The Access Loyalty Blog

Conference and expo season are most definitely upon us; that time of year when industry groups gather to learn, share and show off. These expos are a great opportunity for companies like Access to meet new folks and reconnect in person with old friends. It also means we have a makeshift satellite office in Orlando for the month of March.

We spent last week at the Loyalty Expo, hosted by Loyalty 360. It was great to hear some of the brightest minds in the loyalty world sharing their practices for building customer relationships and talking about the future. We are living in the Golden Age of the Consumer thanks to the competition for loyalty among brands, and much of what we saw showed us that it’s only going to get better for the Average Joe.

We’ll gladly say this includes our mobile coupon network, which offers 65,000+ “show your phone” offers, which generated a ton of interest around the Access booth.

One of the big topics at the expo was the 2010 Cone Consumer New Media Study, and specifically one stat it revealed: 80% of consumers follow five brands or less.  They’re quick to unfollow if businesses overuse the social channels…and they’re almost as quick to unfollow if the channels aren’t used enough. How do you measure the appropriate amount of Facebook or Twitter posts everyday? There isn’t a ton of science behind questions like that, but it makes one thing clear: you’d better be listening.

Companies everywhere have figured out that it costs a lot more to gain a customer than to keep one, so there is a renewed focus on engagement and quite frankly, giving them what they want. For instance, from gamification to mobile coupons, brands are gearing up their efforts at interacting with consumers through smartphones.

Speaking of which…

On Tuesday (3/22) morning Access EVP of Business and Product Development Kelly Passey was part of a panel presentation on mobile loyalty. “Let Them Have Cake” focused on the realities companies are facing as consumers are spending more and more time on their mobile devices. We’re going to have Kelly publish his thoughts on the expo and session when he returns from his world travels, so keep an eye on this space in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Mark and Erin and the rest of the team at Loyalty 360 for a great conference!

This week (3/28 – 4/1) we’ll be at the American Resort Development Association talking revenue and loyalty with the vacation and shared ownership industry. These are folks that Access has worked with for years and years now, offering first day incentives, incentive offers, exit programs and more. If you’re in Orlando, stop by and see us at booth 1220.