Online retailers have a uniquely difficult challenge in building relationships and creating customer loyalty. Without a store-front to rely upon, most online retailers lead with product selection and price to attract first time buyers.
This leaves many to rely on ad words and keyword search as their only acquisition funnel. Generating repeat business, building trusted relationships, [...]

A small firestorm over the efficacy of Loyalty Marketing programs broke out over this past weekend thanks in large part to an article written by Joanne Kaufman for the Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Kaufman recounts a telling tale of how her own household purchase behavior adapted to take advantage of rewards programs from Duane Reade to [...]

Just a few months ago, on these very Loyalty Truth pages, I gave kudos to Caesars Atlantic City and its Total Rewards loyalty program.
During some trying times for the economy in general, and Atlantic City in particular, Caesars AC was making some smart moves to get its loyalty program members back to the casino.
Last week, [...]

Trendy business buzzwords aren’t any fun until you form an opinion and seek feedback to get to the substance of the issue.
Customer Engagement is one of those terms that is being mentioned more frequently than Kim Kardashian was during the Super Bowl. It’s the 2010 version of “what’s hot, what’s new, what’s next?”
The question is, [...]

In the past week, business has taken me to Vancouver, BC and San Jose, Costa Rica with a pit stop in South Florida for a day or so at home. None of that was a big deal until my colleague Mike Atkin noted at dinner that we’ve been hitting these spots in conjunction with some [...]

After spending the last few weeks thinking through reasonable responses to my new favorite question for 2010 “Do you think Social Media is here to stay?“, I’ve recently been re-directed to my “old” favorite question that I have been answering for 12 years “Do loyalty programs work?“
Without disappearing completely down that gopher-hole, I’ll just say [...]

Where is everyone’s Brand Loyalty? Is it with NBC, Leno or Conan? There’s no apparent popular effort to bring Leno back to the Tonight Show – but there is a whole lot of buzz on the Social Media web sites in support of Conan. Simply put, NBC would be stupid to let Conan go.

I read some really great year end posts during the week leading up to New Year’s Day. Amidst the “Top 10/50/100″ lists, there were thoughtful, humorous, and motivational takes on how to evaluate 2009 and approach 2010 with energy and enthusiasm.
One or two that caused me to take my finger off the mouse and pause [...]

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 [...]

At times, Marketers can be real Bozos…….or is it BOGOS?
Striving for creativity can unleash the best and worst in marketers and while I’m not afraid to make mistakes, I try to avoid outsmarting myself as much as possible.
Folks working in the marketing space will agree that we have to be sharp as tacks to stay [...]