Video Interview: Local marketing with Carmen Sognonvi

Interview details:

About Carmen:

Carmen Sognonvi is co-owner and general manager of Urban Martial Arts in Brooklyn, NY.  Her views on local business and entrepreneurship have been featured in Fox Business, Inc.com, and Crain’s New York Business.  You can reach her at (646) 504-4092 or carmen AT carmensognonvi.com.

Carmen is such a terrific person and professional.  I love that she not only talks the talk on her blog, but she walks the walk as well because she’s a local business owner.  In her interview, Carmen gives concrete tips that a local business can utilize to use social media to drive traffic and retention.  If there’s one thing I learned during the interview, it’s that online content is the most important asset that a business owner can focus on for the web.  Without content, there is no social presence.

Enjoy the video!

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A comparison between Belly and RewardMe – by the stats

RewardMe vs Belly Data-driven comparison by the numbers

Andreeson Horowitz recently invested $10 million into loyalty startup Belly.  I’d like to start off by congratulating the Belly team on their Series B – we wish you good luck in reaching Groupon-like scale.

This recent news warrants a fair and honest comparison between Belly and RewardMe.  We welcome the founders of Belly to write their responses in the comments section at the end of this post to continue the discussion.

Comparison snapshot: this post will compare Belly and RewardMe in the following 6 important customer loyalty program topics

  1. Customer sign-up rate: how many new customers sign-up to the program
  2. Participation rate: the number of check-ins to the rewards program
  3. Return on investment: measurable ROI that is backed by data
  4. Reward structure and customization: the ability for the business to customize rewards
  5. Data capture: the type of data that is collected from consumers
  6. Ease of use: ease of use for the business and the consumers

Continue reading A comparison between Belly and RewardMe – by the stats

RewardMe video case study: Fraiche Yogurt

Business: Fraiche Yogurt

Type: Yogurt shop

Owner: Patama Gur

Fraiche is an incredibly popular yogurt shop (with 3 locations) that uses RewardMe to power their rewards program.  Patama (the owner) is such a terrific person and incredibly smart business owner.  As you’ll see in the video, she has been hesitant to use a rewards program for a long time because she doesn’t want to give away free food; however, when she found out about RewardMe and the incredible data that we collect, she quickly took action and has used our program to capture over 35% of her customers.

Check out the video to learn more about her first-hand experience with RewardMe.

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RewardMe Infographic Friday: What Happens To Loyalty Program Points?

When it comes to the loyalty program points that consumers earn, spending them seems just as hard earning them. From the air miles to cash back points earned via credit cards, consumers earn, but don’t always spend the points.

The reason for this can be reasoned with the following:

(A) They forget: Perhaps the biggest reason why points go unused is that they are forgotten. For example, I earn points at the grocery store every time I purchase something, but rarely get any acknowledgement/updates of it. The instant benefit of getting a discount on the products I buy because of being part of the loyalty program makes me forget that the points accumulated can be used for something bigger and better.

(B) The rewards are unattainable/difficult to use: If you’ve ever tried to use your air mileage points for a trip, you know how hard it is to redeemed for the trip you actually want. Because of the difficulty and sometimes ‘impossible’ redemption milestones, consumers often see their efforts as fruitless.

Tip: When creating milestones for points, consider tiered levels of rewards: Easy, Medium, Hard. Your loyalty program should make it easy for the casual shopper to participate while making it worth while for the ‘hardcore’ shopper Continue reading RewardMe Infographic Friday: What Happens To Loyalty Program Points?