Loyalty Marketing and More…

So I have been remiss in writing for this Blog for the past month – things seem to be very hectic and this is the part of the business that suffers. Loyalty Marketers continues to move along with various consulting assignments both in the Loyalty Marketing space as well as the Website consulting space. They don’t necessarily make sense together though they are the skills “we” bring to the table. Our latest website project should be going live soon – it is now in internal Beta – and once it is we’ll publish the link. The site looks great thanks to the wonderful work of Embolden Design of Rhode Island. They specialize in non-profits and do fabulous work.

On the Loyalty Marketing front, I came across an interesting article in AdAge about the impact of Cause Marketing on consumer behavior. According to the article, consumers will choose a particular company for their spending based on the causes those companies take up. For example, Box Tops for Education by General Mills or the various companies that use the Susan G. Komen for the Cure logo on their packaging. There are many examples of companies that use Cause Marketing in one form or another with the hope that it will improve consumer perception and ultimately improve the bottom line.

I’m a big believer in Cause Marketing because it provides a simple way for people to support causes they believe in. The interesting part comes from those people who could care less about the cause but still buy the product because they want the product. There may still be some residual benefit among this crowd and it would be interesting to see that measured.

One thing I question though is whether someone is more motivated to support a cause such as a respected non-profit like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital vs. their own self-interest. For example, if one company supported a charity through your purchase and the other gave you rebate for your purchase through a Loyalty Program like Upromise to help someone save for their own child’s college education, it would be interesting to know which one might have the greater impact on consumers.

What do you think – what motivates you when making purchase decisions?

Upromise launched a new addition to its service recently that should catch some attention. Upromise was already one of the few, if not the only program that had a grocery program that rewards members for purchasing specific items in the grocery store with a contribution (in this case college savings but it could just as easily be points). For example, buy Nestle Toll House Morsels and you receive 1% of the purchase price in your Upromise account.

Well Upromise has a new program they are calling eCoupons. The idea behind the program is the member can receive a specific amount (not a percentage) in their account by opting in for a coupon and then purchasing the item. When you opt in for the coupon, the offer gets loaded onto your grocery loyalty card so you have to remember to use the card when you shop in store.

Assuming you like the offers presented, this appears to be a great opportunity for people to earn more for their accounts. Much more than the typical 1% or 2%. The offers out there today range from $.50 - $5.00. It looks like new offers will be made available every month so it’s definitely worth checking back. I’ll be curious to see what new offers become available in the future.

What do you think? Have you used this new platform? Help your fellow readers and let us know what you think.

I got an email from someone I know recently that caught me by surprise. When you know someone in a particular setting and then come across them in an entirely different one it can catch you off guard. This person is someone I know through my children’s weekend religious school. But it turns out she’s a Marketing person and recently launched a new Affiliate Marketing website. It’s an interesting concept and one that might be worth your attention. The site is FrumUs.com. Note the slightly odd spelling of “from.” I guess the correct spelling domain wasn’t available.

In any event, the site allows people who are giving a group gift to collect money from everyone, online, and then make a purchase from the sites associated merchants. There is no cost for pulling this together though FromUs earns the affiliate commissions the purchases generate. But that’s a small fee to pay to avoid the hassle of trying to collect money from all the parents of kids on your child’s sports team etc.

Whether the site takes off or not will really come down to users - will enough find the site on its own to drive real business? Acquiring customers for a site like this will not be easy. Stay tuned and if you check out the site, let us know what you think.

Upromise, the folks that help millions of families save for college has launched a new promotion with Volkswagen that will allow members to earn $1,500 on the purchase of a new Volkswagen minivan - the Routan. This sounds like a really great fit given the Upromise demographic with lots of soccer moms. Members have to pre-order their vehicle before it actually goes on sale and take delivery by the end of November. But the car looks really cool (if you like minivans) and comes at a variety of price levels. Anyone in the market for a minivan should check this out and if you aren’t already a Upromise member, you should join just to get this rebate.

In other news, Incentive Solutions has launched a new business-to-business Loyalty offering for mid-size U.S. companies. Incentive is based in New Zealand and is making their first foray into the U.S. with Reward Paths. Having worked on a number of BtoB Loyalty programs and done a variety of research on what solutions are out there, this is welcome news.

It also appears that Citizens Bank, which has its own Citizens Bank Rewards Program, is shifting around their program. Consumers are now required to opt-in and even pay a fee if they don’t meet certain basic requirements. Here’s a link to their explanation. This is a great idea in my book as it will re-engage those who may have dropped off or kick out the dead wood. I know some other programs that should consider a similar strategy.

Finally, the folks at uBoost have re-launched their service with a variety of upgrades and enhancements. For those of you that don’t remember or didn’t read my previous post, uBoost is an educational rewards program that helps incent children to do well in school. It’s a great concept and if you haven’t done so already, you should check it out.

YALP! It might not be as creative as YAHOO! but there’s another Loyalty Program out there you may not have heard of yet. This one is around rewarding people for being healthy. The company is Virgin HealthMiles, brought to you by the famous Brit Richard Branson and his Virgin empire. Here’s a bit from their boilerplate:

Virgin HealthMiles brings the latest in health & fitness innovation to the United States with a first-of-its-kind health rewards program that motivates and rewards members for getting active.

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There was an interesting announcement recently about Loyalty company Chockstone. According to the following story/press release, Chockstone has introduced a new program that allows merchants to offer a turn-key Loyalty program without having to issue any type of Loyalty tracking device. Chockstone now offers what they are calling “SingleSwipe” as a way for a consumer to use an existing credit card with a merchant and have that transaction rewarded. While it’s a bit unclear exactly what services are provided to these merchants (for example credit card processing), it does sound like Chockstone will manage a registered card program and keep personally identifiable information private and protect credit card numbers through PCI Compliance. Read the rest of this entry »

You may have seen the news recently that Starbucks is considering rolling out a Loyalty program. Howard Schultz, the returning CEO to Starbucks did an interview with Andy Serwer of Fortune Magazine. According to Schultz, “…we will do more things to better reward our most loyal and best customers.” The rumored program will be based on their customers using a stored value card (a.k.a. a gift card) to make their purchases. Stored value cards are becoming increasingly popular and the ability to re-load the cards with additional funds makes it simple for consumers to pay quickly and get to their much needed caffeine. Read the rest of this entry »

Rumors are swirling around the fact that Rainbow Rewards is having problems. I have it from a very reliable source that people at Rainbow Reward have their resumes on the market because they are concerned with the long-term viability of the program. Rainbow Rewards is like most other Rewards programs but they’ve taken their program a bit further with the addition of lots of “local” merchants. Small local merchants often struggle to participate in national coalition Loyalty programs due to the cost of participation, the difficulty of data sharing and matching, and the small numbers of participating members. But even small numbers of shoppers can be a big advantage. Look for more national coalition programs to begin rolling out local programs over the next 12 – 24 months as the pool of large national merchants reaches a saturation point of companies willing to participate. And look for more Local only programs such as Boston Community Change from Interra OS. Local will be a way these companies can continue to grow.

If you’re interested in learning more about Loyalty, there is an upcoming conference that might interest you. Check out the IQPC 2nd Customer Loyalty Conference on March 31, 2008 at Stonebriar Resort. They have some very interesting companies presenting and an international base of attendees joining them.

There’s a new service that launched recently in the world of Loyalty that aims to take the traditional “coupon” and turn it on its end. There are lots of pros and cons around coupons for both the company issuing the coupon as well as the consumer using it. From a company perspective, how many times have they wondered about giving a discount to someone who would have bought the product anyway? Even with all the sophisticated data collection, tracking technologies and analytic services, proving incremental sales as a result of coupons isn’t easy. On the other hand, if a coupon gets someone to make a purchase that might otherwise have opted for a competitive brand, as long as you get enough of these, can make a coupon campaign a real winner. Read the rest of this entry »

Has it really been that long since my last post? I know things have been busy but time has really been flying. There have been lots of interesting and exciting things happening in the world of Loyalty. Maybe you’ve seen them and maybe you haven’t. In either event, I’ll point out some interesting developments in the next few posts and will be curious for your feedback.
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