and just waiting for someone to show them how to utilize these tools in a very powerful way.

There are only a handful of companies in the loyalty space which understand how to deliver offers and tie the proper promotions and rewards 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?

Industry Alert – Papa Johns

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:40:09 +0000

Here is something you rarely see from retailers yet it’s a huge revenue generator. Papa Johns ended up giving away 3 million pizzas when the U.S. called HEADS. The promotion has made Papa John’s millions of dollars in sponsorships, added business, new sales and much more so it’s good to see at least one pizza franchise wearing a marketing hat. The other 3 major chains which are in order

Pizza Hut
Dominoes
Little Caesars

Don’t even have a rewards program in place even though Papa Johns at number 4 launched Papa Rewards and is reaping huge profits with just a mediocre program design at best! You do see some highlights of this with Taco Bell offering special Taco deals when certain teams score X number of runs and a few others. But restaurants, bowling centers, golf courses, and most of general retail fail to take advantage of these promotions and yet it’s very easy to launch with our solutions. We even have custom templates set up to launch these ideas and track their ROI. Here are just a few of many ideas to lift revenue and engagement. Let’s use a restaurant and bowling center located in Denver, Colorado as an example.

In the U.S. we not only have a huge IT gap inside of offline retail, we also have a huge marketing and innovation problem. Hard to say why this is the case but more than likely it’s from executives who have risen to positions where they don’t belong. I can’t tell you how many V.P.’s of Marketing I run into who are in way over their head or simply desire to protect their salary and wait until they are promoted to another position where their inadequacies can be covered inside a bureaucratic layer where nothing can get done. This is all good news for you, and it’s why the opportunity to represent loyalty solutions has never been better. Here are a few ideas, you can come up with 2700 more in a few minutes.

Sign up for $10.00 per year to the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Rockies Community Rewards Contest
If the Nuggets score more than 100 points in a game, get 100% cash back rewards on your next visit (as long as it’s before the next game)
Choose any Denver Nuggets player and whatever they score, we will add that in value to any gift card load or purchase. For example, if player X scores 22 points. You will receive a 22% BONUS on any gift card load or purchase. Purchase a $100 gift card and receive $22.00 bonus!
Choose the coin toss for tonight’s game and win a free pizza with any purchase before the next game. Bring in any guest and we will double the fundraising percentage for your school, church or local group.
In other words, there should be sports promotions and contests going on EVERY DAY a restaurant, bowling center, or golf course is open. I have been to 3000 bowling centers and thousands of more different restaurants and golf courses, yet very rarely see anything like this taking place.

Discounting Math Breakdown

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:13:22 +0000

Here is a good review and math breakdown for you to analyze. Remember when reading this that less than 1 out of 250 restaurants offer cash back rewards with instant redemption.

Warning: The math below may make you very angry as well as very excited. Both emotions will probably occur so get ready with a pencil and paper and let me know how your figures look.

Jims Pizza Typical Customer

Steve normally visits Jims Pizza 5 times per year, spends about $20.00 per visit or $100.00 per year at Jims.
B. Jims offers a coupon which gives Steve 20% off his purchase. Steve waits for these coupons since he knows Jims sends them through Val-Pac. Jim spends $200 per month in coupon distribution so it’s hard to say (exactly) what Jims actual costs are per customer for coupon distribution, (the average cost is $3.00 – $5.00 per month per customer since 50-75 people each month come in with the coupon).
Jim receives a gross profit from Steve of $80.00 ($100.00 – 20% coupon savings) Using a 30% food cost, Jim spends $30.00 in food costs to serve Steve, so Jims profit on Steve has been reduced to $50.00. If the average coupon distribution cost per customer applies, Jim spends another $20.00 – $50.00 per year on Steve just to get him to come in and use his coupon. More than likely, Jim is probably not making any money on Steve even though he serves him 5 times per year. Now you see why many small business owners are going bankrupt and why they say they can’t afford to give rewards, but they have the math backwards.
Jim changes his strategy to a nice amount of 20% cash back rewards. Here is the breakdown
1. Jim receives $100.00 from Steve with 20% cash back rewards. Using 30% food cost on the redemption of $20.00 in rewards, Jims costs have been reduced to $37.00 for the year ( 30% of $20.00 in rewards for food + $30.00 in cost for the original $100.00 spent for the year.) Remember, 92% of traditional advertising simply reminds existing customers to return.
2. There are no coupon distribution costs or discounting costs. In order to get Steve to come back a little more often, Jim offered Steve DOUBLE CASH BACK REWARDS or a whopping 40% reward if he came back within 72 hours of his previous visit. It worked, Steve came back THREE MORE TIMES IN A YEAR in order to earn his double cash back rewards. This incentive is easily tracked since we can see on our reconciliation report the three extra visits with the increased rewards.
3. Steve increases his spending (since the more he spends on this 40% visit, the more rewards he earns for later visits) Instead of spending $20.00 as he usually does, he increases his spending to $30.00.
4. These three extra visits (at double cash back) cause gross spending of $90.00 with 40% in rewards or an additional $36.00 in rewards issued. Food costs on $90.00 for three visits is $30.00 and food costs on $36.00 in rewards redemptions is $12.00. Total cost for these extra 3 visits is $42.00 for $90.00 received or a gross profit of $48.00.

SUMMARY OF PROFIT COMPARISON

Using a 20% discount coupon, Jim is making somewhere between 0 and $30.00 per year on Steve. If Jim were to have a Groupon offer or a deeper discount, he would definitely be losing money on Steve every year. This is why most business owners knee jerk with the cost of rewards, they have the math backwards.
With 20% rewards being issued instead and a DOUBLE REWARDS INCENTIVE of 40% to increase frequency. Jims is now making $63.00 on the first $100.00 + $48.00 on the extra three visits per year for a gross margin of $111.00.
With just 1000 customers similar to Steve, Jims has now increased their gross profit by well over $100,000 per year. The figures used on Steve are actually conservative and can be increased much more with an effective cause marketing strategy, additional promotions, contests, sponsorships and much more.
In addition, Jim now has a working and active database of several thousand customers which has an equity value of over $38.00 per name (and you can see why.) Instead of renting his advertising at extremely high prices, he now owns his own database. Just as with home ownership, this is real equity in the business if it’s ever sold later on.
Jim has increased his tax deductions on Steve since all rewards redeemed are expensed as advertising. We will not even count the tax savings in increased revenue, but it can be substantial.
There are many other advantages Jims is now enjoying which we will not go over here but they are numerous!

The poison of discounting

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:00:38 +0000

Discounting Highlights:

100% loss of money business agrees to accept in return for goods or services
Additional expenses in letting customers know they are willing to lose money and lower prices.
Customers are trained to look for lower prices and learn that full price is really not worth the value.
No tax deductions for lowering prices, business agrees to take all losses of lower pricing upon themselves.
Customer service issues due to lost coupons or others receiving better prices, forgetting of offers, etc.
Very difficult to track, no database building, ongoing expenses, other accounting problems and/or costs.

Cash Back Rewards Highlights

Business owner puts full price in their register but delivers the same feeling of a discount so no value or hard profits are lost. As a matter of fact, value is increased which we will illustrate later.
No additional expense in letting customers know about a lower price, there is no lower price, no distribution costs, no advertising expense or anything similar to the cost of discounting.
Customers are not trained to look for lower prices, they receive cash back rewards to save or use on their next visit. Instead of feeling like the product has been cheapened, customers now feel they are being valued and appreciated. Savings are convenient, automated, simple and effective. Quite the turn around.
When the reward is redeemed, a full tax deduction is realized as an advertising expense. In addition, the reward is not a real money loss as a discount, it’s money that can only be spent on product which has a 50% – 70% profit margin. Frequency is often increased even when the rewards are not redeemed.
No customer service issues, everyone receives the same offers, value, and outstanding customer service since the program is tied to a complete loyalty solution.
Easy to track, completely integrated database building is supplied for relevant communication and thank you notes. No ongoing expenses to deliver messages, complete real time reporting, accounting and much more.

Conclusion: Mr. Business owner can you imagine in your wildest dreams that most of us have AGREED to lose money, anger our customers, paid high distribution costs, failed to build our database and ignored our customers’ requests for no legitimate reason? We have literally been seduced by traditional media and brainwashed to believe their lie in order to fund their advertising and communication empire? Is it any wonder we are finally seeing traditional media go bankrupt?

Sound amazing? Now we know why so many small businesses have failed, but they don’t need to. Technology has allowed us to realize better solutions but we must put them into place. We can now deliver real value and relevance to our customers and listen to their requests and the results will be outstanding.

Sound like rocket science?

Bowling and Golf Marketing

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:49:53 +0000

Notice the sponsorship benefits working with a local Country Club or Golf Course or an equipment supplier such as Nike. These are very easy to set up, there is really no account set up necessary (by the course or Nike), just a few minutes to set up a business synergy strategy with a local restaurant. As reported earlier from Napa, CA at Bowl Expo from an Apple executive, 10s of millions of dollars are looking to be directed towards bowling and golf in ways just like you see here. Remember, executives are not looking for ‘traditional branding’ they are looking to tap the emotions with the new metric ROE (Return on Engagement.) This requires high level expertise and a powerful loyalty solution to accomplish and track. This is how you combine the need and power of sports marketing into general retail and beyond. We have many other ideas which sponsors are looking to implement we will share with you during training.

Rewards Wheel of Fortune

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 02:34:30 +0000

6000 Stores Terrible Marketing

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:08:22 +0000

Another huge firm making millions of dollars in mistakes. Coupons, mailed certificates, discounts, exclusions, poor gift card strategies, and this just names a few. We see this every day from the biggest firms in the world, they have no clue how to structure a loyalty program. We have solutions, expertise, and capabilities that very few firms in the world know how to employ effectively and will show you how to represent them. Here you go

Crabtree & Evelyn launches loyalty scheme

Wednesday February 15, 2012

Through a partnership with marketing solutions firm 89 Degrees, the US-based bath, body and homecare retailer Crabtree & Evelyn has launched a new loyalty rewards programme called ‘Platinum Rewards’ to offer its customers both money back and perks for their loyalty to the brand.

The new programme replaces the earlier ‘Crabtree & Evelyn Platinum Membership Programme’ and the ‘Crabtree & Evelyn Preferred Customer Programme’, which were terminated on 31st December 2011. Following its official launch in December 2011, the Platinum Rewards programme provides loyal Crabtree & Evelyn customers with a range of special savings and exclusive offers, such as:

Instant free membership, both in-store and online;
A US$5 reward certificate for quarterly purchases of US$25 – US$44.99;
A US$10 reward certificate for quarterly purchases of US$45 or more;
A 15% discount to use during each member’s birthday month;
Free subscription to Crabtree & Evelyn’s ‘Email Exclusives’ newsletter;
Access to various members-only events, discounts and promotions.

Customers can sign up for the new programme via the company’s web site, or at participating company-operated stores (but not at other licensed stores or boutiques). Membership is free of charge, and only members who sign up in-store receive a plastic loyalty card (but not those who sign up online). No purchase is necessary to sign up, but a valid email address is required to sign up for and retain membership, and the programme is available only to US residents. sschroed1 This article is copyright 2012 TheWiseMarketer.com).

By joining the programme, members are automatically subscribed to Crabtree & Evelyn’s ‘Email Exclusives’ and will receive promotional emails on a regular basis, although they can opt out at any time after signing up. A personalised ‘Birthday Bonus’ email offer is also sent during each member’s birth month (if they have provided their date of birth during sign-up).

The member’s quarterly purchase total for earning rewards certificates is calculated based on their final merchandise prices after discounts, offers, promotions and coupons are applied. Charges for gift wrap, packaging, taxes, shipping and handling do not count toward quarterly purchases.

When members redeem their Reward Certificates, savings apply only to Crabtree & Evelyn branded products, and exclude gift cards, gift wrap, shipping and handling, taxes, sale items, apparel and accessories. Program rewards, discounts and other benefits are valid only at participating Crabtree & Evelyn stores, and through the company’s own website. Rewards and discounts can’t be combined with other offers, unless the other offer specifically states otherwise.

89 Degrees was appointed by Crabtree & Evelyn to launch and maintain the Platinum Rewards programme, and to use advanced analytics to help drive better results for the retailer’s data-intensive marketing strategy. The company was involved in both the creation of the programme’s structure, and helped to define the benefits and business processed needed to support Platinum Rewards, including the provision of database marketing, member communications, and providing programme benefits via email.

Crabtree & Evelyn has specialised in producing botanical formulations for over 35 years, creating luxury bath, body, and home care products. The company has retail outlets in 40 countries, with over 6,000 locations and 500 concept stores worldwide.

For additional information:
· Visit Crabtree & Evelyn at http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com
· Visit 89 Degrees at http://www.89degrees.com

Industry Alert – Customer Loyalty Updates – Papa Johns

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:37:52 +0000

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

Read the phrase below (inside the Papa Press Release) and weep, Papa Johns is the ONLY national pizza chain with a system wide rewards program and it’s making them millions of dollars and it’s not that well designed. They even have Pepsi as a sponsor and my wife thinks someone at Papa Johns is reading my ideas and copying them! Maybe so, but other national chains are sitting by losing millions.

We can do so much better. We have started conversations with Little Caesars in Michigan which is actually the third biggest pizza chain ahead of Papa John’s but behind Pizza Hut and Dominos.

Little Caesars uses VeriFone credit card machines and currently has a punch card rewards program in place, so you can see just how wide open the market is and what’s at stake. This is big boy stuff and they normally pay millions of dollars to people who come up with these concepts let alone have the solutions in place to make them a reality.

We could do so much more than what you read about below for any national chain. We can synergize and combine media, we can even use Siri on the Iphone 4s to remind users where rewards might be used, we can synergize sponsorships from major brands like Pepsi (below) or even banks such as BofA. We can do this with a local twist and drive local business, local fundraising, small business benefits and big time promotions for individual locations and put them on equal footing with the largest brands in the world. The time to move is now.

Papa John’s to Give Free Pizza to Papa Rewards Members
If Fans Correctly “Call” Super Bowl XLVI Coin Toss

Papa John’s, the Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL, has unveiled its Super Bowl XLVI Coin Toss Experience, which includes a free large one-topping pizza and 2-liter Pepsi MAX for the millions of fans enrolled in Papa John’s Papa Rewards program—if America correctly “calls” the Super Bowl coin toss. No matter which team wins the Super Bowl, Papa John’s fans have skin in the game.

“Papa” John Schnatter, who started Papa John’s in 1984 out of the back of his father’s tavern in Jeffersonville, Ind., has recruited Super Bowl champions Peyton Manning and Jerome “The Bus” Bettis to help spread the word and “coach” America on the coin toss vote.

Bringing this powerful threesome together is the crescendo of Papa John’s NFL season long marketing strategy that has surprised and delighted millions of Papa John’s customers. Papa John’s, the only national pizza chain with a system-wide rewards program, will continue this blitz the next two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl XLVI coin toss.

America will make its “heads” or “tails” call for the Super Bowl XLVI coin toss by voting at
www.papajohns.com today through Feb. 1. Schnatter will announce the result of America’s vote Feb. 2 on the NFL Network in Indianapolis and via social media and at www.papajohns.com

If America’s call is correct, everyone enrolled in Papa Rewards as of 6 p.m. ET Super Bowl Sunday will receive an email the following day with instructions on how to claim their pizza and Pepsi MAX prize.

Source: Papa John’s International, Inc.

ABOUT AMERICARDGOLD

AmeriCardGold Stored Value Networks, LLC is a gift and loyalty card vendor that processes millions of transactions annually across the US, Canada and the UK. AmeriCardGold is the industry leader in private label loyalty solutions and an innovation leader in cause marketing, coalition marketing, and other stored value applications and strategies inside the loyalty industry.

Unsubscribe

Bowling Rewards 1933 Welington Drive Langhorne PA 19047 800-978-1338

Industry Alert – Fuel Rewards

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:21:05 +0000

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
	Fuel Rewards are hot right now and we have much better solutions than you read about below. Major companies all over the U.S. are trying to figure out a way to tie their loyalty program into fuel rewards. This is all part of your training, we will show you how to do this better than any Fortune 100 solution today and how to attract sponsorship revenue on top of the fuel partnership.

Spartan Stores and Speedway expand Fuel Rewards Partnership

Spartan Stores and Speedway LLC (Speedway) have announced they are expanding their highly successful Fuel Rewards program statewide to provide fuel discounts to Michigan consumers who are eager to leverage their food and fuel budgets. Additional supermarkets will be able to offer Fuel Rewards to their consumers because of the expanded Speedway partnership effective January 8, 2012.

With this expansion, Fuel Rewards are offered statewide at over 90 D&W Fresh Market, Family Fare, Glen’s Markets and VG’s locations, owned by Spartan Stores, through the yes Rewards program. Participating supermarkets with a Quick Stop Fuel Center in close proximity will issue Fuel Rewards for the Quick Stop center. Those without a Quick Stop Fuel Center in close proximity will issue a Speedway Fuel Reward. The Speedway partnership also allows Spartan Stores to extend a Fuel Rewards program to over 375 Spartan supplied independent grocers.

To participate in the Fuel Rewards program consumers will use their yes Rewards card to earn a Fuel Rewards based on their grocery purchases. An example: A consumer purchases $50 in groceries and will receive a $0.05 per gallon discount on fuel, with a limit of 20 gallons.

Fuel Rewards can be redeemed at Spartan owned D&W, Family Fare, Glen’s or VG’s Quick Stops or Speedway locations in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

Consumers will receive a Fuel Reward printed at the checkout with instructions on how to redeem at the Spartan owned D&W, Family Fare, Glen’s or VG’s Quick Stops or Speedway convenience stores.

Source: Spartan Stores

Unsubscribe

Bowling Rewards 1933 Welington Drive Langhorne PA 19047 800-978-1338

Industry Alert – Customer Loyalty Updates – Nordstroms

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:48:28 +0000

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

Nordstrom spent millions of dolalars revamping their loyalty program which you can read about below. There are still several key flaws costing the firm substantial sums of money but they might figure it out eventually. Either way, notice the following from the press release.

Soft benefits to engage customers
Notice this is a membership program, not based on a membership fee, but based on how much is spent with tiered benefits going up as more is spent. There are pros and cons to this strategy and we can do the same but is good to note.
Notice the importance programs like this are to major corporations and should be to every business owner. Customer Loyalty is the #1 priority for a large majority of companies. There is NOTHING which can lift the bottom line more than a properly designed loyalty program.

Nordstrom Makes Major Improvements to Fashion Rewards Program

Seattle-based

Nordstrom, Inc.

has announced a significant redesign of Nordstrom Fashion Rewards as part of its broader efforts to build customer loyalty. The updated program puts more control in the hands of customers, making it easier for Fashion Rewards members to take advantage of complimentary services, access some of the most coveted benefits and fashion events and earn additional points. All Fashion Rewards members automatically began accruing benefits under the new program beginning January 1, 2012.

"Fashion Rewards is a key part of our efforts to provide better service and build long-term relationships with our customers," said Kevin Knight, president of Nordstrom Credit. "We spent a lot of time over the past year listening to customers and looking at how we could improve our Fashion Rewards program. We’re excited about this redesign and how it will help us offer more meaningful benefits to more of our loyal customers."

Some of the updates to the program include:

Complimentary alterations for all members. Every Fashion Rewards member will receive an alterations credit for Nordstrom purchases, from up to $100 to an unlimited credit per year depending on benefit level. Tailoring services are available at any Nordstrom or Nordstrom Rack store. Addition of personal triple points days at all levels.

The redesigned program gives Fashion Rewards members more control over how and when they earn bonus points. Members now have the flexibility to pick triple points shopping days of their own on top of the triple points events already available to them. Fashion Rewards members receive 1, 2, 3 or 4 personal triple bonus points days depending on their benefit level. Nordstrom Rack part of bonus points events. Members can now earn more points when shopping at Nordstrom Rack during bonus points events throughout the year, in addition to earning bonus points during these events at Nordstrom full-line stores and Nordstrom.com. Easier access to higher benefit levels. Customers no longer have to spend as much to achieve Level 3 and 4 rewards status. Under the new program, customers become Level 3 members when they reach $5,000 in annual net Nordstrom spend on their Nordstrom credit or debit cards. Previously, the spend threshold for Level 3 was $10,000. Additionally, the threshold for becoming a Level 4 member has been lowered to $10,000 from $20,000.

Source: Nordstrom, Inc.

Unsubscribe

Bowling Rewards 1933 Welington Drive Langhorne PA 19047 800-978-1338

Valvoline Update

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:23:22 +0000

Editors Notes: The oil change business is now using our idea of sponsors. There are many better ways to accomplish what is described below, but you will start seeing a lot of our ideas copied in the marketplace. I actually contacted Valvoline HQ over two years ago with this very concept.

Valvoline loved it then but our PL’s and Resellers never pursued it further. Other sponsors are saying the same thing with the new concepts we are presenting to them today for bowling centers, golf courses, restaurants, and just about all of general retail. The good news is that it’s much easier to present better solutions for 1000s of businesses who use oil and tie to their loyalty and membership program. They are ready to go and you can use this to attract Pennzoil and other competitors with a better option and exclusivity.

We are now seeing gift card load bonus and free meals when loading money on a gift card, a concept we have been writing about for over 8 years and it’s just now catching on. I have a number of other articles appearing in a variety of publications in 2012 so if you follow customer loyalty, you will see our ideas and concepts appear, usually several years after we develop solutions for them. I know several companies trying to develop a cause marketing solution which we have had for long time. You can wait several years for these companies to wake up or go directly to the source, our ideas and concepts today are years ahead of the game and we plan on keeping it that way.

LOVE Training Starbuck

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:42:04 +0000

Editor’s Note: Loyalty programs need to pass the L.O.V.E. test which we have on www.wildboarstraining.com See the recent article posted by Vertical Response on Starbucks below

Listen (loyalty programs must listen to what customers want)
Value (loyalty programs must deliver relevant value on an ongoing basis
Engage (loyalty programs must engage consumers with special benefits and support local communities)

If you think the Gold Loyalty Card from Starbucks makes people come back (which it does) wait until you see the results with our AcG Platinum Memberships. Not only is the program designed much better, it pays the business owner in advance large sums of money to increase frequency, build their database, and eliminate traditional marketing expenses including discounting.

Starbucks failed on at least two fronts with L.O.V.E. analysis. They did not listen to over 80% of their customers who requested cash back rewards on their card for simplicity and convenience. They did not obey what their customers voiced, but instead created a program which gives a free cup of coffee after 15 transactions and requires the customer to bring in a mailed coupon/postcard which does not arrive until days or weeks after the 15th visit. There are other mistakes like this but the L.O.V.E. formula is an easy one to remember to see where loyalty programs fall short. Here is the article from Vertical Response, notice the soft benefits listed on the material which are nice benefits such as the free refill.

Keep ‘em Coming Back for More with Loyalty Programs

I received something in my mailbox recently that absolutely thrilled me. I reached gold card status at Starbucks and my new card arrived! If you didn’t know, Starbucks lets you register any gift card, and then tracks your purchases made on that card. Once you reach a certain number, Starbucks will send you a gold card. In addition to the cool card with my name on it, I also get periodic free drinks and discounts on products.

Starbucks reminded me in the card info to update my email address so I know when my special deals arrive. Great for email marketing! By updating my address I’m also signing up for their marketing emails, an easy way to grow their list. Any business can do this, and you don’t have to set up a special page on your site; this can also be accomplished in person at a register or in your store.

With the exception of the fancy card, this is a pretty simple loyalty program. You probably are part of one or more like this already: “Buy X sandwiches, get 1 free” or “Spend X amount of money in our store and save 25% off your next purchase.” A simple punch card is an easy way to start a loyalty program for your regular customers. Knowing that buying from your company or using your service will earn them something in the future will help keep your company top of mind and keep customers coming back for more. There’s even a new app called Stampt built specifically with this use in mind, making it easier and faster than ever to create your own loyalty program.

Really, my fancy new card just shows my dependence on caffeine. But now that I have reached this special level I will be more likely to think of Starbucks when I need a pick-me-up. And, that continued business is the true value of a loyalty program.

Are you using a loyalty program at your business? How do you make it work?

Posted by: Jill Bastian

Industry Alert – Customer Loyalty Research Updates

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:40:05 +0000

Positive Impact of Customer Engagement on Financial Performance

Steve Schroeder — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:43:53 +0000

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, companies with engaged customers enjoy: improved customer loyalty (80%), increased revenue (76%), and increased profits (75%). Furthermore, research from industry analyst firm Aberdeen Group shows that leading organizations with effective employee engagement strategies in place are seeing a 22% year-over-year improvement in customer satisfaction/loyalty and a 21% year-over-year improvement in turnover/retention.

60% and 80% of defecting customers describe themselves as “satisfied” or “very satisfied” just before they leave. Business Week
It costs between 5 and 10x more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. The Council on Financial Competition
70% of the reason customers leave a company has nothing to do with the product. Forum Corporation
Each year the average company loses 10-15% of its customer base – Bain & Company
“84% of customers who leave, do so because of poor service” – Forum Corp
“A typical business only hears from 4% of its dissatisfied customers—the other 96% leave, 91% for good” – Jim Barnes, “Secrets of CRM”
Every 1% increase in loyalty intentions is associated with a 17% higher likelihood of repurchasing. Lariviere, 2008 banking study
“Executives are finding that the winning differentiator is no longer product or price, but the level of customer engagement relative to the competition.” — Rama Ramaswami, Senior Editor, Economist Intelligence Unit
“One of the biggest business growth opportunities today is to focus on engagement. Companies that make it fundamental to their business cannot be touched by competitors. They enjoy more profits during tough times, and grow faster during good times. It truly is an untapped opportunity just waiting for those who will grab it.” – Adam Edmunds, CEO, Allegiance, Inc.
High levels of customer engagement are associated with improvements in many financial metrics, including return on assets (_ROA__), return on investment (_ROI__), return on equity (ROE__), gross margin (GM), and earnings per share (EPS). Source: PeopleMetrics

Loyalty Research Important Info

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:29:13 +0000

Editors Notes: Great introduction article below and a part of the loyalty guide from www.wisemarketer.com I have been a contributing author off and on for over 5 years but it’s a fantastic reference tool for your business. This info below is a great general overview of what a loyalty program should do and why you need expert solutions PLUS expert marketing to achieve maximum ROI.

Most companies offering solutions like ours sell you a box of software and wish you luck, this will NOT work. You need solid IT solutions but you also need ongoing marketing help and consulting to make these solutions a reality and achieve the highest ROI possible. This requires a special type of company who knows how to merge IT and Marketing (which are often oil and water) in order to have the best chance of success.

Without the marketing expertise and intimate knowledge of the field, you can choose the greatest loyalty solutions in the world and they will fall short unless you know how to implement, track and promote them properly. This requires a team concept with company expertise in both marketing and IT.

This is a tough combination to find, but at AcG www.americardgold.com we feel we offer both of these solutions in combination better than any other firm in the business. Why don’t you test us and find out.

Here you go

Key strategies for managing your loyalty operation

The theory of customer loyalty is quite plain: a business that retains its customers for longer usually makes more money from them at lower cost than one that is constantly paying to acquire new customers. Actually doing that – the practice of customer loyalty – is not so straightforward. It’s not a trick that can be quickly learned and performed; creating loyal customers depends fundamentally on following good and sound business and marketing practices right across the business all the time. It’s a sad truth of business that customers are hard to win but easy to lose. A loyalty programme is not a quick fix that can simply be bolted on and produce measurable results immediately.

That said, the principles are quite simple: know your customers, reward them for behaving in the way that you want, and don’t reward them for behaving in any other way. In order to know them, you need to collect data and then use it intelligently to identify the valuable customers and to reward them for generating more profit. Of course, there are many refinements that can be made to this broadly stated principle. Enter the loyalty programme.

But many of the so-called loyalty programmes in operation today are not really loyalty programmes at all. Perhaps ‘frequent customer programme’ is a more accurate term. To be loyal to a business is one thing, but to use it frequently is another (for example, it could be a result of circumstances that there is simply no other choice). Clearly, if another choice becomes available, then the distinction becomes critical. This means that most prudent businesses aim to create loyal customers, not just frequent customers.

Of course, not all customers are potentially loyal customers, for a variety of reasons. So the ideal loyalty programme would be one in which already loyal and potentially loyal customers benefited, but other customers didn’t. This means that the customers have first to be sorted into groups, and different approaches have to be made to each group. Or, more likely, a programme has to be designed so that it will appeal to the desired group more than to the other group.

The 3 top reasons to have a loyalty programme…

A good point at which to start is at the very beginning – when acquiring the customers. In many typical businesses, as many as 45% of direct, new, one-off purchasers do not go on to purchase a second time. In order to grow and maintain a successful business, three simple rules should be followed:

Acquire customers that are likely to repurchase – even though this may be at the expense of initial raw response;
Recognise which customers are unlikely to repurchase and limit your marketing spend for this segment accordingly
Focus the marketing budget on those who exhibit the same profile as existing repurchasers but have yet to buy a second time.

The main goals of a loyalty programme…

In the report we detail the workings of an effective customer loyalty programme, and how to achieve several obvious goals:

Retaining existing customers
Acquiring new customers
Moving customers up the RFM segments
Deselecting or ‘firing’ unprofitable customers
Win-back techniques (recovering lost customers)
Increasing CLV (customer lifetime value)
Best customer marketing (targeting profitable customers)
Building long-lasting customer relationships
Creating advocates from loyal customers
Adjusting pricing strategy for greater profitability
Responding to competitive challenges
Selecting stock lines more effectively
Planning merchandising optimally
Cutting promotional and advertising costs
Selecting new trading sites based on profitable customer profiles

Critical success factors for a loyalty programme…
There are more than a dozen key factors that make a loyalty offering successful, both in the eyes of the customer and in terms of bottom line business results. For example:

Loyalty programmes are never a ‘quick fix’
Targeting the right people at the right time
Gaining customer buy-in
Knowing your customers and gathering intelligence
Not rewarding the wrong behaviour
Rewarding versus recognising
Spotting defection patterns
Taking advantage of customer lifecycles and trends
Offering attainable & affordable rewards
Recovering the programme’s cost
Keeping communications relevant and well-timed
Keeping it simple
Measuring the programme’s results
Attracting new customers
Providing unique, hard-to-copy benefits
Empowering your customer-facing teams
Making life easy – for you and the customer

Our latest report ‘The Loyalty Guide 4′ covers all of this 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.

Among the key topics covered in the report, we explain operational essentials such as:

Critical capabilities for customer loyalty
The structure of a loyalty marketing initiative
The loyalty token – what to use, if anything
Building loyalty using prepaid/gift cards
Pricing strategies for all occasions
Insights into consumers’ views on loyalty
Insights into customer loyalty ‘pain points’
Addressing the myths of customer loyalty
Building and implementing the loyalty process

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 £1095 the electronic (PDF) edition of 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 online now at http://www.theloyaltyguide.com

Important Research Engagement

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:42:26 +0000

Editors Notes: Did you know Bowling Rewards is NOT about Rewards, maybe we should change our name. Bowling Rewards is all about ENGAGEMENT which is the absolute new trend and requirement for any business to utilize in the digital age. It’s simple to understand, realistic to execute, support and measure and it offers solid results to the bottom line.

Every retail location MUST pay attention, business owners can no longer afford to ignore customer wishes and demands. Customers are tired of being ignored and they will vote and speak with their dollars and their loyalty. It’s now very doable to listen to your customers and give them what they want, when you do profits will increase.

Here is the introduction to a new White Paper which is available upon request. Very few of you will read this, you don’t have too, we read everything and know exactly what to do. We have capabilities and know how that no other company can deliver. When you are ready for a New Year’s resolution to stop doing what you have always done, make a difference in your community and pick up the britches of your pants and go to work, then give us a call, we are ready when you are.

The premise of this paper is bold. It connects customer engagement with hard economic benefit. Many organizations have failed to find the secret formula to justify new investments to focus on customer engagement and loyalty activities. This paper identifies four of the top outcomes of customer engagement that can be measured in dollars. These outcomes are simple to understand; realistic to execute, support, and measure; and offer solid results with high impact.

The Positive Economics of Customer Engagement

Engagement is the emotional connection or attachment that a customer develops during the repeated and ongoing interactions. Engagement accumulates through satisfaction, loyalty, influence, and excitement about your brand. Organizations who engage consumers to the point where they are moved to behavioral change do so by creating opportunities for emotional connections through ongoing, consistently positive experiences.

Customer behaviors include telling people of their positive experiences with an organization, referring other people, buying more products more often, staying longer in a business relationship, and remaining loyal even when faced with poor customer service or a bad experience with a product. When customers are engaged with an organization, they are emotionally connected, passionate about its products and services, as well as aligned with the purpose and direction of the organization. Customers who increase their desirable behaviors are more economically valuable.

Engagement is one of the most powerful emerging business principles of this century, but historically it has been elusive, unmeasured and undisciplined. We are going to show that it can be measured, and it is not as difficult as companies think. In fact, we will demonstrate that improving engagement among an organization’s consumers by a small amount, as little as 1 percent, can have a dramatic impact on financial results.

Supermarkets and Bowling

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:24:27 +0000

Hello Indiana: Supermarkets are looking to work with Bowling Centers and State Associations to drive added value to their chain on an exclusive basis. Oil companies like Chevron and BP are also looking right now due to Shell Rewards launch. Instead of having the USBC put coupons on Tony’s Pizza for free games of bowling where you get NOTHING in return, no database and no support, let us show you how to cut your own deals on a local proprietor level and keep all the money for you and your State and get paid large sums in advance for supplying the free game of bowling. We have vastly superior solutions to what you see below. If you know your State Association President, let him (or her) know what we can do and I will be glad to come out and explain how a State Association membership card powered by Bowling Rewards (or Loyal Patron) technology will bring in millions of dollars in sponsorship and partnership revenue from firms such as BP, Chevron, Piggly Wiggly, Kroger and others who are just looking to tap the millions of bowlers in your State on an exclusive basis. Ask me for the BP concept with Crazy Pinz as an illustration.

Piggly Wiggly Launches Cash-Back Incentives

Nov 8, 2011 10:55 AM, By SN STAFF

Piggly Wiggly Carolina’s cash-back loyalty program features “Comeback Cash.”

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. here said Tuesday it was rolling out a new cash-back loyalty program that rewards shoppers based on how much they spend in a given month.

Related Articles

Piggly Wiggly Expands Online Ordering
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. here said Monday it is expanding its online grocery service to 27 additional stores in South Carolina and Georgia….

Piggly Wiggly Presents Newton Farms
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. has launched Newton Farms, a private-label line comprising small batch specialties….

Customer using the chain’s Pig Card can earn a “Comeback Cash” coupon for $2 off their next order for the first $200 they spend at Piggly Wiggly; then another $4 when they hit $400; $6 at $600; and another $8 when they hit $800 (for a total of $20 cumulative).

Last month Piggly Wiggly Carolina also launched a double-coupon program allowing shoppers to double the value of manufacturers’ coupons worth up to 99 cents.

The company also continues to offer its Greenbax loyalty program, through which customers earn discounts on groceries, gift cards, gas and merchandise at other local merchants.

“As the holidays approach and folks are closely watching their budgets, we’re excited to offer so many ways for our customers to save,” said David Schools, president and chief executive officer, Piggly Wiggly Carolina. “With Double Coupons, Comeback Cash and collecting Greenbax, The Pig provides unbeatable value for today, tomorrow, and down the road.”

Shell Launches Rewards Program

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:16:15 +0000

Editors Notes: They think Shell is launching an industry FIRST but we devised this strategy long ago which you can read about below. The ideal time for an association to approach BP as illustrated with Crazy Pinz below is now. Shell is trying to do things to catch their competition off guard and companies like BP don’t know we have a better mousetrap. This concept might start at the State level with a test and then expand but we can implement this strategy at the local proprietor level as well. For every dollar you spend on bowling, you might earn .10 to be redeemed at BP on an exclusive basis. We have many other strategies to increase the revenue for BP (as an example) well beyond the capabilities of the Shell program below. We will break this down for centers who are interested and several ideas are illustrated in the Crazy Pinz example below.

NACS Daily News

Shell Announces New Rewards Plan
New ‘Fuel Reward Network’ to tie in 700 brand-name merchants allowing customers to cash in at the pump.

AUSTIN, Texas – Shell is about to score an industry first when it comes to major oil loyalty offers, NACS has learned.

The refiner is joining an electronic discount network that will allow consumers who shop at brand-name retail merchants such as Macy’s, Barnes & Noble, Nike, J.C. Penney and The Home Depot to convert reward points they earn at those chains into instant price discounts at the pump.

“We’re already the No. 1 brand in the U.S. and we intend to further widen the gap between ourselves and our competition in 2012,” says Rick Altizer, Shell Retail North America marketing delivery manager.

Shell unveiled the plan and other strategies it will adopt to strengthen its brand at a national trade show and convention in Austin, Texas, yesterday. Some 90% of Shell wholesalers are among the 2,000 plus-attendees at the event, along with more than 200 vendors, Shell officials say.

The new “Fuel Reward Network” (FRN) will let consumers decide how — and how much — they want to save on their gasoline and diesel purchases, says another Shell official. The FRN will launch at Shell in phases during 2012.

Under the program, consumers will pick up a free FRN card at any participating Shell station and register online at fuelrewards.com. They will then be able to add and combine rewards they earn from purchases at FRN grocers, FRN Dining, FRN Online Mall and FRN e-coupons and spend them to fill up at the pump. They can stack up their rewards or spend them as they earn them, up to a maximum 20 gallons per purchase.

Consumers who join FRN will be able to track and manage their rewards online, Shell says. In all, more than 700 brand-name merchants are participating in the network.

Shell was the first major oil company to launch a coast-to-coast rewards offer with a grocery chain, signing a deal with supermarket giant Kroger in 2009 that will eventually cover 31 states. Shell later added regional supermarket grocery chains to its rewards portfolio, including Giant and Stop & Shop, in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, both owned by Dutch company Royal Ahold, and Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo in the Southeast. Several West Coast chains also have been added to Shell’s supermarket string.

However, even with such broad geographic coverage, Shell was still only able to provide rewards coverage to approximately 8,000 of its 14,000 branded stations in 120 markets. The FRN program will help Shell fill in the gaps in its coverage.

Shell’s grocery rewards offer has been a resounding success, officials say. Some 3.5 million Shell customers use their loyalty card to redeem discounts, says one Shell source. Of those, 2.5 million were new to Shell and purchased an average of 21 gallons a month. The 1 million existing Shell customers who have started to redeem grocer rewards are now buying six gallons more every month, Shell says.

Working the behind-the-scenes magic on the FRN offer is Excentus, the Texas-based third party loyalty company, which is bringing the new rewards partners to Shell.

The rewards are funded by the issuing retail partner — the merchant or grocery chain — at no additional cost to Shell retailers over and above the 3.5cts/gal they pay for the Kroger rewards deal.

There is also expected to be an option in the new program that will allow retailers to issue their own site rewards as well.

“Everyone is trying to do something in this [loyalty] space but we’re going to be going far beyond what our competitors are doing,” Altizer says.

“The Fuel Rewards Network will help Shell-branded wholesalers and retailers by providing the opportunity to attract new customers and grow their existing loyalty base, boost non-fuel sales and leverage manufacturer funding of discounts,” Altizer adds.

Shell will also kick off a new fuels marketing strategy next year and a special bulk-buying program for Shell marketers, officials say.

Shell will launch a new fuel formulation called “Next Generation SNE” in March 2012 that execs say will deliver 20% more active cleaning agents to boost engine performance.

The new additive will be introduced into all three grades of Shell gasoline. The refiner intends to spend around $100 million promoting it, which is more than it set aside for the launch of its “Nitrogen-Enriched” gasoline in 2009.

“There is a new molecular structure in the additive which is unsurpassed in the industry today,” Altizer said. The new fuel is designed for most modern engines, is thermally more stable than conventional technologies, and holds up better under high operating temperatures, which means the formulation will work in all types of engines, conventional or modern.

Shell has also unveiled what officials say is an “innovative” bulk buying program for marketers. Called the “Shell Diamond Deal,” it will offer retailers special pricing from a half-dozen or more equipment suppliers who have agreed to work with the company on “big ticket items.” Retailers will be able to discount deals on LED lighting, signage, health-and-beauty units and carwash equipment, as well as other equipment.

Breakdown Below: A Better Fuel Rewards Program

Bowling Rewards and Loyal Patron combine proprietary solutions for loyalty card processing across multiple locations.
All balances can be kept separate or can be combined or jointly offered or redeemed.
The possibilities are endless for any retail location like a bowling center to partner with a location selling gas since fuel discounts are very popular with consumers. Using exclusivity, a bowling center or restaurant can drive 1000s of customers to one particular location for fuel which can then be turned into multiple profit streams for both locations. Here are just a few ideas and these partnerships are fairly easy to create when understanding how to present the value prop.

Give me a call and I can help you design and explain a custom offer for your bowling center, restaurant, golf course, etc. There are many substantial benefits for the fuel partner, I have included just a few. Here are just a few ideas from the bowling center side.

We can create a special category such as ‘BP Gallons’ and actually load gallons of gas on the card for spending thresholds inside the bowling center or restaurant. These ‘gallons’ are redeemed at select BP locations only.
We could issue cash back rewards which can be redeemed at certain BP locations only. Customer might need to spend $50.00 or load $50.00 on the bowling center gift card and receive a special $10.00 reward to spend at BP.
We could create custom BP ‘head-pins’ which give open play customers $1.00 reward each time they throw a strike with a BP pin or pick up a lone BP spare or split.
We could create a special BP strike pot for both open play and league bowlers to win a free fill up at BP.
Bowling Rewards balances might be allowed to be spent at BP for gas, good, or any other items during select promotions or periods of time.
We create a special fundraising component where a certain percentage of BP and Bowling Sales are donated back to local schools or churches with every purchase. Numerous ideas here I can spell out which are win win for everyone.

BP Advantages or Strategies

BP can issue their own rewards, fundraising benefits, spending incentives, or a number of unique ideas which are superior to their existing program. Our capabilities are much more robust than what companies like BP can currently do with their own loyalty or rewards program (if they even have one) so partnering with the bowling center or restaurant will give them added capabilities they have always desired but did not know how to program or have been unable to deliver.
BP gets all the paperless database building, tracking, reporting, communication benefits such as email or text, included with their partnership with the bowling center. Numerous branding and advertising strategies within the bowling center or restaurant to drive customers to one exclusive fuel partner.
BP gets exclusive relationship with bowling center, restaurant, or select other business partners with this unique program and our technology. No other fuel location in town is allowed to participate and can literally drive 1000s of new customers to BP on an exclusive basis without any advertising or marketing costs to BP
Huge good will goes to BP which is VERY IMPORTANT since many people are not happy with oil companies, gas prices, and businesses in this space. Now, the BP logo is seen when local residents save money and see their school or church supported and there is a complete accountability and transparency feature which is very important to companies like BP. We are one of only a few companies in the marketplace with this capability tied to the transaction.
BP can offer free games of bowling or a platinum membership to the bowling center or restaurant to customers who fill up at BP giving the impression that gas is much less expensive or even free.
There are many other high level benefits I can share later bsed on need or desire.

Theodore Roosevelt Advertising Advice

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:23:10 +0000

Lesson from Theodore Roosevelt: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
–Theodore Roosevelt

It now costs less to market the right way than it does the wrong way. Every independent retail analyst has indicated that it’s a must for business owners to get some type of customer loyalty solution in place and communicate properly with customers using new technology. The worst thing you can do is keep ignoring everybody’s advice and not spend less than a 4 line classified ad to build real equity and long lasting results for your business. If you need help to make the right decision, I have all the research to help you choose any company. We think the more you know, the more you will see why we are the best choice. But, if you don’t choose us, find someone.

How Much Does it Cost to Advertise?

Do any solutions guarantee results?

Classified ad in a newspaper…. http://www.usnewspapers.com/Pages/participating_states_class.html The cheapest form of advertising for 20 words or less range from $100.00 – $600.00 per week or $400.00 – $2,000.00 per month.

Val-Pak Coupon distribution – $35.00 – $60.00 per 1000 ads one time. One time mailer to 10,000 people $350 – $600.00 one time each month.

Ad in a magazine – Depending on a number of factors $1000 – $10,000 per month

Hire someone to waive a sign on a street corner – $8.00 per hour, $200.00 – $400.00 per week $800.00 -$1600.00 per month

Radio spot – $1000 – $10,000 per month or more depending on length, frequency, contract, etc.

Cable TV commercial – $1000 – $10,000 per month with the same factors as the radio spot above.

Billboard – Prices vary from $700 – $2500.00 per month. In higher traffic areas costs can be over $10,000 per month.

Summary: The cheapest forms of advertising such as 20 word classified ads or people in chicken suits on street corners range from $500.00 – $2000.00 per month or more. There are no residual benefits, when the ad stops the benefits stop. There is no database building, no personalization, no relevance, discounting of prices is another added expense on top of the cost to communicate. Even if you used the above, would it not make sense to have some type of system to track the visits, record the purchase, and develop a program to get off this merry go round?

QUESTION: Customer Loyalty programs are the least expensive (around $175.00 – $195.00) per month (with no up-front costs or any expense until AFTER you are successful!) and are designed to eliminate traditional advertising, eliminate discounting, increase frequency, acquire new customers, automatically build databases for ongoing communication at no additional charge, and much more. They have proven successful in every industry and have the highest ROI in all of advertising.

If you had $175.00 to spend on your business, where would you spend it? If you don’t have a customer loyalty solution in place, why not? Is it time you look at proven customer loyalty solutions and stop wasting money? Why not give it a try like all the other programs above? What do you have to lose that you have not lost already?

An economic crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

Dating, Marriage, and Marketing

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:09:53 +0000

Notes: Yes, the digital age is a lot like dating and marriage. The only problem is that a number of business owners simply have a cash register and not loyalty solution. Your customers care more about value, communication, and relevance than they do about pricing so why discount? The reason is clear, most business owners don't have the tools to listen properly so they resort to the old fashioned model of discounts, coupons, traditional interruption based media, email blasting and other strategies which consumers don't want and don't respond too. Get the proper customer loyalty solution in place to track, listen too, and engage customers on a more intimate basis and watch profits soar. Does it take a little work?Yes, but it's going to be a requirement to stay in business or stay profitable so you might as well learn now.
Here you go
Stop Pushing, Start Engaging: How Marketing Mimics Dating by Paolina Milana Published on October 24, 2011 /span> Tags: Advertising, Customer-Centric, Customer Engagement, Online Marketing
*In this article, you'll learn…*
How to woo your audience into a long-term commitment
Similarities between marketing and dating
Come on. Admit it. With maybe one exception—the Super Bowl—you fast-forward through commercials when watching your favorite TV programs on your DVR. You spew an occasional four-letter word when those irritating animated pop-up ads block your Web view and force you to find the "close" option. You even hate to hear those loudspeaker announcements at the grocery store, interrupting some '80s tune just to tell you that freshly baked bread is now out of the oven and ready to be purchased for pennies. Bread…? You've been struggling to stay away from carbs, for goodness' sake! The last thing you need is another interruption to take you in an unintended direction.
Well, guess what? You're not alone. In fact, how you feel when what you want is interrupted by something you don't want is exactly how everyone else feels when what they want is interrupted by a message you thought they should receive.
Messages interrupt when they aren't wanted. Consequently, your message will be intercepted; and it will never even stand a chance of meeting its mark.

So what's a marketer to do? How do you get noticed when folks just don't seem all that into you and what you have to say?
The answer is easy, and in a way it fundamentally follows everything we've ever learned about dating. Yup, Marketing is akin to courtship, and the rules are simple. Stop stalking. Stop pushing. Start wooing. Start engaging.
Don't believe me? Just read on. Learn how to get your message heard and have your intended targets come to you.
It's All About Them
That's right. Forget you, you, you. Focus on them, them, them. How do you know what matters to your target audiences? All it takes is a little old-fashioned listening.
It's really no different from being on Match.com or one of the other online dating sites. You read a person's profile: "I like playing ping-pong, and drinking fresh-squeezed orange juice." You read a few of her blog posts telling you how she spent her day or what thoughts crossed her mind while in the shower. You find out enough to muster up the courage to wink at her, a gentle gesture that puts you out there and lets her know you have something to offer. Maybe she doesn't yet reply. So you might write something witty about a ping-pong tournament and the fact that you live in a home with its own orange tree right in the backyard. Now you've got your intended target's attention.

The point is that you'd never know what interests your target unless you listen to what he or she has to say. And as in dating, birds of a feather tend to flock together. So paying attention to where one person of interest hangs out will lead you to where others with the same interests might be.
In the digital age, it's much easier to track conversations, monitoring and measuring what's being said and how it applies to you and your message. Before long, you'll realize that the topic of interest to you and your business may just be a hot topic for lots of voices in the social sphere—so many voices that you might need help aggregating what's being said so that you can filter through and analyze what you hear.
Dozens of free tools, including Google Reader and BlogPulse, are available to help streamline listening.
Casual Encounters or Long-Term Commitments?
So you've found your perfect pool to swim in, and you've paid attention to what matters to the swimmers. You've even recognized one or two targets who stand out among the crowd—influencers you'd like to get to know better. Great! But now what?
You need a plan. You need to know what, exactly, you want to achieve. Just as in dating, ask yourself whether you are interested in someone "just to hang out"—or might that somebody be "the one"? What do you want out of the relationship? And how are you going to get what you want satisfy his or her needs as well?
Think back to good old-fashioned courting. Candy, flowers, and love notes are powerful persuaders. The actual content of your message matters, as does the schedule you use to share it. Start by figuring out what you have to offer in relation to what your target audiences want to know. What content assets might draw them to you?
If we were to take our ping-pong-playing, orange juice-drinking dating scenario into the business world, we might produce a how-to video on getting the most juice from an orange or boosting athletic performance with vitamin C. Or we could publish a report on wrist positioning as it relates to various ping-pong paddle handles and how choosing the right tool might improve one's game. you choose to share your relevant content might best be scheduled for when you know there's a ping-pong tournament in town or at the height of harvest season for oranges.
Determining your goals, mapping out your offerings, and sharing relevant messages that resonate with your target audiences are the keys to winning them over.
Making Your Move, Solidifying the Relationship
So you've got their attention. Bravo! You've gotten them to the altar, maybe. Or, you're definitely hitched. Good for you.
Now, how are you going to stay connected? And how are you going to grow right alongside your intended?
Just as in dating and personal relationships, to keep the spark alive smart businesses have to continually engage their customers. Your digital conversations have to be authentic and deep. You have to continue to monitor the pulse of your audience. You have to be ready to take into account what your audience is thinking and where it's headed, making sure you meet its needs even if that means changing your original plans.
For example, you may find out that although orange juice is still a preferred beverage, your intended target likes to freeze it into popsicles or even add a bit of pineapple or banana to her drink. Or maybe you learn that it's not just the ping-pong paddle's handle that matters, but the cushioning in the player's shoes that allows for more agility with every swing.
Conversation threads and associated content are vital to long-lasting relationships—not just for dating or married couples, but for companies and their customers, too.
Continually monitoring, analyzing, and responding to what you hear and learn is the recipe for maintaining loyal customers who stick with you and take the vow "till death do us part."
(Learn more by tapping into Marketwire's free e-book,Mastering Audience Engagement: Reinventing Your Role in a New Media World
(Image courtesy of Bigstock,Couple in Love.)
Read more:

Word Of Mouth New Stats

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:37:08 +0000

Word of Mouth: 14 New Statistics, very interesting. Did you know that a good customer rewards and loyalty program is the number one reason for positive word of mouth? Treat people with respect, recognize who they are, don’t sell their data, reward them properly, deliver a good product, and communicate with personal relevance and business will increase…guaranteed!

Church of the Customer Blog

« 14 new statistics about word of mouth marketing | Main

October 17, 2011

14 new statistics about word of mouth marketing

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)has a neat infographic detailing the latest stats about word or mouth marketing, online and offline.

Source: WOMMA

Note: the WOMMA Summit is coming up November 16-18 in Las Vegas. It’s a great conference to learn the latest WOM marketing techniques from leading brands and agencies.

Data Being Abused

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:01:13 +0000

Editors Notes: Good research article below, if you belong to any program which owns or has control over your data, you may want to read the article and be aware of the dangers of losing trust with your customers.

Consumers not feeling benefit of sharing loyalty data

Most American and Canadian consumers (74%) say they are not feeling the benefits of sharing their personal information with marketers, according to a survey by loyalty marketing group LoyaltyOne

The online survey of 1,000 American and 1,000 Canadian consumers found that only 52% said they somewhat or strongly agreed with the statement that companies use their personal data “so they can better serve me”. Breaking down these responses, only 9% said they strongly agreed that companies use their information to…

Full story: http://www.thewisemarketer.com/news/read.asp?lc=b39235cx3556zx

Economic Choices for Business

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:13:36 +0000

Please review the list below and see if this shakes with your experience? Add anything to the list which might be left off on what business owners are doing today. I would like to send this out or have a comparison piece on what a business owner might do with $175.00.

How Much Does it Cost to Advertise?
Do any solutions guarantee results?

Classified ad in a newspaper….
http://www.usnewspapers.com/Pages/participating_states_class.html

Val-Pak Coupon distribution – $35.00 – $60.00 per 1000 ads one time. One time mailer to 10,000 people $350 – $600.00 one time each month.

Ad in a magazine – Depending on a number of factors $1000 – $10,000 per month

Hire someone to waive a sign on a street corner – $8.00 per hour, $200.00 – $400.00 per week $800.00 -$1600.00 per month

Radio spot – $1000 – $10,000 per month or more depending on length, frequency, contract, etc.

Cable TV commercial – $1000 – $10,000 per month with the same factors as the radio spot above

Billboard – Prices vary from $700 – $2500.00 per month. In higher traffic areas costs can be over $10,000 per month.

QUESTION:Customer Loyalty programs are the least expensive (around $175.00 – $195.00) per month and are designed to eliminate traditional advertising, eliminate discounting, increase frequency, acquire new customers, automatically build databases for ongoing communication at no additional charge, and much more. They have proven successful in every industry and have the highest ROI in all of advertising.

An economic crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

Groupon Struggles Undiscounted Loyalty

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:05:57 +0000

Editors Notes: Good article below on the typical mistakes companies make trying to rush into loyalty or choosing a loyalty solution which does not address important issues. Customer Loyalty is too important to simply look at price, or rush into based on what someone might have read in the Wall Street Journal. The real discussion should be about ROI and the equity value to each business in developing best practice solutions for unique customer needs and demands. If a company makes mistakes in their loyalty selection and roll out, it could prove very costly and may indeed put the company on a path which may never be recovered. Certainly the profits lost to poor execution will be lost for good, and should a competitor move out with proper solutions, the loss of customers could very well be permanent. Loyalty decisions should be treated as one of the most important decisions a company or business will make, it may very well determine survival in the digital age of changing customer demands.

The Groupon loyalty initiative: Discounting customer relationships?

Groupon’s announcement of a new customer loyalty program follows on the heels of a rash of bad newsthat Wall Street is watching closely. Maybe that is why it seems that the program they just announced isn’t fully thinking through some of the most important loyalty marketing principles. The new program is thinking, as Wall Street does, in terms of dollars and not in terms of customer relationship equity.

Here’s how Groupon says their customer loyalty program will work: the deep discounts that merchants serve up to acquire new customers and more traffic will be augmented by even deeper discounts if customers spend more. If I’m digesting this news right, this would be the equivalent of retail-store window signs announcing, “Everything 50% off in the store–spend over $100 and we’ll give you 80% off on your next purchase!” The concept seems to translate to simply an even bigger acquisition discount.

This announcement precedes Groupon’s intended IPO – and follows at least one prior loyalty program test in which purchases earned “G’s” (points) toward free future Groupons. Maybe the pressure of that huge push for IPO capital, along with a drastic restatement of their revenues and lack of profitability, explains why they haven’t fully considered how to apply the core fundamentals of a sound, sustainable loyalty strategy that are easily within their reach:

Create a value proposition that blends hard and soft benefits to take the focus off price. Discounts can be matched by competitors, and the customers swayed one way by price can be just as easily swayed another by an equal or better price. Soft benefits, such as recognition and privilege, aren’t as easily matched, and are more memorable to customers. Those benefits could create an emotional equity stake in the customer’s relationship with Groupon and their merchants. Yet, Groupon’s new program focuses even more heavily on price reduction, without regard for relationship enhancement.

Create dialogue with your best customers. Groupon has incredble customer reach — and now is the time to leverage it. As COLLOQUY Contributing Editor Bryan Pearson has pointed out, Groupon could — among other initiatives — ask members “to fill out additional short surveys to further enrich the existing data. Enhanced pictures of these consumers emerge to better tailor offers, get more buy-in and earn loyalty.”

Create a sustainable advantage – for all stakeholders Those stakeholders include include Groupon, of course. Creating a sustainable advantage includes allowing customers to earn recognition and rewards beyond discounts for their ongoing loyalty. And – perhaps most important for Groupon at this critical juncture – it creates a sustainable advantage for merchants, too. Will structuring this program so that merchants serve up even deeper discounts to grab a slightly larger spending commitment help drive customers back repeatedly to those merchants? The jury is still out on that. And the rate of customers returning has certainly been one of the biggest complaints voiced by merchants about Groupon to date.

In COLLOQUY’s research over time and across cultures, we clearly see that the willingness to pay a premium in the face of cheaper alternatives is one of the top hallmarks of customer loyalty. With that in mind, here’s COLLOQUY’s daily deal: Recognize customer tenure and spend, target offers based on purchase history and stated preferences, and give best customers privileges that outweigh the value of any dollars-off deal, and customers will give you full, undiscounted loyalty.

Platinum Memberships Explained

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:42:31 +0000

Creating Platinum Memberships can be very important to the bottom line. We are enhancing the membership capabilities of our program by year end to do even greater things and segment even further since the strategy is so lucrative.

Very easy to bring in extra revenue with perceived high value. In this case, just 100 people paying $50.00 per year brings in $5,000 per year for nothing more than a trigger to get people to come back more often. This particular owner thinks he can get 1/3 of the community or close to 1000 people paying $50.00 per year because it seems like such a great deal. Most customers have NEVER joined their local restaurant or bowing center but they love the idea of being treated special. This idea does not need to be Miller Beer, it could be a glass of wine, appetizer, kids meal, bucket of balls, games of bowling, or anything the establishment desires. We have an automatic block in place with all kinds of automated Fraud Monitoring check points in place to make redemptions very easy for even the most mentally challenged employees.
Increased engagement of customers with SOFT benefits. Soft benefits are often appreciated more than hard benefits and creating a Platinum Membership opens the door to make this very easy to accomplish. Soft benefits can include anything such as first in line priveleges, free samples, parties at the end of the year, just about anything and everything you can think of which are available to Platinum Members Only!

In addition to soft benefits, hard benefits with contests, prizes, and games are another great way to get Platinum Members happy and engadged. Soon, a larger majority of customers will desire to be a Platinum Member since it’s so much fun and so rewarding. In addition, happy customers love to spread Word Of Mouth through Facebook, Twitter and more. Most people don’t win anything in their lives and are not even recognized by the places they frequent. When you provide outstanding value, a good product and great customer service and support, the results are outstanding. The ideas are endless but here are a few below. Remember, we know how to track and implement all these things so if you don’t understand the mechanics, give me a call.
1. Sports contests such as you often hear with Taco Bell when a certain team scores X amount of runs or Tom Brady throws 4 interceptions in a half All kinds of things you can do to get people engadged with sports marketing.
2. In house specials and promotions for Platinum Only. On the fly or planned in advance.
3. Win free things when spending a certain amount, accomplishing something, or visiting X amount of times in a month.
4. Ability to redeem rewards on outside items such as airline, hotel, or other non-compete business locations
5. Double cash back rewards
6. Increased Fundraising Benefits
7. Gift card pre-load ideas on buy a gift get a gift and more. Fill the register with advance cash on top of membership fees!
8. Referral Bonus
There are so many ways to make people feel special and get paid in advance to do so. Credit card companies have known this for years and our clients have much greater capabilities with Loyal Patron or Bowling Rewards than any credit card company can provide. You can now do these things without credit, without debt, no application necessary, and of course market through schools, little leagues and family events due to this fact. We have scores of ideas you can use and we can have our graphics team create everything needed to spread the news.

Soon, we will be adding a custom Mobile Communication option designed to take advantage of all best practices and enhance the membership strategy even further.

Sponsorship Revenue: Due to our proprietary reporting, accountability and real time transparency, we can offer sponsors remarkable advertising benefits which are far superior to any other advertising strategy they may have used in the past. In addition, we can offer them exclusivity which is unheard of in the advertising world.

Using the simple card below as an idea, this particular membership is ONLY good for Miller Light so the program increases the pour rate for Miller as compared to Bud or any other brand. Companies pay our clients for this ability (you keep all the money) and we can track all the purchases, communicate with members and drive added purchases OUTSIDE the establishment as well.

We can’t go into all the details and strategies here, but we offer custom consulting with sponsorship expertise on how to get paid additional dollars while getting paid by customers at the same time so revenue comes in TWO different doors all while doing nothing more than increasing frequency and spending while getting paid in advance to do so.
Fundraising Enhancement: Platinum Memberships make ideal fundraising benefits for the community. The idea below might not be good for the kids to sell (due to alcohol) but as mentioned previous, these offers can be anything such as an appetizer, kids meal, dessert, bucket of balls, games of bowling, something free every day of the year looks like a tremendous value and indeed it is. No more discounting, no more advertising, the value is very easy for customers to experience by simply becoming a Platinum Member. Schools, churches, little leagues and more can sell the Platinum Membership for 1/2 price and keep 1/2 of the proceeds to generate immediate income.

With our proprietary Cause Marketing module, one time donations don’t stop with the sale of the card, they continue 24/7 with complete accountability and transparency. Very few firms understand how to combine sponsorship expertise, cause marketing and platinum memberships into one very powerful revenue generating program. Obviously, we can’t go over everything here, this is just giving you the concept and general idea. We customize solutions for each client.
Barter: Many customers use their Platinum Membership to exchange for FREE radio, TV, and other forms of advertising. One client gives the radio station free Platinum Cards which they then sell on their website for 1/2 price and they keep the other half as pure profit. In return, the radior stations give them thousands of dollars of free publicity, advertising and special promotion, it’s that easy and it really does not cost either party anything!

The real key in designing these programs is to make it a PROFIT stream even when NO MONEY is collected. In other words, by including something free every day of the year with an automatic block on redemeption, it does not matter if you get paid by customers or not, they will come back more often, spend more money and be much happier due to their member benefits. Getting paid is just gravy and getting paid by sponsors is double gravy. The ideas are numerous here with Groupon, Daily Deals and more.

We are experts in all areas of Customer Loyalty and do things that very few firms (if any) can accomplish. It does take a little work and a little planning but the benefits can be substantial. Let me know if you would like to revist any of the ideas above or work on some new ones not even mentioned here!

Gift Cards 85% Concerned

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:29:32 +0000

RETAIL ALERT RESEARCH ARTICLE BELOW: Gift cards are a 100 BILLION dollar industry but retailers are now concerned with how gift cards fit into personalization, loyalty, communication and other similar issues which merchants are now being told are mandatory for survival in the digital age. We already knew this was coming and are ready to go. This is why we have integrated rewards, gift cards, paperless database building, loyalty, communication and everything else on one card so it all fits into a turn-key package to keep merchants profitable and in tune with customer demands. If you have not looked at our solutions lately, it’s very important you do so or find some company like ours to keep your business strong. If you don’t use us, for goodness sakes (actually for profits sake) find a company who does what we do.

These types of solutions are no longer an option or luxury, technology mandates we change the way we do business and the customer is demanding all kinds of new things. If you don’t believe this, then check your garage and see if you have a horse or a car. Smart phones are on the verge of taking over the world! We are adding state of the art mobile solutions to the mix in order to comply with all best practices and the ability to do some amazing things to keep our firm ahead of the curve. This type of innovation and commitment to excellence is required from your business loyalty partner. Make sure the company you work with understands this fact and is not selling you a box of software and wishing you luck, this is no time to settle for anything less than loyalty expertise and cutting edge solutions to make profits stronger while reducing costs at the same time. Your business is too important. We have some challenging financial issues headed our way and the time to prepare is now, don’t wait until it’s too late and your competition starts moving out ahead of you.

Survey finds 85 Percent of retailers concerned about lack of personalization of Gift Cards

09/27/2011

More news like this: More than 85 percent of retailers surveyed at the annual Shop.org Retail Summit in Boston by CashStar were concerned about the lack of personalization of gift cards. Additionally, the survey found that almost half of all retailers surveyed planned to offer eGifting this holiday season and 44 percent were looking at location-based deals as a key element of their mobile marketing strategy.

“As the retail landscape continues to evolve, gift cards and location-based deals are two increasingly important elements of retailers’ sales and marketing strategy,” said David Stone, CEO of CashStar. “While gift cards have reached more than $100 billion in annual sales in the US, their growth is limited by the lack of personalization, as evidenced by this survey. Additionally, as consumers increasingly turn to their smartphones, retailers need to adapt and look at how gift cards and location-based deals can complement each other.”

Other key findings of the survey include:

Digital gifting on the rise—44 percent of those retailers surveyed plan to offer some form of eGift offering this holiday season.
Personalization an issue—85 percent of those surveyed who had an opinion were not satisfied with how consumers can personalize their gift cards. Additionally, by an almost 4:1 margin those respondents found this lack of personalization to be the most significant barrier for adoption.
Mobile marketing a key element of retailers’ strategies—Of those retailers surveyed 72 percent planned to increase their mobile marketing spend this year, with six percent planning to increase it significantly. Only two percent of survey respondents planned to decrease their mobile marketing spend. When it comes to mobile marketing, mobile coupons were the most popular offering (64 percent) followed by location-based deals (44 percent).
Retailers are planning to promote to the last minute—42 percent of those surveyed plan to stop holiday promotions on the last day consumers can ship an item and have it arrive in time for Christmas, but 32 percent plan to continue their promotions to Christmas Eve.

The survey was conducted of exhibitors and attendees at the Shop.org Retail Summit in Boston on September 13-14, 2011.

Oracle Whitepaper Customer Demands

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:53:15 +0000

Editors Notes: Get your free whitepaper below, but if you don’t have time here are the bulleted highlights of this latest upper level study which focused on the top 4 customer demands. We can explain how we have implemented all four of these key demands into our solutions and how you can follow these best practices with your marketing or consulting. Contact me with questions.

Convenience: Customers want to be recognized and rewarded in a simple convenient fashion. They don’t want coupons, paper reminders, or anything else that needs to be remembered. They prefer convenient savings with the ability to get special offers without having to remember anything, check their inbox, print a coupon, or even show a message on their cell phone if possible. The more convenient and simple, the better the result. The easier to understand, the better. Make it convenient and simple, the results are much greater. Many consumers indicated this is why they don’t like points based programs, tiered benefits as compared to instant gratification, or waiting for benefits via a coupon in the mail which many firms continue to use at unnecessary expense to the chagrin of their customers. (including me!)

Speed: More to do with resolution of issues or delivery of product than the experience within the location. But, consumers indicated a willingness to spend several extra minutes in line (if necessary) for quality offers, benefits, documentation and/or follow up information designed to save them money or make their shopping experience more enjoyable.

Relevance: This one was a big one and consumers are fed up with offers that do not relate to their needs or unique buying habits. In the past they simply ignored the message, now they disengage from the brand, defect to a competitor, or visit less often and spend less money when they do.

Relationship: Similar to #3 in that customers want businesses to know who they are, what they purchase, when their birthday or anniversary might be and they want to TRUST them. We have great research on TRUST and just like any relationship, if they can’t trust you with their data, they will divorce you. Maybe not always, but the communication line will be broken. This is very similar to human relationships, customers want to know what are you giving to them in return for their loyalty. If you show with actions that they are not worth investing in, they get the message loud and clear.

Four Effective Service Strategies that Drive Brand Advocacy
Sponsored by Oracle

While efficiency and cost control are important, creating a positive customer experience has become a top priority for companies. Whether delivered via a traditional call center, the Web, email, a mobile device, or in person, customer service is now seen as a differentiator that can provide companies who excel at it with a significant competitive advantage.

The lines between marketing, sales, and service are blurring, and all three are expected to make a contribution to the top line. Today, service executives in every sector are asking themselves how they can create a transformative customer experience.

This new white paper from IT Business Edge and Oracle Corporation, will provide answers that focus on the four key aspects of service that can combine to create a “WOW!” experience: convenience, speed, relevance, and relationship.

Register below to download your complimentary copy.

Starbucks CEO on CNBC Makes Loyalty News

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:27:44 +0000

Howard Schultz CEO of Starbucks (interview link below) made news when pledging to stop political donations until Congress gets their act together. When asked if Starbucks plans to LOWER prices due to the fall in coffee prices, the CEO said it’s not necessary due to our ability to deliver VALUE with the Starbucks card. He then went on to say that Starbucks is having one of its best years ever with the key reason being their Starbucks card in driving loyalty, value, and engagement.

If business owners around the world ever needed a wakeup call, it’s right here in the interview with CNBC. The Starbucks card is a mediocre program AT BEST but when you recognize, reward and value your customers, it not only protects price points, it lifts revenue substantially. Higher profits, price point protection, lower advertising costs, increased visitation, higher average ticket all occur when proper loyalty strategies are implemented yet over 95% of offline retail as yet to realize the importance of implementing these types of programs.

It’s getting more and more important to put these practices in place which is why a company like Starbucks can charge higher prices in the midst of tough economic times and have one of their best years ever! The message is simple, show your customers that you care, reward them for visits, communicate with them based on their needs, wants and desires and profits will increase.

Here is the interview which mainly focuses on the political statement

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000039568

93% Spend More If Loyalty Program

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:30:34 +0000

Editors Notes: Great research article below, the real question is how can any business owner NOT have a loyalty program when 93% of consumers say they would spend more if they did? And if you are going to have a loyalty program, why not have one which does what consumers say they want to see the most? Here are the highlights, go to www.wisemarketer.com for the entire article.

86% said they are more likely to visit a retailer if they have an effective loyalty program in place.
79% prefer high profile simple rewards like cash back with instant redemption
75% want a feel good factor such as membership benefits which are not available to everyone.
72% want to be surprised with special treatment or offers which thank them or their business.
They DON’T want points based programs
They want special offers via email or text but don’t want too many essages and they want the right offers
Communication must be relevant to their needs and desires.
75% cited personal benefits based on spending, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. was very important
62% said they would prefer to have their membership good at other locations or savings with other brands.

Consumers spend more for ‘valuable rewards’

Thursday August 11, 2011

It’s official: customer loyalty drives revenue. But the results of a recent online consumer survey showed very positive responses when asked to think about loyalty in general, with 93% saying they would be most likely to spend more with a brand if it had a great loyalty programme, and 86% saying they would be more likely to visit a particular retailer if there was a valuable loyalty programme to join, according to Sarah Cross at UK-based loyalty consultancy Uber.

Loyalty Key to Panera Success

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:58:54 +0000

Why do some companies go out of business or suffer profit loss while others increase? Loyalty is one key reason and according to Starbucks and Panera THE key reason to increased profits. Notice the importance of building data, being able to query the data and communicate based on relevance. These are the new REQUIREMENTS in the digital age and business owner MUST find a way to get this done at a bare minimum. When Cause Marketing is added to the mix ROI jumps significantly. Bowling Rewards and Loyal Patron are able to do things that Panera Bread and Starbucks are unable to do which are even more successful if rolled out correctly by the business owner. The results are up to the owner to learn, implement, take a little extra time, but whatever it takes, the effort pays off.

Panera Bread Company CEO cites My Panera loyalty program as significant long term initiative

07/28/2011

In his call to shareholders today, Panera Bread Company CEO and President William Moreton reported a strong second quarter with EPS growth growing 39% over the prior year. In doing so, he cited the one-year old My Panera loyalty program as a “significant long term initiative,” expanding on the program’s three primary objectives:
“The first [program objective] is to deepen our customer relationships to building us close to a one-to-one marketing problem as possible, which we believe will result in greater frequency of visits. Second, is to acquire actual customer specific purchasing data to gain broader consumer insights and determine the key drivers of our customer’s buying behavior. The third is to have the My Panera program to be breakeven or modestly have a profitable impact on the business.

“I’m glad to note that the program has been solidly profitable since its inception. However, frankly, deepening our customer relationships and getting actual purchasing data would have been worth an investment on a standalone basis. But to those points, enrollment in the program has continued to grow at a quicker pace than we originally expected, with nearly 7.5 million registered users to-date. I mean, that is a rich, rich, data pool for us. We’ve also clearly seen the program build stronger affiliation with our customers, particularly our most frequent customers from whom we have seen the greatest transaction increase.

“We’re also beginning to use our program data as another tool in customer insight’s toolkit and we are in the first spinning in that effort and we expect it to be very fruitful over the next several years.

“Looking forward, we are running several tests over reward cadence and reward relevance to leverage the program to drive even greater response on a more cost-efficient basis.”

Launched nationally last year, My Panera offers members complimentary bakery-cafe items, exclusive previews and tastings or cooking and baking tips. Special events, ideas for entertaining, and recipe books are also rewards member can expect. More information here.

Source: Panera Bread Company

Redemption Key to Success

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:53:03 +0000

Survey: Bank customers quick to sign up for debit rewards programs – but slow to redeem

07/28/2011

As banks increasingly eliminate debit rewards programs as a result of changing legislation, Mintel Comperemedia surveyed consumers on their debit reward behavior and attitudes. No surprise, debit card programs alone aren’t likely to foster customer loyalty, as 47% of respondents who participate in a debit rewards program have never redeemed their points.

“Obviously, a couple different types of people fall into the group who never redeem debit rewards points — some are saving up for something bigger, while others simply haven’t accumulated enough points,” says Susan Wolfe, VP of financial services at Mintel Comperemedia. “However, a number of people participate in a debit rewards program because it’s so easy to sign up but never use the program again. If so, it indicates that the rewards program isn’t working as a way to instill loyalty.”

Mintel Comperemedia segmented survey respondents into three groups: heavy (redeem about once a month), medium (redeem every few to every six months) and light (redeem once a year) redeemers. Thirty-six percent of heavy redeemers and 30% of medium redeemers, compared to 55% of light redeemers, would continue to use their debit card the same way if their bank eliminated their debit rewards program — further suggesting that debit rewards programs are not a strong incentive to stick with a particular banking institution.

“Overall, rewards aren’t going away, and many banks will continue to offer and promote these programs,” adds Susan Wolfe. “But we will see a shift in that rewards are offered as a benefit to different levels of customers and in that way, they will become part of an overall loyalty program — rather than just a debit rewards program.”

The survey also assessed consumers’ willingness to pay for a debit rewards program and found that 36% of heavy redeemers are willing to pay as much as $4/month for their debit reward program, while 61% would be willing to pay $1/month. Not surprisingly, it’s those who redeem often who are most willing to pay extra for the benefits.

Redemption Key to Success

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:47:05 +0000

Editors Notes: Redemption is key to success. For those who think ‘breakage’ on non-use of rewards is a good thing, many studies have shown that those customer are far less profitable than those who redeem rewards on a regular basis. Points based programs cause confusion which is why a simple cash back reward loyalty incentive which allows customers to redeem their rewards immediately, (even the same day) have much higher success and ROI.

CVS/pharmacy puts redemption promotion front and center

Filed Under (Customer Engagement, Posted on 07-25-2011

A continuing loyalty conversation centers around redemption, from those who consider “breakage” (lack of redemption) only as an advantage for the issuers (who save the expense of fulfilling a redemption), to those who realize that, simply put, “redemption is good.” Good because it engages the customer and proves program value and, therefore, inspires the customer to continue the relationship and earn further rewards. In fact, COLLOQUY has proven that customers who redeem, particularly multiple times, are more valuable overall than those who don’t.

So we cheer the companies who encourage redemption. There are a variety of ways to do so, of course. But myself, I especially appreciate the ones that speak directly to each customer, helping him or her visualize what’s immediately available with current point accruals–as well as what might be obtainable with a bit of future spend.

I appreciate, too, inventive attempts to grab the program members’ attention in the first place. In that regard, a company in the “redemption is good” camp having a bit of fun is CVS/pharmacy, which recently introduced a campaign to encourage customers to redeem their rewards in its ExtraCare Rewards program. “MoneyTrashers” is the name of the campaign. ExtraCare customers earn ExtraCare Bucks, displayed on their receipts, that are redeemed in future visits by turning in those past receipts. Customers who toss out those receipts, the campaign emphasizes, are simply lining a wastebasket with money.

MoneyTrashers is direct and funny–the latter quality emphazized by a series of humorous videos driving home the point. One is a self-described “mockumentary” about abandoned receipts, brought to you by “People for the Equal Treatment of Cash.” Find the videos here on Facebook–where customers can get social and vote for their favorite.

What particularly stands out is just the pure fact that the campaign is dedicated to an important element of loyalty program success: redemption, and customer recognition of its value. As well, in times when loyalty reward programs can serve as economic “helping hands” (the very topic of our cover story coming out at the end of this week, by the way, with further thoughts from CVS/pharmacy) the savings message can be particularly effective.

Email Metrics: Open, Click Rates Highest in the Morning

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:08:26 +0000

Email Metrics: Open, Click Rates Highest in the Morning

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.

Update for Keegan

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:08:49 +0000

Keegan, this is a MUST read for any business team: Here is more research showing the necessity of what we do. Micros can’t do it and neither can any other solution for less than 25k up-front and over $1500 per month and they don’t have custom loyalty solutions for any business let alone the sport of bowling. Notice how they mention the importance of OWNING your database, something you should be very concerned about. Your customers are extremely valuable and you will lose trust with them if you allow other companies to market to them without your permission and you have already given your previous solution the green light by agreeing to let them own your data so you have no say so in the matter, something that should send shivers up your spine.

Whatever you need to do, you simply MUST get ownership back of that data and be able to query that data with timely information based on their needs, their purchase behavior, their demographic information and much more. As Beth Standlee says, it’s all about SERVING the customer and this is the NEW digital age which MANDATES businesses do this or face serious decline in revenue or go out of business (their quote not mine, see below).

We would love to work with you, the industry needs more Keegans who lead the way by example. I feel we should not focus on the little things, let’s get the big things taken care of and we can work out all the little needs as we go.

Take care,

Adapt or Perish: The New Dynamics of Digital Marketing
by Joel Book
Published on June 7, 2011

Attracting engaging, and retaining customers in the digital age of marketing is challenging and competitive, to say the least. Customers today are more empowered, more demanding, and more influential than ever.

The antiquated one-to-many monologue of mass marketing has given way to the one-to-one digital dialogue of engagement marketing that is fueled by customer data and enabled by interactive marketing technology.

To accelerate marketing and sales performance, companies must “unsilo” their old single-channel marketing strategies and adopt a true integrated multichannel strategy for managing the conversation with customers. And they need to do it in real time.

Or, as Forrester Research noted in a November 2010 report, CMO Mandate: Adapt or Perish: “In the future, there will be two types of companies—those that are agile and adapt to consumers’ changing media behavior and those that go out of business.”

From Campaign Management to Interaction Management

The days of the “single-channel” customer are gone, and they’re not coming back. Today’s customer interacts with a brand through multiple channels, online and offline. Every conversation, every interaction a customer has with a brand—whether face-to-face or via email, phone, website, Twitter, Facebook, or SMS—shapes the customer’s opinion and influences how she talks about the brand.

When those channels operate independently, rather than cohesively, messages often conflict, offers are not consistent, and customers perceive the brand as dysfunctional and totally unprepared to anticipate and respond to their needs. Not exactly a positive brand experience.

On the flipside, however, when a brand creates a single database of knowledge about that customer and uses it to deliver consistent messages and timely offers across multiple channels, the customer’s brand experience is quite different.

That is the fundamental difference between campaign management and interaction management.

All Marketing Has Become Direct Marketing

All marketing has become direct marketing. And successful direct marketing requires accurate customer data so marketers can make smart decisions about when and where to engage individual customers, what information or offer to deliver, and how to craft the message to maximize response.

Marketers rely on purchase data, demographics, needs, preferences, and life-cycle-stage information to group customers and prospects into segments. Poor data quality hinders marketers’ ability to accurately segment and target their customers and prospects. That means customers could be placed in the wrong segment, and offers could be ill-timed, or worse, irrelevant. As a result, marketers may not trust the accuracy of their performance-measurement and analytics systems; moreover, they can be easily misguided as a result of having made decisions based on inaccurate data.

To deliver relevant and timely information, offers, and invitations to customers, companies must “unsilo” customer data and create one database that is used to make smart marketing decisions and fuel the digital dialogue with customers.

Customer Data Is The New Black

Few assets are more valuable than a company’s customer base. Yet most companies are more systematic about managing their office supplies than their customers.

According to a recent study conducted by eConsultancy, 98% of marketers use at least three channels to deliver messages to their customers, but more than half still store the data they gather from each channel in separate, siloed locations. In the same study, only 35% of marketers report that they collect data from different sources and store it in a single database. And when asked about the challenges of multichannel marketing, 71% cited maintaining high-quality data as a major challenge.

A company’s customer base should be managed like an investment portfolio. Like good investment advisers, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service all share responsibility for maximizing the performance of that portfolio. And that requires a single source of reliable customer data that fuels the operations of each department.

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.

Rewards cards: Consumers love ‘em, retailers don’t

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:42:19 +0000

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.

Four Rules for Higher Profits

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:59:08 +0000

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

This email was sent by: 1to1 Media
1111 Summer Street, 5th Floor Stamford, CT, 06905, USA

You are receiving this Peppers & Rogers Group email because you have opted in to hear about special offers available to 1to1media.com opt-in users. Read our privacy policy. If you would like to be excluded from future communications, please opt out.

Survey Amazes Experts

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:10:20 +0000

Editors Notes: I am amazed as well, we are seeing a very poor work ethic from many business owners who ignore research and do not pay attention to their customers. Actually, this creates a golden opportunity for any business owner (no matter what industry) to make a huge difference in their bottom line. Customer loyalty is easy to employ, offers immediate revenue advantages, ( in our case many clients get paid large sums of money in advance from sponsors) helps shield the business from future financial downturns, lowers existing marketing and advertising costs, protects price points so coupons or discounting are virtually eliminated, and much more. You would think with all the benefits above, businesses would be clamoring to implement solutions that are so important to their bottom line. For those who desire to pay attention, the timing has never been better. Membership ideas are mentioned in the last paragraph. Make sure and review this 4 minute video on memberships for restaurants. The same concept can be customized for any model.

http://screencast.com/t/jA8c1AExVqvb

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.

More Info:

http://www.collinsonlatitude.com

Email ROI Maximizer

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 17:48:55 +0000

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:

Important Email-Text Research

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:03:59 +0000

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

http://www.thewisemarketer.com/news/read.asp?lc=t95921px3479zx&version=printable

Untargeted e-marketing loses most customers

Thursday June 30, 2011

Marketers need to take into account customer preferences and understand their behaviour in order to approach them at the right time, in an appropriate tone, and with the correct offer. They need to know if email is more effectively employed in conjunction with communications through other channels for particular customers and whether, in fact, a customer is even worth investing the time and effort to pursue.

Drilling down into customer data provides important insight, allowing brands to deliver relevant promotions and incentives which help grow the customer relationship and encourage the consumer to consider purchasing items they have not purchased from the firm before, or even to make a higher cost type of purchase. If, instead, consumers keep receiving irrelevant communications from a brand they have entrusted with their email address, their disappointment may lead them to do more than just unsubscribe – it could cause them to break off their purchasing relationship with the firm entirely.

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.

Importance of Trust

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:34:49 +0000

Very Important Business Owner Alert: Communication from the service provider was the biggest indication of trust and trust holds the keys to higher profits in the digital age. As mobile and text become more prevalent, losing trust will be the danger of doing things incorrectly, and once trust is lost it’s much harder to get it back than not losing it in the first place. Blasting messages out via email or text could cause tremendous damage or defection without the business owner (or brand) even knowing the problem. The digital age has changed the game, it is no longer good enough to build a database without the ability to query that data which is tied to the transaction for relevance. Cause Marketing is another huge step forward in building trust. Combining relevance, rewards and cause marketing with an integrated loyalty and communication platform is the holy grail for business owners. If you don’t purchase our solutions, make sure and find someone, it’s essential for survival in the digital age.

Study examines trust in consumer relationships

Wednesday June 22, 2011

Communication from a service provider is one of the leading influencers of consumer trust, according to a research study by the ECSP Europe Business School and customer data expert Pitney Bowes Business Insight.

The study, entitled ‘The Role of Trust in Consumer Relationships’, found that customer communication drives more than 20% of overall consumer trust in a company, affecting not only the length of customer relationships but also business profitability and customer advocacy (i.e. word-of-mouth). sschroed1 This article is copyright 2011 TheWiseMarketer.com).

Word of Mouth Champions

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:09:09 +0000

Editors Notes: Another key advantage with proper loyalty solutions is Word of Mouth Champions! Business owners can be devoured by bad publicity and eaten alive . We often hear that WOM is the best form of advertising but the best way to get customers referring our business to others is NOT due to our food, prices, or anything tied to product quality.

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.

Email-Text Research and Assignment

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 17:52:46 +0000

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.

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

Editors Notes: More verification of the new importance of proper communication below and it’s going beyond relevance. In a simple nutshell, business owners MUST have a system that builds a database without paper forms and ties the customer to the transaction while issuing rewards and donations for the purchase. The program needs to be integrated with an email and text program to communicate with customers based on their needs, their wants, their purchase behavior etc. If you think email is getting tough, the same requirements and then some will be true for mobile. The days of thinking you can just sign up for a texting program or email program and start blasting offers with coupons are long gone. Loyalty experts with proper solutions have never been more important. There are very few firms who even understand how to deliver this type of solution let alone offer the solution. www.BowlingRewards.com and www.LoyalPatron.com are two of them and offer many more robust features at a fraction of the price than other systems which charge much more.

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).

Free Subway for a Week

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:55:02 +0000

Editors Notes: What if Platinum Membership into Subway for $29.95 per year included 30 free foot longs per year? Would you join for $30.00? Limit one per visit or three per month. How about 1 per day for 30 days during the slowest month? I would estimate 10 million people would join generating 300 million per year for Subway with membership fees. Loading value which gives customers something FREE every day is a fantastic strategy, especially when you make this offer part of a membership and it drops off if not used. Let’s be more creative with offers that guarantee loyalty and frequency while changing behavior habits such as the offer above or similar to the offer below. Entertainment venues need to offer similar programs such as one free game of bowling every day of the year. Golf courses might offer a free bucket of balls every day for a year, how about a free car wash every week or 52 car washes for $69.95 Platinum Membership, one per week sponsored by Turtle Wax who pays large sponsor fees for upgrades with Turtle Wax.

Vote Now to Claim Your Free Subway for a Week

Click Here to Claim Your Week of Subway Now – See Details Now!

Get Free Subway for a Week. Details apply.

Important Update – Dead Men Walking

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:44:25 +0000

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

Top 25 Frequent Flyer Programs Compared

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 18:58:08 +0000

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).

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

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

Coupons Without Discounting!

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:20:34 +0000

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!

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.
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
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.

David Letterman’s Top Ten Cause Marketing

amiller — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:59:25 +0000

David Letterman’s (Steve Schroeder’s) Top Ten Cause Marketing Benefits

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.
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.
No more discounting. Cause Marketing protects profit margins making customers feel better about paying full price.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Partnering with Banks – Financial Institutions

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 27 May 2011 22:45:16 +0000

Research Article Below: Editors Notes: Banks, Insurance Companies, Financial Institutions etc. make ideal sponsors for bowling centers, restaurants, and general retail. We have additional reports but banks are in big need of loyalty solutions and very few know how to do this on their own. The best solution is to partner with a local business owner (pay the local business owner $5,000 per year sponsorship fee) where transactions occur much more frequently (on a daily basis) and drive good will to the brand. We have custom presentations ready to go and have secured $1000s of dollars for our clients and can do so for you. Here is a brief step by step guide to secure money. Let’s use a bowling center as an example, each business will have custom applications.

Approach a local bank about branding their logo or branch on the loyalty card as exclusive sponsor in their space.
Include the banking information and agreed upon promo on the thank you email to every customer.
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.
Offer double cash back rewards if the customer pays with the banks branded credit card or debit card.
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
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.
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

Customer acquisition and retention costs a lot in the financial services sector, and that calls for deeper relationships to help keep customers loyal over time. With a growing ease of switching, relying on inertia is no longer an option to keep customers tied in, so financial service institutions in every country have identified the need to adjust their customer loyalty strategy to suit today’s highly competitive marketplace

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

Huge Business Paradigm Shift Cause Marketing

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:04:08 +0000

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).

Gift and Loyalty Program Accounting FAQ

amiller — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:21:26 +0000

Accounting for gift and loyalty program activity can be exceedingly complex and highly dependent on local and state statues, conformity to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and basis of accounting (cash or accrual). As a business owner you should consult your accountant for guidance and tax ramifications on any decision made or contemplated concerning your business. Because of the complicated tax code and the uniqueness of every business no tax advice is given nor should tax advice be implied. However, we feel it’s important to be familiar with the basics so we have consulted with local CPA Bill Oswald from Morey, Nee, Buck & Oswald, to establish some broad guidelines and answer frequently asked questions when it comes to accounting for gift and reward liabilities and redemptions under US GAAP. This Q&A is published below for your reference.

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?

CPA Response: The merchant accrues a donation liability at the completion of each qualifying sale that resulted in the accrual of donations for a cardholder’s non-profit organization.

Q8: For merchants who run fundraising applications, who receives the charitable deduction, the merchant who paid the donation or the cardholder who “earned” the donation for his or her charitable cause?

CPA Response: Although the cardholder’s sales activity at the merchant triggers the donation back to the cardholder’s organization, the merchant receives the tax deduction since the merchant is the entity that is actually paying (funding) the charitable organization. The cardholder is not entitled to record a charitable deduction on their tax return for these types of donations.

Aberdeen Group Research on Rebates – Loyalty

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:41:21 +0000

Editors Notes: Don’t be confused with 50% of retailers using rebates. Over 45% of the 50% using rebates do so incorrectly or make receiving the rebate cumbersome, time consuming, inflexible or all three! Instant cash back rewards are preferred by over 80% of consumers but many business owners continue to shun their customers and not listen to their requests. Here are the top three requests which less than 3% of business or brands listen too. There are millions of customers waiting for someone to listen to them and they will support the ones who do with loyalty, frequency, and higher spending.

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

One in every two retailers using rebates to drive customer responsiveness
05/18/2011

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

Fascinating New Customer Study

Steve Schroeder — Sat, 21 May 2011 17:54:51 +0000

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:

Understand what makes people tick
Re-examine assumptions about human nature and behaviour, based on the latest scientific research;
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;
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.

9 Ways to Increase Customer Loyalty

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 16 May 2011 17:41:31 +0000

Editors Notes: White Paper research below. If you don’t have time to download, the study indicates how brands, retail businesses and outlets need to understand who their customers are and how to communicate with them to lift profits. The void is tremendous, almost 90% of restaurants/bowling centers/smaller retail don’t even have a loyalty program in place in spite of the overwhelming evidence as the most important aspect of their business. The ones who do are sorely lacking in relevant communication options, points based programs which consumers don’t want, and how to deliver proper offers. Building a profitable business is as simple as listening to customers and since so few brick and mortar locations have anything in place, those who act first will prosper for years.

Allegiance cites 9 ways increase customer loyalty

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.”

More Info: http://www.allegiance.com

Today Show MSNBC Features Loyalty

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:17:23 +0000

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/

National Radio Interview Cause Marketing

Steve Schroeder — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:01:21 +0000

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.

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

Interview with Steve Schroeder on Cause Marketing

amiller — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:37:55 +0000

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.

Peppers and Rogers On Demand

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:54:02 +0000

Invitation to on demand webinar form Peppers and Rogers below.

Here is an on demand webinar from Peppers and Rogers about the rapidly changing face of customer loyalty. If you have time to watch it, there are many things to learn. If you don’t have time I will break down the highlights below and the key themes customers are requesting but very few business owners seem to care about or know how to address. We are intimately acquainted with these needs as we saturate ourselves in research and have solutions ready for you.

Customers are changing along with technology and it’s mandatory for business owners to understand what their customers are requesting and what they expect when spending their money. In this new customer loyalty age, businesses who continue to ignore these requests and concerns will see a significant drop off in revenue. Understanding these concepts and principles and then utilizing and implementing a turn-key program which addresses these needs is very important to the bottom line.

Here are the highlights

Customer trust is absolutely essential today. We are no longer dealing with transactions, we are dealing with relationships.
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.
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.

Dear Steve,

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

Why High Oil Prices Can Be Good

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:31:11 +0000

Another great newsletter by Paul Kreins with excellent ideas. This one talks a little bit about using high gas prices as a customer service benefit. When gas is high, then business owners who step in and help can earn a lifetime of loyalty. Here are 3 ideas we have used at bowling centers or restaurants in the past that have proven very successful.

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.
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.
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

Monday Morning Management Report

Steve Schroeder — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:14:24 +0000

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.

Cash back rewards to value their business and use for their next purchase. No points, no coupons being mailed for redemption.
Relevant communication NOT an email blast but the ability to query the data and send offers based on purchase or visits.
Special offers and members only benefits. Learn how to create a membership into your business, it’s easy and lucrative.
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

U.S. loyalty memberships value register in the billions

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:47:24 +0000

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.

Groupon Research Article

Steve Schroeder — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:15:00 +0000

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

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
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.
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!
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

By JAY GOLTZ

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:

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

40 percent incremental costs (mostly food).
$85 average ticket ($10 more than the coupon).
85 percent redeemed.
40 percent used by existing customers.
Two bought per customer.
10 percent come back again — or send friends.
$1,000 advertising value.
$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.

Dunkin Gets F for Flunkin

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:55:50 +0000

Editors Notes: Dunkin Donuts Launches Loyalty Program, Makes Numerous Fundamental Mistakes

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

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.
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.
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.
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.

Membership Update

Steve Schroeder — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:42:22 +0000

Editors Notes: Here is a good idea for bowling centers, retail outlets and other locations which we have written about for years. Creating memberships. Yes, there are a number of fundamental mistakes with the offers below such as points and redemption issues but the idea is good. The simple solution to the concept below is to make one MASTER membership program such as Platinum Membership into the restaurant or bowling center. If you were to create multiple memberships such as a Pepsi Membership, Open Play Membership, League Bowler Membership, Laser Tag Membership, Pro Shop Membership, Hamburger Membership, Chili Cheese Fries Membership, OK OK, you get the idea Multiple memberships to targeted brands opens up sponsorship revenue. Here are a few other ideas from our new series coming out. How many restaurants have you joined?

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.

Win $500.00 – Masters Contest

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:52:29 +0000

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!

©2011
You are currently subscribed to this list as $substr(‘Recip.EmialAddr’) If you would like to unsubscrbe please send a blank email to (copy and paste the entire link): $substr(‘Email.UnSub’)

Important Cause Marketing Research

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:13:19 +0000

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.

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

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.”

Next: Choose Your Cause With Care

Entertainment Center General Overview

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

Key Slideshows

http://www.bowlcard.com/pages/program_overview.

Groupon: The Debate Continues – even if successful, is it a one off program?

Steve Schroeder — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:54:32 +0000

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:

You can negotiate a more favorable split than 50/50 with the Groupon administrator. I have done a 60/40 deal.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.

Women More Promiscuous

Steve Schroeder — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:45:13 +0000

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

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.
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 Loyalty Insert

Steve Schroeder — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:57:25 +0000

USA Today 16 page loyalty insert March 2011 –

To down load click here.

How to Accelerate Cardholder Activations

amiller — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:50:11 +0000

Introduction Alert: Before going into the many ways to increase activations, we need to make sure our offer is worth activating. In other words, if there is a problem with our offer or it’s not strong enough, then even the best strategies will be limited in success. The opposite is also true, the better our offer, the more activations we will have since more people will want to take advantage of our offer. Here is a quick check list to make sure we are following best practices. Not everything below is ‘required’ of course, but the better the offer, the better the success. Here are 5 quick reminders before we start to make sure your offer is ready to go.

Do we have a minimum of 10% cash back rewards being issued with the intention of increasing this amount later?
Do we have anything pre-loaded on our cards such as $5.00 or $10.00 in rewards or a free meal?
Do we have a fundraising component in place of at least 5% donation back to local non-profits?
Do we offer double and triple rewards on certain items and make these offers visible to our customers?
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.

How to Rebuttal the Client Issue of Integration with Existing POS Systems

amiller — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:51:23 +0000

Introduction

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)

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

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.

Wild Boars Training

Fuel Rewards for Restaurants

Using Memberships for Barter

Protecting Price Points

15 Ways Loyalty and Business Growth

15 ways a loyalty strategy will create business growth

52 Million Loyalty Members Rite Aid

Student Rewards 365

Video Business Alert

Customer Rewards How To Article with Commentary

Generation C Amazing Research

The Importance of Wallet Branding

Thank You Note Sponsorship and Branding

Best Practices Mobile Video

7 Ways to Romance Clients

Membership Video for Bowling Centers

Turn Key Employee Training For Restaurants

Important Cause Marketing Illustrated

AT&T Preparing for Membership Rewards

Business Warning Relevance

Softball Team Offering Club Cards

Captain Morgan Club Arlington Stadium

Enterprise Memberships

Qdoba Wild Boars Report

Jiffy Lube Text Spam Lawsuit

The End of Business As Usual

Relevance Being Underserved

Panera Bread 10 Million Members

Related Stories

Loyalty Research Numbers March 2012

U.S. Canadian Alert

Loblaw targets a well-oiled loyalty program

marina strauss — RETAILING REPORTER

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

Increasing Activations with Wheels of Fortune!

Impt New Loyalty Research Numbers

Today Show MSNBC Features Loyalty

Industry Alert – Papa Johns

Discounting Math Breakdown

The poison of discounting

Bowling and Golf Marketing

Rewards Wheel of Fortune

6000 Stores Terrible Marketing

Industry Alert – Customer Loyalty Updates – Papa Johns

Industry Alert – Fuel Rewards

Industry Alert – Customer Loyalty Updates – Nordstroms

Valvoline Update

LOVE Training Starbuck

Industry Alert – Customer Loyalty Research Updates

Positive Impact of Customer Engagement on Financial Performance

Loyalty Research Important Info

Important Research Engagement

Supermarkets and Bowling

Piggly Wiggly Launches Cash-Back Incentives

Shell Launches Rewards Program

Theodore Roosevelt Advertising Advice

Dating, Marriage, and Marketing

Stop Pushing, Start Engaging: How Marketing Mimics Dating

Word Of Mouth New Stats

Church of the Customer Blog

October 17, 2011

14 new statistics about word of mouth marketing

Data Being Abused

Economic Choices for Business

Groupon Struggles Undiscounted Loyalty

Platinum Memberships Explained

Gift Cards 85% Concerned

Oracle Whitepaper Customer Demands

Starbucks CEO on CNBC Makes Loyalty News

93% Spend More If Loyalty Program

Loyalty Key to Panera Success

Redemption Key to Success

Redemption Key to Success

Email Metrics: Open, Click Rates Highest in the Morning

Email Metrics: Open, Click Rates Highest in the Morning

Update for Keegan

Rewards cards: Consumers love ‘em, retailers don’t

Four Rules for Higher Profits

Survey Amazes Experts

Email ROI Maximizer