Its Loyalty

Are Your Customers Profitably Loyal?

2010-03-10T03:54:00.001-08:00

Are Your Customers Profitably Loyal?

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Airlines & Hotels going opposite direction in Loyalty!

2008-10-24T00:19:00.001-07:00

In this tough economy.. the two major pillars in the Travel industry are going two different directions...

COLLOQUY Article

A travel article in the New York Times asks: "Given that both
airlines and hotels have been hit by the slowing economy, why the
disparity between their approaches to serving their best customers, the
frequent travelers?" The answer has a lot to do with competition. The
article states: "As hotel chains have proliferated, the industry has
become increasingly competitive."

If hotels ran on jet fuel would they, could they be as generous?

Here is a NewYorkTimes article on this topic.

My Views

I think the primary reason being the mix of Fix and Variable Costs and also the competition.

Fixed Cost for entering into Airline sector is so huge that you hardly find any new players entering in the established markets. On the other hand, in the Hotel industry, the Fixed costs are not as astronomical as in Airline industry.

The sheer number of available hotels and rooms make them competitive even for survival.

Airlines know that even if they jack-up prices, new competition is not going to enter the market and for all the existing ones, all are sailing in the same broken boat... so who cares?

On the other hand, though the variable cost in airline industry is considered a small portion (i mean the incremental cost of putting new passenger on a flight is almost nil). But that is true when you have empty seats. And when the jet fuel going through the roof one day and dropping in the sea within 3 months, there is too much uncertainty to keep empty seats. That's why we see so many airlines consolidating flights.. which means no empty seats anymore.

For Hotels, they don't have this problem and their daily running cost is far too less as compared to Airlines.

So given all this, you will see the two industries going completely different direction anyway.

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When Frequent Flyer points come to rescue in tough economic times

2008-10-22T08:06:00.001-07:00

Post from Frequent flyers redeem miles to beat higher fares

"Airline
customers are cashing in more frequent-flyer awards this year, looking
to avoid higher fares and believing that miles just aren’t worth the
same anymore," reports Business Week. "With so many new ways
to earn miles—on everything from car rentals to groceries—savvy
travelers fear it’ll soon become harder to go where they want, when
they want for free."

"The glamour of the frequent-flyer award has faded," says Jay Sorensen, who ran the loyalty program at Midwest Airlines
and is now an airline consultant. "People are realizing that using
miles to go to Hawaii is a difficult objective," a thought reflected by
InsideFlyer publisher Randy Petersen: "They’re going to Boise,
Decatur and Bakersfield. They’re spending miles on family emergencies
or visiting grandma."

Business Week reports: "Continental Airlines
reports that through July, customers had cashed in 1.34 million awards
this year, up 21 percent from the same period last year."

US Airlines Market looking down a hole

2008-10-21T00:02:00.001-07:00

Some latest research suggest that there are lot of people who are refraining from even thinking to travel.. leave aside actual travel :D

Here is some research done by MarketingChartsTwo-thirds (66%) of Americans are concerned about high costs when
planning air travel - including ticket prices and baggage fees, and
more than half are also concerned about delays (56%) and the
possibility of terrorism (53%), according to a national survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Access America.

Two-thirds (66%) of Americans are concerned about high costs when
planning air travel - including ticket prices and baggage fees, and
more than half are also concerned about delays (56%) and the
possibility of terrorism (53%), according to a national survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Access America.
Women (70%) are more likely than men (57%) to be concerned with costs, including ticket prices, baggage fees, and related fees.
Women (58%) have a higher propensity than men (51%) to be concerned
with delays resulting in missed connections and lost vacation time.
Women (61%) are much more likely than men (47%) to be concerned about terrorism.
Women (56%) are more likely than men (49%) to be concerned with baggage issues, including loss and delay.
45% of women, vs. 39% of men are more inclined to be worry about
fewer flights to choose from and the onboard comfort and amenities that
airlines are currently offering.
Women (45%) are also more likely than men (36%) to be concerned about airline bankruptcies.

Phskar Lele: Hindustani Classical Singer

2008-08-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite classical singers with a gifted voice. Fortunately got a chance to interact with him on emails today... so thought of putting together a small placemark with some of his work..
Some links:

Pushkar Lele - Underscore Records India Artiste

Pushkar Lele’s much applauded Australian Tour

YouTube - Some more videos

Worth of FFP Credit Card : Good Article

2008-08-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Good article.. copying from
August 16, 2008

Your Money

Gauging the Worth of a Frequent-Flier Credit Card

By RON LIEBER

One after the other in recent weeks, airlines have altered their frequent-flier mile programs, adding fees, taking away bonuses and raising the number of miles you need for some free tickets.

But lost in fliers’ frustration over the changes is this: It may make more sense to change the credit card you use, not the airline you fly.

Consumers are currently holding about 45 million credit cards issued by United States banks that reward their users with frequent-flier miles, according to The Nilson Report, a payments systems newsletter. That number has held steady for three years.

This may be the year that number starts dropping. After a certain point, it will no longer make sense for many people to pay the annual fees that mileage cards usually charge and pay new fees to book tickets or upgrades. Will they also want to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a card just so they can try to redeem miles for a single free plane ticket?

I’ve come up with five questions to ask yourself if you’ve still got a mileage credit card at the top of your wallet, and a number of alternatives for different types of cards. But first, some snippets from the program changes, just in case you’ve missed them:

US Airways has stopped giving bonus miles to members of its Dividend Miles program who have elite status, and the airline also added reward booking fees that range from $25 to $50.

American added a new online booking fee for rewards tickets and is about to raise the number of miles required for many flights. Moreover, its customers will soon have to pay new or increased co-payments much of the time, along with their frequent-flier miles, for upgrades to the front of the plane.

Delta added its own surcharges and also raised the number of miles customers will need to redeem for many free flights. Perhaps most interestingly, it introduced a three-tier price chart. For flights to 49 states (not including Hawaii) and Canada, for example, you could end up trading 25,000, 40,000 or 60,000 miles for a round-trip flight.

That 25,000-mile price for a free ticket has become somewhat sacred. The major airlines have increased the prices in miles for many other tickets, but not this one. How many people will give up on finding available seats at the 25,000 level, then hand over 40,000 or 60,000 miles? It’s hard to say, but Delta probably hopes that it is a lot.

The availability question gets to the heart of the matter. How hard is it to get free seats? And is it getting harder? The frustrating thing about this whole game is that we don’t really know the answers.

We don’t know how often average fliers get their first (or 10th) choice of flight or destination when trying to use their miles or just give up and buy the ticket. The airlines don’t tell us how many seats are available on any given flight or if more will become available later. Joe Brancatelli, proprietor of the business travel site joesentme.com, refers to frequent-flier programs as unregulated lotteries, which gets it about right.

Are fewer seats available for reasonable amounts of miles? Well, most major airlines are reducing the number of seats they fly, often by double-digit percentages. Flights are extremely crowded. But the airlines keep selling their miles to credit card companies and others that want to give them away to their own customers.

That means more miles are chasing fewer seats, even if the airlines aren’t reducing the number of seats on each flight that customers can book with a reasonable amount of miles.

It’s tempting to throw up your hands in despair at the lack of information. But there are several questions that can help you determine whether you want to keep adding miles from credit card spending to the miles you earn on the plane. Start with these:

DO YOU CARRY A BALANCE? If you don’t pay your bill in full each month, you’re excused from this discussion. You’ll do better by using cards with lower interest rates than frequent-flier mile cards, which generally have pretty high rates.

ARE YOUR CHILDREN IN SCHOOL? If they are, you’ll be fighting everyone else who wants to travel at the same time. The airlines, knowing your desperation to get out of town, may make fewer free seats available during school vacations, since the airline will probably sell all the seats on those flights anyway.

DO YOU HAVE ELITE STATUS? Some airlines — like American, Northwest, United and Continental — carve out additional inventory of free seats at their lower mileage levels for some or all customers with elite status. That inventory, plus the bonus miles that most airlines still offer to elite members, make a mileage credit card more attractive.

ARE YOU A BIG SPENDER? If you’re wealthy, or can run business expenses through your card, you can earn six figures in miles from card spending alone each year. A huge mileage balance gives you the ability to exchange those miles for premium-class overseas tickets, which could cost $10,000 or more if you bought them with cash. Miles are worth a lot more if you redeem them for this sort of travel.

DO YOU VALUE UPGRADES? It can be easier to get upgrades from coach using miles than it is to book free seats. Business travelers value the ability to get better seats when employers won’t pay for them, and leisure travelers may be willing to burn piles of miles for upgrades to seats they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

So if you’re a big spending frequent traveler and think the value is still there in trading miles for upgrades, you may want to keep collecting miles via credit card spending. If you’re ready to switch to a new primary credit card, however, here are three other types of rewards cards that will probably be most appealing:

CASHBACK CARDS These cards give you money back based on what you charge. Sometimes the money comes as a credit toward your balance, and sometimes you get a check. You may get the money quickly, or it can take more than a year. The average card gives you 1 percent of everything you spend, but others offer much higher yields.

The American Express Blue Cash card is good for big spenders. Once you’ve spent $6,500 in a year, starting on the date you got the card, you get 5 percent back for purchases at gas stations, drug and grocery stores and 1.5 percent everywhere else. For that first $6,500, you get 1 percent at those three types of stores and 0.5 percent elsewhere. There’s no limit on what you can earn in a year and no annual fee.

If you spend a bit less and patronize merchants who don’t take American Express, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union’s Visa Platinum Gas Cash Reward card is a good choice. You earn 5 percent back for gas purchases you make at the pump, 2 percent back at grocery stores and 1.25 percent everywhere else. There’s no limit on what you can earn in a year.

If you don’t meet the normal eligibility requirements, you can still qualify for PenFed credit union membership by joining the National Military Family Association for $20, a good investment for this otherwise fee-free credit card.

One other footnote here: Issuers of the Delta and United credit cards have made it possible to essentially trade each mile for a penny that can be used to buy seats on a plane. A good cashback card will yield a better return than availing yourself of this particular option, though.

GENERIC POINTS CARDS These cards issue points, usually one for every dollar you spend, that you can trade for travel on many (or any) airlines and for merchandise and other goodies. There are some caveats, though. With many of the cards, there may be a limit on the price of the flight you can redeem your points for, restrictions on the airlines you can use or a Saturday night stay requirement. The points may expire, too.

American Express’s Membership Rewards points program, available on many of its cards, avoids many of these restrictions, and you can also trade the points for real frequent-flier miles on many airlines.

Many frequent-flier programs are creating ways to trade miles for things other than free flights and upgrades, in an effort to make miles resemble these generic points. These new rewards, however, tend not to be as valuable as the traditional freebies.

HOTEL POINTS CARDS The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card is popular among rewards program aficionados. There tend to be few availability problems when redeeming points at Starwood hotels, like Westin and Sheraton, and you get good value compared with what you’d pay in cash for the same rooms, particularly overseas. You can also exchange your points for miles on many airlines, and you get a 5,000-point bonus when you trade in 20,000 points for miles.

Want to shop more widely for cards based on your own spending patterns? The card selection tool at creditcardtuneup.com takes your data and shows you what you’d earn with a few dozen of the best rewards cards.

Are you keeping your card? Write to rlieber@nytimes.com.

Your Money - Gauging the Worth of a Frequent-Flier Credit Card - NYTimes.com

August 16, 2008
Your Money
Gauging the Worth of a Frequent-Flier Credit Card
By RON LIEBER

One after the other in recent weeks, airlines have altered their frequent-flier mile programs, adding fees, taking away bonuses and raising the number of miles you need for some free tickets.

But lost in fliers’ frustration over the changes is this: It may make more sense to change the credit card you use, not the airline you fly.

Consumers are currently holding about 45 million credit cards issued by United States banks that reward their users with frequent-flier miles, according to The Nilson Report, a payments systems newsletter. That number has held steady for three years.

This may be the year that number starts dropping. After a certain point, it will no longer make sense for many people to pay the annual fees that mileage cards usually charge and pay new fees to book tickets or upgrades. Will they also want to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a card just so they can try to redeem miles for a single free plane ticket?

I’ve come up with five questions to ask yourself if you’ve still got a mileage credit card at the top of your wallet, and a number of alternatives for different types of cards. But first, some snippets from the program changes, just in case you’ve missed them:

US Airways has stopped giving bonus miles to members of its Dividend Miles program who have elite status, and the airline also added reward booking fees that range from $25 to $50.

American added a new online booking fee for rewards tickets and is about to raise the number of miles required for many flights. Moreover, its customers will soon have to pay new or increased co-payments much of the time, along with their frequent-flier miles, for upgrades to the front of the plane.

Delta added its own surcharges and also raised the number of miles customers will need to redeem for many free flights. Perhaps most interestingly, it introduced a three-tier price chart. For flights to 49 states (not including Hawaii) and Canada, for example, you could end up trading 25,000, 40,000 or 60,000 miles for a round-trip flight.

That 25,000-mile price for a free ticket has become somewhat sacred. The major airlines have increased the prices in miles for many other tickets, but not this one. How many people will give up on finding available seats at the 25,000 level, then hand over 40,000 or 60,000 miles? It’s hard to say, but Delta probably hopes that it is a lot.

The availability question gets to the heart of the matter. How hard is it to get free seats? And is it getting harder? The frustrating thing about this whole game is that we don’t really know the answers.

We don’t know how often average fliers get their first (or 10th) choice of flight or destination when trying to use their miles or just give up and buy the ticket. The airlines don’t tell us how many seats are available on any given flight or if more will become available later. Joe Brancatelli, proprietor of the business travel site joesentme.com, refers to frequent-flier programs as unregulated lotteries, which gets it about right.

Are fewer seats available for reasonable amounts of miles? Well, most major airlines are reducing the number of seats they fly, often by double-digit percentages. Flights are extremely crowded. But the airlines keep selling their miles to credit card companies and others that want to give them away to their own customers.

That means more miles are chasing fewer seats, even if the airlines aren’t reducing the number of seats on each flight that customers can book with a reasonable amount of miles.

It’s tempting to throw up your hands in despair at the lack of information. But there are several questions that can help you determine whether you want to keep adding miles from credit card spending to the miles you earn on the plane. Start with these:

DO YOU CARRY A BALANCE? If you don’t pay your bill in full each month, you’re excused from this discussion. You’ll do better by using cards with lower interest rates than frequent-flier mile cards, which generally have pretty high rates.

ARE YOUR CHILDREN IN SCHOOL? If they are, you’ll be fighting everyone else who wants to travel at the same time. The airlines, knowing your desperation to get out of town, may make fewer free seats available during school vacations, since the airline will probably sell all the seats on those flights anyway.

DO YOU HAVE ELITE STATUS? Some airlines — like American, Northwest, United and Continental — carve out additional inventory of free seats at their lower mileage levels for some or all customers with elite status. That inventory, plus the bonus miles that most airlines still offer to elite members, make a mileage credit card more attractive.

ARE YOU A BIG SPENDER? If you’re wealthy, or can run business expenses through your card, you can earn six figures in miles from card spending alone each year. A huge mileage balance gives you the ability to exchange those miles for premium-class overseas tickets, which could cost $10,000 or more if you bought them with cash. Miles are worth a lot more if you redeem them for this sort of travel.

DO YOU VALUE UPGRADES? It can be easier to get upgrades from coach using miles than it is to book free seats. Business travelers value the ability to get better seats when employers won’t pay for them, and leisure travelers may be willing to burn piles of miles for upgrades to seats they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

So if you’re a big spending frequent traveler and think the value is still there in trading miles for upgrades, you may want to keep collecting miles via credit card spending. If you’re ready to switch to a new primary credit card, however, here are three other types of rewards cards that will probably be most appealing:

CASHBACK CARDS These cards give you money back based on what you charge. Sometimes the money comes as a credit toward your balance, and sometimes you get a check. You may get the money quickly, or it can take more than a year. The average card gives you 1 percent of everything you spend, but others offer much higher yields.

The American Express Blue Cash card is good for big spenders. Once you’ve spent $6,500 in a year, starting on the date you got the card, you get 5 percent back for purchases at gas stations, drug and grocery stores and 1.5 percent everywhere else. For that first $6,500, you get 1 percent at those three types of stores and 0.5 percent elsewhere. There’s no limit on what you can earn in a year and no annual fee.

If you spend a bit less and patronize merchants who don’t take American Express, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union’s Visa Platinum Gas Cash Reward card is a good choice. You earn 5 percent back for gas purchases you make at the pump, 2 percent back at grocery stores and 1.25 percent everywhere else. There’s no limit on what you can earn in a year.

If you don’t meet the normal eligibility requirements, you can still qualify for PenFed credit union membership by joining the National Military Family Association for $20, a good investment for this otherwise fee-free credit card.

One other footnote here: Issuers of the Delta and United credit cards have made it possible to essentially trade each mile for a penny that can be used to buy seats on a plane. A good cashback card will yield a better return than availing yourself of this particular option, though.

GENERIC POINTS CARDS These cards issue points, usually one for every dollar you spend, that you can trade for travel on many (or any) airlines and for merchandise and other goodies. There are some caveats, though. With many of the cards, there may be a limit on the price of the flight you can redeem your points for, restrictions on the airlines you can use or a Saturday night stay requirement. The points may expire, too.

American Express’s Membership Rewards points program, available on many of its cards, avoids many of these restrictions, and you can also trade the points for real frequent-flier miles on many airlines.

Many frequent-flier programs are creating ways to trade miles for things other than free flights and upgrades, in an effort to make miles resemble these generic points. These new rewards, however, tend not to be as valuable as the traditional freebies.

HOTEL POINTS CARDS The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card is popular among rewards program aficionados. There tend to be few availability problems when redeeming points at Starwood hotels, like Westin and Sheraton, and you get good value compared with what you’d pay in cash for the same rooms, particularly overseas. You can also exchange your points for miles on many airlines, and you get a 5,000-point bonus when you trade in 20,000 points for miles.

Want to shop more widely for cards based on your own spending patterns? The card selection tool at creditcardtuneup.com takes your data and shows you what you’d earn with a few dozen of the best rewards cards.

Are you keeping your card? Write to rlieber@nytimes.com.

Airline Cost Cutting: The Axe is on Lounges

2008-07-31T07:55:00.001-07:00

"United Airlines announced this month that it was
shutting four of its 38 Red Carpet clubs, after closing three others in
the United States and overseas in the last few years," reports the New York Times. "Delta recently closed nine of its 47 Crown Rooms in the United States and abroad, while both American Airlines and US Airways are closing one club each."

Recent and upcoming closures of at least one lounge:

US Airways (Baltimore-Washington International)
United (Cleveland; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International;
Baltimore; Dallas Fort Worth International; Minneapolis St. Paul
International; Sydney, Australia; and London Heathrow Airport)
Delta (Boston; Cincinnati; Kansas City, Missouri; Seattle; San
Juan, Puerto Rico; Phoenix; Denver; Honolulu; and London Gatwick
Airport)

Source : Click Here
Source : COLLOQUY

When Loyalty Program Saves the Airline: United Story

2008-07-31T06:59:00.001-07:00

UAL Corporation, the holding company whose primary subsidiary is United Airlines, has announced that it has reached an agreement in principle with its Mileage Plus co-branded bank card partner, Chase Bank, and Paymentech, one of its credit card processors, to extend the term of their respective agreements.

As part of the transaction, United will receive a payment of $600
million from Chase, which relates to the advance purchase of frequent-flyer miles and the extension of the contract. The company
also expects this transaction will improve cash flow by about $200
million in the next two years.

In addition, the level of reserve or holdback that United is
required to maintain under its credit card processing agreement with
Chase / Paymentech L.L.C. has been reduced to $25 million. This
reduction will result in the release of approximately $350 million in
previously restricted cash.

As a result of its agreement with Chase, the company expects to
increase its cash position by approximately $1.2 billion, including $1
billion in the short term and an additional $200 million over the next
two years. Combined with the previously announced approximately $550
million raised from new transactions in the second and third quarters,
the company will have increased its total cash balance by $1.7 billion
and continues to have more than $3 billion in unencumbered hard assets.

Source: United Airlines

Source: COLLOQUY

Qantas: Another Airline to sell Loyalty?

2008-07-01T20:37:00.001-07:00

Qantas To Vote On Spinoff Of Frequent-Flier Program

"The sum of the parts is worth moe than the whole." That maxim may
be particularly applicable in the case of airlines and their
frequent-flier programs.

The strategic thinking behind the announcement made by Qantas,
Australia's dominant airline, of a plan to spin off its customer
loyalty programs conformed to the rationale of finding value through
judicious breakups. In a statement, Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon
remarked that improvements to the company's frequent-flier program in
the past year have reinforced Qantas's view of its value as a
stand-alone business after further enhancements are made. The partial
initial public offering plan, along with the future ownership structure
of the programs, will be voted on by the Qantas board at its next
meeting in August, Dixon said. The plan could be completed as soon as
this year.

A floating of the frequent-flier program as an independent entity was pioneered by Air Canada
(other-otc:
AIDIF -

news
-

people
) as part of a radical restructuring under protection from creditors. That resulted in the successful IPO of Groupe Aeroplan
(other-otc:
GAPFF -

news
-

people
) in 2005. Today, Groupe Aeroplan commands a market value of 3.45 billion Canadian dollars ($3.39 billion), more than quadruple Air Canada's 799 million Canadian dollars ($784.54 million).

The Australian newspaper reported last year that Qantas had
planned to offer Groupe Aeroplan a strategic stake of less than 50% in
a domestic listing that could value Qantas's own frequent-flier program
in the billions of dollars.

Also on Tuesday, Qantas unveiled a new program for frequent fliers
on routes operated by it and its budget unit, Jetstar, that would allow
redemption of frequent-flier points for any seat on any flight. That is
similar to the incentive program its smaller competitor Virgin Blue
(other-otc:
VBHLF -

news
-

people
)
launched in November 2005 to popular acclaim. Virgin Blue said that
while its program was free to join online, Qantas's charges a
membership fee of 82.50 Australian dollars ($79.33).

Qantas said the membership of its frequent-flier program has
expanded to more than 5 million over its 21-year history and that it is
currently adding more than 5,000 passengers each week.

In Tuesday trading in Sydney, Qantas
(other-otc:
QUBSF -

news
-

people
) shares surged by 6.6%, to close at 3.24 Australian dollars ($3.12).

Bursting Retail Customer Loyalty Myth

2008-04-23T23:04:00.001-07:00

Good Article.... Here is the original

Retail Viewpoint - Churn rates should turn grocers' stomachs

Despite all the talk of customer loyalty among the global
grocers some pretty shocking statistics were dished out the other day
that rubbish the claims made by many supermarkets that they are having
a meaningful relationship with their customers.

by Glynn Davis

A
report by Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software on customer churn found that
the supermarkets had experienced the highest growth in customer
defection rates between 2005 and 2007, compared with other sectors,
with an increase from 19.8 per cent to 27.4 per cent - a massive 38 per
cent jump.

The main reasons it cites for churn are - not being
recognised as a valuable customer, unhelpful staff, and ineffective
call centres. It's my guess that all the UK supermarkets would lay
claim to being good in all these areas but these numbers suggest
otherwise.

And guess which country has the greatest churn rates -
Britain. With 22 per cent churn per annum it has the most promiscuous
shoppers in the West. This is put down to things like its crowded
geography and national wealth per capita. But whichever way you cut it
the report is pretty damning of the UK grocers and their inability to
hang on to their customers.

What makes matters worse is that 2008
will possibly show even higher churn rates because we are in the midst
of a great movement of shoppers between the major grocers. Many are
returning to Morrisons after previously losing them to Tesco following
the troubled acquisition of Safeway, Asda has been shouting about its
continued attraction to more upmarket customers, and Waitrose seems to
be tempting people from a broader demographic as it continues to expand
its estate around the UK.

We await with interest next year's
survey but in the meantime try showing a little bit more loyalty to
your friendly local supermarket - as painful as that might be.

Brand value is increasingly about own-brand

Interbrand
published its first 'Top Performing European Retail Brands' report last
week, which ranked the top 25 companies based on various criteria
defined by the branding specialists. In addition to the surprise of
finding that H&M had topped the table was the fact that own-brand
products play a large part in the businesses of many of the
constituents in the list.

A sizeable 60 per cent of the top 25
have own-brand accounting for over 30 per cent of their total revenues
and even more amazing is that three of the top five brands sell only
private label goods - these being H&M, IKEA (in third place) and
M&S in fifth spot. And the other two retailers in the top five -
Carrefour and Tesco - both continue to develop their own-brand offers
with the latter pushing the Tesco name ever-further into non-food
products and services too.

This indicates just how significant a
contribution own-brand product makes to a retailers' overall brand
value and how they are now regarded as a brand weapon. They are also
able to help a merchant create a much clearer value proposition to
customers.

It will be no surprise whatsoever to find that this
trend continues as own label not only makes its presence increasingly
felt within the European retail market but also spreads further into
the US and Asia where it is much less developed.

http://www.rewardprograms.org/

2008-04-22T02:05:00.001-07:00

http://www.rewardprograms.org/

Join a Rewards Program in 3 Easy Steps >>

- Step 1
- Browse programs by program type or issuer.
- Step 2
- Compare reward program offers.
- Step 3
- Apply for the reward card of your choice

CRM 2.0: a Loyalty Marketing Benefit of Web 2.0?

2008-04-08T05:48:00.001-07:00

Here are several excerpts from a very interesting article: CRM 2.0: a loyalty marketing benefit of Web 2.0? (free registration required):

The
concept of customer-centricity is evolving, and changes in the business
and social world are already forcing businesses to change the way they
approach management and marketing strategies, says Vladimir Dimitroff
of UK-based Prism Consulting,
who suggests that perhaps the advent of 'Web 2.0' technologies should
naturally lead to the reinvention of CRM systems: 'CRM 2.0', in fact.

What
began as awareness of age-old business principles, brought to
modern-day marketing with critical help from technology, has now
reached a stage where the technology-empowered, connected world is
calling for new approaches in marketing and most other management
disciplines.

The story so far:
The notion of customer
focus dates from ancient times when the small businessman, unknowingly,
practiced CRM in a most natural manner. In modern days, concepts like
relationship marketing emerged in the early 80s but it was only in the
mid-90s when technology propelled these practices into the mainstream
and CRM became a recognised (and, for a while, much hyped) business
discipline.

Since then, CRM has evolved considerably, if
gradually. The software industry rapidly embraced it and made CRM a
class of technology solutions, misleading many to believe that "CRM can
be bought and installed".

Changes for the Customer:
'Customer'
in CRM 1.0 meant it was critical to recognise the importance of
customers for any business, and the fact that they are individuals, not
a grey anonymous mass with 'typical' preferences (statistical averages)
and 'common denominator' needs. The fundamental differences between
'the market' and the customers who inhabit it are yet to be understood
by many business managers, including marketers and even academics. But
today seeing them as individuals is not enough - they are intricately
interconnected with each other, and with the business.

Changes for the Relationship:
It
was originally important to recognise that relationships are two-way.
In the pre-CRM model of 'broadcast' relationships (one-to-many) it was
often said that the customer has a relationship with the brand. But
that was not enough. CRM 1.0 did much to change this, not least with
sales-oriented database technology. Today we recognise that not only
our business has relationships with each customer, but they also are
related to each other in multiple and complex ways.

Loyalty was
(and remains) the ultimate mantra of customer-centric business. Almost
separate from CRM, there is an entire 'loyalty industry', not to
mention scholars and entire academic schools devoted to it. They keep
proving that loyal customers are more profitable, while retention
protects a market share that should translate into shareholder value.
But in today's world of choices hardly any business can command the
total devotion and unconditional loyalty of each customer.

Split loyalties:
There
is a new breed of promiscuity, or 'split loyalty' whereby most
customers persistently satisfy parts of their needs from 2 or more
alternative suppliers.

Changes for the Management:
For
the management of customers, CRM 1.0 dictated that they should be
individually identified, their differences understood, and each one (or
group of similar customers) treated differently from other customers or
groups. This brought the discipline of customer segmentation - one
cannot overstate the importance of understanding how this is different
from market segmentation. Whereas in segmenting markets we distinguish
between groups but are not aware of individual members, in customer
segmentation each individual customer is known to belong to a
particular segment - and, furthermore, is known to exhibit a set of
attributes (with a very individual accuracy, usually a score) that
qualifies him as belonging to a segment.

Good CRM dictates that
this differentiated view is used not only for marketing and service
levels, but in every end-to-end customer process, in planning and
managing the operations and financial returns of the company. CRM 2.0
recognises the complexity and dynamism of customer attributes (even the
same customer A may exhibit a different 'score' when interacting with
his related customer B from the one displayed with related customer C).
The streamlined dimensions of strategic segmentation (usually a
value/needs matrix) become a multidimensional maze that, to make things
even more complicated, pulsates in all directions as dimensions change
with each interaction. To operate successfully in a networked
environment, companies are learning and adopting micro-segmentation -
and linking it to dynamic decisioning in their systems. The discipline
of social network analysis (SNA) is also evolving and some amazing
progress is happening as we speak, as always helped by technology.

With
CRM 2.0 every stakeholder has become an intermediary - to continue the
trend of coining 'clever' wording, I might call it poly-intermediation
or multi-intermediation. In a viral or WoM (word-of-mouth) campaign a
company has as many intermediaries as it has been able to reach through
those all-important connected influencers.

Web 2.0 dies without CRM 2.0...
Dimitroff
believes that the much-hyped Web 2.0 is the enabling platform but that
it cannot be a successful model in itself unless it also embraces CRM
2.0 principles. Understanding this will make all the difference in the
imminent shrinking of the 'Web 2.0 industry' at the tail of the hype
cycle (perhaps not a dot-com-like implosion, but some correction is
definitely to be expected soon).

In a press release about a
recent acquisition of a UGC web site, a marketing executive declared
"We enter the social networks arena because it's a powerful way to get
our message across". But communities don't really want powerful
messages. Instead, marketers should be inside the networks to listen,
not to shout... and, just occasionally, to whisper in the right ears.

Dimitroff's
advice to would-be CRM 2.0 practitioners is to keep building the
remaining parts of CRM 1.0. But while they build, there's nothing to
stop them from adopting low-cost (and low-risk) CRM 2.0 methods and
techniques.

For much more detail, check out the complete source article.

Web 2.0 can help you drive Loyalty

2008-04-08T05:02:00.001-07:00

(Original Article: By Joe Lichtenberg
Customer engagement drives loyalty and the effective use of Web 2.0 drives customer engagement.

If you're like most marketers, you'll agree that loyalty pays. The statistics that a brand should focus on its most loyal customers are compelling:

An increase of customer loyalty of 1 percent is equivalent to a 10 percent cost reduction (source: Bain & Co.)
The probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5 percent to 20 percent while the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 percent to 70 percent (source: Marketing Metrics)
Customer loyalty accounts for 38 percent of margin, 40 percent of revenue growth and 38 percent of shareholder value (source: Accenture Research).

Despite these findings, a just released report by Strativity Group found that although respondents declare that customer loyalty strategies are more important than they were three years ago, a full 60 percent of senior executives claim they do not deserve their customers' loyalty! "Respondents honestly admitted that they are selling commodities and that their core value proposition does not merit customer loyalty," says Lior Arussy, company founder.

What should these executives be doing to deserve the loyalty of their customers?

Customer engagement drives loyalty, and effective (and judicious) use of Web 2.0 drives customer engagement. Marketers that embrace these technologies and integrate the new brand/customer dynamic into their strategies will engender the loyalty of the customers. And as Web 2.0 and social networking tools and technologies move even further into the mainstream, marketers that don't go down this road may be left behind, doomed to compete based solely on price.

Here are the four new laws of customer loyalty in today's Web 2.0 world:

Loyalty Law #1: Drive community participation
Loyalty Law #2: Don't just talk to customers … listen.
Loyalty Law #3: Meet customers' expectation of honesty.
Loyalty Law #4: Reward your best users

Loyalty Law #1: Drive community participation

People naturally congregate around common passions or interests.
Connecting and interacting with others who feel the same way and who
share common experiences creates stronger bonds. Savvy marketers use
this level of participation as the foundation of their online
communities and as a cornerstone of their loyalty efforts.
In a report titled "The Social Influence of Brand Community: Evidence from European Car Clubs,"
Paul Dholakia, an assistant professor of management at the Jesse H.
Jones Graduate School of Management, said that it's not a matter of
attempting to directly influence consumers, but of providing them
support in interacting with each other through activities of their
brand community, which, in turn, increases their level of engagement
and loyalty."
Loyal customers already have an affinity for a brand's products or
services, and they will instinctively be drawn to a brand's online
community. Customers who are strongly engaged in the brand community
are more likely to remain attached to the group, participate in group
activities more often, and recommend the brand community to
non-members. What's more, research shows that customers who are engaged
in an online community stay longer and buy more. According to the
Ogilvy Loyalty Index, such customers can be worth up to six times the
value of an average customer.
In addition to driving loyalty, inviting customers to participate in
the brand is an effective marketing research tool. After all, who knows
how to best market to your target market than your target market
itself?

Loyalty Law #2: Don't just talk to customers … listen

Faced with a deluge of marketing messages, increasing resistance and
negativity towards advertising and marketing in general, and a growing
array of communication channels, the conversation between the brand and
customer must change. A one-way, marketing-driven conversation no
longer engages customers. Building trust and earning loyalty is the act
of creating a dialogue with customers: talking, sharing and, above all
else, listening.
Marketers have at their fingertips an array of technologies (such as
blogs, forums, chat rooms and online communities) to facilitate
conversations with their customers. Being able to easily contribute
opinions and ideas connects the customer to the brand, but what
strengthens this relationship is when the brand embraces the customer
as a partner in the dialogue, and truly listens to what he/she has to
say, and acts on it. In fact, experts say that the very act of
listening deepens customer loyalty.
Ducati, the Italian motorcycle company, is putting customer-driven
innovation and participation at the crux of its marketing efforts.
Ducati engages its customer community to provide feedback on design,
performance and general customer experience. Blogs have replaced formal
research methods, and through new media communication tools, Ducati is
embracing its customer community in an ongoing, real-time, informal
feedback loop. In fact, the company now calls itself a tribe of
employees and customers who share emotions and fight together.

Loyalty Law #3: Meet customers' expectation of honesty.

Delivering consistently on the brand promise plays a greater role in
creating loyal customers than any other customer-facing capability,
accounting for one-third of an organization's ability to achieve high
customer loyalty, according to marketing and customer management
research by Accenture. In fact, for all companies in the study,
regardless of their industry or business model (i.e.,
business-to-consumer, business-to-business, et cetera), developing and
delivering a branded customer experience comprises 33 percent of a
company's ability to achieve strong customer loyalty.
How does social media affect customers' expectations of the brand?
In the Web 2.0 world, consumers look for different traits from brands.
While on one hand customers expect that the brand will deliver a
quality product or service, the new brand/customer dynamic also raises
the expectation that brands will behave a certain way online. In the
realm of social and user-generated media, brands must be honest about
their opinions and their identity.
As Max Kalehoff writes in his blog, consumer-generated marketing
means "entering into direct conversations with consumers, where there
is a far greater expectation of humanness, honesty and transparency." I
believe that the best rule of thumb is to follow the WOMMA (Word of
Mouth Marketing Association) Ethics Code Honesty ROI:

Honesty of Relationship: You say who you're speaking for
Honesty of Opinion: You say what you believe
Honesty of Identity: You never obscure your identity

Loyalty Law #4: Reward your best users

Information, how you want it, when you want it: By serving community
members and customers with useful and informative content delivered
regularly, marketers can drive loyalty and enhance brand value at the
same time. Delivering valuable information is an easy way to create a
relationship based on trust. To drive loyalty, optimize content
delivery and discovery, make it easy for customers to find and access
this information, and share it with others. And, this means giving
links and feeds that are relevant to the customer, even if they are not
the brand's content.
Brands can also use content to extend their current loyalty
initiatives: for instance, by offering premium content, special
promotions, or access to exclusive information, chats, and forums to
loyal customers.
While some may believe that customer loyalty is waning in response
to the transparency of the web, Web 2.0 actually gives marketers an
exciting new set of tools to add to their portfolio to help improve it!
And these loyalty laws help marketers do exactly that, and drive bottom
line results.

Frequent flyer programs — cash cow for airlines

2008-04-08T03:08:00.001-07:00

An article in the International Herald Tribune (and New York Times)
says that: "Many airlines around the world earn hundreds of millions of
dollars a year by selling miles to partners like credit card companies
and hotel chains. Those companies, in turn, give the miles to customers
as sign-up bonuses or rewards for hotel stays. That revenue is critical
for the airlines in an era of escalating fuel prices, but it has also
changed frequent-flyer programs into more complex businesses, where
flyers are just one of the constituencies carriers are trying to
please."

InsideFlyer’s Randy Peterson, quoted in the article,
says, "The real change over the years has been the evolution from being
a loyalty program for the airline’s best customers to today being
a currency program for anybody’s best customers."

Interesting bits from the article:

15-20 percent of miles are being redeemed for non-airline rewards
(four years ago, that figure was less than 5 percent)
Miles earned continues to outpace award-seat capacity
The going price for a mile to outside issuers: 1-3 cents
Outstanding miles from three major airlines as of EOY 2007: upwards of 1.5 trillion (613 billion at American Airlines’ AAdvantage, 510 billion at Delta’s SkyMiles, 488 billion at United’s MileagePlus)
American’s AAdvantage net in 2007: 50 billion unredeemed miles (200 billion issued, and 150 billion redeemed)

For more frequent-flyer program statistics/facts, see our article.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/01/business/frequent.php

What began 27 years ago as a way to win the loyalty of travelers has turned into a lucrative business for the airlines.
The best snapshot of a loyalty program's performance comes from
Aeroplan, a business that Air Canada spun off in 2005. It now operates
as a publicly traded trust, and it reported earnings of $185 million
last year on revenue of $926 million. The success of the Aeroplan
spinoff has put pressure on other carriers to consider a similar
strategy.
Last year, Qantas, Delta, United, Northwest and American expressed
interest in exploring that option, although with high oil prices and
merger talks, the consensus is that no carrier in the United States is
likely to spin off its frequent-flier program in the near future.
"We're at a turning point," said Jeff Robertson, managing director for
Delta's SkyMiles program. He said its members earned 27 percent more
miles in 2007 than in 2004, yet the capacity allocated for award seats
remained flat.
While most carriers have customarily been tight-lipped about how much
they earn from these programs, more details are starting to emerge.
United reported revenue of $800 million last year from selling miles,
while Qantas earned $218 million in the last half of 2007 from mileage
sales to third parties.

AMR: Retail Loyalty Program Roadmap: Strategy, Best Practices, and Technology Options

2008-04-01T05:55:00.003-07:00

The Retail Enhanced Loyalty Program Roadmap: Strategy, Best Practices, and Technology Options

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Robert Garf, Janet Suleski, Fenella Sirkisoon

Most retailer loyalty programs are not optimal. Because of this, a
majority of retailers with loyalty programs plan to revamp them over
the next two years. Whether enhancing an existing program or looking to
implement one for the first time, this Report provides a detailed
roadmap, highlights field-tested industry best practices, and outlines
the software marketplace to guide retailers along their journey.

AMR Research clients, please login.

This
document is available to AMR Research clients only. If you would like
further information about how to become a client, please contact info@amrresearch.com.

Nectar Profit £5.4 million on sales of £194 million

2008-03-27T23:34:00.001-07:00

The Mail reports that Nectar owner Loyalty Management
UK Limited has reported a profit lift from £1.3 million in 2006
to £5.4 million on sales of £194 million, and that sales
were down from the previous year’s £207 million after
Barclaycard exited the coalition.

Also in the article: Nectar "also sounded a warning note over market
conditions for 2008: ’The principal risks facing the company are
the health of the UK retail environment and the ability of the company
to offer an attractive loyalty proposition to existing and potential
sponsors.’

WebCard Loyalty wins innovation prize 2008

2008-03-26T22:55:00.001-07:00

First Loyalty Portal with virtual loyalty cards awarded with innovation prize 2008

The
WebCard Loyalty Portal from fun communications awarded the "Innovation
Prize 2008" by the "Initiative Mittelstand" in the category
CRM. Read article

fun communications at the
2^nd European Identity Conference 2008

New: fun communications -
The film!

WebCard Loyalty - Customer loyalty with "virtual loyalty cards"

The WebCard Loyalty Portal brings your customer loyalty card onto the Internet –
simply, securely and conveniently for you and your customers.

Customer and bonus cards have been an important customer loyalty instrument in
the retail trade for a long time now. But how does the customer loyalty card get
onto the Web? The WebCard Loyalty portal enables traders and portal operators to
issue "virtual loyalty cards" to their customers easily and securely.

1...2...3 - ready!

With WebCard Loyalty, "virtual loyalty cards" can be created in just three
steps:

In the first step, the loyalty cards are created in the desired
layout and with an individual data structure.
In the second step, the newly created cards are assigned to the
different user groups.
In the third step, the virtual loyalty cards are made available
to the customers.

The promotion campaign is ready!

The WebCard Loyalty Manager also offers numerous revealing statistics that
can be used for a detailed analysis to measure the success of the individual
promotion campaigns.

Application fields

Secure authentication
Bonus programmes
Voucher promotion campaigns
Discounts for partner sites
Partner advertising
Age verification system

http://www.fun.de/english/Products/WebCardLoyalty/WebCardLoyalty.asp

Customer Loyalty and Customer Lifetime Value | CustomerThink

2008-03-26T21:11:00.001-07:00

Customer Loyalty and Customer Lifetime Value | CustomerThink

Customer Loyalty and Customer Lifetime Value

By Bob E. Hayes, Ph.D., Business Over Broadway

Customer loyalty and customer lifetime value are two
different, yet related, areas of study. The purpose of this discussion
is to outline each area and highlight how knowledge in both areas is
necessary to better understand how to grow a company. Companies
are not static entities; they make business decisions in hopes to
increase customer loyalty and grow their business. The key to business
growth is to make decisions that will improve customer loyalty.
Customer loyalty management is the practice of determining how to
maximize customer loyalty. To understand how improvements in customer
loyalty will improve business growth, we need to first understand the
value of customers to the organization.

read the full article...

Key Steps to a Successful Loyalty Program | CustomerThink

2008-03-24T21:45:00.001-07:00

Copied and edited from:
Key Steps to a Successful Loyalty Program | CustomerThink

Introduction:

A loyalty and rewards program offers the opportunity to solidify
existing relationships, initiate new ones and convert your one-time
visitors, buyers and prospects into repeat business and long-term
members. Implementing a successful loyalty program is all in the
process.

Key success factors:

For your program to fully capture your customer's loyalty and
convert this into revenue and profitability, keep in mind important
elements that are critical to the success of a loyalty and rewards
program:

Precision Targeting – Many Loyalty programs fail to precisely target
and segment their customers, both in terms of demographics/interest and
in rewards offers. Instead, they may offer “discounts”, which only
erodes margin and does little to build actual loyalty.

An effective Loyalty solution will offer:

- Precise segmentation capabilities of customers, including ability for
customers to voluntarily “opt in” to various groups/clubs

- Precision offers, communication and rewards, targeted at customer interests.

Sanity Test.

The goal of your program should be clear. Customers
need to understand what's expected from them and how they can benefit.
In other words, there can be no "smoke and mirrors." The program must
be simple and easily understandable. You (and your employees in the
field) need to be able to explain the ins and outs of your program to
your customers in a way that is easily understood.

Value, Value and More Value.

The rewards offered to your customer
base must have a perceived value. Rewards offered to your customer base
can be a combination of hard and soft benefits but in theory all should
have a strong value associated with them in order to keep customers
coming back for more. Customers really need to become emotionally
invested in your program and feel as if they are being rewarded, they
are a valued, have access and are being recognized. If not, the rewards
will not become their goal and customers will lose interest in your
program.

Rewards within Reach.

The rewards of any customer loyalty program
must be obtainable. The structure of your points and rewards system
should be established in a tiered fashion in order to provide your
program members with an opportunity to receive the perks and rewards
associated with membership in your loyalty program. Random instant
rewards drive the excitement, interest and momentum in the program.

Knowledge is Power.

One of the most significant pitfalls to
effective loyalty marketing is the use of tactics without the benefit
of reliable customer data analytics. All the tools you need to develop
a comprehensive customer profile are at your fingertips. Use survey
questions to ask your customers what really matters to them. What
giveaways appeal to them most? What offers are the most enticing? What
rewards are most valuable? Using such information can be incredibly
valuable in tweaking your program along the way and useful as a means
of providing your customers with what they really want.

Communication.

Establishing a loyalty and rewards program enables
you to proactively communicate with your existing members, prospects or
members instead of passively waiting for them to return to your web
site or stop by a store to purchase your product. Talk to your customer
base often with information and offers that make sense. A rewards
program enables you to easily and affordably create communications that
are valued by your customer (since they have a vested interest in your
company and your products) and you can make those communications
support and enhance your brand in a way that substantially
differentiates your company from the competition.

Using — and losing — frequent flyer points

2008-03-17T04:42:00.001-07:00

Using — and losing — frequent flyer points - Tips- msnbc.com

The Joy of Miles: Frequent flyer programs.. Explained!!!

2008-03-17T04:41:00.003-07:00

The Joy of Miles: Frequent flyer programs ... from the beginning - SmarterTravel.com

Trends: Loyalty Programs

2008-03-17T04:41:00.001-07:00

Trends: Loyalty Programs - Trends: Loyalty Programs

Qantas program may be worth $1.9 billion

2008-03-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

Bloomberg News reports that JPMorgan Chase estimates Qantas Airways Ltd.’s frequent-flyer program may be worth A$2 billion ($1.9 billion USD):

With an affluent customer base and rising earnings, the loyalty program might attract a price of more than 12 times estimated earnings rather than the 6.4 times Qantas currently trades at. . . .

If Qantas decides to spin off the loyalty program, it wouldn’t be the first airline to do so.

ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., the parent of Air Canada, created Aeroplan Income Fund in 2005 to own and manage its frequent-flyer program.

Today, Aeroplan is worth C$3.4 billion ($3.4 billion), almost three times ACE’s C$1.2 billion value.

FFP Survey reveals interesting industry trends

2008-03-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

Loylogic offered an online survey along with the 2008 Freddie Award voting. More than 9,000 members from 60 frequent-flyer programs worldwide participated and one message came through strongly:

"94 percent of frequent flyers want a flexible miles-plus-cash payment option when redeeming rewards."

Other facts and trends of the frequent flyer and credit card industry:

Only about 30 percent of participants feel that the value of their miles has increased over the past three years.
As a consequence, 40 percent of the frequent flyers consider switching from their airline co-branded credit card to a credit card program—about every fifth voter has already done so.
More than 50 percent of all frequent flyers consider non-flight rewards a valid alternative to flight rewards
One out of six considers non-flight rewards more important than flight rewards.

According to the survey, frequent flyers want new reward options but they are not ready to swap their hard-earned miles for any low-value offer. One out of two frequent flyers seeks "Great value" when redeeming miles for non-flight rewards. Increasing the tangible value of miles will be one of the key challenges that frequent flyer programs will have to resolve in future.

Source: Loylogic

Loyalty Program effectiveness in Telecom

2008-01-20T04:42:00.003-08:00

Are Loyalty Programs Really Effective for Latin American Telecom Operators?

6 Steps to CRM

2008-01-20T04:42:00.001-08:00

Six Steps to Remarkable Service

Read the full article...

By Kevin Stirtz

January 16, 2008

We get a lot of advice about how to deliver great customer service. Many of the
tips are reminders of what we already know (but we occasionally forget). And
these are useful. But sometimes, we need more than a reminder. Sometimes it´s
helpful to have a system or, at least, some steps to follow.

Here is an easy yet valuable road-map I´ve taught in many of my customer
service seminars. It´s easy to understand but it can be effective in keeping us
on track so we consistently deliver what our customers want from us.

1. Connect with your customer

This is critical. This is where you establish rapport and begin a relationship
with your customer. Connecting means you´re building trust that runs both ways.
Do this by engaging your customer. Start by giving them your name and asking
theirs. Be interested in them and what they want. Ask questions. Listen.
Respond appropriately. Have a conversation with them. Be genuine.

People know when you are genuinely interested in helping them or not. If you
are, they are more likely to respond positively to you and to develop trust
with you. If you are really not interested, they´ll sense it and you´ll have a
much harder time developing the trust you need to help them.

2. Discover what they want

If you have a genuine conversation with your customer, you will discover what
they want. They don´t always know what they want. Or they might have trouble
expressing it. Often people know what they want but they´re unsure how to get
it. That´s where you come in.

By asking pertinent questions and paying attention to the answers, you can
discover a lot about your customer. You can help guide them to getting what
they want. That´s the role you fill and that´s how you keep customers coming
back.

3. Know what you can do

We can´t always give the customer everything they want. Sometimes they want
what we can´t do. Other times, it´s something we choose not to do.

Every business has a niche to fill. That means doing what the business is best
at doing for the customers it can serve best. This step is about "picking
your battles". It´s about choosing the customers who best fit what you can
do well by knowing what you do best.

4. Do it

This sounds easy and maybe it should be. But it´s where many businesses fail.
They fail because they don´t manage the process of planning, doing, measuring
and monitoring well.

To execute well you need to be able to measure what´s important. What gets
measured gets done. So, convert your customer´s wants into actions you can
measure. Then setup a system to measure the outcomes and the actions that
produce them.

5. Follow-up

For customers, this is icing on their cake. It´s true for you too because it´s
easy to do yet it pays huge dividends in customer loyalty.

As you plan your execution phase, make sure you plan a follow-up contact.
Follow-up by phone, email, letter, visit, whatever works. The more direct and
personal the better but make it work for your customer and your company. This
thrills customers because very few companies do it consistently.

6. Thank them

This often gets forgotten. Or it gets treated lightly. Too often when I hear a
"thanks for doing business with us" it sounds phony, forced or
robotic. People often say it out of habit but they put no feeling or
authenticity into it.

So, when you thank your customers, be real about it. Make it genuine. Thank
them in multiple ways, not just once. make sure they know you are grateful for
their business.

Follow these six steps with every customer and you´ll find your level of
customer service will increase dramatically. Coach your employees to understand
and work through these steps (every time) and you´ll see your customer loyalty
and customer retention go through the roof.

Loyalty Program effectiveness in Telecom

2008-01-20T04:41:00.001-08:00

Are Loyalty Programs Really Effective for Latin American Telecom Operators?

Carlson 1on1 (Loyalty Research Site)

2008-01-13T20:01:00.001-08:00

Carlson 1to1 and 1to1 Media

Loyalty in Automotive Industry

2008-01-13T19:59:00.001-08:00

Picking Up Speed in Driving Automotive Customer Loyalty

Good Article on Automotive loyalty, influencing repurchase and recommendations

Retalix Customer Loyalty Solution

2008-01-10T20:46:00.001-08:00

Retalix Customer Loyalty Solution

List of All Loyalty Programs (from Colloquy)

2008-01-09T04:54:00.001-08:00

Company Name	Program Name	Industry
84 Lumber Co.	84 Inner Circle	Retail
AAA	AAA Diamond Rewards	Financial Services
AAA	AAA Diamond Rewards Visa	Financial Services
Ace Hardware	Ace Hardware	Retail
Ace Hardware Corp.	Ace Contractor Club	Retail
Aer Lingus	Aer Lingus Shamrock Rewards MasterCard	Financial Services
Aero Delivery	Aero Delivery	Miscellaneous/Other
Aeromexico	Aeromexico	Travel
Aeromillas de Centroamerica	Aeromillas Easy Vacations	Coalition
Air Canada	Air Canada's Aeroplan	Travel
Air France	Air France	Miscellaneous/Other
Air New Zealand	Air New Zealand	Travel
Alamo	Alamo's Business Benefits	Travel
Alamo Rent a Car, Inc.	Alamo Rent a Car, Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
Alaska Airlines	Alaska Airlines	Travel
Aloha Airlines	Aloha Airlines	Travel
Alta Vista	Alta Vista	Miscellaneous/Other
Amazon.com	Amazon.com Platinum Visa Card	Financial Services
AMC Entertainment Inc.	AMC MovieWatcher	Entertainment/Leisure
America Online, Inc.	AOL Visa Rewards	Financial Services
America West	America West Flight Fund Visa Business Card	Financial Services
America West Airlines	America West Airlines	Travel
American Airlines	American Airlines	Travel
American Airlines	American Airlines Business ExtrAA Corpor	Financial Services
American Express	American Express Golf Card	Financial Services
American Express	American Express Membership Rewards	Financial Services
America's Best	EyeCare Club	Retail
Americas Flower Shops	Americas Flower Shops	Miscellaneous/Other
Ameritech Complete Card Visa/MasterCard	Ameritech Complete Card Visa/MasterCard	Miscellaneous/Other
Amtrak	Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard	Financial Services
AOL AAdvantage	AOL AAdvantage	Miscellaneous/Other
Arizona Diamondbacks	Arizona Diamondbacks	Entertainment/Leisure
AT&T	AT&T	Miscellaneous/Other
AT&T	AT&T Rewards	Telecom
AT&T	AT&T Universal	Telecom
Auto-By-Tel's	Auto-By-Tel's	Miscellaneous/Other
Avantel	Avantel Bonus Hogar	Miscellaneous/Other
BabyMint	BabyMint	Coalition
Baja Fresh Mexican Grill	Baja Fresh Carta Baja Rewards	Miscellaneous/Other
Banana Republic (Gap Inc.)	Banana Republic	Retail
Banco Popular	Banco Popular Premia	Financial Services
BancorpSouth	BancorpSouth's Travel Rewards	Financial Services
Bank of America	Alaska Airlines Check Card	Travel
Bank of America	BoA America West Check Card	Miscellaneous/Other
Bank of America	BoA U.S. Airways Visa Check Card	Financial Services
Bank of America	boa-keep the change	Financial Services
Bank of Montreal	Mosaik MasterCard	Financial Services
Bank One Corporation	Bank One/Visa Check Card	Financial Services
Barnes & Noble	Barnes & Noble	Retail
Barnes & Noble	Barnes & Noble	Retail
Bata Co.	Bata Klub	Retail
Baymont Inns & Suites	Baymont Inns Guest Ovations	Miscellaneous/Other
Baymont Inns & Suites	Baymont Inns Guest Ovations MasterCard	Miscellaneous/Other
BC Telecom *	BC Telecom *	Miscellaneous/Other
Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc.	Maker’s Mark Ambassadors Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Belk, Inc.	Belk Select	Retail
Best Buy	Best Buy Reward Zone	Retail
Best Western	Best Western	Travel
Bharat Petroleum Corp., Ltd.	Petro Card	Financial Services
Big Dog Sportswear's	Big Dog Sportswear's	Retail
Big Dog Sportswear's	Big Dog Sportswear's	Retail
Big Steaks Management, Inc.	Big Steaks Management	Entertainment/Leisure
Big Y Foods, Inc.	Big Y Foods Inc.,	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Bittime	Bittime's Trocamania	Miscellaneous/Other
BJ's Wholesale Club	BJ's Wholesale Club Platinum MasterCard	Financial Services
Blockbuster	blockbuster	Miscellaneous/Other
Blockbuster Inc.	Blockbuster Rewards	Retail
Bloomingdale's (Federated Dept. Stores)	Federated Department Stores'	Retail
Booth Creek Resorts	Booth Creek Resorts	Entertainment/Leisure
Boots the Chemist	Boots the Chemist
Borders Group, Inc.	Borders Platinum Visa	Financial Services
Borders Group, Inc.	Borders Rewards	Retail
Borders Group, Inc.	Borders Rewards Perks and Perks Plus	Retail
Borders Group, Inc.	Borders-Waldenbooks Platinum One Visa	Financial Services
Borders Group, Inc.	Borders/Bank One Platinum Visa	Financial Services
Borders Group, Inc.	Borders/Bank One Platinum Visa	Financial Services
Borg-Warner Automotive, Inc.	BWD Rewards II	Travel
BP	BP Platinum Visa Card	Financial Services
BP and Amoco	BP Multicard	Financial Services
British Airways	British Airways	Travel
Buddy's Crabs & Ribs	Buddy's Best Buddy Dining Program	Entertainment/Leisure
Budget Rent A Car	Budget Rent A Car	Miscellaneous/Other
Budget Rent a Car Corporation,	Budget Rent a Car Corporation,	Travel
Burger King Corp.	Burger King Corp.	Retail
Business Rewards Limited	Business Rewards	Miscellaneous/Other
Buy.com	Buy.com Visa	Financial Services
Canadian Airlines	Canadian Airlines	Miscellaneous/Other
Canadian Blood Services	Canadian Blood Services-Donors For Life	Miscellaneous/Other
Canadian Tire's	Canadian Tire's	Retail
Canadian Tire's	Canadian Tire's	Retail
Canadian Tire's	Canadian Tire's	Retail
Capital One	MilesOne Platinum	Financial Services
Capital One	MilesOne Platinum	Financial Services
Carlton Cards Retail, Inc.	Carlton Cards, The Card Club	Miscellaneous/Other
Carnival Cruise Lines	Carnival Cruise Lines	Travel
Carnival Cruise Lines	Concierge Club	Travel
Casino Aztar	Casino Aztar Rewards Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Casino Regina	Casino Regina Players Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Cathay Pacific	Cathay Pacific	Travel
CBS SportsLine	CBS SportsLine	Miscellaneous/Other
Celebrity Cruises	Celebrity Cruises	Travel
Celebrity Cruises	Celebrity Cruises	Travel
Cendant	TripRewards	Travel
Chapters	iRewards	Retail
Charlie Brown's Steakhouse	Charlie Browns	Entertainment/Leisure
Chart House Enterprise	Chart House Enterprise	Entertainment/Leisure
Charter One Financial	Charter One Mega Rewards	Financial Services
Chase	Chase	Miscellaneous/Other
Chase Bank	Chase Bank Leisure Rewards	Financial Services
Chase Bank	Chase Continental Airlines Platinum MC	Financial Services
Chase Bank	Chase-Continental Airlines Banking Card	Financial Services
Chase Manhattan Bank USA, N.A	Chase Ultimate Rewards	Financial Services
Chicago Tribune	Chicago Tribune Subscriber Advantage	Miscellaneous/Other
Chico's	Passport Club	Retail
Chili's	chilis	Miscellaneous/Other
China Southern Airlines	Sky Pearl Club	Travel
Choice Hotels International	Choice Privileges	Travel
Chrysler Corp.	Chrysler Corp.	Travel
Churchill Downs	Churchill Downs*	Entertainment/Leisure
CIBC	CIBC Aventura Gold Visa	Financial Services
Circuit City & Chase Bank	Circuit City Rewards Visa	Retail
CITGO Petroleum Corp.	CITGO Petroleum Corporation	Retail
Citi MasterCard	Citi Platinum Select	Financial Services
Citibank	Citi CashReturns Card	Financial Services
Citibank	Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card	Financial Services
Citibank	Citi Driver's Edge Platinum Select Card	Financial Services
Citibank	Citi Driver's Edge Platinum Select Card	Financial Services
Citibank	Citi Driver's Edge Platinum Select Card	Financial Services
Citibank	Citi Driver's Edge Platinum Select Card	Financial Services
Citibank	Citi PremierPass Card	Financial Services
Citibank	Citibank AAdvantage Debit MasterCard	Financial Services
Citibank	Citibank ThankYou Network	Financial Services
ClickRewardsCRC	ClickRewards	Miscellaneous/Other
ClubMom	ClubMom	Coalition
Cole Hardware	Cole Hardware (Ace Hardware Store franchisee)	Retail
Comcast Cellular, Inc.	comcast	Miscellaneous/Other
CompUSA	CompUSA Network	Miscellaneous/Other
Continental Airlines	Continental	Travel
Costco Wholesale Corporation	Costco Business Card for Small Business	Financial Services
Costco Wholesale Corporation	Costco Cash Rebate Credit Card	Financial Services
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	Miscellaneous/Other
Cunard World Lines	Cunard World Lines	Travel
CVS Pharmacy	CVS ExtraCare Plus	Retail
Damark's	Damark's	Retail
Day-Timers Inc.,	Day-Timers Inc.,	Miscellaneous/Other
Delta	Delta	Travel
Delta Air Lines	Delta SkyMiles American Express	Financial Services
Desert Diamond Casino	Desert Diamond Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Dick's Sporting Goods	Dick's ScoreCard	Retail
Dillard's	Dillards'	Retail
Diners Club International	Diners Club Club Rewards	Financial Services
Dining a la Card	Dining a la Card	Miscellaneous/Other
Dollar Rent A Car	Dollar Rent A Car	Travel
Dollar Rent A Car	Silver Dollar Club	Travel
Dorothy Lane Market	Club DLM	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Dorothy Lane Market	DLM Kids' Club	Retail
Dotz	Dotz	Coalition
DSW	DSW Rewards and DSW Premier Rewards
Duane Reade	Duane Reade Dollar Rewards	Retail
EchoStar Communications Corp.	ClubDISH	Entertainment/Leisure
Eddie Bauer	Eddie Bauer	Miscellaneous/Other
EdExpress	EdExpress	Coalition
Equity Retirement Rewards	Equity Rewards	Miscellaneous/Other
e-Rewards	e-Rewards	Miscellaneous/Other
ESPN Credit Card Services	ESPN Total Access Visa	Financial Services
Executive Inn	Executive Rewards Club	Travel
Expedia, Inc.	Expedia Thank You Network	Coalition
Famous Footwear's	Famous Footwear's	Retail
Farmer Jack	farmerjack	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
FIDECOM SA	s'Miles	Coalition
FIDECOM SA	s'Miles	Coalition
FIDECOM SA	s'Miles	Coalition
FIDECOM SA	s'Miles	Coalition
FIDECOM SA	s'Miles	Coalition
Fifth Third Bank	Fifth Third MasterCard Rewards	Financial Services
Finagle A Bagle	Finagle A Bagel	Entertainment/Leisure
Finnair	Finnair	Travel
Finnair	Finnair Junior	Travel
First Data Corp.	First Data Corp.	Miscellaneous/Other
First USA	Sallie Mae Visa	Miscellaneous/Other
Fly Buys	Fly Buys Australia	Coalition
Fly Buys	Fly BuysNew Zealand	Coalition
Food Lion	Food Lion	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Forbes	Forbes Platinum Visa/MasterCard	Financial Services
Ford Mexico	Ford Mexico	Travel
Frank's Nursery & Crafts	Frank's Nursery & Crafts	Miscellaneous/Other
Fred Meyer	Fred Meyer Rewards	Retail
Fred Meyer	Fred Meyer Rewards MasterCard
Freebie Inc.	Freebie	Coalition
Frontier Airlines	Frontier MasterCard	Financial Services
Gap, Inc.	Gap	Retail
Garanti Bank	Garanti Bank Bonus Card	Financial Services
Garanti Bank	Garanti Bank Flexi Card	Financial Services
Garanti Bank	Shop&Miles Visa Card	Financial Services
GE Capital	GE Capital	Financial Services
General Cinema	General Cinema Credits	Entertainment/Leisure
General Cinema	General Cinema Credits	Entertainment/Leisure
General Mills	Betty Crocker Catalog Points	Miscellaneous/Other
General Mills	Betty Crocker Catalog Points	Miscellaneous/Other
General Motors	GM Card	Financial Services
General Motors	GM Chase Business Card	Financial Services
General Motors	GM Flexible Earnings Card	Financial Services
General Nutrition Centers	General Nutrition Centers (GNC)	Retail
GiftCertificates.com	GiftCertificates.com	Miscellaneous/Other
Gold Points Reward Network	Goldpoints Plus	Coalition
Gold Points Rewards	goldpoints	Coalition
Golf Galaxy	Golf Galaxy	Retail
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea	A&P	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Green Hills	Green Hills SmartShop	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Grupo Posadas	Fiesta Rewards	Miscellaneous/Other
GTE	GTE Customer Link	Miscellaneous/Other
Hallmark Cards	Hallmark Crown Rewards	Retail
Hallmark, Inc.	Hallmark Keepsake Ornament	Retail
Hancock Fabrics	The Fabric Card	Retail
Hard Rock Cafe	Hard Rock's Pin Collectors Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Hard Rock International, Inc.	All Access	Entertainment/Leisure
Harley Davidson Motor Company's	Harley Davidson Motor Company's	Travel
Harley-Davidson	Harley-Davidson Visa Card	Financial Services
Harley-Davidson	Harley-Davidson Visa Card	Financial Services
Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.,	Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.,	Entertainment/Leisure
Harrah's	Harrah's Total Rewards Visa	Financial Services
Hawaiian Airlines	Hawaiian Airlines	Travel
Herberger's	Your Rewards	Retail
Hewlett-Packard Company	HP Software Customer Connections	Miscellaneous/Other
Hilton Hotels	Hilton HHonors Platinum	Financial Services
Hilton Hotels	Hilton HHonors Visa	Travel
Hilton Hotels	Hilton HHonors Worldwide	Travel
Holland America Line (Carnival subsidiary)	Holland America Line (Carnival subsidiary)	Travel
Hollister Co.	Hollister Co.	Retail
Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking	HSBC Bonus Rewards Programme	Miscellaneous/Other
Hospitality International,Inc.	Hospitality International Inc.	Travel
Houlihan's Best Guest	Houlihan's Best Guest	Miscellaneous/Other
Howard Johnson's	HoJo's	Miscellaneous/Other
Hudson, OH Chamber of Commerce	Hudson Gift Card	Coalition
Hudson’s Bay Company	Hbc Rewards	Retail
Hudson's Bay Co.	Zellers'	Retail
Hudson's Bay Co.	Zellers'	Retail
Hyatt Hotels Corporation	Hyatt Gold PassPort	Travel
IBM Corp.	IBM Corporation	Miscellaneous/Other
IKEA	IKEA family	Retail
InterContinental Hotels & Reso	Priority Club Rewards	Travel
ipoints	ipoints	Coalition
Isle of Capri Casinos Inc.	IsleOne Players Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Jacobsons'	Jacobsons'	Miscellaneous/Other
Japan Airlines	Japanese Airlines	Travel
JCPenney	JCPenney	Miscellaneous/Other
Jetsgo	Jetsgo-Jetsmiles	Travel
Jewel-Osco	Jewel-Osco Preferred Visa	Miscellaneous/Other
Jo-Ann Fabrics	Creative Cash	Financial Services
Jo-Ann Fabrics	Jo-Ann Fabrics Visa Creative Cash	Financial Services
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Chase Freedom credit card	Financial Services
Kellogg's	Kellogg's EET & ERN	Retail
Key Bank	Key Bank Key Growth Solutions	Financial Services
KickBack Points LLC	Kickback Points	Travel
KidsFutures	KidsFutures	Coalition
Kimpton Hotels	Kimpton Hotels - In Touch	Travel
Kingsoopers	kingsoopers	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Kirkland's, Inc.	Kirkland's Card	Retail
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	Travel
Kmart	Kmart	Retail
Kmart/BlueLight.com	BlueLight.com BlueLight Rewards	Miscellaneous/Other
Kodak Professional (Eastman Kodak Company)	Kodak Professional (Eastman Kodak Company)	Miscellaneous/Other
Kohl's	Kohl'	Retail
Kroger Co.	Kroger	Financial Services
L.L. Bean	L. L. BEAN	Financial Services
LA Dodgers	LA Dodgers	Entertainment/Leisure
La Quinta	LaQuinta_Returns	Travel
LatinPass	LatinPass	Travel
Lavtech.com Corp.	Lavtech.com Corp	Miscellaneous/Other
Lee Auto Parts	Lee Auto Parts	Retail
Lettuce Entertain You Enterpri	Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc.	Entertainment/Leisure
Library Pharmacy	Library Pharmacy	Miscellaneous/Other
Linens 'n Things	Linens-n-Things Credit Card	Retail
Loyalty Management Group Canad	Air Miles	Coalition
Loyalty Management UK Limited	Nectar Coalition	Coalition
Lufthansa	Lufthansa	Travel
Lycos Inc.	Lycos Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
M&M Meats	M & M Meats	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Macy's/Federated	Macy's/Federated Department Stores'	Retail
Malaysia Airlines	Malaysia Airlines	Travel
Manchester United	Manchester United RedRewards	Financial Services
Mandalay Resorts Group	Mandalay Resorts Group	Entertainment/Leisure
Mandalay Resorts Group	Mandalay Resorts Group	Entertainment/Leisure
Marriott	Marriott	Travel
Marshall Fields	Dayton Hudson Corporation's	Retail
MasterCard	MasterCard Business Bonuses	Financial Services
Maxell Corporation of America	Maxell Corporation of America	Miscellaneous/Other
McDonald's	McDonald's McBreak Card	Miscellaneous/Other
Medcenter One Health Systems	Good for You!	Miscellaneous/Other
Meijer	Meijer	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Melange, Inc.	Melange, Inc.	Entertainment/Leisure
Men’s Wearhouse	Men’s Wearhouse Perfect Fit Program	Retail
Metropolitan Hotel	M Club	Travel
Mexicana Airlines	Mexicana Airlines	Travel
MGM Mirage	MGM Mirage	Entertainment/Leisure
MGM Mirage	MGM Mirage Players Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Miami Heat	Miami Heat Chase Ultimate Fan Rewards Ca	Entertainment/Leisure
Midwest Express	Midwest Express	Travel
MilePoint.com	MilePoint.com	Miscellaneous/Other
MileSource.com	MileSource.com	Miscellaneous/Other
MoreRewards Singapore Pte Ltd	MoreRewards	Coalition
MoreRewards Singapore Pte Ltd	MoreRewards	Coalition
Mothers Work, Inc.	Futuretrust	Coalition
Music123	Music123 Back Stage Pass Rewards	Retail
MyPoints.com, Inc.	mypoints	Miscellaneous/Other
N Scale Supply	N Scale Supply	Miscellaneous/Other
NASCAR, Inc.	NASCAR RacePoints	Miscellaneous/Other
Nashville Predators	Nashville Predators Ultimate Fan Rewards	Entertainment/Leisure
National	National Emerald Club	Travel
National Airlines	National Airlines National Comps	Miscellaneous/Other
National Record Mart	National Record Mart's (NRM) Passport Preferred Member Program	Miscellaneous/Other
Neiman Marcus	Neiman Marcus's InCircle program	Retail
Nestlé Prepared Foods Company	Stouffer’s Dinner Club	Miscellaneous/Other
NextCard Inc.	NextCard Rewards	Miscellaneous/Other
Nintendo	Nintendo's My Nintendo	Entertainment/Leisure
Nordstrom, Inc.	Nordstrom Bank Visa Check Card	Financial Services
Nordstrom's	Nordstrom'	Retail
Northwest Airlines	Northwest Airlines	Travel
Northwest Airlines	NWA.com Club	Miscellaneous/Other
Norwegian Cruise Lines	Norwegian Cruise Lines	Travel
Office Depot	Office Depot Advantage	Retail
Office Depot, Inc.	Office Depot Platinum Visa	Financial Services
Office Max	Office Max	Retail
Office Max	Office Max MaxPerks	Retail
Ojibwa Casino Resort	Ojibwa Casino Players Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Ojibwa Casino Resort	Ojibwa Casino Players Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Old Navy (Gap Inc.)	Old Navy Rewards	Media
On-Airport Parking	ON-airport parking	Miscellaneous/Other
Palm Restaurant, The	Palm Restaurant 837 Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Pampers	Pampers Perks	Miscellaneous/Other
Park Place Entertainement	Caesars Entertainment MasterCard	Financial Services
Park Place Entertainment, Inc.	Park Place Connection Card	Entertainment/Leisure
Pathmark Stores Inc.	Pathmark Advantage Club	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Payback	Payback	Coalition
Pepsi-Cola	Pepsistuff.com	Miscellaneous/Other
Petro-Canada	Petro-Canada	Retail
Pharmavite LLC	Club Olay	Miscellaneous/Other
Phillips Restaurants:	Phillips Restaurants:	Entertainment/Leisure
Pier 1 Imports, Inc.	Pier 1 Imports, Inc.	Retail
Piggly Wiggly	Piggly Wiggly Greenbax	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
PinPoint	Pinpoint	Coalition
Pitney Bowes	Pitney Bowes	Financial Services
Pizza Hut, Inc.	Pizza Hut VIP Program	Entertainment/Leisure
Plusliner Express Coach	Plusliner Loyalty Programme	Miscellaneous/Other
PowerCard	PowerCard	Coalition
Prefiero	Prefiero	Coalition
Procter & Gamble	Luvs (P&G)	Miscellaneous/Other
Provident Bank (Cincinnati)	Provident Bank (Cincinnati)	Miscellaneous/Other
Pumper's Premium Stores Inc.	Pumper's	Miscellaneous/Other
Qantas Airways	Qantas Airways	Travel
Qantas Airways	Qantas Airways	Travel
Rainbow Rewards Colorado, Inc.	Rainbow Rewards Colorado, Inc.	Coalition
Ralphs Grocery Company	Ralphs Grocery Company	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Ramada Inns	Ramada Inns	Miscellaneous/Other
RBC Royal Bank	Royal Bank of Canada	Financial Services
Recreational Equipment, Inc.	REI Bankcard	Financial Services
Red Roof Inns	redroof_redicard	Travel
REI	REI Co-Op	Retail
Resorts Atlantic City	Resorts Destination Casino Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Resorts Atlantic City	Resorts Players Club	Miscellaneous/Other
Restaurant Development Group	Restaurant Development Group	Entertainment/Leisure
Restaurant Development Group	Restaurant Development Group	Entertainment/Leisure
Rite Aid	Rite Aid	Retail
Rodd Hotels & Resorts	Rodd Equity Club	Travel
Rogers Cable	Rogers Cable's	Telecom
Rosinter Restaurants	Rosinter Honored Guest	Entertainment/Leisure
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.	Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.	Travel
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.	Royal Caribbean Visa	Financial Services
Royal Philips Electronics	Philips Platinum Visa	Financial Services
Safeway, Inc.	Safeway Club Card	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Sainsbury	Sainsbury	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Saks Department Store Group	Club Libby Lu	Retail
Saks Fifth Avenue	Saks Fifth Avenue’s World Elite MC	Financial Services
Saks Fifth Avenue’s	Saks Fifth Avenue’s SaksFirst	Retail
Seagate Technology	Seagate Technology	Miscellaneous/Other
Sears	Sears	Retail
Sears	Sears KidVantage Club	Retail
Sears	Sears:	Miscellaneous/Other
Sears Canada	Sears Club	Retail
Seattle Mariners MLB Team	Seattle Mariners	Miscellaneous/Other
Shell U.K. Oil Products	Shell Drivers’ Club	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Shoppers Drug Mart Inc.	Shoppers Drug Mart Inc.	Retail
Shreiber Foods International	Ambrosia Chef's Rewards	Entertainment/Leisure
Siman	Siman Rombos de Oro	Retail
Simon DeBartolo Group	Simon DeBartolo Group	Miscellaneous/Other
Sizzler	Sizzler Grill Card	Entertainment/Leisure
Sloan Valve Company	Sloan Value Alliance Club	Miscellaneous/Other
SmarterKids	Smarter Discount Rewards	Retail
Sony and Citibank	Sony Card	Travel
Southwest Airlines	Southwest Airlines	Travel
Spectrum Foods Inc. (San Francisco)	Spectrum Foods Inc. (San Francisco)	Miscellaneous/Other
Speedway SuperAmerica LLC	Speedway Speedy Rewards	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Sperry & Hutchinson Co.	Greenpoints	Coalition
Spiegel	SPIEGEL	Miscellaneous/Other
Sprint	Sprint	Telecom
Sprint	Sprint Callers' Plus Rewards & Benefits Program	Miscellaneous/Other
Sprint Communications	Sprint	Telecom
Sprint Communications	Sprint Business Rewards	Telecom
Staples. Inc.	Staples Rewards (2007 Relaunch)	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Starbucks Coffee Company	Starbucks Duetto Card	Entertainment/Leisure
Start Sampling Inc.	Start Sampling Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
START, Inc.	START, Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
Starwood Hotels	Starwood Hotels'	Travel
Starwood Preferred Guest Credi	Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card	Financial Services
State Farm	State Farm Visa	Financial Services
Stockback	Stockback	Coalition
Stratosphere Hotel & Tower	Stratosphere Casino Players Club	Entertainment/Leisure
Student Marketing, Inc.	Student Crew Card	Coalition
Subaru of America, Inc.	Subaru Platinum MasterCard	Financial Services
Suncoast Motion Picture Company	Suncoast Motion Picture Company,	Miscellaneous/Other
Super 8	Super 8 VIP Club	Miscellaneous/Other
SuperFresh	SuperFresh Club Fresh	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
SuzyKats.com	Suzykats.com	Miscellaneous/Other
Swissair	Swissair	Miscellaneous/Other
T.J. Maxx	TJX Visa	Financial Services
Talbots, Inc.	Talbots, Inc.	Retail
Target Corporation	Target Visa	Financial Services
Tavistock Restaurants, LLC	California Cafe	Entertainment/Leisure
TeleRewards	TeleRewards	Miscellaneous/Other
Tesco	Tesco	Miscellaneous/Other
TGI Friday's Inc.	TGI Friday's Inc.	Entertainment/Leisure
The AirMiles Travel Company	AirMiles Qatar	Coalition
The AirMiles Travel Company	AirMiles UK	Coalition
The Coca-Cola Company	My Coke Rewards	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
The Cure Card	Cure Card	Coalition
The Great Indoors	Great Indoors Gold MasterCard, The	Financial Services
The Hertz Corp.	Hertz #1 Club Gold	Travel
The Levy Restaurants	Levy Restaurants	Entertainment/Leisure
The Limited	Limited StyleCard	Miscellaneous/Other
The Mark of the Quad Cities	Quad City Mallards Quacker Backer	Entertainment/Leisure
The Mark of the Quad Cities	Quad City Mallards Quacker Backer	Entertainment/Leisure
The Musicland Group	Musicland Stores Corporation	Retail
The Venetian Resort Hotel Casi	Venetian Players Club	Entertainment/Leisure
The Woodwind & Brasswind	The Windwind & Brasswind Rewards Program	Retail
Thriftway/Provident Bancorp	Thriftway/Provident Bancorp	Miscellaneous/Other
Tic Tac	Tic Tac 2	Miscellaneous/Other
Timex India	Club Timex	Miscellaneous/Other
Toronto-Dominion Bank	GM Card Earnings Program	Financial Services
Tortilla, Inc.	Tortilla, Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
Toys "R" Us, Inc.	Toys R Us/Babies R Us MasterCard	Retail
TransMedia Network Inc.	TransMedia Network Inc.	Entertainment/Leisure
Travelocity	Travelocity VIP Program	Miscellaneous/Other
Travelocity	Travelocity World MasterCard	Financial Services
Travelocity, Inc.	Travelocity Rewards Mastercard	Financial Services
Travelocity.com Inc.	Travelocity.com Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
Travelodge (Cendant)	Travelodge Miles	Miscellaneous/Other
Tropicana Casino and Resort	Tropicana?s Diamond Club	Entertainment/Leisure
True Value Hardware	True Value True Rewards	Retail
TWA	TWA	Miscellaneous/Other
U.S. Bancorp	Cash Bonus Visa Check Card	Financial Services
U.S. Bancorp	Gymboree Visa Platinum Card	Retail
United Airlines	United Airlines	Travel
United Airlines	United Airlines	Travel
United Airlines	United Airlines Mileage Plus Visa	Financial Services
Universal Entertaiment	Univeral Entertainment Platinum MasterCa	Financial Services
Universal Studios Co-branded Credit Card	Universal Studios Co-branded Credit Card	Miscellaneous/Other
Upromise	Upromise	Coalition
US Airways	US Airways	Travel
Vail Resorts Management Co.	PEAKS	Entertainment/Leisure
Value America	Value America	Miscellaneous/Other
Vanguard Airlines	Vanguard Airlines	Miscellaneous/Other
VARIG Airlines	VARIG Smiles Program	Travel
Verizon Communications	Verizon Communications	Telecom
Virgin Atlantic	Virgin Atlantic	Travel
Volkswagen	Volkswagen	Travel
Volkswagen of America, Inc.	Volkswagen Bank One Platinum Visa Card	Financial Services
W.W. Grainger, Inc.	W.W. Grainger, Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
Waldenbooks	Waldenbooks	Retail
Wal-Mart	Wal-Mart MasterCard	Financial Services
Walt Disney Company, The	Disney Visa	Financial Services
Walt Disney Company's	Walt Disney Company's	Miscellaneous/Other
WebMiles	WebMiles	Miscellaneous/Other
WebVan	WebVan	Miscellaneous/Other
Wegmans	Wegman's Shoppers Club	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Weis, Kings, & Mr.Z's Markets	Weis Preferred Shopper	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
Wells Fargo	Wells Fargo Rewards	Financial Services
West Marine	West Marine	Retail
West Side Charlies	West Side Charlies Cue Card	Entertainment/Leisure
Wickes, Inc.	Wickes Advantage Program	Retail
Williams-Sonoma Inc.	west elm design dollars
Wingate (Cendant)	Wingate U1 Frequent Traveler Club	Miscellaneous/Other
Winn-Dixie	Winn-Dixie Customer Rewards Card	Grocery/CPG/Fuel Retail
WNNX 99X Atlanta	WNNX 99X Atlanta	Entertainment/Leisure
WNNX 99X Atlanta	WNNX 99X Atlanta	Entertainment/Leisure
Wolfgang Puck Food Company Inc.	Wolfgang Puck Food Company Inc.	Miscellaneous/Other
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts	Wyndham By Request	Travel
Yahoo!	Yahoo!	Miscellaneous/Other
Yahoo, Inc.	Yahoo Visa	Financial Services

A detailed survey of airline FFP Frequent Flyer Programs

2008-01-08T23:38:00.001-08:00

A detailed survey of airline FFP Frequent Flyer Programs

Insider - Trading Frequent Flyer Points

2007-12-27T21:06:00.001-08:00

Pssst, wanna trade frequent flyer miles?

Posted December 20, 2007 at 4:09 pm ET by Tim Winship

Most
(all?) frequent flyers feel they should be able to do whatever they
wish with their airline miles. "Sell them, give them away, barter them,
trade them—whatever, I earned them so they're mine to do with as
I choose." That's the prevailing attitude.

The airlines feel very differently, and have formalized their
objections to the free exchange of miles, explicitly prohibiting the
sale, purchase, or barter of miles in their program rules.

Of course the airlines do permit miles to be bought and sold under
very specific circumstances, particularly when the transactions are
under the control of the airlines, at prices of their choosing, and
with revenues ultimately ending up in their coffers.

So most airlines operate nice, and nicely profitable, side
businesses, selling significant quantities of miles for around three
cents each. In the great majority of cases, those transactions are
handled by Points.com, which has developed the shopping cart software
widely used by airlines to handle mileage sales.

Always on the lookout for new ways to work the mileage exchange angle, Points.com has launched the beta version of its Global Points Exchange
(GPX), allowing Points.com members to trade miles and points of
participating programs. So far, the list of participating programs is
limited to American, Aeroplan, Alaska, Frontier, and Icelandair. But
more airlines, and hotel chains as well, will almost certainly elect to
participate in the future.

The exchange facilitates the trading of miles. So, for example, an
AAdvantage member might need 5,000 miles to top off her account, and
also have miles in an inactive Alaska Mileage Plan account. She could
offer to trade 5,000 Alaska miles for 5,000 American miles. And someone
else, in need of Alaska miles and with an excess of American miles,
might agree to the terms of the trade.

Members are free to propose any exchange rate they choose, but for
airline miles, trades are likely to be one-for-one, at least initially.
Members can either post a trade request, specifying what type of miles
they want to give and receive, or browse the offers of other would-be
traders.

Naturally, trading miles is not free. Traders pay a fee comprised of
two parts, a $6.95 "processing fee" for Points.com, which is waived for
the time being, plus trading fees imposed by the airline program. To
trade American AAdvantage miles, for example, the trading fees would be
$80 for between 1,000 and 5,000 miles, $130 for 6,000 - 10,000 miles,
and $180 for 11,000 - 15,000 miles.

It's a nifty idea, but one that is undermined by a weak value
proposition. As is the case with purchasing miles from the airlines,
the fees are too high to justify the flexibility and convenience,
except perhaps in emergencies and when very small quantities of miles
are involved.

FlyerGuide.com (FFP Wiki)

2007-12-27T20:31:00.001-08:00

http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

FlyerGuide is the ultimate resource for those who travel A LOT, or who would like to travel A LOT. Created and continually updated by frequent travelers, FlyerGuide is a collaborative effort where all are invited to share what they know about making travel more comfortable, relaxing and rewarding.

Cool Cartoons on Frequent Flyer

2007-12-27T20:27:00.001-08:00

Funnies

Web Flyer... good help for frequent flyers

2007-12-27T20:17:00.001-08:00

Economics of Loyalty

2007-12-27T20:11:00.001-08:00

Licensing loyalty

Started as a way to keep passengers coming back again and again,
airline loyalty programs have grown into significant cash generators.

Airlines make money off
the programs by selling miles to other companies that want to offer
these miles as a marketing lure. Netflix Inc. (NFLX:

Netflix, Inc, for instance, advertises that new customers earn 1,500 miles for use in
Delta's SkyMiles program when they sign up for the video-rental
service. Netflix pays Delta for those miles; in return, Delta makes a
certain number of seats available for frequent-flier use.

The cash value of these
miles likely is 1 to 2 cents a mile, according to Henry Harteveldt,
Forrester Research airline analyst.

Particularly attractive
to investors are the high margins. One reason for these margins is that
some passengers never redeem their miles -- about 17% in Aeroplan's
case.

That means some of the
mileage sold to third parties are 100% profit. If a passenger does use
those miles to take a flight, the carrier makes a profit on the
difference between what it earned from selling the miles and the price
of a ticket for that seat -- if it were able to sell one.

Aeroplan, for instance,
sells miles to Air Canada, credit card companies and retailers for
about 1.17 Canadian cents each a mile. When customers redeem them, that
costs Aeroplan around 89 Canadian cents a mile.

That cash generation
also makes the units attractive for their airline parents, which
increase cash flow as they sell miles to marketers. In general, most of
a carrier's frequent-flier miles go to third parties rather than as
rewards to customers.

Plus, the programs
provide the carrier with an incentive program to make sure its most
loyal customers come back for more. Losing the ability to manage those
customer relationships is a big risk for carriers considering
separating their loyalty programs.

"The best customer for
American Airlines may not necessarily be the best customer for the
frequent-flier company," said Tom Horton, AMR's chief financial officer.

Loyalty Spin-off

2007-12-27T07:02:00.001-08:00

U.S. airlines take harder look at spinning off loyalty plans - MarketWatch

Eight Ways to Build Customer Loyalty, Retention and Referrals

2007-12-26T21:14:00.001-08:00

By David Taylor
Dental Economics

12/13/07 4:00 AM PT

CRM News: Customer Retention: Eight Ways to Build Customer Loyalty, Retention and Referrals

Lesson 1: Early Bonding Buys Boo-Boos

Did you know that a new customer can withstand up to eight negative
interactions with a business, as long as he or she has one positive
interaction first? Now, we recommend not going for the eight negative
interactions.

However, when prospective patients call for the first time, visit
for the first time, and receive your first follow-up calls, are you
doing anything special to really bond with them and turn the
interaction extremely positive in their minds?

Lesson 2: One Size Does Not Fit All

Customers are delighted -- and loyal -- when we understand and
respond to their specific needs. The same things are not important to
all patients. Some personality types value relationships and want to
feel deeply appreciated and known on a personal level. Some are very
business focused, and just want the bottom line in terms of cost and
time; others value comfort and avoiding pain and nothing else really
matters. Still others value dialogue and want to be consulted as a peer
in their care and have everything explained to them.

How long does it take you to learn each patient's specific needs -
and how many gaffes are team members committing in the meantime? Can
you survey or interview new patients during their very first visit to
find out what makes them tick?

Lesson 3: You Must Convey Value

Customers continue to exchange their money for products or services
as long as they feel they're receiving sufficient value. What is your
practice's unique value proposition? A value proposition answers the
following questions:

What are my patients really "buying" from me?
Why are they buying it from me and not from someone else?

In answering these questions, push yourself. The answers are not
always apparent or simple. Once your value proposition is internalized
by team members, you must convey (communicate) that value to patients
at every opportunity.

Lesson 4: Communicate Effectively

Customers love communication, as long as it comes in the format they
like, is brief, and contains information they want. Sounds simple,
right? So, how are you communicating with your patients? How are you
educating them? Do you know the type of communication they want and do
you provide the information they're looking for? Do you provide various
ways for them to communicate with you -- including valuable feedback on
your services?

Even if you consider yourself a "people person," effective two-way
communication isn't easy, but you can learn it with the right tools.

Lesson 5: Know Why Customers Leave

Successful businesses know why customers leave, and they work hard
to understand -- and fix -- the problems in their organizations,
systems, products and services that are causing those departures. Did
you know that the main reason patients change practices is the attitude
or indifference of the staff or doctor? What are you doing to address
that problem in your practice?

As you work hard to gather -- and listen to -- patient feedback (and
ex-patient feedback), look at your systems and processes to determine
the root cause of the problem. Fix the root cause and they will stop
leaving you for that reason.

Lesson 6: Measure!

If you want something to improve, measure it. If you want loyalty,
retention, and referrals to increase, measure them. What should you
measure? Consider the following metrics:

The number of patients in your database who you see at least once a year
Patient recall success percentages
The number of new patients who found you because they were referred by someone
The number of patients seen per month as a percentage of total active patients in the database
Patient satisfaction ratings gathered via surveys. You are doing surveys, right?

Lesson 7: Ask for Referrals

At the right moment during patient visits, are you asking for
referrals? Are you offering an incentive or reward to existing patients
for referrals that result in new patients, or are you leaving it up to
them to just refer on their own?

Sure, you'll have to prompt them a little. Ask them if they know
anyone who is new to the area, or anyone who isn't completely happy
with their oral health, or if anyone they know has said, "Gosh, I wish
my teeth looked like yours!"

Lesson 8: It's a Team Sport

Great companies realize that customer loyalty, retention and referrals are the responsibility of every team member.

If one person lets down, the company suffers. Have you unified your
team around the goals of loyalty, retention, and referrals? Do you
reward your team around the goals of loyalty, retention, and referrals?
Are you carefully selecting the right team members and removing the
wrong team members?

Hear that? Opportunity is knocking!

Oracle CRM Strategy VP Mike Betzer boolish on Loyalty in 2008

2007-12-26T21:06:00.001-08:00

What can we expect to see from Oracle next year, in terms of CRM that is?

.... Also, loyalty is another focus area
for us. Up until recently most in the industry have gotten loyalty
wrong -- they think of it only as a marketing
campaign. But it is not so one dimensional -- you have to leverage
sales and service as well, just like the airlines have done with their
loyalty campaigns. Airline miles, in fact, is one of the greatest
loyalty campaign examples of all time. We want to apply those lessons
in other areas now.

Read full interview: CRM News: Trends: Oracle VP Mike Betzer: The Mainstream Is Waking Up to CRM

CRM Buyer!!! One stop shop for CRM system buyers

2007-12-26T20:27:00.001-08:00

FrequentFlyer.com one stop shop for Airline Loylaty

2007-12-26T07:34:00.001-08:00

Its Loyalty

Are Your Customers Profitably Loyal?

Airlines & Hotels going opposite direction in Loyalty!

When Frequent Flyer points come to rescue in tough economic times

US Airlines Market looking down a hole

Phskar Lele: Hindustani Classical Singer

Worth of FFP Credit Card : Good Article

Gauging the Worth of a Frequent-Flier Credit Card

Airline Cost Cutting: The Axe is on Lounges

When Loyalty Program Saves the Airline: United Story

Qantas: Another Airline to sell Loyalty?

Bursting Retail Customer Loyalty Myth

Good Article.... Here is the original

Retail Viewpoint - Churn rates should turn grocers' stomachs

http://www.rewardprograms.org/

Join a Rewards Program in 3 Easy Steps &gt;&gt;

CRM 2.0: a Loyalty Marketing Benefit of Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 can help you drive Loyalty

Frequent flyer programs — cash cow for airlines

AMR: Retail Loyalty Program Roadmap: Strategy, Best Practices, and Technology Options

Nectar Profit £5.4 million on sales of £194 million

WebCard Loyalty wins innovation prize 2008

First Loyalty Portal with virtual loyalty cards awarded with innovation prize 2008

WebCard Loyalty - Customer loyalty with "virtual loyalty cards"

The WebCard Loyalty Portal brings your customer loyalty card onto the Internet – simply, securely and conveniently for you and your customers.

1...2...3 - ready!

Application fields

Customer Loyalty and Customer Lifetime Value | CustomerThink

Customer Loyalty and Customer Lifetime Value

Key Steps to a Successful Loyalty Program | CustomerThink

Using — and losing — frequent flyer points

The Joy of Miles: Frequent flyer programs.. Explained!!!

Trends: Loyalty Programs

Qantas program may be worth $1.9 billion

FFP Survey reveals interesting industry trends

Loyalty Program effectiveness in Telecom

6 Steps to CRM

Six Steps to Remarkable Service

Loyalty Program effectiveness in Telecom

Carlson 1on1 (Loyalty Research Site)

Loyalty in Automotive Industry

Picking Up Speed in Driving Automotive Customer Loyalty

Retalix Customer Loyalty Solution

List of All Loyalty Programs (from Colloquy)

A detailed survey of airline FFP Frequent Flyer Programs

Insider - Trading Frequent Flyer Points

Pssst, wanna trade frequent flyer miles?

FlyerGuide.com (FFP Wiki)

Cool Cartoons on Frequent Flyer

Web Flyer... good help for frequent flyers

Economics of Loyalty

Loyalty Spin-off

Eight Ways to Build Customer Loyalty, Retention and Referrals

Lesson 1: Early Bonding Buys Boo-Boos

Lesson 2: One Size Does Not Fit All

Lesson 3: You Must Convey Value

Lesson 4: Communicate Effectively

Lesson 5: Know Why Customers Leave

Lesson 6: Measure!

Lesson 7: Ask for Referrals

Lesson 8: It's a Team Sport

Oracle CRM Strategy VP Mike Betzer boolish on Loyalty in 2008

CRM Buyer!!! One stop shop for CRM system buyers

FrequentFlyer.com one stop shop for Airline Loylaty

Join a Rewards Program in 3 Easy Steps >>

The WebCard Loyalty Portal brings your customer loyalty card onto the Internet –
simply, securely and conveniently for you and your customers.