Postcards from Perkistan

One of the most exciting parts of our launch was being asked by A Current Affair to go on a spending spree to show just how much you can save with Loyalty Cards.

At first even we were a little dubious - our take on loyalty is that it is consistent spending over a period of time that gives maximum benefit, but with full faith in the programs out there we headed into central Sydney to the QVB and went shopping.

The results were pretty extraordinary. With no TV magic (really)!) we saved $187.00 in less than an hour. The brands were Oxford, Esprit, Kathamandu, Krispy Kreme and Wagamama.

Each of these stores had great specials on and all of the goods were things we actually needed (well, I didn’t need that Oxford knit but is was nice).

So overall we were very happy with our little adventure. You can see it here. ACA Shopping Spree

The story on ACA was the most popular of the night, so we were asked back to rank our favourite cards the following week. This is an interesting ask because programs are so different and people find value in different ways, but in the end we applied some key criteria to come up with a list. The criteria (loosely) were:

* Instant Benefits rule over accrual

* Local and multiple redemption locations are good

* No or low fee entry is a bonus

The winning card was Show Your Card and Save which is not only the largest in the world but offers significant discounts at thousands of locations.

Other cards to make it to our final list were FlyBuys, Qantas FF, Woolworths Everyday Rewards, David Jones Amex, ANZ EDine, Krispy Kreme, Myer One, Virgin Velocity and Accor Advantage Plus. You can see our reasoning here.

You can also see the full video here. ACA Best Cards

Though naturally it was exciting to get national TV coverage for Perkler as part of our launch week what was the most exciting was the response. The fact that we were the most popular segment, and that hundreds of thousands of hits to the site resulted proved for us that there are plenty of people out there trying to use loyalty better!

Wow!

This post started just before launch yesterday and was a nice retrospective on two years of work coming to fruition…

Then all hell broke loose!

As the starting point for our launch we engaged the fantastic Magnum PR. In reality we ‘hoped’ that they would get us some national TV coverage. They stepped up to the plate and delivered the big boys - A Current Affair.

While Dan and I were in Sydney filming Adam and Graham got to work preparing for a much bigger first night hit than we planned. As it turned out the ACA story lead to over 300,000 hits on the site from an extraordinary number of unique users. I’m not sure how anyone is meant to prepare for that!

So the reality was that the publicity was excellent, the site didn’t cope and we went into major server meltdown.

While the melted server has shown us that demand for the site is extraordinary, and provided us with a nice PR angle “demand crashes site…” we just want people in there using the service so they can get full value from their programs and we can get to work building this community.

So with the help from some friends we are rebuilding the back-end and getting it firing on all cylinders.

What has been interesting about the whole process is the response of our members. I’ve just emailed well over 500 new registrations. People who came to the site and signed up but have found the site slow and even unworkable.

So far I’ve had one complain back - and fair enough. Overwhelmingly our new members have got back to me thanking me for the contact, congratulating us on the site and remaining eager to get in there and play when we’ve beefed it up.

An amazing response and one that makes us happy to be in such a great business!

Roll on Perkler!

Here at Perkler we’ve just embarked on an eye opening campaign. Until now we have focussed our efforts on letting people manage their entire wallet in one virtual place.

In this new campaign we are responding to the current economic climate, and the need for people to get value from their loyalty programs immediately, by isolating the best possible loyalty perks on a product by product or brand by brand basis.

Our first port of call has been cosmetics. We figure make-up is the kind of thing people can still think about making small purchases on and get a ‘luxury’ item despite not being so flush right now. Having said that, Graham our database and community guy has been seen to weep as he has entered the RRP for some of these products!!!

You can see what we’ve found for cosmetics here - an interesting list that shows the big programs as well as the small have a lot to offer if you know where to find it. We’ve had LOTS of people looking for Napoleon Perdis and The Body Shop - very different brands in lots of ways.

Next cab off the ranks is likely to be cameras - always a really interesting product segment. But it could just as easily be a brand like Apple or an activity like travel.

So what would you choose - what product or brand or activity do you think rewards would make you purchase in the current climate? Be interesting to see the responses.

Justin

@JustinBarrie  on twitter

Big debate going in Australia at the moment (excellently described by ARA Chief Richard Evans). The Federal Government is about to send a range of stimulus bonus payments to a large number of people.

Debate - stimulus implies the money will be spent (in fact Treasury forecasts about whether or not Australia enters recession relies on this notion). Tension lies in the fact that people are talking about just saving the bonus and not spending.

So people in Australia who have spent a decade being told to SAVE (and haven’t), are now being told to SPEND (and maybe are going to save instead)!

I’ll leave the arguments up to the fans of Keynes and Smith - I’m taking a laissez-faire approach to the economic debate (oh my god, I just made an joke based on economics…). What I am keen to concentrate on though, is the way consumers can take advantage of spending and saving at the same time.

You guessed it - perks…

Imagine using that bonus payment in conjunction with an airline or credit card program to get an even bigger TV than the one you planned on. Or ensuring your family still got some good old fashioned entertainment by paying for movie tickets but at a greatly reduced price. With perks an individual could stretch the value of their $950 bonus to well over $1200 or even more.

Since the late 80’s and for most retailers the late 90’s loyalty programs have been introduced and financed. We’ve written enough on this blog about the quality of programs or reasons why consumers haven’t connected with them fully in the past.

Surely the time has come to promote and improve people’s access to programs so that they use them as a legitimate part of the purchasing decision. In the US Dan and I were blown away that brands advertised their programs on national TV. Seems logical. If you are a retailer and you want to get some ROI on that program you’ve invested in - advertise it…

So, at Perkler we’ve created the platform for consumers to understand their perks better - now it’s time for retailers to step up and engage with consumers who need the perks to make decisions about where they are going to spend that money. And they can do that as part of their overall marketing efforts, but they can also take advantage of sites like ours to engage with consumers and be seen as a differentiator - a retailer who actually places loyalty and perks at the top of the tree!

Our Twitter account @perkler and my personal one @justinbarrie follows @mediapost a tweet of all of the news coming from MediaPost Publications.

An article recently caught my eye from Online Media Daily. Gavin O’Malley was writing about the ‘line between media channels becoming increasingly blurred’. He quotes a range of statistics released in a report by Ketchum Public Relations that showed 44% of online shoppers read reviews from other consumers as part of their decision making process when purchasing.

As a result lots of small (and some huge) social communities have sprung up around specific consumer interest points. Interestingly a larger number of these people are now also broadening their reading to related blogs rather than just the comments and recommendations on a specific page.

None of this sounds entirely new - and frankly I don’t really see how this is different to how people shop offline either. I do tend to get recommendations from friends before I buy something big.

It’s more the dramatic increase in numbers and realisation that it is happening online that are interesting. In fact I remember reading something from the NRF around Christmas time about sites that have recommendations and reviews maintaining or improving their Christmas sales while others fell away.

And it’s exactly what we’ve been aware of and building on here at Perkler. When we say we are an online loyalty COMMUNITY, I can see some people reel and sigh “another 2.0″. But in the mission of simplifying loyalty programs, giving consumers power to manage and learn about everything they are entitled to - there seems little other option!

Our community features include rating and commenting. We’ve also built in functions where you can see other people’s virtual wallets (if they allow it) and we think that facilitates a really nice informal recommendation process.

But another exciting development is to start bringing content about brands from blogs and twitter directly into our space. We are working hard on this and think the blurring of media that Gavin O’Malley talks about will be there for all to see in our community.

People suggesting, rating and recommending programs to others. Feeds of anything people say about brands and programs on other social networks built in. A great consumer resource, and one that is responsive to how people are actually starting to shop.

We received some pretty negative feedback today from a new user, but ALL feedback is welcome at Perkler so we were happy to hear it.

Not impressed, boys. Not cool. Should have connections to mileage accounts off the bat. I won’t use this. Ya lost me, and everyone I know. There are better options out there. I would never use this for networking. There are far too many other places to have to chat and connect with people. That is stupid. Posted by a visitor. 

The core issues raised here revolve around mileage programs and Perkler as a network, let me address these points.

Mileage Programs. In the Australian version of the site we have actually entered quite a few frequent flyer programs, purely because there aren’t that many and they have some good brands in them. But for US and other users we are concentrating less on the high-end points based mileage programs and more on retail. Why?

Because retail perks are more immediate and offer pretty much instant benefits to a much bigger number of consumers than the mileage programs.

Don’t get me wrong - we love unlocking the great merchandise and brands in Flyer programs and will do as we build relationships with airlines, but for now our focus is on retail because that’s what people need in the current economic climate. And because there are lots of cool brands there for people to build an affinity with and discuss.

Another point about Mileage Programs - people who are into them are really into them (just ask Randy Petersen). As a result our ‘Perkler’ is right - there are lots of products out there servicing that market. But in the end, even though they are huge these programs only represent about 20% of the total loyalty membership (in the US). So not only do we love retail, travel, grocery etc - we’d be crazy not to cater to 80% of people’s real memberships. Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing a very good job of getting that virtual wallet going. Remember Perkler is about ALL your memberships in one place.

Second point - Perkler as a network. We should get this straight from the outset. We are not trying to build Facebook, or Linked-In or any other uber-network. We are trying to use the community to simplify the loyalty and rewards experience. We think one of the keys to getting better results for consumers and retailers out of loyalty programs is sharing information, rating programs and finding out about programs from people.

Eventually we will link in (yes I get it) with the larger networks and are looking already at openid and Facebook Connect to integrate our community with them.

So, we may have lost this user (and everyone he knows) but we aren’t being flippant about the feedback - we appreciate it and take it on board. Rest assured though, because we don’t have blanket coverage of mileage programs doesn’t mean we have failed the loyalty test. People are much more than their airline travel!

Having said that I’m standing by Aeroplan - call anytime

One of the things we want to do at Perkler (and Adam is working hard to implement) is to not only allow you to search across your loyalty portfolio in one place, but receive special offers or discounts, on top of the current loyalty offering, to get you in the store.

As we build relationships with retailers we’ll be pushing this as an opportunity for them and consumers and will offer coupons for use on the phone and web to facilitate this.

It’s a good space to be in as belts tighten and interestingly the idea is gaining traction in markets that you wouldn’t expect.

The US is traditionally big into coupons - thanks to green stamps and the Great Depression there is a strong culture of coupon use. The UK on the other hand has has a good tradition of coupons, but don’t tend to attack them with the same veracity. Until now!

New Media Age out of the UK reports today  (you’ll need to register with NMA to see the whole article) that searching online for coupons is up 133% in the past year (my guess is that demand and searching will double again in the current climate in just a few months). At the same time Google is talking about the move to mobile advertising.

Perkler - mobile based search results linked to an additional discount coupon AS WELL as your current entitlements is looking pretty good in this space.

Justin

I was put onto a post on Read Write Web this morning by a twitter connection ( @paulmckeon ) which highlighted a very interesting reaction to a technology we are investigating here at Perkler.

The story talks about price comparison smart phone apps - based on bar code scanners. It’s a cool idea and, I think, one of the next big moves in retail. For ages retailers have been talking about ‘real time inventory’ this is ‘real time pricing’.

RWW give examples of stores not really knowing how to cope with customers scanning products for their own purposes (in this case price comparison). The RWW article even links to an even more interesting (worrying?) blog post warning retailers to install phone jammers or have ‘no scan policies’ to stop people doing this.

I think retailers who even countenance such an approach are missing the point. Surely, if your customers are price matching and comparing - the best place for them to be doing that is RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE!

If they are there and doing it, you are uniquely placed to counter their bargain hunting and get the sale.

Ironically, emerging apps that use bar codes to provide reviews and ratings on individual products could actually lead to shoppers spending more money. If I scan a product that is $14.99 and a review tells me the $16.99 version is better, doesn’t the store win?

The reason this technology (and retailer behaviour) relates to Perkler is two-fold. Firstly, we think the use of scanning technology on smartphones is a great way for retailers to entice shoppers into the store.

When a Perkler does a search on the perkolator for a loyalty program in a location near them (on our iphone and storm apps that Adam is building as we speak), what better way to motivate them in-store by offering a small, additional, tailored on-phone perk. We think it is the next phase of loyalty and builds on a combination of on-phone coupons and loyalty infrastructure. And because the consumer initiated the search through the Perkolator, it isn’t a global offer and isn’t sent to them without warning (we hate ‘push’).

Neat.

The second way it relates to us gets me back on topic. I simply can’t understand retailers who aren’t willing to jump in to a consumer-driven competitive landscape. When meeting retailers to discuss Perkler most are very keen. They understand that if they work with us they will learn more about their brand and program performance than if they simply stick to their current research methods alone. They also know that our data will tell them if they are under-performing (not coming up in search preferences, not having perks that stack up or missing perks completely). Seems to me that is exactly the kind of information you would want to know.

Sure, it might be confronting. But if you don’t have a perk that is up to scratch, would you prefer consumers switching off without you knowing or would you like the heads up so you can evolve your program to meet the needs of the consumer. Isn’t that why loyalty programs are there?

So - let them scan I say! And partner with Perkler (and other social media tools like twitter) to learn things about your program before they disengage.

Justin

I feel like I don’t even really need to write a post after that title!

Motley Fool had a story today (found via a link on twitter - thanks @retrogrrl ) that highlighted the importance of retailers NOT doing away with customer care and loyalty as times get hard for the sector. Couldn’t agree more.

The amazing statistic they quote is that retailers lose half of their customers every five years, with two thirds claiming customer service as the reason. They also cite research that highlights the maths in the title of this post!

Interestingly, what this story says to me is that the formal ‘loyalty program’ isn’t the enough on it’s own to create a loyal customer. There are so many other touch points that consumers roll-up into the service, and hence positive experience mix.

At Perkler we have a simple thought about how to connect the formal programs with real touchpoints of companies - create a loyalty community that involves consumers and retailers.

So that’s why we have the Perkolator - to allow consumers to search, manage and take advantage of all of the perks they are entitled to, but also have built in a range of community functions. Ratings, forums, favourites all lead to learning from other consumers but also influencing the companies behind the programs to use them to build real customer service.

As more and more retailers engage with consumers through Perkler we absolutely believe they will benefit as much as the consumer.

Justin

Just read a really interesting article in Digital Media news about research just in that shows consumers are much more willing to identify with brands and purchase product when they have been exposed to online campaigns.

The research was conducted using Sultana Bran (I’m not sure if Tall ‘malicious’ Jan) was part of it!

This is good news for digital media agencies - as the article says “the research provides much sought after data that will lead to marketers being able to increase online advertising and brand building”.

It’s also good news for a site like ours that is based on the premise that retailers should engage with consumers through Perkler!

But what about the next step. This research shows the link with brand and purchasing - the reason we have set up Perkler is that we want people to be ADVOCATES for retailers and program providers that value loyalty.

It’s why we’ve set up forums and ratings for programs. We could have just built a big search engine (which we did!) but long-term, we want people who engage with brands online to also influence the development of a market that often gets a lot of bad press (loyalty, not bran). Loyalty can be complicated now. Perkler tries to make managing and talking about it simple, but it can only really get better if retailers listen to the kinds of rewards and interaction consumers (people) want.

So the research gives us heart, but as well as it showing retailers they can increase advertising, we hope they undertake brand-building by jumping on board with Perkler to make those ‘members of loyalty programs’ actually loyal!

Justin