The BIA/Kelsey “Status and Review of Card-Linked Offers, 2015” report, which is based on in-depth interviews with industry leaders, has generated a lot of interest among the various shareholders of card-linked offers and non-advertising marketing solutions (including financial institutions, tech vendors and publishers).

We’re especially interested in the feedback from Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein, who tells us he’d like to see the Card Linked Offer space rebranded as “Card-Linked Services.” The main reason? “There is a lot of value that can be delivered to a consumer by linking their card without receiving and fulfilling an offer,” he says. “In our case, for instance, easier reward accrual for loyalty programs.”

In Goldstein’s view, the report — which is bullish on momentum in the card-linked offer space — could be even more bullish. He’s seeing conversion rates for Thanx campaigns ranging from 22 percent into the low-30 percent range. This is well above the 3 percent to 12 percent conversion rates that we cited as the norm.

Goldstein also takes issue with the report’s conclusion that cashback is the preferred reward type — something that is widely assumed by the financial institutions and related ecosystem, but sometimes disputed by players that focus more on loyalty.

“Many of our merchants would rather sacrifice margin than top-line revenue,” he says. “We actually see far more businesses who like to use card-linked for the ‘accrual’ portion of the experience (tracking spending to qualify) but redeem rewards through a more traditional channel or through mobile.” For more of Goldstein’s views on card linking, click here.

The CardLinx Association, which partnered with us on the report, is going deep on card-linked offers with a great lineup of speakers in New York April 28. We hope to see you there.

The post Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein: 'Let's Call Them Card-Linked Services, Not Offers' appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

The BIA/Kelsey “Status and Review of Card-Linked Offers, 2015” report, which is based on in-depth interviews with industry leaders, has generated a lot of interest among the various shareholders of card-linked offers and non-advertising marketing solutions (including financial institutions, tech vendors and publishers).

We’re especially interested in the feedback from Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein, who tells us he’d like to see the Card Linked Offer space rebranded as “Card-Linked Services.” The main reason? “There is a lot of value that can be delivered to a consumer by linking their card without receiving and fulfilling an offer,” he says. “In our case, for instance, easier reward accrual for loyalty programs.”

In Goldstein’s view, the report — which is bullish on momentum in the card-linked offer space — could be even more bullish. He’s seeing conversion rates for Thanx campaigns ranging from 22 percent into the low-30 percent range. This is well above the 3 percent to 12 percent conversion rates that we cited as the norm.

Goldstein also takes issue with the report’s conclusion that cashback is the preferred reward type — something that is widely assumed by the financial institutions and related ecosystem, but sometimes disputed by players that focus more on loyalty.

“Many of our merchants would rather sacrifice margin than top-line revenue,” he says. “We actually see far more businesses who like to use card-linked for the ‘accrual’ portion of the experience (tracking spending to qualify) but redeem rewards through a more traditional channel or through mobile.” For more of Goldstein’s views on card linking, click here.

The CardLinx Association, which partnered with us on the report, is going deep on card-linked offers with a great lineup of speakers in New York April 28. We hope to see you there.

The post Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein: ‘Let’s Call Them Card-Linked Services, Not Offers’ appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

We’re reporting the Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) results by these slices at the request of our clients. (We also report out the LCM results by many other slices, including “super verticals,” lifecycle stage, spending level, etc.)

The average total spend for advertising and promotions annually among SMBs with 10-99 employees is $53,440. This spending level places this segment of SMBs closer to Plus Spenders and franchise SMBs than to segments of smaller SMBs like the Core Spenders.

The top advertising/marketing priority for SMBs with 10-99 employees for the next 12 months is SEM/SEO. This is consistent with other size brackets, and not surprising considering the steadily increasing importance, and ever-changing rules, of SEO.

Broadly speaking, SMBs in this size range often find themselves straddling the worlds of digital and traditional media. Their media mix puts more weight on classic media, including direct mail, print and Internet Yellow Pages, newspapers and magazines. They’re also loyal to the sales channels attached to these media, even for the purchase of online ads. For example, Print or Internet Yellow Pages is the second most used channel for purchasing online ads, used by 27.5% of respondents.

Service model preference leans strongly towards the “Do it with me” model, preferred by 52.8% of respondents, which is a sharp distinction to the smaller SMBs, which favor the “Do it myself” model.

Customer loyalty programs are popular with these SMBs, with 43.1 percent already having a customer loyalty program, and another 26.8 percent saying they plan to add one in the next 12 months — for a total of 69.9 percent.

Clients of the BIA/Kelsey Advisory Services can find the full report here.

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Retaining and delighting existing customers is a massive opportunity for SMBs…and increasingly they know it. However, taking full advantage of that opportunity by utilizing digital loyalty programs remains a challenge.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present a free webinar Thursday at 2:00 EDT that unpacks the opportunities and challenges facing SMBs as they seek to optimize existing customer relationships. Research from a joint report – “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World” – will be revealed on why and how small business owners are shifting their time, effort and budget away from customer acquisition to customer retention. Further research will frame the key challenges that SMBs face in deploying successful loyalty initiatives.

Then, tips and best practices for effectively jumpstarting and managing a digital loyalty platform will be shared.

For anyone serving and selling to SMBs, it should be a compelling forum to learn about their shifting habits and needs, and how your business can think about contributing to their customer retention objectives. Register for the free webinar here.

The post BIA/Kelsey & Manta Webinar Explores SMB Shift to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Retaining and delighting existing customers is a massive opportunity for SMBs…and increasingly they know it. However, taking full advantage of that opportunity by utilizing digital loyalty programs remains a challenge.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present a free webinar Thursday at 2:00 EDT that unpacks the opportunities and challenges facing SMBs as they seek to optimize existing customer relationships. Research from a joint report – “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World” – will be revealed on why and how small business owners are shifting their time, effort and budget away from customer acquisition to customer retention. Further research will frame the key challenges that SMBs face in deploying successful loyalty initiatives.

Then, tips and best practices for effectively jumpstarting and managing a digital loyalty platform will be shared.

For anyone serving and selling to SMBs, it should be a compelling forum to learn about their shifting habits and needs, and how your business can think about contributing to their customer retention objectives. Register for the free webinar here.

The post BIA/Kelsey & Manta Webinar Explores SMB Shift to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Card Linked Offers (CLOs) represent a potentially rich opportunity for online and mobile promotions and loyalty. But a lot of work needs to be done before the segment gets seriously underway.

Speaking at the inaugural conference of the CardlinX Association April 7 in Las Vegas, Microsoft GM of Local Advertising Erik Jorgensen noted there are significant opportunities to connect the online world with the offline world, closing the loop for online advertising and loyalty.

There is “broad experimentation with integrated consumer and merchant experiences,” said Jorgensen. “The CPA based ad model highly reasonates with merchants.”

During the past 12 months, Microsoft has launched CLO betas of its Bing Offers in Seattle, Boston and Phoenix. The trials take off on Microsoft’s initial deals efforts, but don’t require pre-payment.

Most of Microsoft’s efforts in the space are focused on the Bing portals — both on the Web and on mobile. Card linked efforts are also included in Bing Local, Bing’s Listings Page and the Bing Search Engine Results Page.

There is also a strong “mobile first” component to the effort. Windows Phone, Skype and Windows 8 are all included in the efforts, which are seen as a marketplace differentiator. “There are five or six places on the phone where we surface offers,” said Jorgensen.

The company is also sending out targeted emails. “We are building up our muscles to understand how we target offers,” noted Jorgensen. “The next phase is not just a pull but a push” via intelligent notification.

This post is an excerpt from a full Briefing on The Cardlinx meeting, which is available to BIA/Kelsey clients.

The post Microsoft’s Jorgensen: “We Are Building Our Muscles’ in Card Linked Space appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Card Linked Offers (CLOs) represent a potentially rich opportunity for online and mobile promotions and loyalty. But a lot of work needs to be done before the segment gets seriously underway.

Speaking at the inaugural conference of the CardlinX Association April 7 in Las Vegas, Microsoft GM of Local Advertising Erik Jorgensen noted there are significant opportunities to connect the online world with the offline world, closing the loop for online advertising and loyalty.

There is “broad experimentation with integrated consumer and merchant experiences,” said Jorgensen. “The CPA based ad model highly reasonates with merchants.”

During the past 12 months, Microsoft has launched CLO betas of its Bing Offers in Seattle, Boston and Phoenix. The trials take off on Microsoft’s initial deals efforts, but don’t require pre-payment.

Most of Microsoft’s efforts in the space are focused on the Bing portals — both on the Web and on mobile. Card linked efforts are also included in Bing Local, Bing’s Listings Page and the Bing Search Engine Results Page.

There is also a strong “mobile first” component to the effort. Windows Phone, Skype and Windows 8 are all included in the efforts, which are seen as a marketplace differentiator. “There are five or six places on the phone where we surface offers,” said Jorgensen.

The company is also sending out targeted emails. “We are building up our muscles to understand how we target offers,” noted Jorgensen. “The next phase is not just a pull but a push” via intelligent notification.

This post is an excerpt from a full Briefing on The Cardlinx meeting, which is available to BIA/Kelsey clients.

The post Microsoft's Jorgensen: "We Are Building Our Muscles' in Card Linked Space appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Traditionally, SMBs have invested the majority of their time, energy and budget in acquiring new customers. However, a recently-released report from BIA/Kelsey and Manta, based on findings from nearly 1,000 members of Manta’s online directory community, indicates a clear shift in focus to engagement and retention.

According to the report, “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World,” (follow the link for free download), 61 percent of the SMBs surveyed report that more than half of their revenue comes from repeat customers, rather than new business. Meanwhile, a repeat customer spends 67 percent more than a new customer. As a result, only 14 percent of SMB owners now spend the majority of their annual marketing budget on acquisition.

This marks a dramatic change from just two years ago, when BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor survey highlighted that SMBs heavily prioritized customer acquisition over retention.

However, effective SMB retention efforts – notably loyalty programs and customer relationship management (CRM) systems – remain spotty. Only 34 percent of SMB owners have any loyalty program at all, and of those who do, the majority are offline, thus failing to take advantage of the efficiencies and insights that digital platforms provide.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present findings from the report and discuss best practices for SMBs in a free webinar on Tuesday, May 15. Please follow this link to register.

The post BIA/Kelsey and Manta Joint Report: SMBs Shift Priority to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

The utility of loyalty programs is stronger than ever, as they help businesses connect, engage, drive traffic, refer friends, purchase and track customer actions. But efforts to determine loyalty aren’t made easier with all the noise in the system.

Usage is coming in from all over the place (phones, tablets, social networks, reviews, etc.). And while new efforts can be enhanced by tapping into Point of Sale systems, hundreds of these aren’t compatible with each other.

“The wheels are coming off” for loyalty programs, notes PunchTab CEO Ranjith Kumaran. In fact, the evolution of loyalty channels has been moving so fast that PunchTab recently received an RFP from a major Consumer Packaged Goods company that specifically ruled out any comprehensive loyalty solutions. “They didn’t want to be locked into an inflexible system for several years,” says Kumaran.

PunchTab has been in development for three years. The Palo Alto-based company, which currently supports 17,000 loyalty campaigns, has raised $5.3 Million. Its whole effort is to track everything. The company is currently tracking 40 different loyalty-related activities.

“It is risky to build a program around a single channel,” Kumaran says. Eighteen months ago, that channel might have been Pinterest, he notes. Now the interest in Pinterest is “quieter.”

PunchTab’s approach is to incorporate information from multiple sources, such as FourSquare check-ins, or POS systems, or digital receipts. But mostly, the company focuses on workarounds that enable as much flexibility as possible.

One quick service example that PunchTab is working with is Arby’s Restaurant Group. Arby’s didn’t think it could do a loyalty program because it is working with 50 different types of POS systems. But PunchTab created a solution that focused on in store traffic data, allowing to identify tens of thousands of potential customers for a new product that it rolled out.

Looking forward, Kumaran is looking at the whole new range of channels that are expected to come on the scene. “Wearables,” such as smart watches and FIT bands, add a whole new set of data that can determine loyalty factors, he said.

The post PunchTab CEO on Loyalty Programs: “The Wheels Are Coming Off” appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In a deal designed to fuel innovation at First Data, the payments powerhouse has acquired mobile marketing and loyalty start-up Perka for an undisclosed amount. First Data plans to let Perka continue to operate autonomously and service as an “agile product development company led by original management.” This year, Fast Company magazine anointed Perka as one of the “Most Innovative Companies” in local.

Founded with angel money in 2011, Perka is led by CEO Alan Chung and founding partners Robert Bethge, Rob Coury, Jay Harlow and Joe Stelmach. The company offers loyalty programs for local businesses in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Africa and Latin American. Perka has 28 employees.

Perka made a name for itself for innovative thinking around the burgeoning loyalty space. For example, last December we wrote about how Perka was tacking the issue of adapting the buy 10, get one punchcard model to highly variable purchases.

The convergence of payments, loyalty and mobility is clearly on the minds of First Data’s leadership. The company is a world leader in payment processing, handling payments daily for more than 6 million merchant locations. First Data hopes to remain a key player in payments as the space expands further into mobile and tablet based payment processing. First Data made progress in this direction with its recent launch of Clover, a cloud-based point of sale (POS) solution.

In September, First Data SVP Dom Morea spoke at length about how First Data sees the evolution of loyalty at BIA/Kelsey’s SMB Digital Marketing event in Austin. The Perka acquisition, and perhaps more critically the team that comes with it, should help First Data remain at the forefront of the rapidly changing payments space.

First Data Senior VP Dom Morea talked about the future of transaction marketing at BIA/Kelsey’s Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing event in Austin, TX.

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