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Author Archive: Michael Hemsey
As President of Kobie Marketing, Michael is responsible for leading all facets of the loyalty marketing organization including business development, IT initiatives, client services, as well as the overall direction of the Kobie brand. For 20 years, Michael has cultivated a rich background in client services, product development, marketing, technology and operations through several key posts.
Turning Skepticism into Trust: Some Ideas to Improve Bank Loyalty Programs
May 1, 2013 in Financial Services by Michael Hemsey
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At its most basic level, loyalty is about trust – not about the program specifics, per se. But that’s not great news for banks: recent data shows that Americans don’t trust their banks very much. Investors, too have diminishing trust in the financial system, according to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). As for non-investors [...]
The Evolution of Customer Experience: Driving Loyalty Through the Convergence of Loyalty and CRM
January 31, 2013 in Customer Experience & Engagement by Michael Hemsey
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In today’s marketing world “optimized customer experiences” can only be realized if “convergence” is realized first. That was the number one takeaway from my recent MediaPost article, and it’s a major sticking point for loyalty programs. Essentially, convergence falls under two categories, with one unfolding in response to the other. The convergence of marketing channels, [...]
Will ‘13 Be a “Lucky” Year for Channel Convergence? You Better Believe it if Brand Loyalty is Your New Year’s Top Priority
December 31, 2012 in Loyalty Marketing by Michael Hemsey
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In early December 2012, the simple text message celebrated its 20th birthday. That triggered the thought of another approaching anniversary, one that will undoubtedly come with far less media fanfare but with no less significance. On January 27, 2013 it will be seven years since Western Union sent its last telegram. While Western Union put [...]
Mobile’s Big Leap into Loyalty in 2013
December 28, 2012 in Customer Experience & Engagement by Michael Hemsey
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Very often technological innovations build off what follows and aren’t fully appreciated until after the fact. Sometimes they seem totally unrelated. Perhaps one day we’ll look back and say that mobile and the floodtide of consumer metrics gathered from these increasingly smart devices were loyalty programs’ game-changer just as other technologies that have come before. [...]
Message to Retailers: Don’t Cannibalize Your Loyalty Program With Most of the Holiday Season Left
December 5, 2012 in Loyalty Marketing by Michael Hemsey
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News flash: despite the craziness and crowds of the just concluded Black Friday and Cyber Monday hoopla, there’s still nearly three weeks until Christmas – plenty of time for consumers to shop ‘till they drop and just as much time for retailers to secure long term, loyalty-driven relationships. But loyalty, like retail sales, could fast [...]
How “Good Corporate Citizenship” Can Lead to Great Customer Engagement
October 26, 2012 in Customer Experience & Engagement by Michael Hemsey
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In advance of Loyalty360’s annual Engagement Expo in Dallas, I did some homework on a few of the presenters as well as prepping for my own presentation with Matt Hood of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse (Successful Loyalty Strategies: Maximizing Engagement and ROI through an Exceptional Customer Service Experience). Two of the sessions stood out and had [...]
Loyalty Programs Must Go Mobile – Now!
October 12, 2012 in Customer Experience & Engagement by Michael Hemsey
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Earlier this month, when my Mobile Marketer column Loyalty programs must go mobile went live, one of the comments posted by a reader supported the column’s central point: mobile is where consumers already are. And while a growing percentage of the population literally can’t sleep without their mobile devices snuggled up to them in bed, [...]
Death of the Loyalty Card? Not On Our Watch – Even As Mobile Makes its Mark
September 11, 2012 in Telecommunications by Michael Hemsey
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Assuming the International Space Station isn’t your home and Mars a world you’ve only “visited” via rover, chances are you’ve witnessed a rapid proliferation in the growth and expansion of loyalty programs. Almost every in-person transaction today, it seems, is completed with that question, “are you a member of our [insert name of company] rewards [...]
When Loyalty Programs Become a Taxing Issue and What to do About it
July 11, 2012 in Financial Services by Michael Hemsey
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Benjamin Franklin may have been spot on when it came to his observations about death and taxes being two of life’s great certainties. But even he, in all his wisdom, couldn’t have imagined the modern burdensome US tax code. Nor could he have envisioned today’s lively debate over what can and cannot be taxed – [...]
Is Your Company Ready for the Omnichannel Loyalty Revolution?
June 12, 2012 in Customer Experience & Engagement by Michael Hemsey
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For the last few months my colleagues and I have been talking internally about a revolution we see slowly building momentum in the minds of marketers and loyalty planners alike; the growth, development and implementation of an omnichannel loyalty marketing approach—the next phase of multichannel and omnichannel marketing. The problem, though, is that marketers—let alone [...]
