Written by Thomas Dembie Thursday, 22 September 2011 21:54
Managing Your Loyalty Program Points With Points.com
According to Colloquy, a company devoted to collecting information on the loyalty marketing industry, the average household participates in 11 different loyalty programs. My assumption is that this number is much higher for frequent travellers. With so many point rewards systems out there today, and so many companies participating in them, it can be overwhelming and difficult to keep track of what you have accumulated over the years. In addition, redeeming points is often a frustrating task because of limitations put forth by the very companies who gave you the points. Points.com offers users the ability to trade, exchange and redeem their point balances for multiple programs through one central location. Over the past few weeks I have used the site extensively and below is some information on my experience along with recommendations on what I think could make this an even better experience.
Company Background
Established in 2000, Points International Ltd. states that it has millions of users who manage their rewards from hundreds of loyalty programs via their points.com website. They are now partnered with over 60 of the world's leading loyalty brands, and this number continues to grow. The benefit for companies that partner with points.com is that redemption builds loyalty. Points International Ltd. claims that they deliver more than $250 million in additional revenue to their partners each year. The are a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:PTS) and over the counter in the United States (OTC:PTSEF).
Positive Points
Number of Partners - There is an extensive number of programs available on the points.com site (60 and growing).- Reward Options - Points.com has many great reward options, including converting points to Paypal dollars.
- Website's User Friendly Interface - Points.com's website is very intuitive. To add a new program to your profile, for example, takes only a couple of clicks, and the filling in of your basic loyalty program information.
- Easy to Understand Terminology - Once a program is added you will see your current balance, along with all other programs you have added to your account. With each associated loyalty program, it clearly indicates what you are able to do through points.com - trade, exchange, redeem and buy.
- User-Specific Customization - You are able to re-arrange the list of programs according to your preference.
- Courteous Customer Service Reps - I ran into an issue with my account recently. Since I hadn't signed in for several years I forgot my password and no longer had access to the email address associated with my account. As a result, I couldn't use the password retriever function. I contacted points.com and when I was able to get a hold of a customer service representative they were able to quickly update my account and give me access.
- Peer to Peer Interaction - It is easy to post opportunities to trade points with other members.
The Downside
Trading Costs - Points.com makes money by charging hefty transaction fees when you trade points from one program to another. Though I understand Points.com is a business, this price price tag may convince you change your mind about performing a trade since you are losing so much relative value. For example, if you could trade $100 dollars of points for $80 dollars in another program, but had to pay a $30 fee, would you still make the trade considering you have now gone from $100 to $50 in a different program?- No Customer Service Ticket System - I recently had another issue adding a partner program to my account. I spoke to a customer service representative at least 3 weeks ago and there has been no update. Unless I call points.com and chase them, my assumption is that there will be no update.
Recommendations
- Normalize Points - Points.com should consider adding an index to normalize all points and make it easy to understand the value of a point. 1 million points in one program may equal 20 in another. It's extremely difficult to keep track of the value of a point with so many different systems out there. Though I understand the complexity in managing this, one might also assume that it hasn't been done because they don't want you to understand the value of a point and see how much you lose with a trade.
- Use Gamification - In order to increase user engagement and keep people active, points.com should consider adding leaderboards where users can see where they stand relative to their friends and the entire points.com user base. Leaderboards could leverage the normalized points system to show who has the most points, and there could be leaders for each individual program.
Bottom Line...
Points.com is a great tool for keeping track of all your points. I highly recommend it, at a minimum, to manage and monitor your reward points. This is also a great option for those looking to beef up their balance in a specific program; just make sure you do your homework on the trade value and cost beforehand.
