Customer Service makes Customer Experience

I called American Express (Singapore) today (17 December 2013) to get a fee waiver on my Krisflyer card. The call had to be made and I was not anticipating anything that would suggest a 'happy experience'.

It turned out to be the most surprisingly pleasant CS experience I have not had for a long while, even by Amex standards. As a consumer, as well as a marketer, thought it would be useful to distill the cause of the pleasant experience into professional insight.

The success of that particular customer service call resulting in a great experience, is the result of 3 things:

1.) Understanding - enough information in real-time on their part to know my tenure, my payment history, and past request for waivers with the bank.
2.) Energy - the positive energy emerging from the other end of the phone line suggests someone who is friendly and warm but not overtly reading from a script. She is genuinely happy and helpful. This means, she must be happy working there. This, as I must say, is the result of a happy work culture. And the root cause is a great management & human resource ethic. (Or the person is simply just genuinely a happy gal.)
3.) Empowerment - she had the authority to 'give' the waiver. There was no need to 'put in the request' and 'wait for an answer'. She did not have the 'check with my manager'. This, is probably made possible due to a set of actionable guidelines and framework, so that a front-line staff is able to do so, in a control environment as such.

Great work on the CS side, Amex. 

Virtual Currencies Materialising into the Real World

In a blog post some time ago, I believed that virtual currency may not be quit virtual any more. At that time, the subject matter in question was loyalty currency that could evolve into 'real money'. It seems, however, that virtual currencies going mainstream may not be limited to those of the 'rewards' kind. Today, news broke that Thailand may have declared it illegal to buy and sell Bitcoin or use it to make purchases.

In a conference with Bitccoin earlier, The Bank of Thailand officials decided that "due to lack of existing applicable laws, capital controls and the fact that Bitcoin straddles multiple financial facets," several of the exchange's related activities are illegal in Thailand. Bitcoin has had its fair share of controversy since the inception of this peer-to-peer currency. It attracted a lot of negative publicity when it came to light that the shady underground market place Silk Road hidden in Deep Web transacts $1.9 million a month in illegal drugs. The anonymity of users on Silk Road ensured that the virtual black market traded all manner of contraband, the most significant of which are illegal drugs.

Negative publicity and lack of regulatory infrastructure aside, it is ironic that the Bitcoin and other alternate currencies may be turn out to be more stable forms of monetary tokens for the consumer than the digits that flash across the screens on ATM terminals given the volatile financial markets of late.

It remains to see how financial systems can rein in the renegade systems. One must remember that money evolved to its present form in various cultures with their own accepted forms of tokens -- as long as the tokens are trusted and recognised as such. Who is to say that these alternative currencies won't make it to the mainstream in time to come?

Self-serve or served?

Just read today that the Indonesian loyalty start-up Squiryl has ceased operations. (Read the article here. ) The CEO and founder of the start-up cited the reason to be an issue of sustainability, that the business was not envisioned the way it turned out to be. In his words, it became "a resource intensive operations involving full time sales and support staff. And that was just the problems on the brand acquisition side."

The loyalty business was never something that one expects the retailer to be 'self-reliant' or 'self--sufficient'. Yes, they would want access and control. But operationally, it would be impractical to think that a retailer in full-scale day-to-day operating challenges, will have the time, effort, or the resource, to run an effective program in a laisser-faire manner. A customer membership program requires dedicated resource and constant intellectual input from a marketer that thinks "lifecycle management" and not "advertising and promotions".

There has been constant hype in the 'loyalty business' and that perennial myth of the pot of gold at the elusive end of the rainbow. But marketers need to get one thing clear: a loyalty tool/platform/software, or whatever you may choose to call it, is just really just that: a machine. It is an instrument for you to run a business. It is a framework on which you can execute your strategy. It is not a panacea. It is not a miracle cure. You need to work it before it will work for you.

And I think in many ways, they story of the Squiryl should give loyalty platform builders a clear message: you have to choose your role in the space and be prepared to fulfill that role. You cannot be all things to everyone.

I hate rebates

I meant to post this note in response to this Colloquy article on the debate on rebates back in May. However, 6 months later (now in November), I feel just as strongly as I did then.

I HATE REBATES. 

Not as a consumer, of course, but as a marketer and loyalty practitioner. Rebates encourage cherry-pickers. Rebates are for the 'penny-wise'. Rebates cannot encourage long-term brand affinity, patronage, or higher-margin product cross-sell/up-sell. Rebates kill your product CVP, your profits, your image, and eventually your business.

It's true.

Yes, I agree that rebates may work for certain category-goods, it certainly does not work in the long-term for payment cards. Then again, most banks fail to see the 'longer-term big picture'. So, we are back to square one.

And I categorically agree with everything the article says and advocates. Read it, please.

Virtual Currency may no longer be "virtual" anymore

Just a moment ago, Finextra tweeted an piece of Amex-related news: American Express has filed a patent for a system and method for using loyalty rewards as a currency.Any loyalty practitioner will find this statement odd. Loyalty rewards mostly operate on the concept of a 'rewards currency'. So, what is so different about this? Further reading reveals that 'currency' in question, is one that is 'virtual' in nature. By 'virtual', it refers to currency that exists in the 'virtual' or a.k.a. internet/online world.

For hardcore online gamers or even Facebook amateur players, the 'virtual currency' is 'virtual money' used in the purchase of all things, well, virtual; like a potion here and there, or a zombie to grow your garden. As with money in the real-world, you have to 'work' to 'earn it'.

Amex put in $30 million in September for a 4-year-old company Sometrics that helps gaming companies set up the infrastructure to enable virtual-currency. With this, they may have made the most far-sighed investment in new business yet.

As the social-cultural sphere is increasing entrenched within the 'virtual', so is the economy. The world painted in the movie series Matrix may be a teeny bit far-fetched, but who is to say that the clothes, food supplies, armour and magic potions you buy in the cyber world are less important or valuable that the tangible real ones in the world?

Food for thought.

Credit Card or Discount Card?

It's the Great Singapore Sale again, and there has never been a better time to enjoy credit card promotions. Every bank seems determined to out-do each other in bigger discounts and better deals for cardholders in their tie-ups with merchants.

Card marketing has never seen tougher times of competition. Aside from the stiff competition in funding and delivering all kinds of expensive-to-run promotions (consumers have even come up with a ever-so-helpful listing of all the great credit card deals this year), customer loyalty seems to be a thing of the past as more and

How many credit cards do you carry with you? 4? 5? 10?

It is a sad, sad state of things to see a credit card reduced to a retail discount card.

Accessing your rewards on a phone

In March 2011, OCBC Cards managed to complete the most large-scale loyalty platform implementation in recent memory. I was glad to be part of the project team to have made it happen.

In the time I have spent in customer loyalty, the primary focus had been on a few key elements, namely, the value of the reward currency, the relevance of the rewards earned, and the rate at which they are earned.

Back then, no one had anticipated the proliferation of social networking and the widespread use of the smart phone as a banking medium.

As these developments unfold in ever-increasing frequency and speed, it dawned on me, that a customer's view on rewards would also have altered by these changes. This is an epiphany that led me to think that the next battle ground in rewards is not in the 'earn', but the 'burn'.

While the rest of the card banking community tries to out-do each other in multiplier points earn, perhaps enabling a quick and easy way for customers to access their rewards currency anytime, anywhere, is the next big thing to disrupt the market?

I hope anyone who reads this will take a moment to visit the OCBC rewards mobile website: mobile.ocbc.com.

Although this is a mobile web-based service at the moment, I hope that in time, our recently released Android mobile banking app will incorporate rewards as a key functionality.

Meanwhile, have a look a a video on the much-talked about OCBC Android mobile banking app.

ZDNet interview of mobile banking product manager.

Great CRM or Big Brother Society?

This is something I recently found on Colloquy.com article.

Apparently, it's a clip from a futuristic-doomsday movie warning ourselves against fascism and 'big brother' future that seems to be approaching us very soon. That, of course, is the less-than-positive side of looking at the future. But, if we take a moment to assess the kinds of CRM capabilities we have today, it should not be impossible to do the things we see in the clip.

It does get hairy when good CRM is misused to the point when people think that respect for their privacy has been ignored. Information versus privacy -- the perennial battle in any CRM and loyalty marketing database.

Banks are too slow & traditional for Web 2.0?

Today, I chanced upon this blog post by Brett King, who just in Singapore recently for a book-signing titled, "Bank 2.0: How Customer Behavior and Technology Will Change the Future of Financial Services"

This unplanned encounter was timed in a curious fashion. I had just been having conversations with veterans in the industry about how the banking world (especially in consumer finance) has underutilised the power of connectivity and community advocacy. So, this begs the question: Are banks really such seasoned creatures of habit that they are blinded by the speed with which the rest of the consumer world runs?

As a member of the industry, it is not difficult to appreciate the difficulties for banks to jump on the bandwagon with similar speeds as the world of the FMCG, travel, or even hospitality. The fact remains that as a financial institution (despite all the fuss about it as an investment vehicle) the bank is, ultimately, the custodian of assets of the people, a.k.a., common folk like you and I. For all that is said and done, a bank simply cannot proceed with any new initiatives without having to satisfy the arduous and sometimes painstaking process of due diligence.

However, as both a consumer and bank employee, I believe that some manner of agility can be achieved. Life simply cannot be as rigid as it used to be when we needed to bring a pass book and stand behind a tall counter before we can get to our own money.


Brett King: Are Banks Innovating Fast enough?

Loyalty Currency - What do you prefer?

The question of suitability in loyalty currency is the single most intriguing question that has never quite gotten a scientific and clinical treatment. In particular, I do not believe that any formal study has been conducted with regards to loyalty currency preference in payment cards.

I am of the opinion that, despite cultural and social disparities in different markets, there must be some partiality towards one type of loyalty currency to another.

Points? Miles? Or something else?

If you could take a minute to answer this poll, I would be eternally grateful.
http://polls.linkedin.com/p/80433/avpnn

Card Banking is Great?

I read this article recently. About the 5 key reasons why a card banker's job is great.

[Read it here: Bankcard Jobs News ::: Banking Career News ::: Cardgigs - The Payments Industry Career Hub ]

One year ago, I would have agreed whole-heartedly. Today, my nerves are shaken a little, with added fuel by horror stories of the 'firing squad' from the Big Boy in the business.

Do I still find a joy in cards & payments challenging and meaningful? Absolutely.

Is there a future for cards? Of course - as long as consumerism exists.

Will 'cards' be the growth engine for payments? Probably not. Other form factors will emerge and gradually replace the card, given the world's increasing reliance on 'virtual-ism'.

So, question to self: Should we all start looking for new jobs?

The decision is all yours.

Unsolicited credit card cheques to be banned in the UK

Consumers in Singapore are spoilt for choices, particularly in credit card marketing offers. In fact, the rules here are so relaxed, that card marketing practices will never be allowed in places such as the US or Euro-zone.

Case in point: When was the last time you received a cheque from your credit card bank giving you 'free' money? (On that note, please send me examples of the cheques you have, please.)

Such predatory marketing tactics will soon be banned in the UK. The Euro-zone will likely follow at some point.

Will Asia be next?

Read the news article here:
Unsolicited credit card cheques to be banned - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

The Changing Face of Loyalty in Payment Cards

Some time ago, I blogged about a soon-to-be-published whitepaper on the subject of loyalty in payment cards, and how commoditisation is going to change the playing field of how programs should be run.

The paper has been kindly picked up by VRL and will be published in abridged form in the latest issue of Cards International. The full-length paper can be found here on Insight's website.

All comments welcome.

"Pick a card! Any card!"

As a loyalty marketing practioner, you find the work hard, time-consuming, and sometimes unappreciated. However, as professionals, we strive to maintain sanity in a crazy world and find relevance in what we do. This also means looking towards the altruistic and take heart that what we do really made a difference in lives. Still, there are times when it is necessary to laugh at ourselves in the absurdity of the work we do. Here are a few gems I found on the web. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Credit Card Mailers: Straw Poll

Whenever someone inquires about my profession, the exchanges inevitably leads to the question of marketing mailers, those pieces of glossy, high-quality printed fliers and brochures that sells everything from low cost balance transfers, to the latest offers at named retailers.

To the marketer, they are precious pieces of articles that represent possible the only tangible form of direct communication from the card marketer to the consumer/cardholder. On the other hand, the everyday consumer tends to look upon them with disdain and sometimes annoyance.

I will attempt to do the first (at least, it is the first that I know of) scientific market research on what people actually do with their statement inserts (as it is known in the business).

Please help in the research by following the link and casting your vote:
http://polls.linkedin.com/p/47034/tqdcw

Hopefully, I can get some interesting results and share some insights on the phenomenon.

The Semiotics of Loyalty

Several weeks ago, I began the project of writing a whitepaper on loyalty. During the course of preparation, it occurred to me that the word loyalty means a multitude of things. In marketing, the very mention of loyalty seems to evoke much excitement. I have come to realise that even marketing professionals themselves tend to take the meaning of loyalty for granted.

Umberto Eco is a best-selling novelist, a renowned academic in the study of semiotics, and my favourite author. The rather obscure field of his expertise is about the study of signs and symbols, their meanings, and the way in which those meanings are conveyed. Broadly speaking, language and words are also signs and symbols on themselves. The most interesting aspect of this study is the transient nature of the interpretation of meaning. If we took this philosophical approach to the word loyalty, the discussion on its meaning become immensely interesting.

Loyalty means very different things to different parties in the loyalty value chain. It remains an illusive and multi-faceted concept in the business world. As a marketer who is endeared to the semiotics, I cannot help but believe that the we cannot take a laissez-faire approach to the definition of loyalty in the business context as we do in philosophy. There has been too much talk and not enough scientific discourse on the concept. Before we can all agree on what loyalty means, we cannot advance in the way loyalty marketing can be conducted.

The chairman of my former employer, Aneace Haddad (click here for his blog), had this to say after reviewing my whitepaper, "Maybe someone needs to provide a linguistic framework to set things straight from the beginning."

I hope my soon-to-be-published paper will be the beginning of our own industry advocacy to do exactly that.

The Semiotics Of Loyalty

View more documents from wwanling.

The Relevance of Loyalty in Credit Cards Today

A cursory check on the major banks in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and India revealed that almost all of the card products come with a default rewards program of some sorts. The most common form of rewards currency are points, rebates, and airline miles.

There was a time when loyalty programs were deemed the 'killer application' for credit cards. But there seems to be a growing proliferation of 'run-of-the-mill' programs.

What is the relevance of a card loyalty program to an issuer? Have we lost sight of the true business reasons for wanting a loyalty program in the first place?

In the next few weeks, I will be working on a white paper to explore this topic. In the meantime, do share with me your views.

The beginning of something... I think.

They say that procrastination is bad. I agree. I have long since wanted to start a blog on card and loyalty marketing issues rather than a "personal" blog with endless meanderings. But it never really got off the ground.

This is a bad sign of "having the means but lacking the will". So, forcing myself to leave meaningful footprint on the web, here's my maiden post.

The world of card marketing is crazy, and wonderful at the same time. Life would be boring without it.