Social Passport is launching a feature called “More Friends, More Savings,” which enables businesses to reward their customers proportionally, meaning that they can offer greater savings to those users who have substantially larger social media footprints. For example, a user who has 50 followers on Twitter or 75 friends on Facebook could would receive a 20 percent discount, while someone with 700 on each might receive a 35 percent discount.

The big attraction here for merchants is that they’re able to add that extra layer of security, giving themselves an added layer of protection against customers who might, say, create social media accounts just to check-in (in other words, people who are trying to game the system).

Pegasystems Inc., the leader in Business Process Management (BPM) and software for customer centricity, announced that the company has received an Omega NorthFace ScoreBoard Award from the Omega Management Group for excellence in customer satisfaction. The award is presented annually to companies that have consistently exceeded expectations in customer service, based on how their own customers have rated their experiences from the prior calendar year.

This marks the third time that Pega has been recognized by Omega Management Group, experts in developing and implementing customer and employee experience management strategy (CEM) strategies that increase revenue and profits. Omega objectively measures customer satisfaction and loyalty levels on a 5-point scale at least four times during the year in such categories as technical support, field service, customer service and account management. Only customers are able to vote for this award.

As this study by the Institute of Customer Service (in the UK) highlights, there is tremendous value to be found in cross industry indices -- which provide valuable benchmarking and a broader perspective on the challenges individuals company will face.   Companies which rely solely on CSat surveys of their customers bases will find the results somewhat lacking in actionability. 

The available industry benchmarks for customer satisfaction levels and major corporation CSat scores provides a broader perspective on where to focus efforts on improvement for individual companies.  Trend data and more specific data by communication channel helps points companies towards smarter decisions about setting future direction.

The overriding point is that the game in managing CSat is largely about perspective which always requires a wider view -- across industries, platforms and buyer categories.

Consumers are most satisfied with Shanghai Volkswagen among all automobile brands, while Lexus from Japan came in as the most reliable brand among imported cars, a recent survey shows.

The quality index for Chinese independent auto brands increased 14 percent year-on-year, according to the 7th Annual Survey on Customer Satisfaction of China Auto Brands, which was based on a consumer questionnaire conducted in 54 Chinese cities on 58 brands and more than 174 types of cars in a half-year period.

Noting that noise during driving, poor quality of plastic parts and rough interior crafts are among customers' most common complaints, the survey urged automakers to pay more attention to design and the quality of accessories.

The survey, initiated in 2006, was jointly sponsored by the China Product Quality Association, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and the China Association of the Environmental Protection Industry, along with Beijing-based third-party survey company Lansion.

When consumers stay two separate times at any Choice Hotels property this spring, they'll earn a free night at more than 1,500 hotels.

Travelers who book their stays at ChoiceHotels.com or  800.4CHOICE with arrival between March 8 and May 8, 2012 will earn enough Choice Privileges rewards points to redeem for a free night at more than 1,500 Choice Hotels locations. The Stay Two Separate Times, Earn One Night Free promotion is available for consumers traveling to participating Choice Hotels brand properties throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Central America, Australia, and the Caribbean. U.S. and Canada residents must register at ChoiceHotels.com before arrival of their stay to be able to earn unlimited free nights during the promotion.

"Our loyal guests have told us that they love this promotion so once again we're excited to be able to offer them the chance to earn a free night with the added bonus of no limit on how many free nights members can earn," said Greg Brown, vice president of loyalty, promotion, and relationship marketing for Choice Hotels. "With 14 million members and more and more new members joining every day, we're working hard to make sure our Choice Privileges program is giving guests the most for their money and rewarding them in valuable ways."

Unified platforms such as as social media are transforming the communications and CX benchmarks for companies across industries.  The example of utilities industry players being forced to consider social media due to standards being set by other similar industries highlights the shifting “competitive” landscape when it comes to CX.

It’s important for companies to separate product benchmarks from CX benchmarks -- because the latter is set on a more cross industry basis.  The goal of loyalty extends beyond being the best to meeting basic standards of CX excellence which may not be limited to the level of direct competitors.

Points International Ltd., owner of the loyalty reward management program platform www.Points.com, announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011. All financial results are in U.S. dollars and both 2011 and 2010 comparatives have been presented in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS").

"2011 was a year of significant accomplishment for Points International," said Chief Executive Officer Rob MacLean. "In addition to delivering another year of solid financial performance, we strengthened the reach of our products while simultaneously drove greater value across our platform. Revenues for the year reached $123.0 million, in-line with our guidance and representing year-over-year growth of 28%. At the same time, we delivered record EBITDA of $5.8 million, net income profitability of $4.0 million, and EPS of $0.27, all in line with our 2011 guidance."

To coincide with its forthcoming entry in the oneworld® global airline alliance on 20th March 2012, airberlin will launch the Platinum status for its topbonus frequent flyer program. Frequent flyers who have collected 100,000 topbonus status miles within 12 months can take advantage of even more benefits. "With this new status level, we want to show extra special appreciation for our top frequent flyers and provide them with even more personal service", said airberlin Chief Commercial Officer Paul Gregorowitsch. Future benefits of the topbonus Platinum Card include the Platinum Service with a personal customer service team, Business Class upgrade vouchers and airberlin topbonus Silver Cards for spouses as well as access to oneworld First Class lounges within the entire oneworld alliance. The new Platinum status will correspond to oneworld's Emerald status. In addition to special airberlin benefits, topbonus Gold members will enjoy all Sapphire status benefits in the oneworld network. The topbonus Silver status is equivalent to the Ruby status in oneworld. From 20th March 2012, topbonus members can collect and redeem miles across the entire oneworld network. On 20th March, all topbonus status cardholders will receive a new topbonus Card which shows their corresponding oneworld status. Silver Card and Gold Card holders who have not reached Platinum status will keep their current status.

The award-winning topbonus frequent flyer program is the second largest in Germany. In 2011 alone, the number of participants rose by 17 percent to 2.8 million. airberlin continues to develop its frequent flyer program under the leadership of Marcus Puffer, Vice President of Loyalty & Partnerships since November 2011.

Amdocs, the leading provider of customer experience systems, announced that Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan has given Amdocs two Stratecast Global Market Share Leadership awards for 2011. By receiving these awards for rating, charging and other core billing*, and for total billing, Amdocs is recognized for its excellence in capturing the highest revenue market share for each respective category within the global communications industry.

Leading analyst firm, Stratecast named Amdocs as the top vendor in the "rating and charging and other core billing" domain with a revenue-based market share of 19.7 percent. According to Stratecast, this domain is growing in importance in the communications market and currently represents 70 percent of the global, end-to-end billing market. Amdocs was also named the leading vendor in revenue market share for the overall billing market, which in addition to rating and charging and other core billing, includes the mediation, policy management, interconnect and settlements and partner management segments.

Barclaycard and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) have launched the Priority Club Rewards Black Visa card, which offers loyalty club members more points on hotel stays and purchases which can be redeemed for free nights or a selection of other rewards.

Existing cardholders can instantly upgrade online. Black Visa cardholders can get double the amount of points compared to the standard Visa card, earning them four points for every £1 spent at IHG hotels and two points for every £1 spent elsewhere.

Cardholders will also earn a free night voucher valid at over 4,400 properties for each year they spend more than £10,000 on the card.  Free nights can be redeemed from 10,000 points with luxury hotels such as Crowne Plaza or InterContinental available from 25,000 and 30,000 points respectively.

LivePerson, Inc., a provider of real-time chat, voice and content solutions that increase conversions and improve customer experience, announced its participation in the 24th Annual ROTH Conference, to be held at the Ritz Carlton, in Laguna Niguel, CA.

LivePerson is scheduled to present on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 9:30 PT; in attendance will be Founder and CEO of LivePerson Robert LoCascio and Daniel Murphy, CFO.

Transforming a company from also-ran to industry leader is a big challenge, but reviving a brand can be an even bigger one.  Companies such as Garuda, the flag ship national carrier of Indonesia, which have languished among the B-players in their industries for a long time lack the credibility to declare their own transformation.  

The need for a third party validation (or several)  is never more pronounced that with a turnaround situation.  The key aspect is the benchmarking side -- where the same organization has conducted objective surveys both before and after the transformation.  The benchmarks form the basis for demonstrating the transformation and, in turn, create the brand momentum that’s needed by newly improved companies.