The 2009 Loyalty Expo, held in Hollywood, Florida, from May 31 through June 2, proved to be one of the best places for professionals to network and attend interactive sessions regarding Loyalty Management. 

Gregory A. Lewis, CEO of Motivation Excellence, was pleased to serve as a panelist on the Loyalty Program Best Practices in Challenging Times breakout session.

As one of the customer loyalty experts from the Incentive Marketing Association's Performance Improvement Council, Greg discussed the best practices in loyalty planning and execution; the tools, technology and techniques necessary to optimize programs; and how to strengthen customer equity in these challenging economic times.

Greg took attendees through a five-step approach to a current client situation: The Challenge, The Solution, Segmentation, Co-Marketing and Results.

Our client, an industrial distributor, had a variety of customer types with varying purchase volumes and varying product profitability and  wanted to capture discretionary volume and build long-term customer loyalty.  MEI’s solution was to build a loyalty program model which rewarded targeted customers for all purchases, with an additional growth component and a dramatic reward increase based on their purchase growth.

The audience segmentation was a 4-tier strategy based on customer types, market growth potentials, prior customer purchases and product profitability.  The customers were given challenging yet attainable goals and were reminded of the program through a comprehensive communications plan.

Our client leveraged supplier funding with a “supplier of the month” approach.  Each supplier received their own communications push and POS activity, and their featured product purchases resulted in bonus point opportunities for customers.  This monthly approach kept the program fresh and strengthened supplier and customer relationship

The result was the blending of a mainstream loyalty strategy with incremental growth opportunity.  Needless to say, our client has been with us for many successful programs.

Motivation Excellence, Inc. provides custom performance improvement and employee engagement solutions including Solution Development and Program Design, Creative Marketing, Performance Management, Web and Print Merchandise Awards, Group Travel and Meetings / Incentives. MEI creates maximum value for our clients through researched, ROI-developed, measurably operated performance improvement solutions. Delivery of this value requires experience and expert resources in every area of performance improvement.