Loyalty Marketing and More…

There was a panel recently at the Direct Marketing Association’s annual meeting in San Diego comprised of some of the top people in Coalition Loyalty marketing. These company leaders from around the globe included representatives from AIR MILES, FlyBuys, Payback and Upromise. And one thing they all agreed on was that a true Coalition Loyalty program that has national reach and national appeal is destined for launch in the United States. The question in my mind is which of those companies, or one of their able competitors, will be the company to figure out how to make Coalition Loyalty work? (more…)

American Express today announced that it is acquiring Revolution Money from Revolution LLC, a company founded by AOL founder Steve Case. Revolution Money processes payments over the Internet without transmitting names or account numbers, and cardholders use a personal identification number to authorize transactions online. Revolution Money was trying to reinvent the world of credit cards by drastically reducing transaction fees (in some cases a few percentage points) paid by the retailers. Revolution Money struggled early on to find both cardholders and merchants willing to accept their cards. But a recent search within 15 miles of my zip code found almost 100 merchants. Not bad considering where they started. The WSJ came out with an article quickly and seems to think the deal will be beneficial for both side.  I’m sure this will provide some much needed money to help the business grow but I worry about Amex’s intentions with the company. They typically have some of the highest interchange fees and many merchants won’t take Amex cards because of those fees. How will developing a system that reduces interchange fees be good for Amex and its industry brethren? Only time will tell. From a consumer standpoint, the Revolution Card, which is the plastic consumers carry, had some Loyalty program options associated with the card. It will be interesting to see if card holders can now earn Membership Rewards or some other currency in the future. Stay tuned…this could get interesting.

I received a comment today that said I need to update my Blog more often. I know that is true so will do my best to do so. It’s been so long since I’ve written anything that there are too many possible things to discuss. I think I’ll pick a few and then continue to add topics over time.

Some Upromise Updates

I had the pleasure of participating in the 2009 Chat Bash online chat about rewards programs hosted by CompareRewards.com. I was there to help answer questions about Upromise where I have my day job. It was really interesting to chat with members and have the ability to answer questions about Upromise and how the program works. If you aren’t familiar with CompareRewards, this is a site that discusses the pros and cons of the many different cash-back programs available to consumers. It’s a great way to learn about the various programs out there if you have any questions. It’s also a great resource for updates on changes in the various programs. (more…)