In the highly competitive U.S. coffee market, Dunkin’ Donuts is once again distinguished for brewing a superior guest experience. For the sixth straight year, Dunkin’ Donuts, America’s all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods, has been recognized by the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index as number one in customer loyalty in the coffee category.

The 16th annual national survey conducted by brand loyalty and engagement consultancy Brand Keys identifies brands that are best able to engage consumers by meeting or exceeding their expectations, which creates loyal customers. Brand Keys’ Customer Loyalty Engagement Index recognizes the brands that receive the highest loyalty and engagement assessments and surpass competitors for “delighting” customers. In the coffee category, consumer preferences were based on consistently meeting customer expectations for taste, quality, service, and brand value.

Alcatel-Lucent has announced a major Customer Experience Management (CEM) software launch. Bundling existing BSS and OSS software with a variety of new packages, the company is aiming its Motive Customer Experience Solutions (CXS) portfolio squarely at the growing need within operators to reduce churn and increase revenues by improving all aspects of the customer experience.

Greg Owens, Director, Customer Experience Solutions Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent said, "We are launching a brand new portfolio to help service providers define and execute on their CEM strategies.

"We've taken our existing assets and brought them into one unified portfolio in the company. We've also recognised that we have had gaps and we've filled those with some active investments in new technology."

Loyalty programs are everywhere but lack serious differentiation - simply propagating a downward spiral of discount addiction and margin dilution. To understand the current state of loyalty and how marketers innovate around loyalty, SAP commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct an exclusive research study into the methods and approaches of over 150 senior loyalty marketers across North America and Europe. The results of the study will be examined in, “Understanding the Customer Loyalty Conundrum.” Powered by Loyalty 360 – The Loyalty Marketer’s Association, this complimentary webinar will take place on February 16, 2012 at 1 PM EST.

In this session, Bernard Chung, SAP Global Marketing, and Suresh Vittal, Forrester Vice President and Practice Leader, will discuss:
- The challenges loyalty marketers face
- Major trends in loyalty marketing
- The key innovations that drive loyalty in the future
- How loyalty marketers must use data, technology and analytics to create differentiation

Waterfield Technologies, a leading provider of customer service solutions, and Voxeo, the Unlocked Communications(TM) market leader, have partnered to address the unique customer care and communication challenges facing today's financial institutions (FIs). This partnership will revolutionize the way banks and credit unions interact with their customers in five major areas to improve customer retention, competitive positioning and profitability.

"Focusing on customer loyalty and engagement has always been key to successful revenue growth for companies; however, the current economic pressures facing banks and credit unions across the country has amplified the importance of these initiatives," said Anne Bowman, chief customer officer at Voxeo. According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans' loyalty to their primary banks fell to 23 percent in November 2011 from 32 percent in September 2010. "Banking customers are more likely than ever to switch their primary bank, creating a huge need for the industry to hone communications efforts that lead to increased loyalty," she said.

Marriott Rewards, the award-winning loyalty program of Marriott International, has unveiled a weekly promotional campaign, running until March 10, 2012, in partnership with China’s most popular microblogging site, Sina Weibo. Designed to engage Chinese members and drive new membership, the campaign gives Marriott Rewards members the opportunity to win special prizes by blogging about how they would share their rewards with friends.

Marriott Rewards members living in Greater China, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, are encouraged to participate by inviting five friends to blog about how they would share the prizes on offer. Winners are selected based on the number of "votes" received and blog creativity. Throughout the promotion period, Marriott Rewards is also offering a Free Night Certificate to one voter per day.

Veyance Technologies has set its 2012 promotional program, which will feature monthly rebates, discounts and other promotions on featured automotive and heavy duty Goodyear Engineered Products.

Many of the most popular products featured throughout the year include Gatorback Poly-V belts, timing belt kits, air springs, heater hose, tensioners and more.

“We’re very excited to launch this new program,” said Tory Perren, marketing manager at Veyance Technologies. “Our customers have been asking for additional tools to help drive their businesses, and we’re thrilled to be responsive to their needs.”

Participants in the 2012 Promotional Program are also eligible to earn double rewards through the Goodyear Gatorback Club, the company’s installer rewards program. All purchases through the program also count toward Gatorback Club points that can be redeemed for a selection of exclusive merchandise, as well as gift cards, including Visa, Snap-On Tools, Outback Steakhouse and more.

K-Plussa launched an upgraded, contactless version of its cash card to provide a faster and easier shopping experience for costumers at the checkout. K-Plussa is a customer loyalty programmed in Finland offering benefits to its customers from over 3,000 shopping places and over 40 business partners.

The new contactless K-Plussa cash card will be issued to new costumers and those replacing their existing one, with the initiall roll out slated for as early as this month. Contactless terminals installed at participating venues will enable customers to simply hold their card near the reader to register points and grant other benefits. Currently, there are more than 3.7 million K-Plussa cardholders in nearly 2.2 million households in Finland.

VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a company of VT Systems, Inc. (VT Systems), announced the results of its 2011 Customer Satisfaction Survey, revealing an increase in the company's consolidated customer satisfaction rating for the sixth straight year. For 2011, ratings exceeded 90 percent across many key categories including hardware, software, order fulfillment, sales staff, and culture and values. iDirect is a world leader in satellite-based IP communications technology.

iDirect sends the survey annually to its global customer base to measure satisfaction on every aspect of the company's operations: hardware, software, sales, services and technical support. Over the course of the survey's six-year history, iDirect has consistently increased its overall satisfaction rating, as well as individual ratings in several areas. For 2011, the company set several new standards of excellence, including a 93 percent rating for hardware products; a 94 percent rating in order fulfillment; and a 90 percent rating for services. To view 2011's full survey report, please visit: www.idirect.net.

Optimal Payments Plc, a leading provider of online payments, is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting update to its VIP programme and the introduction of a loyalty reward scheme for its NETELLER members.

The NETELLER VIP experience recognises our members who use the eWallet frequently, and now we're introducing new "tiered" levels to take that experience even further, with greater benefits the more you use your eWallet. With four levels, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond, our VIPs will benefit from VIP fraud guarantees and multiple currency accounts, automatic reward points earned on all transactions, and discounts on foreign exchange fees. At the higher levels, members will have access to dedicated VIP managers, VIP chat, flexible transaction limits, deposit discounts, free withdrawals and next day payouts guaranteed (in certain countries). The full details are available on our dedicated VIP website at http://www.neteller.com/vip-2/.

Today also sees the launch of the NETELLER Reward Points scheme, a loyalty programme available to ALL NETELLER eWallet members. Once registered, every NETELLER member will earn points for all money transferred into and out of their NETELLER eWallet. These points can be exchanged for a wide range of products from the NETELLER online rewards store, gift cards and NETELLER cash-credits (funds into their NETELLER eWallet). In addition, each member earning Reward Points will be entered into a prize draw to win up to 36 million points (equivalent to US$30,000) before the end of February 2012. The Reward Points scheme is available in three languages, English German and French.

Pyramyd Air, the world's largest online airgun retailer, has fully implemented their Bullseye Bucks loyalty program. Bullseye Bucks is a reward program that gives customers spendable dollars they can use to buy products and services from Pyramyd Air. The program was partially instituted in 2011 by awarding shooters Bullseye Bucks for making purchases from Pyramyd Air, tweeting them on Twitter, liking a product on their website, sharing product links with others and referring new customers.

The loyalty program is now fully implemented, and customers can start redeeming their earned Bucks. In fact, when a customer uses their Bucks, they'll also be awarded Bucks for that purchase. Because Bucks are unlimited, customers may accrue as many as they like. Plus, there's no expiration date. Once the Bucks have been earned, they remain in place and available for use. It's like money in the bank: It's there to use and won't be taken away if it's unused.

This partnership highlights the evolution of CX and VOC solutions into a single area of practice.  Most importantly, it highlights the value that segmenting user experience data by different customer segments or interest areas give to businesses.

Rather than having to take a look across the entire customer base, narrowing the data set to customers focused on a particular product line or from a specific industry is a powerful capability.  However, it requires blending a strong VOC / Survey tool with the behavior tracking capability of a CEM solution.  

Vendors that are forward looking are seeking to strike partnerships that can take their solution to a higher level of value for the companies that implement them.