By: Erika Stevens

At an awards ceremony on September 16th Colloquy handed out their first ever Loyalty Awards as voted on by their over 40,000 subscribers.  The ceremony was held at the annual Colloquy Loyalty Summit where leaders from the industry are invited to connect, share their stories and gain insight to the future of loyalty.  The competing companies all highlight ways that loyalty marketing can truly be an asset to your business and sales goals.  You can read the complete list at the link below, but I wanted to recognize a couple of businesses that truly impressed me.
 
Godiva Chocolatier was awarded Loyalty Innovation in Retail.  The statistics that Godiva boasted are a testament to how important your loyal customers are to your business.  Not only are more than half of their sales tied to the Godiva Chocolate Rewards Club, but the average sale tied to the club brings in 20% more.  Beyond the impressive statistics, Godiva touches on training their employees to execute the program.  One of the most important keys to a successful loyalty program is having employees that not only know how the program works, but also see the benefits. 

One of my first blog posts was about Recyclebank after I had seen Morley Ivers speak at Loyalty Expo.  I love this company’s idea of rewarding people for simply recycling, so I was excited to see them honored for Innovation in Loyalty Marketing.  If you haven’t heard about Recyclebank I encourage you to read more about this company and their efforts in loyalty.

The other award winners are Citi, USBank and Hyatt.  Each of the winners demonstrates the variety of ways that loyalty is implemented and the bottom-line impact of a successful loyalty program.    

Colloquy Loyalty Awards: http://www.colloquy.com/breaking_view.asp?xd=7580