Charter Launches Gift Card Retention Program
By Multi Channel News Staff -- Multichannel News, 9/14/2006 8:21:00 AM
Charter Communications launched a new customer retention program this month by sending 150,000 of its customers in Reno, Nev., gift cards that are loaded every month with more than $250 worth of credit redeemable at more than 100 businesses in the region.
Charter Rewards is designed to combat subscriber turnover and deepen its relationship with customers, the company said. The credit on each card is subsidized by a network of regional merchants established by Portland, Ore.-based Complete Access. Merchants use the cards as pay-on-performance advertising vehicles.
Charter used Complete Access’s proprietary VIP-spree stored-value technology to launch its Charter Rewards program, in which subscribers are mailed a Charter branded magnetic-stripe card that’s loaded monthly with credit redeemable at more than 100 local, regional and national businesses in the Reno area, including restaurants and retailers.
The card’s value essentially offsets customers’ monthly cable payments and the termination of any sign-up discounts or enhanced viewing plans, which often prompt subscribers to cancel service or switch providers, according to Complete Access co-founder by Kirk Nagamine. The value contained on each Charter Rewards card is subsidized by Complete Access’s network of merchants who use the Charter Rewards card as a pay-on-performance advertising vehicle. Merchants pay for credits they’ve committed to the program — such as $5 or $25 per card — as consumers come in to redeem them.
“Loyalty is so difficult to elicit, but our card basically gives Charter’s customers a tangible reason to stay with Charter each and every month,” Nagamine said. “The card really becomes a part of customers’ everyday lives and engenders them to the brand on a regular basis. We like to present our card and our program as a ‘win-win-win’ proposition for everybody: Charter, its subscribers and the merchants.”
Charter lets its Reno subscribers know the monthly merchant-by-merchant value stored on their cards and highlights new participating merchants through bill statements and promotional collateral. Complete Access also offers Charter’s subscribers support by phone and online through a branded Web interface created by Complete Access where customers can track their usage, view participating merchants and the amount of credit they’ve posted for the month.
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