There’s a fascinating article titled “The Dawn of the Relationship Era in Marketing” that recently appeared in AdAge magazine. It’s written by David Rogers and Bob Garfield, the latter the same guy who caused a stir a few years ago with the essay “The Chaos Scenario” which (semi-correctly) predicted “the end of advertising as we know it”.

This piece isn’t quite so controversial, but it does point out that the role of marketing in the selling equation is changing. The authors posit that we’re witnessing the end of  “the Consumer Era” and are now moving into “the Relationship Era”.

The Relationship Era is based around the idea that companies that succeed in the future will do so because they’ve made some sort of human connection with their customer base. The belief is that in the Relationship Era, the big winners will be companies that people trust because they have “solid core values” and “transparent and honest practices“.

These companies will spend little on advertising—because they won’t need it. They’ve made a personal connection with a core group of customers who trust them implicitly, because they’ve backed up their core values with actions. They can then rely on these loyal customers to spread the word about their products and services and attract new customers. It almost seems the logical result that comes from a well executed corporate social responsibility policy.

The authors believe these brand-fan customers will: “…share your links and retweet you on Twitter and post a photo of themselves with your product on Facebook and like you on Facebook and generate all these network conversations, which go back to the top of the funnel and influence other customers in your network at their own stage of awareness, consideration, preference or action.”

So how do you get to be one of these beloved companies who people are tweeting and posting about? It starts with a purpose according to Rogers and Garfield. “You have to explain to all comers why you’re in business.” Among the companies identified as successfully “explaining” themselves and their values are Apple, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

One prime example that’s cited is outdoors outfitter Patagonia who for years has had a purpose that resonates with its customers: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. The company then backs up this mantra with real-world actions, donating 1% of its gross sales to environmental causes, promoting environmental sustainability in every aspect of its operations and providing progressive workplace policies like paternity leave and paid sabbaticals.

Another company identified as a having authentic purpose: Krispy Kreme. After a rough start to the decade, in 2009 a new management team went searching for the company’s raison d’etre and came up with: “Touching and enhancing people’s lives through the joy that is Krispy Kreme. Management then “decreed that the joy ethic inform every interaction at every level of the business.”

My take: I can buy into the Relationship Era—but only to a point.

It’s hard to argue with companies like Trader Joe’s and Patagonia, that have carved out their own unique niche in the marketplace with little to no advertising, but lots of positive word-of-mouth and social networking buzz. After all, what’s not to like about free advertising? But the fact is, these kind of companies are few and far between.

Put under a microscope, I’d say the majority of US companies would be unable to pass the “authenticity” sniff test. Even successful companies often aren’t nimble or visionary enough to coalesce around a single purpose and execute it in the marketplace. It’s just not in their DNA. For instance, I wonder if every Krispy Kreme franchise has really been able to add “the joy ethic” to every business transaction.

The good news: companies that lack a specific purpose their customers can rally around, have other ways to grow their business and increase brand loyalty. This includes doing all they can to improve the customer experience from pre-sale to post-sale. It also means enhancing customer engagement, so that customers are communicated with in personal, relevant ways across a variety of touch points.

What do you think—is the Relationship Era upon us?

The three key trends identified by Parissa Behnia while attending the Customer Relationship Management Conference (CRMC) on behalf of Hanifin Loyalty LLC include the following.

1. The Promise of Customer Data: Collecting and accessing customer data isn’t just for marketing purposes anymore – it serves to inform the structure and strategy of the overall business
2. Have the Courage to Be Bold: To achieve full business potential, retailers need to become “bold” and walk out their brand promise through the delivery of customer experiences that differentiate and excel
3. Brick and Mortar retail is not dead!: Offline and online worlds are colliding and retailers need to identify and leverage “why” their physical location exists to understand how it can win over pure online commerce

We wrap up our 3 part series with discussion of Trend #3 today.

Hope for Brick & Mortar Retail
Sarah Lacy, Senior Editor of TechCrunch! stated that we are witnessing the revenge of the brick and mortar stores. Even though e-commerce is 10% of retail sales, it happens to be a very disruptive 10%. Many retail models have been turned on their heads because of this new way of shopping, selecting and purchasing products.

The way things were “always done” are no more and the reality is that there is some scrambling to keep up with mobile and other technologies to keep customers engaged, loyal and happy.

The original ways of doing business online were driven by convenience and low price. Over time, the online shopping experience has been transformed to include high touch or human driven experiences (e.g., customer recommendations, “people also bought” messages, live customer chats, etc.) – also known as curation.

Really, what’s happening is that offline and online worlds are colliding. As customers continue to transact online or on their Smartphones, these transactions are enhanced using real world experiences thanks to connections with others on these sorts of platforms: Yelp, Groupon, Foursquare, Twitter and Shopkick.

Ultimately, Sarah rightly pointed out that in some cases, it’s not that physical location exists, it is the why that makes physical location win over pure online commerce.

She recommended four strategies to improve brick and mortar retail’s chances:

Strategy 1: Play up your niche. It’s difficult to buy maternity clothes or food online. Celebrate that natural advantage over online but you can use online to enhance the experience.

Strategy 2: Pilots are your friend… There is nothing wrong with test and learn.

Strategy 3: Barbell. If something is best done online, then put it online. Make sure to have several high touch points in the customer journey to provide/reinforce what online can’t.

Strategy 4: Service. Nordstrom is an excellent model of service in this social commerce world. Aspire to that level of service and people will always come back to you.

Really, the most interesting part of the keynote was her level of optimism for brick and mortar. All is not lost and now is an excellent opportunity for traditional retailers to leverage the best of both worlds.

The three key trends identified by Parissa Behnia while attending the Customer Relationship Management Conference (CRMC) on behalf of Hanifin Loyalty LLC are listed below. We share more about Trend #2 today.

1. The Promise of Customer Data: Collecting and accessing customer data isn’t just for marketing purposes anymore – it serves to inform the structure and strategy of the overall business
2. Have the Courage to Be Bold: To achieve full business potential, retailers need to become “bold” and walk out their brand promise through the delivery of customer experiences that differentiate and excel
3. Brick and Mortar retail is not dead!: Offline and online worlds are colliding and retailers need to identify and leverage “why” their physical location exists to understand how it can win over pure online commerce

Have the Courage to Be Bold

Is your company bold? Does your company have the courage to be bold? The answer to these questions may be the difference between the success of Audi the last few years and the difficult tale of GM during the same time period.

Shaun Smith, Author & Partner, Smith & Co. spent an energizing morning talking to CRMC attendees about what defines a bold organization and how its boldness manifests itself in how it relates to customers, prospects and employees alike.

Bold firms share these characteristics:

1. Stand Up – They know what it is they believe in
2. Stand Out – They are remarkable and different
3. Stand Firm – The build communities for employees and customers to create sustainability around their brand

Why is it so important to be bold in either one of these three ways? It’s because “Purpose” is to be considered the fifth P of marketing. Now more than ever, companies need a raison d’etre to stand out and be compelling for their customers and prospects.

Mr. Smith shared an example to illustrate each point:

Stand Up Example

The Six Senses resort in Maldives is a prime example of an organization that stands up. In this case, it’s protecting the environment as much as possible. Their main value is concern: for the environment and for an exquisite customer experience.

Every part of this resort reinforces the value. When guests arrive by seaplane, they are given a bag for their shoes in keeping with the “no news and no shoes” policy. There is no television or any sort of outside access because the purpose of this resort is luxurious relaxation. In respecting the environment, they are vigorously devoted to a recycling and reuse program. 50% of profits they’ve made from their own purified water go directly to parts of the world where there is no access to fresh water.

All of this reinforces the brand message of “intelligent luxury”.

Stand Out Example

Unlike many luxury brands, Burberry has seen tremendous profits of late. Instead of going into a protective mode, Burberry took the time, effort and energy required to differentiate the brand and its quality vis a vis the competition. The company invested heavily in mapping the customer journey such that they identified and understood all angles of opportunity when a customer evaluates Burberry product.

Burberry has mastered the art of democratic luxury and, In as many ways as possible, they try to attract people to the brand and to interact with the brand. Burberry stands out because it engages in infectious communication.

They create “wow” in as many ways as possible in their customer experience. Their artofthetrench.com has 400K loyal customers who uploaded pictures of themselves onto the site. Also, they brought the masses to the runway by having 3D fashion show screening events, showing these same fashion shows real time on the internet and added the ability to order Burberry product from an iPad app.

Stand Firm

Zappos is a perfect example of a company that “stands firm” in that they walk their talk. Though it appears the sell bags, clothes, shoes, etc., what they actually sell is service and what they deliver is happiness.

They are committed to their culture not only with how they interact with their customers but also how they engage with each other inside the company. Culture is so important to Zappos that if it appears during training that a new hire will not be a good cultural fit, they will give that person $2K and terminate the relationship.

By standing firm, Zappos creates rites and customs that are guideposts for its values. These rites and rituals ranging from real time engagement with customers on social platforms to quirky office meetings and recognition activities within headquarters.

Taken together, Zappo’s is able to continually reaffirm its corporate identity and stand firm as it recommits to its values.

Summer is the time for road trips.

Since you can’t be everywhere at once, innovative marketer Parissa Behnia attended the Customer Relationship Management Conference (CRMC) on behalf of Hanifin Loyalty LLC while I was on my way to Buffalo New York.

CRMC has become the de-facto focal point to explore new trends in retail marketing. It is also a central place where Social CRM is being defined. Parissa filed her conference report for The Wise Marketer, and Loyalty Truth offers this three part series to break down three key trends exposed during the event.

The three key trends in retail and loyalty marketing that we plan to cover include:

1. The Promise of Customer Data : Collecting and accessing customer data isn’t just for marketing purposes anymore – it serves to inform the structure and strategy of the overall business
2. Have the Courage to Be Bold: To achieve full business potential, retailers need to become “bold” and walk out their brand promise through the delivery of customer experiences that differentiate and excel
3. Brick and Mortar retail is not dead! :Offline and online worlds are colliding and retailers need to identify and leverage “why” their physical location exists to understand how it can win over pure online commerce

Trend #1: The Promise of Customer Data

At a great conference like CRMC, the expectation is that you will see a lot of talented people who are “doing the work” showcase their excellent results. And in this year’s conference, everyone exceeded expectations. There is always one person, though, who encapsulates all of the complex strategic issues in a compelling and easy to understand way. And this year, that person was Charles Chapek, VP CRM of Ann, Inc.

Mr. Chapek shared that not too long ago, CRM practitioners wished for certain types of data that seemed woefully out of reach. Now we have an overflow of millions of data points, and while no one is complaining about this more complete view of our customers including what they are doing and saying, we’re having trouble managing and classifying all of it.

Beyond collecting the data, marketers are tasked to make sure to provide exquisite care for their customers because they expect us to know what they are doing and saying at all times in real time. As great as “real time” is – it is also fraught with strategic danger. It is easy to lose sight of the big long term picture of the customer if we treat him/her episodically as opposed to building a longer term and more robust relationship.

The point isn’t campaign ROI. The point is an evolution towards lifetime value.

Why is this global lifetime value so significant? It’s because it is more than the sum of campaign ROI parts. This new access to a data enabled 360 degree customer view impacts store layout/location (if also brick and mortar), merchandise selection, hours, access, communication channels and other parts of running a retail business.

The long and the short of it is that collecting and accessing the data aren’t just for marketing purposes anymore. Their function informs the structure and strategy of the overall business.

As soon as we get to the point that we fully appreciate and understand the strategic implications of this new data world order in which we live, the more successful we will be in serving our customers.

Everyone knows that the air travel experience isn’t what is used to be. My recent trip around the world in 5 days served to accentuate the contrast of today’s reality with more elegant days past, while reminding me of solutions that remain untapped by the airlines to improve their standing with frequent flyers.

Some aspects of the air travel experience are so egregious that even the most generous frequent flyer program can’t overcome the problems. My opinion is that the airlines must embrace change, or risk permanently relegating their valued frequent flyer programs (FFP) to a commodity status.

The issue of airline profitability has to be front and center in this discussion. Since the bottom of the most recent airline industry economic cycle, the airlines have continued to homogenize their fleets, moving to more efficient airframes. Schedules have been set to meet demand with a thin margin of error, meaning that nearly every flight one takes these days is fully loaded. Labor agreements have been renegotiated by the majors, and lower cost entrants started out with more advantageous compensation models. Mergers have taken place with collapsing hubs wringing new efficiencies out of the network. Fuel remains a variable expense that is difficult to control, but whose impact on profitability is smartly managed by airline managers with forward purchases and hedged contracts.

The sum impact of the profitability discussion should mean that if the current generation of airline managers are truly competent, then the core issues of profitability should be accounted for and it should not be pilots, flight attendants, customers, and FFP’s themselves that are penalized each time the airline misses its financial projections.

Some ready examples of how the flying experience has degraded include:

1. The in-flight experience has been deconstructed in search of “ancillary revenue” at multiple touch points, most of the changes coming at the expense of the customer. Baggage charges, early check-in fees, “extra leg room” seat charges, and the near elimination of free food and beverage are familiar pain points to those who fly often.
2. Changes to the management of the “standby list” at airports have resulted in irrational policies that frustrates flyers. During an exhausting trip to Malaysia and back, I was denied boarding on two flights that would have saved me 5-6 hours of travel time, all because my FFP status with the airline didn’t merit this “privilege”. Both flights left with over 30 empty seats.
3. The need to implement Enterprise Engagement Strategy across major US airlines is clear. Somehow, the financial struggles of the airlines has trickled down to cabin crews such that these otherwise kind people approach cabin service in a near-adversarial manner. On code-shared flights from Miami – Kuala Lumpur and return, the legs operated by the foreign carrier partners were full of smiles, great service, and helpful attitudes. Sadly, the legs operated on US airlines were characterized by a generally surly atmosphere.

There is a corresponding list of solutions that are easily within grasp of the airlines to execute:

1. If the airlines would use their data, as complete a customer data set as any industry outside of banking, to link lifetime value and previous FFP status to customer records, it could support customer service decisioning and create the opportunity for customer delight. Lifetime FFP miles, an indication of past patronage, are known and previous tier achievements can be remembered (Gold, Platinum, etc.). Airlines could use these simple indicators to make occasional exceptions to care for valuable business flyers, regardless of their current status. As we all know, the flow of business drives who and where we fly, and a person can become more valuable upon signing of the next long term client contract.
2. Avoid the temptation to monetize every step of the flight experience. Just like financial people who can ruin points-based loyalty programs by falling too much in love with breakage, fees, and by tinkering with redemption levels, airline managers must return to a more bundled experience. Give a little, earn a lot.
3. Include cabin and ground crews in the magic of creating a memorable flying experience. Give counter and flight attendants a reason to smile, and help all associates remember that the people in the seats really are paying the bills. This might be the most powerful suggestion in this list, and successful achievement of the objective is more a matter of will than anything else.

I’m not an airline basher by nature. I spent 10 years as a supplier of components to commercial airlines and have family members with entire careers piloting passengers around the world. I am pulling for the airlines to “up their game” by recalibrating their interest in ancillary revenue and cost-cutting with the in-flight experience.

There is a happier balance that can be struck for all parties. If that balance can be achieved, then FFP’s can be better used to truly influence airline choice.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about Atlantic City and its prolonged losing streak—and I’m sorry to report, things aren’t looking a whole lot better today. After a rocky 2009, revenues in AC fell again in 2010 by nearly 10%. And forecasters say 2011 could be even worse.

In an attempt to rejuvenate the fading gambling mecca, NJ governor Chris Christie, citing the “complete incompetence and corruption in Atlantic City”, recently pushed through legislation that makes him the city’s de facto mayor. (Which led actual Atlantic City mayor Lorenzo Langford to complain “the state is treating Atlantic City like a pimp treats a prostitute.”)

One of Christie’s first moves was to spearhead the formation of an Atlantic City tourism district, which covers a large portion of the resort city. The state will take over responsibility for public safety, cleanliness and business development. Not a bad idea, given the seamy vibe that permeates AC once you set foot outside a casino.

With that backdrop, let me tell you about a recent trip I made to the Trump Marina casino and hotel.

First thing you should know about Trump Marina is that the Donald is nowhere to be found. A few years ago, the three Trump casinos in Atlantic City were about to go broke, and he sold off all but 10% of the properties. So it’s really Trump in name only—and at Trump Marina, soon even that will be gone. Houston-based Landry’s Restaurants, owners of the Golden Nugget in Vegas, are buying the casino and will reportedly rebrand it with the Golden Nugget name.

My trip to the casino occurred during a recent boys’ night out to attend the Atlantic City Beer Fest, followed by some obligatory late night gambling. With my trusty Trump One player’s club loyalty card in hand, I hit the casino floor late on a Friday night into Saturday morning. The place was half-dead and I mean that literally, as half the casino floor was shut down due to a lack of business.

It’s not a bad place, actually a welcome break from the more glitzy and more crowded Borgata—and it wasn’t a bad night either, which for me means I walked out with the same amount of money I walked in with, while enjoying a few cold beverages on the house. (My buddy Jim fared a bit better clearing over $400 from a four-hour session at the poker tables.)

Now, I don’t expect much from my Trump One loyalty card while I’m at the place—I’m a lower tier member—but I do expect a little recognition and better customer experience when I go to the Web site, which I did a few days later to make sure my playing was being tracked. It was, but I felt a little less than welcome.

A few notes on my Web experience:

• I had trouble remembering my password—I had selected it late one night with a code word that probably made sense at the time, but was now totally lost to me. I sent a message asking for help, but received a canned e-mail reply telling me the only way I could retrieve my password was to go to the casino. No password reset function. No one to call.
• After 50 or so tries, I did remember the password to my Trump One account—let me tell you, it was pretty obscure—only to find little relevant information for me on the site. I click to view my “Statement”—it’s not there, I need to call to get the info. I click on “Rooms” and a blank screen appears.
• Even if I hadn’t hit the threshold to receive an offer or room reward, the site needs to engage me. Give me a few dollars off on my next stay. Offer me a free app if I eat at the restaurant. Tell me you can’t wait for me to come back. Show me some love!

But it looks like I’ll have to wait for the new regime to get some personalized attention. A NY-based management company is now running the Trump casinos, and according to a company exec quoted in the press, they’re “focused on cutting costs, including marketing programs that were deemed to be too expensive…we were over-incentivizing our customers…it was not a sustainable model.”

Granted the house needs to make money, but cutting back on “incentivizing our customers” seems like the wrong way to go about it—and a good way to lose an ever decreasing pool of loyal customers that is opting to go to the more glamorous Borgata—or other, newer casinos that have popped up in Philly, Delaware and New York.

But my guess is now that the Trump Marina has been sold, the caretakers have packed their bags and are waiting for the new owners to arrive so they can turn over the keys. Soon the Trump Marina will be history—and the Golden Nugget will take its place.

It’ll be interesting to see if they bring new vim and vigor in the attempt to attract—and more importantly, retain—customers.

Technology Enables, but Imagination Wins

Tasti D-Lite not only rolled up its sleeves to take advantage of open API’s from Twitter, Foursquare & Facebook to integrate them with its point-of-sale system – it used its imagination to make an otherwise familiar loyalty program structure become the first and most widely executed example of “Social Loyalty” in the restaurant category.

Imagination Wins, but Flawless Execution Keeps Your Job!

All the hard work invested by Tasti D-Lite and its POS vendor, PC America, in integrating the SNAP Social Loyalty application would go for naught if the resulting customer experience didn’t work. Last night I took my family to visit a newly opened store in Boca Raton.

I did the unthinkable – I had forgotten my TastiTreat loyalty card and had no idea of my number or how to connect with Tasti Rewards – so I simply asked the cashier to help. She asked my last name and within seconds said, “oh, you’re Bill”. Nothing more needed to be done. We enjoyed our tasti treats and had some fun looking at the social posts resulting from the transaction.

No Loyalty Asterisk™ Here

Everything worked, the customer experience was put ahead of any policies or procedures, and the interaction between customer and the rewards program was nearly invisible.

This is a great example of how loyalty program execution should take place, and there are big lessons to be learned from the simple purchase of a tasti frozen dessert.

Note: In helping clients take the first steps towards new Social Loyalty models, Hanifin Loyalty is a SNAP agency partner. Affiliations aside, the desserts at Tasti D-Lite are great and SNAP works!

The practice of Loyalty Accounting has become increasingly important as programs have matured and the value of deferred financial liability on corporate balance sheets has grown.

The key offset to the balance sheet liability is breakage. It is the word used to describe the value of the accumulated points that go by the wayside and is controlled through published Terms and Conditions, the fine print that accompanies each program. The better executed programs explicitly share the rules of the game, i.e. how often you must shop, fly, or swipe to keep your points alive and available.

Every organization that operates a loyalty program should know by now that it is in the best interest of the customer and the brand to not only disclose the rules, but to provide ample warning of points reaching expiry. Explanation of the actions required to protect point value must be shared in an easy to understand manner.

Two recent personal examples illustrate the contrast in how brands handle breakage. You will see from the examples that there is also a contrasting impact on customer satisfaction and future disposition to repurchase.

I received an email from JetBlue advising me that:

“Your TrueBlue points won’t expire as long as you fly at least once a year. Unfortunately, it’s almost been a year since you’ve flown with us. To make sure you get to keep the points you’ve already earned, just fly with us again in the next 30 days.”

I knew that I had flown with JetBlue on several occasions during the year, but that I wasn’t receiving credit for my mileage due to the disconnect between the naming of my TrueBlue account and the new TSA requirements for passenger identification. I have written about this before and feel strongly that airlines have a golden opportunity to assist their valued frequent flyers in making this transition to TSA compliancy.

Knowing that the process is not easy and that the time needed to request, validate, and receive credit for past flights with reservations in different names would be a poor use of my time, I was resigned to sending an email to customer service.

To my surprise, I received a response within 24 hours informing me that past flights were being credited to me and that my expiration date was extended accordingly. In addition the email made clear how to get my account in sync with TSA requirements and to avoid future discrepancies.

This was a fantastic result and one that renewed my allegiance to the JetBlue brand.

Next, I received an email notice that my ATT wireless bill was due. Visiting the account online to pay the bill, I checked to make sure the recent changes to my wireless plan had been made and that the bill was correct. In a box shown as part of the billing statement I saw this:

Previous Rollover Balance – 10,592
Current Rollover Balance – 1,400
Bonus and Adjusted Rollover Minutes (10,157)

Translated, this was telling me that, in the process of making changes to my account, I forfeited 10,157 rollover minutes. I have been made aware of these rules in the past, but the reality of losing these minutes was never mentioned in my call to customer service to make changes to my account, nor was any gesture of value offered to me for *gasp* trying to adjust my plan to a more sensible and economical setup.

I would say that this transaction lessened my affinity for the ATT brand, but since they trade only on a contractual basis, I suppose it doesn’t matter. What ATT and the other carriers are missing is a huge opportunity to create goodwill across their customer base.

Treating the rollover balance like a rewards currency and proactively offering me something, anything, for losing this truck-load of minutes would have been a wonderful surprise.  Instead, the carrier reinforced my predisposed opinion that I am being held captive by my wireless carrier and, as a prisoner, my rights are non-existent.

Two approaches to breakage and two distinct outcomes on brand affinity, customer loyalty, and future disposition to purchase.

Can you hear me now?

Rewards comes in all shapes and sizes. Some small, some large, some that you save for over a long period of time, but not too many that are delivered in the same moment that your transaction takes place and that can be cashed in almost immediately.

When I made a quick stop at CVS today, two nice surprises took place.

1. Yes, there was a $12 CVS Extrabucks coupon appended to the bottom of my receipt. It had a few restrictions and was good for 45 days. A bounceback visit was not required and I could have returned down the aisle for a few more items and cashed in.
2. Almost a better surprise was that the cashier alerted me to the award, telling me to be sure not to throw away my receipt as it carried evidence of my twelve bucks. I’ve advocated for better training of store associates to ensure that the value of rewards programs is delivered to each customer and for some reason, brands don’t hear the message. CVS clearly gets it.

Interesting also was that as I checked my email later that morning, the notice of my $12 “quarterly earnings” was sent to me around the noon hour. I had three options to enable my reward and printing from the email or at the Extracare coupon center in-store were the two most obvious.

The fact that CVS is apparently printing the rewards on receipts for purchases made in April is an improvement. I don’t know if the reward will print out on the receipt for EVERY purchase I make during the month or if it generates only on the first purchase. Either way, its an enhancement to the customer experience and, better than telling me that their loyalty program is “going green”, is evidence that green rewards are a reality at CVS.

There are some aspects of CVS ExtraCare mentioned in a previous post that I still do not understand and maybe never will.

1. I have absolutely no idea how the $12 was calculated. The receipt did say it was issued based on my winter spending, meaning I have to guess about my spend during previous months to figure out the amount of return I am getting for my patronage. Since the award printed on April 1, I imagine the rewards are calculated with one quarter delay and are issued on the first day of the ensuing quarter.
2. My receipt tells me the amount of my “Spring” spending. I am guessing that CVS does not adhere to the Farmer’s Almanac definition of Spring and instead equates Spring to a calendar first quarter, i.e. Jan 1 – Mar 31. I don’t really care how they delineate the time, just wish they would make the message more clear.

Overall, twelve bucks is twelve bucks – a pretty solid reward given the average amount of purchase made in the store per visit. While some brands fret over 1 or 2 percent give back or generate 10% off coupons on next visit that only amount to $2-3 maximum, CVS delivers hard dollars of a more significant amount.

Maybe the mystery they create is intentional. If so, I give them credit for prescribing their own version of “surprise and delight”.

Today was a groundbreaking day for brands that sponsor loyalty and rewards programs.

I woke up this morning and scanned my email. My local coffee shop sent me a free coffee coupon by email and, upon ordering in the store, was able to flash my Android smartphone to the server and cash in my coupon.

Later that morning, I went online to make an airline reservation. Even thought I am known by my middle name, Bill, the airline allowed me to make my reservation for next week’s trip in my “TSA approved name”, the one that matches to my passport, and seamlessly linked my reservation to my frequent flyer account. What a time saver.

Finally, I did a little shopping to buy some fitness equipment online, wanting to take advantage of a special offer received by email today. It all worked smoothly, I got my free training materials to complement the video purchased and walked away charged up for the weekend.

Wait a minute … today is April Fool’s Day ….. that’s right …. none of this happened.

In fact, here is what did happen:

My local coffee retailer #failed in the line of fire. Since I forgot to print out my coupon, I was not given the offer.

My airline was not able to link my familiar name with my TSA name and I spent too much time updating my profile to get credit for my flight.

My last experience turned out better. After drafting an email to customer service and finding the link broken, I posted on the TRX Facebook page asking for help.  I received a reply post within about an hour and ultimately a phone call and email from a customer service representative offering to take my order over the phone while the company corrected some flaws in its shopping cart.

I am loyal to those brands that, even if they make mistakes (we all do) show interest to correct them and remember that customers should be the center of customer-centric strategies!

What about you? Any Loyalty surprises to share on April Fool’s Day?