Carrabba’s Italian Grill stands apart from many of its chain restaurant competitors. Sure, the food is freshly prepared, the wood-burning grill adds ambiance to the setting, and the service is excellent, but I was thinking about their approach to building customer loyalty.

Looking at several national competitors in quick-serve (QSR) and white-table restaurant chains, I found that Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tasti D-Lite all had rewards programs offering points for dollars spent in the location. Crate & Barrel as well as a host of national specialty retailers are partnered with Shopkick, offering Kick Rewards for purchase transactions as well as checking-in at the store and scanning selected product bar codes.

Carrabba’s has selected a different path, one that is principally communication driven, using direct mail, SMS and location based services to deliver offers, promotions and – just this week (see graphic) – money off coupons.

The Amici Club was launched in 2010 with enrollment available both on-line and in restaurants. I encountered the program as I suspect many people did – by filling out a 3×5 card placed on the dinner table. Talk about old school, but Carrabba’s says it has enrolled over 1 Million people to date.

Since my enrollment, Carrabba’s has been a cautious new friend, treating me with respect. I’ve received mostly emails and a few direct mail pieces offering something special related to a holiday or inviting me to a cause related fund-raising dinner. I’ve been paying attention to their mailings because they are not beating me to death, assuming that just because I signed up that I’m their newest “best friend”.

The parsing of the direct and email invitations I have received is a good example of how to manage a customer communication stream. Smartly coordinated communications can move people from enrollment to purchase to survey, leading to additional visits and a willingness to recommend the restaurant to others. In sum, Carrabba’s is effectively managing the customer loyalty lifecycle.

Carrabba’s has also encouraged check-ins with Foursquare and has used both the location based marketing channel and SMS to communicate offers when customers are ready to dine. That’s a great example of social loyalty at work – creating an exchange with a customer near the point of purchase, hopefully presenting an offer that will influence subsequent purchase behavior.

Now, Carrabba’s has taken the Amici Club a step further, sending a direct mail offer for $10 off specific appetizers or a complementary appetizer or dessert with purchase of an entrée.

Carrabba’s has been building its relationship with customers through the Amici Club thoughtfully and gradually, and is presenting a good example of how to engage with Consumer 2.0 using Social Loyalty tactics.

I’m going to continue to pay attention to Amici Club. Let me know what you think.

Anytime we review a loyalty or rewards program for our readers, we use the available facts as assumptions in a model that estimates the effectiveness of the program.

Because all customers are not the same, we normally create a customer profile based on spending patterns and objectives and project the earning velocity for those segments. As a result we are able to offer insights into the program’s customer value proposition and then bake in evaluation of the communication methods used to engage the customer and the extent to which data is used to deliver relevant and targeted offers.

A final factor in this methodology is to assess whether the program creates a defensible competitive advantage to the sponsor. In layman’s terms, we run the acid test of differentiation – does the program have unique and proprietary features or is it another example of “me-too”?

Recently we ran across the rewards program at FreeConference.com. Thinking that services like this were “liked” by smaller businesses on a budget and seeking to avoid higher-priced subscription based alternatives, we constructed a customer profile that assumed a take rate of just the two premium level service packages.

The math showed that collecting airline miles through the FreeConference.com Rewards program would result in a round trip domestic airline ticket after a mere 12 years of usage. Another point of criticism was that requiring the customer to put in a credit card in the midst of the sign-up process would hurt enrollment rates. This requirement has historically hurt take-rates, therefore our assessment.

Our final comment concerned the use of airline miles as a currency. The granddaddy of all rewards currencies still appeals to consumers, but no barrier exists to prevent competitive response, and miles are expensive on a unit basis relative to other currency options.

Taken together, we gave the program poor marks. To my delight, FreeConference.com CEO Chad Clawson wrote in to tell us our assessment was incorrect. Mr. Clawson informed us that Freeconference.com has a premium toll-free conferencing offer in which customers spend tens of thousands of dollars per month, meaning the customer profile FreeConference is seeking to engage and retain has a spending profile that generates earning velocity to an acceptable level.

Because these premium customers already have a credit card on file, enrollment in the reward as program is easy and the response rates have been “terrific” according to the company. Mr. Clawson pointed out that only paying premium customers are eligible to join the rewards program, and they have already provided a credit card number to establish their account. New premium customers enter a payment card as well therefore FreeConference is not asking for anything the customer is not already willing to give as part of the premium offering.

For as much as loyalty practitioners understand about loyalty programs, shared data from sponsors is hard to come by. The advantage for many of us working in the business is that we have an accumulated perspective based on the results of programs we have designed and helped to operate. There are surveys that help to round out our viewpoints, but attend an industry event and you’ll see that the slimmest part of every presentation covers program results.

It’s for that reason exactly that I was delighted to hear from Mr. Clawson and further pleased that he was willing to engage in a conversation to discuss his program in turn allowing us to “get it right” at Loyalty Truth. Mr. Clawson fairly asserted that “I can understand how, from the outside, the Loyalty Rewards program may not seem to make sense, but that is only because of a couple of factual errors.” From that point, we cleared up the factual assumptions leading to this post.

Loyalty Truth holds its ground on the use of airline miles as the chosen currency to support the program. The offer can be copied easily by a competitor, meaning the program could become table stakes at any moment. Also the airlines have a much publicized capacity issue which creates a perception among consumers that airline miles are difficult to redeem.

The bottom line is that the program is working for FreeConference.com. Corporate customers like to accumulate airline miles and we believe that several new initiatives will be introduced in the near term providing a relief valve to the capacity issue.

Our discussion with Mr. Clawson is one of the reasons we established Loyalty Truth and indicative of why we chose the name. I’m also delighted to have been named a member of the “Honest Blogger Club” in the process.

Something all of us who pound the keyboard and spin our opinions should remember that there is a perception about bloggers that many are crafted hastily with minimal research and little regard for the impact on third parties. To receive correction and “go dark” is the mark of an unreliable information source. To engage the conversation and make corrections earns entry into the Club.

I’m grateful for this interaction with FreeConference.com and hope to have more information to share about their program in the future. It would be great to know the size of the membership, the extent of revenues represented by members, and the delta between customers of similar profiles pre and post enrollment.

Most importantly, I’ve got a conference call to organize and know just where to go to continue to get the good quality service offered by FreeConference.com.

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?

Every day I play on the seesaw.

It seems like I have one call with a person who expresses doubt about the efficacy of traditionally structured loyalty programs, and then turn around and inadvertently encounter a new program to add to my growing list that I have catalogued and reviewed.

Every seesaw has a balance point.

In this case, the criticism is usually based on impressions formed by poorly conceived programs, meaning I can take it with a grain of salt. On the other hand, the programs I am finding these days tend to lack imagination and justify the loyalty skeptics I meet.

Today I went to freeconference.com to organize a call and was greeted with an invitation to join their newly launched “Loyalty Rewards Program” (yes, they really called it that). The program is simple, earn one airline mile for every dollar spent on premium call services. Participating airlines include American, Delta, and United.

I’m always interested in customer earning velocity as a measure of loyalty program success. From a consumer point-of-view, if you can’t gather enough equity in short order to cash-in for a meaningful reward, the program will be perceived a waste of time.

Free Conference has two key premium services, unlimited recording and storage for $9/month and unlimited desktop sharing for $14.95/month. Imagine if a customer engages both services and spends $288/year. That equates to 288 frequent flyer miles. Let’s be generous and say a premium customer spends about $200/month or $2,400 per year. At that rate, it would take 12.5 years to earn a round trip domestic ticket given a “cost” of 30,000 miles.

Even though the program is free to join, the enrollment form requests credit card information right off the bat, increasing the likelihood of customer disconnect at that juncture.

I spoke with a potential client today who told me his company tried a similar approach to loyalty a few years back and that the slow earning rate turned out to be a club that customers would beat him with on a regular basis. After collecting for a period of time and realizing that the point total was not enough for a $5 gift card, many customers rebelled and the “loyalty” program became a negative from an overall marketing perspective.

There is a truism that I have believed in for some time in this business “loyalty programs are easy to launch, but more challenging to make successful”.  Just about anyone can arrive at a simple construct for a rewards program and to generalize, the more simple the offer, the worse it might end up for the customer.

The old automotive tagline “pay me now or pay me later” comes to mind. It’s worth an investment in program planning and a commitment to execution to make the programs work. Much too often, “do it yourself” only results in customers who go their own way.

There are two forms of brilliance in business – one displayed by people who invent things we haven’t thought about before (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare) and those that find a way to incorporate these new communications channels into mainstream business to generate revenue.

In many aspects of social media, we are waiting for the dots to be connected and for business to understand how to put the tools to use to enhance existing business models, engage customers, and make money. Location based marketing has been a head-scratcher from this perspective. Foursquare launched at SXSW only two years ago in March 2009 and now has an estimated 5.7 Million registered users. Many of these users are interested in doing more than becoming the “mayor” of a location, yet merchants have been slow to take advantage of the platform to deliver targeted and inexpensive marketing. Many people think that 2011 will be the year that Location Based marketing takes off and the predictions here are indicative of the potential.

The launch of SNAP (Social Network Appreciation Platform) today was covered by Mashable in an article here and has my full attention as it represents the second form of brilliance and is a legitimate tool to make any loyalty program “social”. In the spirit of full disclosure, Hanifin Loyalty has been named an agency partner of SNAP and will be advocating SNAP to the market.

In the SNAP press release, capabilities are explained and it is clear that the application can connect any existing loyalty program membership base to local merchants to enable “passive check-in” using Foursquare, Facebook Places, and Twitter. Leaderboards and Badges are supported as are more sophisticated bonusing elements.

“Social Loyalty” using passive social network check-in was pioneered by Tasti D-Lite and Loyalty Truth applauded its launch about this time last year. The work done between Tasti D-Lite and PC America has evolved to become SNAP and can enable social loyalty on a standalone basis for smaller merchants and even work within a gift card platform. You can get the idea even better via this clever video.

To my knowledge, TopGuest is the only other application in market that converts check-ins to rewards points, but they approach the subject from a different angle. TopGuest is a mobile application that enables consumers to check-in and earn extra points with designated rewards programs, principally in the hospitality segment. The fact that TopGuest quickly affiliated with brands such as Virgin America, Hilton, and Intercontinental speaks to the high level of interest by business in bringing a social element to their staid rewards programs.

SNAP is an open platform that can be used by any business – small or large – to enable social check-in, reward word of mouth marketing, and generate referrals and recommendations across a trusted network of friends. It can be integrated to loyalty processing software packages and with POS systems in merchant locations.

I’ve only recently realized that the conversation isn’t about Millennials or Generation Y anymore. It’s about “Consumer 2.0″, those consumers who have grown up with technology and live in an “always on” environment, preferring to communicate with friends and brands through digital channels.

The significance of this realization is that Consumer 2.0 probably numbers about 150 Million, or half of the US population. The figure includes all the Millennials (so you’re not forgotten) and accounts for those of us (Boomer, Gen X, and other groups) influenced by the Millennials we know and the increasing importance of digital marketing.

SNAP opens up many doors to allow brands to connect with their customers and adds a critical component to any loyalty program if it is to stay relevant with Consumer 2.0.

What do chocolate, red wine, credit cards and the internet have in common?

Each offers benefits or represents risks for human beings. And, if you read the results of consumer research on a regular basis, you’ll find that each fills the role of hero and villain depending on which survey results you read.

If you follow nutritional news, you probably have seen studies that indicate on a variable basis that chocolate, red wine and many other food items can yield long term health benefits or cause irreparable harm. Sometimes the more we read, the less sure we can be of what to believe.

The problem is not data. Data Rocks. But the assumptions by which data is collected and interpreted has to be carefully scrutinized for accuracy, sample size, and bias.

A short segment on National Public Radio today got my attention as Ron Shevlin of the Aite Group was interviewed regarding news from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago that reward credit cards can cause people to go further into debt.

While the premise of the NPR story makes for great headlines, Mr. Shevlin quickly pointed out potential weakness in the way the study was conducted. Bottom line: be skeptical about survey results which generate breath-taking headlines until you know the whole story.

The second item this week that caught my attention was a story in the Wall Street Journal about the potential linkage between the risk of prostate cancer in men and the length of their index finger. I won’t go into the details as you can read it here.

The most important line in the story for me was this one: “Caveat: Participants self-reported their finger lengths, raising the possibility of error.”

In other words, qualitative surveys based on self-reported information may generate big headlines but are highly vulnerable to one caveat buried below the page-break.

The linkage between these stories and the efforts of marketers to understand how consumers make purchase decisions is clear. We can collect primary research all we want via focus group or survey, but we are wise to validate what people say they will do by transaction data proving what they actually did.

Hanifin Loyalty is adopting a renewed focus on data for the coming year. Data is plentiful in the storehouses of major brands and may be the least leveraged asset in the enterprise. It’s time to fulfill the promise of the data we have collected.

We will soon introduce service offers aimed to optimize the value of data brands collect through loyalty and rewards programs, and to make sure that your data generates business results, not just headlines.

Let’s all resolve to use our data in 2011 to drive business results!

What do chocolate, red wine, credit cards and the internet have in common?

Each offers benefits or represents risks for human beings. And, if you read the results of consumer research on a regular basis, you’ll find that each fills the role of hero and villain depending on which survey results you read.

If you follow nutritional news, you probably have seen studies that indicate on a variable basis that chocolate, red wine and many other food items can yield long term health benefits or cause irreparable harm. Sometimes the more we read, the less sure we can be of what to believe.

The problem is not data. Data Rocks. But the assumptions by which data is collected and interpreted has to be carefully scrutinized for accuracy, sample size, and bias.

A short segment on National Public Radio today got my attention as Ron Shevlin of the Aite Group was interviewed regarding news from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago that reward credit cards can cause people to go further into debt.

While the premise of the NPR story makes for great headlines, Mr. Shevlin quickly pointed out potential weakness in the way the study was conducted. Bottom line: be skeptical about survey results which generate breath-taking headlines until you know the whole story.

The second item this week that caught my attention was a story in the Wall Street Journal about the potential linkage between the risk of prostate cancer in men and the length of their index finger. I won’t go into the details as you can read it here.

The most important line in the story for me was this one: “Caveat: Participants self-reported their finger lengths, raising the possibility of error.”

In other words, qualitative surveys based on self-reported information may generate big headlines but are highly vulnerable to one caveat buried below the page-break.

The linkage between these stories and the efforts of marketers to understand how consumers make purchase decisions is clear. We can collect primary research all we want via focus group or survey, but we are wise to validate what people say they will do by transaction data proving what they actually did.

Hanifin Loyalty is adopting a renewed focus on data for the coming year. Data is plentiful in the storehouses of major brands and may be the least leveraged asset in the enterprise. It’s time to fulfill the promise of the data we have collected.

We will soon introduce service offers aimed to optimize the value of data brands collect through loyalty and rewards programs, and to make sure that your data generates business results, not just headlines.

Let’s all resolve to use our data in 2011 to drive business results!

I’m honored to have made strong alliances with respected people in my industry. Though I wouldn’t turn down sensible sponsorship, each of the icons on the right hand panel of the Loyalty Truth are there through mutual agreement, not due to an advertising deal.

Once in a while, one of my strategic partners gives me time on the soapbox. I wanted to share a piece here written about the impact of social media on loyalty and millennial marketing.

This was originally published in the Loyalty Guide, a great publication available from The Wise Marketer which I would encourage you to add to your library. A free 50-page Executive Summary, including chapter samples, table of contents, text searching, licensing and ordering details is available here.

How to earn loyalty from social media and Millennials

With data-driven marketing starting to resemble a mature industry, progress and change are clearly just around the corner, according to Bill Hanifin of Hanifin Loyalty. If you agree that the industry has its origins in the American Airlines AAdvantage programme in 1981, and in light of the first North American credit card rewards programme being launched around 1992, then the industry itself is something like 20 to 30 years old. In which case it’s time to stop leaning on the excuse that “we’re still learning” and assume the responsibilities of loyalty marketing adulthood.

For years, Bill has been asked the question, “Does loyalty really work?” and, with growing patience, he answers the question with a practised response: “Yes, it does work. The concept of measurable marketing programmes that link customer and transactional data is more attractive than ever”. I also explain that the magic of successful loyalty marketing programmes lies in attention to the details of execution, the diligent usage of collected data, and attention to financial measurement.

As Bill has turned his attention to recrafting loyalty programme designs to engage Generation Y, he has noticed that value propositions are changing and the communication channels used to convey promotional messages are also new, untested, and evolving before our very eyes. The key to successful ‘Millennial marketing’ lies increasingly with the effective incorporation of social media tools into our communications plans and, despite what you may read on Twitter, there are not nearly as many ’social media experts’ around the world as you might think.

Loyalty programme sponsors are launching communities, setting up Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages, and some are even rewarding members with promotional currency for updates on social media sites. With more of this activity being evident in the market now, the new question that he is being asked regularly is, “Is this social media thing here to stay, or is it just a fad?”

That is a valid question on the surface, but his answer is another question: “Do you want to be able to communicate with the 80 million Millennial consumers in the US, a segment which is emerging as the most important economic force in the market, and equal in size to Baby Boomers?”

Of course, implied by his answer is the idea that we don’t have to like social media – and we don’t even have to necessarily understand it – but we do have to admit that social media and social networks are the preferred communication method of the Millennial consumer. While growing rapidly among the 18-29 age group, social media is also making inroads into older demographics as well.

In 2009, there were approximately 40 delegates at a loyalty conference who participated in a Twitter conversation during the conference. This represented about 10% of total attendees and the volume of Tweets during the event was less than significant. Interestingly, almost one year later, Bill made a quick evaluation of the Twitter accounts of those 40 delegates, and found that only a small handful were still actively participating and growing their network. This of course says less about Twitter itself than it does about how the core of the loyalty marketing industry is engaging with social media.

An increasing number of our clients and potential clients with whom we speak are active in social media and inquire about our depth of understanding of the tools. There is interest in incorporating social media into loyalty programme designs. Advertising agencies and specialty ‘new media’ marketing agencies are rapidly taking the high ground in this emerging area of member communication.

So, rather than waste time apologising for social media and wringing our hands over whether Twitter, Facebook, Mixx, StumbleUpon, or Propeller will survive, Bill is listening to clients and learning as much as he can to serve their growing needs.

Fred Reichheld told us long ago that we should listen to our customers to better meet their needs. We need to do the same with our own clients and exercise our own form of retention programme. Some 80 million Millennials may have different tastes from your own generation, but we need to meet them where they are and build transparent and open communication plans to build engagement and engender their loyalty.

This article is an extract from the 30 chapters of detailed coverage in ‘The Loyalty Guide 4′, which is The Wise Marketer’s latest 1,000+ page global guide to customer loyalty and engagement techniques, best practices, models, metrics, practical advice, market data and research. The report provides hundreds of detailed case studies, forecasts, trends, tables and visual materials to support new initiatives, presentations and proposals and represents a complete, portable reference library of customer loyalty, engagement and marketing strategy.

I’m honored to have made strong alliances with respected people in my industry. Though I wouldn’t turn down sensible sponsorship, each of the icons on the right hand panel of the Loyalty Truth are there through mutual agreement, not due to an advertising deal.

Once in a while, one of my strategic partners gives me time on the soapbox. I wanted to share a piece here written about the impact of social media on loyalty and millennial marketing.

This was originally published in the Loyalty Guide, a great publication available from The Wise Marketer which I would encourage you to add to your library. A free 50-page Executive Summary, including chapter samples, table of contents, text searching, licensing and ordering details is available here.

How to earn loyalty from social media and Millennials

With data-driven marketing starting to resemble a mature industry, progress and change are clearly just around the corner, according to Bill Hanifin of Hanifin Loyalty. If you agree that the industry has its origins in the American Airlines AAdvantage programme in 1981, and in light of the first North American credit card rewards programme being launched around 1992, then the industry itself is something like 20 to 30 years old. In which case it’s time to stop leaning on the excuse that “we’re still learning” and assume the responsibilities of loyalty marketing adulthood.

For years, Bill has been asked the question, “Does loyalty really work?” and, with growing patience, he answers the question with a practised response: “Yes, it does work. The concept of measurable marketing programmes that link customer and transactional data is more attractive than ever”. I also explain that the magic of successful loyalty marketing programmes lies in attention to the details of execution, the diligent usage of collected data, and attention to financial measurement.

As Bill has turned his attention to recrafting loyalty programme designs to engage Generation Y, he has noticed that value propositions are changing and the communication channels used to convey promotional messages are also new, untested, and evolving before our very eyes. The key to successful ‘Millennial marketing’ lies increasingly with the effective incorporation of social media tools into our communications plans and, despite what you may read on Twitter, there are not nearly as many ’social media experts’ around the world as you might think.

Loyalty programme sponsors are launching communities, setting up Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages, and some are even rewarding members with promotional currency for updates on social media sites. With more of this activity being evident in the market now, the new question that he is being asked regularly is, “Is this social media thing here to stay, or is it just a fad?”

That is a valid question on the surface, but his answer is another question: “Do you want to be able to communicate with the 80 million Millennial consumers in the US, a segment which is emerging as the most important economic force in the market, and equal in size to Baby Boomers?”

Of course, implied by his answer is the idea that we don’t have to like social media – and we don’t even have to necessarily understand it – but we do have to admit that social media and social networks are the preferred communication method of the Millennial consumer. While growing rapidly among the 18-29 age group, social media is also making inroads into older demographics as well.

In 2009, there were approximately 40 delegates at a loyalty conference who participated in a Twitter conversation during the conference. This represented about 10% of total attendees and the volume of Tweets during the event was less than significant. Interestingly, almost one year later, Bill made a quick evaluation of the Twitter accounts of those 40 delegates, and found that only a small handful were still actively participating and growing their network. This of course says less about Twitter itself than it does about how the core of the loyalty marketing industry is engaging with social media.

An increasing number of our clients and potential clients with whom we speak are active in social media and inquire about our depth of understanding of the tools. There is interest in incorporating social media into loyalty programme designs. Advertising agencies and specialty ‘new media’ marketing agencies are rapidly taking the high ground in this emerging area of member communication.

So, rather than waste time apologising for social media and wringing our hands over whether Twitter, Facebook, Mixx, StumbleUpon, or Propeller will survive, Bill is listening to clients and learning as much as he can to serve their growing needs.

Fred Reichheld told us long ago that we should listen to our customers to better meet their needs. We need to do the same with our own clients and exercise our own form of retention programme. Some 80 million Millennials may have different tastes from your own generation, but we need to meet them where they are and build transparent and open communication plans to build engagement and engender their loyalty.

This article is an extract from the 30 chapters of detailed coverage in ‘The Loyalty Guide 4′, which is The Wise Marketer’s latest 1,000+ page global guide to customer loyalty and engagement techniques, best practices, models, metrics, practical advice, market data and research. The report provides hundreds of detailed case studies, forecasts, trends, tables and visual materials to support new initiatives, presentations and proposals and represents a complete, portable reference library of customer loyalty, engagement and marketing strategy.

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 ahead of our customers. The possibility of successfully slinging out points or miles as a temporary bribe is declining by the day. Loyalty Marketing has to evolve beyond the idea that every customer has a price on her head and re-focus on a broader value proposition.

A critical element of delivering the value proposition is communications. We have to grab consumer attention and hold it just long enough to make our point. That forces marketers to reach further for something new and often the results don’t translate well.

The question: is it a good or bad idea to use our own lingo in the ads we create?

Driving down a crowded South Florida highway this week, I saw a huge billboard with an ad that shouted “Publix BOGO” and included the URL needed to find the deals of the week. The same day, I caught an ad on TV from Payless Shoes that touted their BOGO offers. A quick search online revealed that Kohl’s and a few others are running on the same track for the moment.

As a consumer, I don’t mind finding deals and saving money. And the billboard did grab  my attention. It just struck me that a little success in using “insider’s” verbiage could unleash a wave of awkward ad copy.

So, while it’s kind of cute-sy to adopt our trade lingo in customer facing ads, I don’t know how far we should go and, in particular, if the idea translates to Loyalty Marketing.

Imagine if we tried any of these in our promotional emails for our rewards program:

• Earn quick and enjoy the burn!
• We offer the  highest earn velocity around!
• Help us lower our CPA and we’ll give you more CVP!

It just doesn’t translate well, does it?

Ouch, was that my foot that I just shot?