Avios partners to bring points to banking app
More transparency for points balanceThis is the first of what Loyalty Magazine understands will be a growing list of current accounts linked with Avios. Read more ...

Customers expecting more than they are receiving
Why can't companies be more Google?

Customer service expectations are being raised with the development of artificial intelligence applications. So much so that companies are being pressed to provide ‘SuperService” according to a new report. Read more ...

How about this for a piece of reverse engineering loyalty?
Those who remember (with fondness) spending hours on the floor constructing models using plastic bricks will be excited that Lego is launching a limited edition range of clothes for adults. The difficult part (and there is always a difficult part with Lego) is that the clothes are only available to buy from inside an empty physical shop using the Snapchat app. Read more ...

What brands do students admire most?
CSR raised in importance
It will all change when they reach the big world of work, but for students, the brands that are most admired for a range of factors including quality, innovation, inspring content, environmental footprint and impact on society are …… Read more ...

Target expanding loyalty to fill credit card gap
Programme to provide analytics on non-Redcard customers
Mobile acceptance coming soon
Read more ...

Barclays leads £10m funding round for Bink
*Proposition to provide a marketplace for loyalty programmes back on the agenda
*Lee Clarke and Greg Gormley no longer part of the management team
*Interview with Mike Jordan, CEO here on Monday

Barclays has become a minority stakeholder in Bink, having taken part in its recent oversubscribed £10m funding round. A statement said “Barclays and Bink will work in collaboration to deliver a ground-breaking experience for Barclays customers”. Read more ...

Don't miss the deadline: just 10 days left to get your entries in!

There are just 10 days left to submit your entry for The Loyalty Magazine Awards 2019. Still time to explain in 1,000 words what your company is doing that differentiates it as a brand and reinforces customer loyalty. But you have to enter to win!

Don't forget: Entries close on February 14th so please hurry up. You will regret it if you don't enter.

For more information go to: https://www.theloyaltymagazineawards.com/
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Discuss: Is it OK to award loyalty points to someone eating a competitive brand pizza?
Secondary question: Are they correct in their assumption this will create even greater customer loyalty to them?
Domino's promoted a limited-time addition to its rewards program that kicked off the day before the US Super Bowl Sunday, one of the top five days of the year in the ever-competitive pizza industry. The leading pizza chain gave away points for any brand of pizza. Someone could even heat up frozen pizza and earn points. Read more ...

Direct booking better than OTA for loyalty
Revisited study confirms earlier findings
Direct booking with hotel brands creates more customer loyalty than OTA booking.  Read more ...

Airline offers rewards to businesses as well as flying employees
Small- and medium-sized businesses are being tempted with an airline loyalty programme that rewards both businesses as well as its travelling employees. Read more ...

Book Review
Make Some Noise
This is a book that won’t get talked about because no-one will want their competitors to read it.The reason? It is darned good. Read more ...

How are hotels beating up OTAs?

The OTA sector (the ‘over the air’ companies such as booking.com and Expedia) spend considerable amounts marketing their sites, yet hotel direct loyalty memberships and bookings are up between 30% and 40%. How have the hotels achieved this? Interview with Cindy Estis-Green, CEO and founder, Kalibri Labs. Read more ...

Interview: Does the Barclays & £10m funding deal mean the loyalty card wallet is back?
Interview with Mike Jordan, CEO of Bink
Loyalty Magazine: Congratulations on securing your £10m funding led by Barclays, does this enable you to return to Bink’s original proposition of enabling consumers to operate all their loyalty programme memberships through the Bink app? Read more ...

Opinion: Experience more important than speed
A point of view from Dino Forte, CEO, VentricaCustomer experience (CX) has become a priority for the vast majority of organisations – or has it? With the large volumes of contact centre advisors still incentivised based on speed – typically the Average Handle Time (AHT) – CX goals are quite often unachievable. Read more ...

Loyalty and rewards as a blockchain testing ground
Loyalty Magazine explores recent initiatives using blockchain today, and points out a strong trend to use loyalty programmes and rewards as a testing ground for other enterprise wide initiatives. And then there are cryptocurrencies. The caution to go forth with care may come to mind, if you read the article on the growing numbers entering the crypto-graveyard. Featured:

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Tough time for wallets
Retirement for Microsoft
Mobile Wallet projections
India KYC problem
Alipay QR code chosen Read more ...

Be nice to me or I’ll go - Especially if you don’t know my name
Rudeness tops charts
Retail is most definitely going through a period of uncertainty yet it is the really fixable problems like staff rudeness and lack of personalisation and loyalty that are as responsible for defections. Read more ...

Positive predictions - hooray!
Technology industry will be OK
No GDPR 4% fines expected in 2019
Brexit will get sorted
Reality check: hacking will continue What a great way to start the new year. Semafone, a provider of data security and compliance solutions for contact centres, takes an optimistic view of the outlook for the technology industry in 2019 and we like his predictions so much we have published them in full. Read more ...

Feeling strong? Here are the predictions for 2019
Making predictions for the coming year is always fraught with danger, but this year it is even more complicated – for myriad reasons ranging from political and economic through to technology and changing behaviours. However, there is no shortage of people prepared to take a gamble. Here is a selection of those that caught our eye: Read more ...

What you might have missed - 2 - FREE ACCESS
Winning coalitions will become marketplaces
Charles (Chuck) Ehredt is CEO of Currency Alliance, an organisation intent on becoming the global marketplace for loyalty collaboration. He talked to Annich McIntosh about the progress they have made, his vision for loyalty and why the industry has started accelerating its evolution. Read more ...

What you might have missed - 1 - FREE ACCESS
Charting the progress of travel loyalty to an unknown destination -
In a series of exerpts over the forthcoming holiday, we share some of the articles published in our printed magazine that got people talking.

Where is Loyalty going? And how long is it going to take to get there? These are questions that absorb the minds of all those working in loyalty. Read more ...

SPECIAL REPORT: Chinese payment giants “light years ahead”
Customer loyalty chief tenet of model
Alipay acceptance at 7-Eleven
US$15.5 trillion in mobile payments in 2017

China has embraced mobile payments with such enthusiasm, the rest of the world appear to be technology deniers. Alipay and WeChat, the main protagonists, score in terms of technology, user friendliness, number of users and ubiquity. Their data analytics are central to everything they do.
Read more ...

Ride sharing companies fight with perks
Growing competition leads to raft of new offerings
Uber rewards power users
Profile of Uber, Lyft, South African minicab programme, Careem battle with Pepsi
Why is it that after decades when cab drivers have treated their passengers with disdain verging on rudeness, do all the cab companies now feel they need a loyalty programme?
Read more ...

So you want to know what is wrong with retail….
Scott Weavers-Wright voices his frustrations
You would think that after completing one’s second company divestment – the first one for £70m, the second undisclosed - that this particular entrepreneur would be relaxed and fairly chilled about the world. But this would be far from the truth. In fact any mention of retailers leads to a stream of consciousness about short-sightedness, lack of spirit and a lock-down mentality. Read more ...

Loyalty versus subscription: Is this a boxing match?
A growing number of companies are choosing an Amazon style subscription model rather than loyalty rewards. Does this make business sense? A service provider argues her case with Loyalty Magazine.

Loyalty cryptocurrency wants to disrupt the existing order
Expansion into major world markets with blockchain
Too many loyalty programmes chasing the same customers is an argument put forward for the huge interest in marketplaces. Add blockchain into the equation to deal with the infrastructure functionality and security, plus a cryptocurrency to add consumer excitement and a hint of gamification and some are arguing that this has the potential to disrupt the loyalty business. Read more ...

Department store bankruptcy –
What it feels like from the consumer perspective

Finding the sweet spot of investing in loyalty
How much is too much?

Article by Christopher Treadwell, Avios Commercial Director

Loyal customers are often your biggest source of income. Indeed, it can cost 16 times more to elevate a new customer to the same level of profitability as a loyal customer.  However, today, businesses are facing ever-more demanding customers. Read more ...

Open banking opening up business
Removal of friction helps build customer loyalty
Even though it’s early days for open banking there are already plenty of trailblazers offering new services, writes Huw Davies, CCO, Token, many of which are building loyalty. Read more ...

Nailing travel loyalty in the basic economy age

With increased competition and choice between airline experiences, what are the implications for loyalty?
In an era of pounds spent, not miles flown currency accrual, lower fares will undoubtedly have an impact on flyer loyalty – the question is, how should airlines react?

Article by Peter Gerstle, Head of Travel Products at Collinson Read more ...