New leaders emerging in customer loyalty says MIT Sloan review
Businesses should learn from complaints
$3.4 billion invested in AI

Businesses should be encouraging customers to complain, and they should be ready and willing to resolve complaints before word-of-mouth criticism does significant damage. Read more ...

Wishing a good journey to Marriott Bonvoy
Combined hotel loyalty programme finally given a name
Marriott will officially launch the Bonvoy name for its combined loyalty programme this week, with a launch date for the apps and online stuff of February 13th. Read more ...

Air Canada completes purchase of Aeroplan
Aimia “in the enviable position of having unrestricted cash of over half a billion dollars” says chairman
Aimia plans for the cash outlined Read more ...

Australian card issuers compete with card linked offers
Issuers work hard to keep cardholders loyal with points bonuses

A variety of card linked offers are available already this year in the Australian market so far, but be warned – its complicated. Read more ...

US$1m reward for transformative idea for 5G
And don't forget to enter your million dollar winner in The Loyalty Magazine Awards (entries close Feb 14th)

A telco company is offering a US$1 million reward for the person who comes up with a truly transformative 5G application. Read more ...

Business travellers believe loyalty rewards are a right
Company policy often a sticking point
It is easy to forget that customer loyalty is not always in the control of the person earning the points.
Ask any parent whose child is saving for a collectable and they will certainly agree.

In business travel, it is even more complex. Read more ...

Mastercard name dropped from branding
Preparing for when ‘card’ is no longer relevant to payments
In 1966 it was called Interbank, then in 1968 it became mastercharge. Read more ...

Big payment names join up for missguided mission
Payments provider Klarna, SaaS platform Poq and online payment platform Stripe have joined forces to provide pay-later provision to shoppers wanting to try before they buy. Read more ...

The worst (and best) of the short-hauls
An “unrepresentative survey of just 8,000 people” voted
Read more ...

M&S appoints from loyalty elite Read more ...

New leaders emerging in customer loyalty says MIT Sloan review
Businesses should learn from complaints
$3.4 billion invested in AI

Businesses should be encouraging customers to complain, and they should be ready and willing to resolve complaints before word-of-mouth criticism does significant damage. Read more ...

Wishing a good journey to Marriott Bonvoy
Combined hotel loyalty programme finally given a name
Marriott will officially launch the Bonvoy name for its combined loyalty programme this week, with a launch date for the apps and online stuff of February 13th. Read more ...

Air Canada completes purchase of Aeroplan
Aimia “in the enviable position of having unrestricted cash of over half a billion dollars” says chairman
Aimia plans for the cash outlined Read more ...

Australian card issuers compete with card linked offers
Issuers work hard to keep cardholders loyal with points bonuses

A variety of card linked offers are available already this year in the Australian market so far, but be warned – its complicated. Read more ...

US$1m reward for transformative idea for 5G
And don't forget to enter your million dollar winner in The Loyalty Magazine Awards (entries close Feb 14th)

A telco company is offering a US$1 million reward for the person who comes up with a truly transformative 5G application. Read more ...

Business travellers believe loyalty rewards are a right
Company policy often a sticking point
It is easy to forget that customer loyalty is not always in the control of the person earning the points.
Ask any parent whose child is saving for a collectable and they will certainly agree.

In business travel, it is even more complex. Read more ...

Mastercard name dropped from branding
Preparing for when ‘card’ is no longer relevant to payments
In 1966 it was called Interbank, then in 1968 it became mastercharge. Read more ...

Big payment names join up for missguided mission
Payments provider Klarna, SaaS platform Poq and online payment platform Stripe have joined forces to provide pay-later provision to shoppers wanting to try before they buy. Read more ...

The worst (and best) of the short-hauls
An “unrepresentative survey of just 8,000 people” voted
Read more ...

M&S appoints from loyalty elite Read more ...

Morrisons price cuts while discounters celebrate results
17 million bottles of wine, champagne and prosecco bought at Aldi in December

Morrisons is paying little attention to research showing a reduction in customer loyalty through price reductions. Its has announced plans to slash prices off 900 products as  discount retailer Aldi announces its best Christmas ever. Read more ...

Discounting shown to have customer retention negative impact
Price cuts above 30% damages loyalty Read more ...

Radisson Rewards launches points for charity cash
Points redemption for monetary donations to SOS Children’s Villages

Radisson Hotel Group and Radisson Rewards are partnering with SOS Children's Villages in an effort to provide vulnerable children all over the world with a safe home and basic needs, by persauding their customers to redeem their points for charitable giving. Read more ...

Marketing will be cancelled until further notice
And loyalty will be turned on its head

From the customer perspective, it looks likely that life will get a little easier in 2019, not least because companies are finally taking notice of the fact that we have opinions on stuff, and can no longer be pushed into buying things by indoctrination and pushy marketing. Read more ...

Make sure your heart is in the right place
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience to the customers impacted by the delay”

Some customer problems are more difficult to solve than others. A recent Southwest Airlines flight en route to Dallas from Seattle had to make a U-turn and returned to its point of departure when flight crew realized that a human heart meant to be transported to a medical facility had been left aboard the aircraft. Read more ...

People will pay 22% more if the company has a good reputation
Social and environmental conscience, support of good causes, positive work environment, good leadership all create highly valuable brand appeal

Reputation counts in retail to such an extent, that people will pay almost a quarter more to buy their products. This is the result of a study by the University of Technology in Sydney. Read more ...

Waitrose wins by making it personal
Mailjet 2018 survey points to lack of cross-channel marketing
Waitrose has won the Christmas battle of the inbox, reclaiming the crown from 2017 champion Asda, according to research from Mailjet. Waitrose rose nearly seven points to achieve a total score of 25.1 out of an available 30.0. Read more ...

Pizza rewards offered as 5/1 customer carrot
Struggling North America pizza parlour Papa John's is hoping to turn round plummeting sales following a year of PR scandals and falling sales by giving away dough. Read more ...

Economist article hits at airlines for points value slashing
Miles needed for flights rise in some cases by 45%
Warning of existential risk if practice continues

If the devaluation of a currency is bad for those who hold it, it must follow that slashing the value of loyalty-scheme points is bad for frequent flyers. Read more ...

Hail a taxi to find out more about loyalty innovation
Innovation continues to come out of the taxi and ridesharing business with  Lyft giving details of its plan to encourage repeat use with Lyft Rewards loyalty programme. Read more ...