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, [...]

Now and then, it’s good to know you’re ahead of the game.
A few months ago, I had written about CVS ExtraCare and, along with an overview of their program, made note that I had measured one receipt in excess of 36″. If receipts were as much fun to catch as Tarpon and Bonefish, this one [...]

Have you ever had a retail experience that starts with a bang and ends with a thud?
That’s what happened to me recently at Wachovia Bank, and I share it as it illustrates a core practice of Customer Satisfaction surveys that needs re-engineering.
I had occasion to open an account at Wachovia and the experience was the [...]

Speedbumps are everywhere.
They’re in my neighborhood, at the mall and also on the internet.  If you’re in new environs, speedbumps can by definition be mileposts of learning. Ever fly down the street in an unfamiliar area only to discover speedbumps the hard way? It’s not pleasant for you or your passengers and can do damage [...]

On April 1, Borders Group CEO Ron Marshall and CFO Mark Bierley held their 4th quarter earnings call for the investment community. I give them credit as they displayed courage, confidence, or both in having the call on April Fools day! Transcript of the call can be found by visiting the Seeking Alpha web site.
Acknowledging [...]

In my opinion, The Loyalty Effect remains the definitive book written on Loyalty Marketing. Authored by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company in 1996, it was required reading for the team at Frequency Marketing as we completed our Loyalty Marketing “basic training”.
Reichheld postulated that in order for a business to create loyalty related shareholder value, [...]

My earlier post, “Finding a cure to digital myopia” offered the thought that while people are consumed with keeping the pace with the introduction of new applications synonymous with Web 2.0, we stand in danger of missing the bigger picture.
The offline version of the same story started in the late 70’s when during the first [...]

Ever since man has been on earth, we’ve been running. In the beginning, our motivation was the need for food, shelter, and survival. By the mid-twentieth century, pursuit of fitness through sweaty activities had become the domain of oddballs. Given the outlaw nature of adult fitness only 50 years ago, the origins of the 70’s [...]

As customer centric strategies are given more attention by global brands, efforts to place a value on the customers themselves will evolve. There is recurring talk of building a customer equity model that could be factored into evaluation of a public company’s stock price. After all, customer value is the baseline from which incremental value [...]