Loyalty

Our own Phil Rubin is a strong advocate for Amazon as evidenced by his numerous mentions and posts. His passion for this brand sparked an interest in Chris Fischer, our VP of Strategy and a new Amazon customer.

We all struggle with relationships, so it’s no wonder that brands struggle with relationship marketing. There are self-help books by the millions for individuals and for marketers, too. Despite this, it’s still hard for all of us to get the basics right. Stepping back from the marketing strategy, let’s look at everyday life for clues on how to avoid those bad relationships.

Too much of a seemingly “good thing” reduces the impact of promotional offers when everyone is fighting for your customers’ attention. Having an offer strategy that takes into account different segments’ characteristics, preferences and/or purchase history will boost the response rate and yield truly incremental sales.

I recently attended the Social Media Integration Conference held at Kennesaw State University, and it was such a treat to hear all the talented professionals share their insights. One of my favorite and most applicable seminars was Mack Collier's "Think Like a Rockstar." I love this perspective on the company/customer relationships, and these key takeaways can be applied to any industry.

Don Adams and Jon Parise have their own relevant dialogue about surprise-and-delight loyalty marketing programs, recalling their most recent experiences with MyPanera. Do unpublished rewards truly motivate behavior? The pros and cons of unpublished loyalty programs are weighed alongside the goals of driving profitable incremental sales.

Personalization is often confused for relevance. While both are important, smart marketers distinguish the two and how they can use them to improve marketing response.

I recently returned to Chicago, a city I once lived in and still adore, to attend the 2011 CRMC.  Even with a 40-degree change in daytime temperature between two of the days, I embraced it like a former Chicagoan.  Having worked in the loyalty industry for more than 15 years consulting, writing and speaking, I am slightly embarrassed to say that this was my first CRMC.  Embarrassment aside, I found it to be one of the best industry conferences that I have ever attended.  Some might say “The first time is always the best”, but I would argue that the CRMC has the right mix of retailers and ve