Editors Note: Jim Kuschill is a patient man. Patient enough to have architected one of the world’s leading loyalty marketing software platforms while Chief Technology Officer of Frequency Marketing. DIRECTV got his goat and the following is worth a read, especially if you’re the person responsible for customer experience or customer service at your company.

I [...]

I need to do some consumer research. Do minor consumer revolts against good sense constitute a leading indicator of good times returning, or confirm that the economy is still struggling with frustration leading people to make irrational choices?
Whatever the answer, it seems a minor groundswell is taking place in the restaurant business with new chains [...]

A celebrity endorsement—for a loyalty program?
The pros and cons of using a celebrity spokesperson in advertising have been long established.

The pros? A celebrity draws attention
The cons? A celebrity draws attention—away from your product or service

What’s more, as we recently saw with golfing legend you-know-who, there’s the potential downside of aligning your company with a celebrity [...]

I’ve been in way too many meetings lately where I have been asked the question “Is Social Media just a fad that will soon blow away?”
Fortunately, I’m well schooled in responding to skeptics since, for the past dozen years, I’ve been answering the classic question in my core business, “Does this Loyalty stuff really work?”
I [...]

For me, the most compelling question to arise from the tawdry Tiger Woods scandal isn’t whether his wife will leave him, but whether his corporate sponsors will.  In particular, the management consulting company Accenture.
We’re not talking energy drinks or golf shoes here, Accenture is a starched white collar Fortune Global 500 firm that, excuse the [...]

Atlantic City, the famed gambling Mecca about an hour down the coast from me, is on a nasty losing streak. A recent story in the NY Times quoted a top gambling executive as saying “the city is in a death spiral.” Few disagreed.
It seems that after a rough couple of years, 2009 is looking even [...]

The end, when it came, was sudden. Just when it looked like the Saturn car company had been rescued by the Penske Group, the deal fell through and now, despite a loyal customer following, Saturn is no more.
As faithful Loyalty Truth readers know, I have blogged about Saturn in the past, noting its social media [...]

Visitors to England usually have an easy to predict list of “must see” destinations during their stay. After coping with the adjustment to a different time zone, most are off to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the London Eye. With cultural needs somewhat satisfied, a bevy of High Street merchants are on the “shopping” [...]

I had two hours to kill in Chicago O’Hare and needed something to drink. Just as I was teetering towards the familiar Starbucks installation, I spotted an inviting alternative across the concourse – Argo Tea. I’d never seen this chain before but was attracted by the Asian-tea-fusion feel to the place. As I scanned for [...]

One mantra of Loyalty Marketing practitioners is that discounting is not a sustainable strategy. While it does create temporary impact to boost sales and adjust inventory levels, it is not a differentiating tactic and does not serve as the foundation for creation of competitive advantage through a strategic marketing plan.
That said, discounting is one of [...]