Blog

This blog was written in response to the article "Aeroplan, it’s time to stop grabbing back the miles of your inactive customers" by Rob Carrick, that was published on January 14, 2020 on https://www.theglobeandmail.com/ 

Hard truth: if you’re designing your employee experience (EX) strategies around segmentation by age group, you’re doing it wrong.  

In a follow-up to our November blog applauding Starbucks' Black Friday deal and how it used loyalty mechanics to encourage acquisition and habitual behaviors, Scott Robinson and Sayyada Rai  put the offer to the test and examined the real-world implications from two points of view.

Starbucks' Black Friday deal shows us that loyalty mechanics can brew good things outside of formal loyalty programs. 

From discounts and free shipping to makeovers and workout classes, paid perks are taking off in the loyalty space.

Customer experience (CX) has become a critical focus area for businesses seeking to connect with their customers in meaningful ways and differentiate themselves from their competitors. So popular is the topic of CX, it has its own global day (“CX Day”) to celebrate brands that create great customer experiences.

Employees are the face of your brand. They are the difference between a “good experience” and a “great or differentiated experience”—they are the ones that form emotional bonds, and bring the brand promises to life. Numerous studies, have shown that a positive interaction between a customer and an employee results in enhanced brand perception, likelihood to increase spend and more willingness to forgive brand missteps—small and large.

Bottom line: employees can’t be replicated.

It’s one thing for Bond to say good things about ourselves and highlight our capabilities, like we might do when we get acquainted with prospective new clients and partners. It's quite another when an independent, authoritative third party names us a leader, which we believe validates our experience and expertise.

During a recent retail co-branded credit card client engagement, it became clear to me that retail co-branded credit cards are generally behind their bank credit card counterparts when it comes to the utilization of digital channels for the purposes of securing new cardholders. It is time for retail co-branded credit cards to take notice and actively explore and utilize digital channels to extend their reach to where their potential cardholders reside. It is increasingly important to communicate and reach out to consumer cohorts differentially, as seen in Bond’s Loyalty Report 2019.

Over the last 3 years, loyalty programs have become an attractive target of digital fraudsters. In fact, it was reported that 48 percent of businesses were hit by account takeovers (ATO), which cost companies more than $2.3 billion worldwide. Delta, Air Miles, Marriott, and PC Optimum loyalty programs were all hit by fraud with thieves reportedly hacking into accounts, stealing points, and going on shopping sprees. As fraudsters become more sophisticated in their techniques, companies need to be more sophisticated in their approach to fraud prevention and detection.