The official blog of rewards acceleration leader Rakuten Loyalty
Posted by tom on November 19, 2012 under eMarket | 
Be the First to Comment
We’re constantly working with top retailers to add them to our leading network and help consumers earn valuable rewards for shopping with them.
Below are the latest retailers that we are thrilled to add to our merchant network.
Posted by tom on July 25, 2012 under eMarket | Be the First to Comment
We’re constantly working to add exciting new retailers to our industry-leading merchant network. We’re thrilled to welcome the following retailers as the newest members to our network.
Posted by tom on April 24, 2012 under Company News, eMarket | Be the First to Comment
We’ve been busy in 2012, adding more top retailers to our industry-leading merchant network. Below is a list of the retailers added to our 3,500+ merchant network since the beginning of the year.
Posted by tom on February 14, 2012 under Company News, RewardsBar, eMarket | Be the First to Comment
At FreeCause we have nicknamed our Client Services office the “Launch Pad” due to the impressive number and scope of leading loyalty solutions we have kicked off on behalf of our clients. In the past 2 months alone we have coordinated a record number of lift-offs including loyalty solutions for Buy.com, Shopping 4Causes, NeighborOil, FusionCash, ShareThis, FanUp, and Air Miles. It’s been a crowded and active launch pad to say the least!
Our focus with each of these implementations is always to find the most effective way to help our clients engage their members, driving both brand awareness and a higher monetization of their members’ activity. Our goal for our clients is to provide them the dynamic technology and tools necessary for them to create transcendent digital relationships with their members that ultimately translate into increased loyalty and brand awareness.
Managing a record number of impressive client implementations has taught us several best practices we can use going forward. For instance, a great way to create a stickiness factor with your technology is to make sure it looks like your brand and also incorporates utility components members will actually crave. For example, in the RewardsBar we did for our client CheckPoints, we designed it to look and feel exactly like the CheckPoints brand, ensuring members take notice and connect with the technology. We also added several features to the RewardsBar that their member base values, including earning CheckPoints for searching online and a link to the latest CheckPoints News.
Lastly, by working closely with our clients in the promotion of our loyalty solutions, we have learned some of the best ways to drive user acquisition and use of technology like ours. One of those ways is by incorporating messaging promoting the benefits of installing the RewardsBar directly on new member registration thank you or welcome pages. With new members you have a captive audience interested in maximizing the value they receive from joining a loyalty program. They want to maximize the number of rewards they can earn from the client, and a welcome page is a perfect location for some messaging driving members to install and use the RewardsBar. Also, member touch points like welcome emails, newsletters, and Your Account page provide prime real estate for promotional messages detailing the value of a client’s loyalty solutions.
I look forward to continue providing you with updates from our busy and exciting Launch Pad!
Katie Scott | VP Client Services
Posted by tom on February 9, 2012 under Company News, eMarket | Be the First to Comment
How would you like to pay as low as a penny per gallon for home heating oil? Sound to good to be true?
As this WBZ CBS Boston news story shows, our client NeighborOil, with the help of our leading shopping rewards technology, is helping people do just that.
Members earn points for shopping at any of the the more than 3,000 online retailers in the program, and later can redeem those points to reduce their home heating oil costs.
Posted by tom on January 20, 2012 under Company News, eMarket | Be the First to Comment
FreeCause DealMaker table
The FreeCause team has been busy of late traveling to affiliate events. This week we attended LinkShare Symposium West in San Francisco, an intimate learning and networking opportunity of approximately 500 affiliate marketers, merchants, industry experts, and publishers. The Symposium provided several days of valuable education, business planning, and most importantly, networking.
The theme for this year’s Symposium was “Think Forward” and the team learned about the latest eCommerce trends and evolutions in consumer behavior. The event kicked off with opening remarks from Rakuten Founder and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani who shared his views of the eCommerce landscape as well as his vision for Rakuten and LinkShare. Another highlight of the event was the opening keynote session from Andy Hoar, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, Inc., who provided indispensable insight into the online retail space including projected growth, consumer behavior trends, and opportunities for affiliate marketers, advertisers, and publishers to drive sales.
LinkShare Symposium’s main focus was providing attendees with ample opportunities to connect with others throughout the event. It’s the networking opportunities the Symposium offers that truly makes this a must-attend event. During the primary networking portion of the event, DealMaker, we were able to meet with and strengthen relationships with new and current advertisers of our network. Our team was able to discuss with advertisers our eMarket shopping mall solution as well as various effective promotion opportunities to help them reach any of our more than 30 million users. The FreeCause team left LinkShare Symposium with a collection of great leads as well as an enhanced understanding of where the affiliate industry is headed and how our solutions can best help companies better reach targeted consumers.
Posted by tom on January 16, 2012 under Company News, General News, eMarket | Be the First to Comment
Photo courtesy of Affiliate Summit
Last week our eCommerce team attended Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, a gathering of more than 5,000 affiliate marketers, merchants, publishers, and vendors.
We asked Robert Land, our VP of eCommerce, to share his thoughts of the event.
What is FreeCause’s goal for attending Affiliate Summit?
We maintain over 3,500 merchant relationships through our network and Affiliate Summit is one of the 13 or so critical shows we attend each year to help foster those relationships. Our goal for attending is to constantly learn about new deals, merchants, and products so that we can provide the best shopping experience for our clients’ end users.
How did we spend our time there?
Over a 3-day period we attended over 40 meetings with retailers large and small. These included Rue La La, LEGO, Staples, Priceline, Kohl’s, and most importantly at this time of year, TurboTax and H&R Block.
What did we get the most out of attending?
Affiliate Summit features a “mini” tradeshow in addition to the exhibit hall called the Meet Market. For 5 hours on the first day of the show we were able to go table to table for 15-minute “catch-ups”. You’d be surprised how much information you can cover in that short of time. We talked about all the new promotion and seasonal guides FreeCause has coming up in Q1 and Q2, and they talked about what hot new sales or products they have coming out.
How was the event venue and Las Vegas?
Vegas never gets old! The oxygen they pump into their casinos mixed with the cigarette smoke of patrons makes for a head spinning experience (almost literally). The added challenge with Vegas as a venue is that the conference centers seem like miles away from your hotel room. Wearing comfortable shoes is the best advice one could ever receive. Overall the entire event provided an enjoyable, productive few days where we could strengthen our relationships with retailers and in turn further add value for users of our eMarkets.
Posted by tom on November 28, 2011 under Brand Loyalty, General News, RewardsBar, eMarket | Be the First to Comment
Check out these loyalty industry marketing news and tips to help maximize ROI:
We’ve been busy this month, working with clients to launch innovative new loyalty technology solutions. Read about some of the latest releases including Valoramas and CheckPoints.
According to Colloquy, as of 2010 there were more than 2.1 billion loyalty membership programs in the U.S., with the average U.S. household signing up for 18.4 programs. In Direct Marketing News several of these more innovative loyalty programs are dissected, seeing how major brands engage and reward their members through technology and a focus on customer needs.
In this blog post from Benchmark Email, several useful tips are presented on how any business can take advantage of the holidays to attract attention and generate business before the end of the year.
Posted by michaelallen on January 14, 2011 under Brand Loyalty, eMarket | Be the First to Comment
2010 proved to be a year in which the customer was a top priority. With the economy starting to make a comeback, loyalty programs became a great way to keep customers coming back to companies that provide them with lasting incentives. Here are just a few of some of our favorites from 2010:
Marriott- There are so many ways to earn with Marriott Rewards that it’s difficult not to earn with the company. Booking a conference room, renting a car, or even referring a friend can get you points that you can then redeem for rewards such as a $1,000 certificate toward a cruise- when and where you like, or a $250 Marriott Spa Experience Award Certificate. So get ready to relax! Sound interesting? Start earning your rewards with Marriott.
Posted by Liz on December 20, 2010 under eMarket | Be the First to Comment
Chances are if you’re reading this post, you’re not much of a planner. Don’t fret; we’re not here to judge your last minute shopping tendencies. That’s why we’ve assembled this top 5 holiday gift list to help all you slackers out there. We’ve pulled some data from our FreeCause elves, otherwise known as our developers, and the results are in! Here are holiday gifts ideas from our US Airways Dividend Online Shopping Mall and staff.