#435: Driving Ancillary Revenue in Travel Loyalty Programs with Points and Plusgrade
Sep 20, 2023
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Danielle Brown, CMO of Plusgrade and Points, discusses the innovation and evolution of travel loyalty programs amidst global economic events. They highlight the success of currency retailing in driving short-term revenues and long-term loyalty. Privacy, acquisition strategies, loyalty currency in various sectors, and celebrating success are also discussed.
Plusgrade delivers over a billion dollars in ancillary revenue by providing innovative solutions and leveraging global economic events as opportunities.
Currency retailing is a powerful driver of both short-term revenue and long-term loyalty in travel loyalty programs.
Deep dives
The Power of Loyalty Currency Retailing in the Travel Industry
The podcast episode discusses how global economic events have both devastated and presented opportunities for the travel industry. Plusgrade, a leader in ancillary revenue, now generates a billion dollars in revenue by delivering innovative solutions. The conversation highlights the value of currency retailing in driving short-term revenue and long-term loyalty from premium members. The importance of co-creation and personalization in loyalty programs is emphasized. COVID-19 challenges were turned into opportunities, with survey results showing customers' emotional connection to loyalty purchases supporting their favorite airlines. The partnership with Plusgrade has expanded loyalty currency retailing to the air, rail, hotel, cruise, and financial services industries.
The Success of Loyalty Currency Retailing
Loyalty currency retailing has proven to be highly successful, increasing partner revenue by 400% within the first year. Points.com's data science and analytics team plays a crucial role in personalization and improving program economics. The importance of balancing volume and yield in pricing strategies is emphasized. The focus is on delivering relevant offers that drive member engagement. The loyalty currency's emotional relevance and usefulness beyond transactions is key. The podcast highlights the need to measure and communicate the value of loyalty programs to gain support and resources internally.
The Benefits of Collaboration and Co-Creation
The partnership between Points.com and Plusgrade highlights the importance of collaboration and co-creation to deliver exceptional member experiences. The focus is on enhancing the traveler experience while driving revenue for partners. Analytics and data-driven personalization help identify customer preferences, channels, and offers. Privacy and data security are top priorities, ensuring compliance with regulations. Loyalty currency retailing extends beyond traditional travel partners to include other industries that connect with travel. Sharing success stories and insights within the loyalty industry can foster a sense of community and collective growth.
The Role of CMOs in Loyalty Programs
CMOs play a vital role in driving the success of loyalty programs by structuring profit-centric teams and leveraging data analytics. The ability to tell the story of loyalty program value to internal stakeholders is crucial. Collaborating with partners to quantify the impact and present measurable results is recommended. The loyalty industry should continue to share insights and successes to collectively deliver more value to members. Co-creation and personalization are key to creating robust loyalty programs.
Today’s guest is well known to everyone working in the travel loyalty industry globally.
Danielle Brown is the Chief Marketing Officer of Plusgrade - the global ancillary revenue leader in travel, as well as Points, a platform that specialises in loyalty currency retailing.
This conversation tells the extra-ordinary story that while global economic events over the years have had devastating effects on the travel industry, each of these crises somehow also created unique opportunities for innovation and evolution in travel loyalty programs, with the result that Plusgrade now delivers over a billion dollars in ancillary revenue for its partners every year.
Danielle shares some of their success stories and explains why currency retailing has become such a powerful driver of both short-term revenues, as well as measurable increases in longer-term loyalty from premium members of travel loyalty programs.
Listen to enjoy my conversation with Danielle Brown, from Points and Plusgrade.
