Recent Posts by Emily Rudin

To keep customers active in your loyalty program, it’s essential to reward members beyond discounts and demonstrate the value of continuous participation. Research featured in the International Journal of Hospitality Management found that “providing social rewards [e.g., a member-exclusive personal lounge, health club, concierge services, and invitations to special events] increases customers’ emotional attachment and effective commitment to a company, and hence they are more...

Brand advocates are the cheerleaders that help your brand engage and build relationships with future prospects, leads, and customers. These loyal patrons are invaluable for a brand, and Sleep Number knows exactly how to tap into this powerful customer base. Before launching the new “InnerCircle”, online loyalty program, SleepNumber was creating champions out of clients by incentivizing customers with refer-a-friend initiatives and building leads from those referrals. The new...

Whether loyalty is a new concept for your company or you’re considering making a greater investment, here’s a guide to finding the right loyalty technology solution to meet your brand’s needs. Define your loyalty program objectives Before you start thinking about program design and setting up demos with vendors, establish what exactly you want from your loyalty program from a business perspective. Are your objectives to acquire new customers, improve retention, create brand...

Brands with multiple entities may find it challenging to connect their customers across their entire portfolio. The Francis Ford Coppola family of brands, which includes wineries, restaurants, resorts, and cafes made the investment in loyalty to unify its brands and reward customers for spending and engaging across all touchpoints. Cat Rossi, Senior Director of Brand & Content Marketing at CrowdTwist, recently sat down with Rebecca Gilbert, Senior Brand Manager at Francis Ford...

In an overcrowded marketplace where brand differentiation isn’t always apparent, brand awareness is a key driver of consumer purchase decisions. In fact, customers are 60% more likely to purchase from a brand they’ve heard of than from one they’re unfamiliar with. An investment in loyalty can help a brand stand out from the competition, drive brand awareness, and increase revenue. Here’s how to design a loyalty program that that boosts the profile of your brand. Reward members...

Luxury brand marketers who are considering loyalty programs are often concerned that they won’t align with the image or appeal of the brand. Traditional spend and get loyalty programs reward customers with discounts and couponing, which many luxury brands could argue “cheapens” their offering. However, the most effective luxury loyalty programs in market today go beyond discounting to provide value for members. In addition, consumer expectations are changing from a luxury...

The Loyalty Challenge Customer retention is a challenge for all industries, but churn rates are particularly high in the telecommunications industry, averaging between 10 and 67% annually. For example, it is estimated that 75% of the 17 to 20 million subscribers signing up with a new wireless carrier every year are coming from another wireless provider. Loyalty is extremely difficult for telecommunications brands to attain, especially due to the lack of differentiation in the...

It’s no secret that consumers are interacting with brands across many different touchpoints and channels today, and batch & blast communications have become a thing of the past. Throughout the past few years, many brands have begun sending personalized content to their customers, but in today’s climate, sometimes even that isn’t enough to keep customers coming back. It is becoming increasingly necessary for brands to create dynamically rendered campaigns that are not only highly...

The QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) industry is notoriously competitive and operates on extremely tight margins. More and more restaurants are investing in loyalty programs that go beyond a simple “points for spend” model to differentiate their business and to retain and attract customers. To build long term loyalty, QSRs need to develop programs that drive unique value, deliver convenience, and engage their customers when and where they spend their time. Here are some best...