People love coupons.

It’s a crucial part of the Access business philosophy. An entire industry of daily deals is popping up because of it. There’s even a popular television show devoted to those who take it to the extreme.

The business world has figured out that if you spend a buck with them, it’s cheaper to earn the next buck from you than another first buck from someone else. It’s the concept of loyalty, which we all know too well. The idea of the loyalty program has grown so much lately that a lot of businesses are getting into the concept.

In fact, there are even loyalty programs for consumers who engage in transactions they didn’t exactly volunteer themselves for. Read on.

Let’s say you’re a coed softball superstar. You show up two nights a week and play your heart out just in case that scout from the Yankees is watching, but he never shows up so you at least try to grab the attention of the cute gal playing left field on your team. One night, despite having sweet arm bands and major league-caliber spikes, you snap your ankle in half trying to beat out a throw from the shortstop. Ouch!

An ambulance arrives and takes you to the local hospital, where your shattered bones are reset and a cast is created for healing. After some rest you go home. Sometime in the process you may hear this shocking line:

“Thanks for selecting Regional Hospital for your health care needs and we hope you’ll keep us in mind during your next personal medical crisis. Enjoy your membership in our exclusive discount program!”

Most people don’t think of a hospital stay as a customer/service provider transaction, mainly because we don’t often go there by choice, the “service” is hit-and-miss, and insurance picks up most of the tab. It is indeed a customer/service provider transaction, and a very profitable one for the hospital. Like so many other businesses today, hospitals have learned that trying to earn a sliver of customer loyalty is a more profitable tactic than simply focusing on converting new customers.

A recent Washington Post article covered how hospitals are using tools such as loyalty cards, free parking, field trips to casinos, and the symphony, health seminars and discounts at their gift shops. Some hospitals don’t even require you to be a patient; they just want to engage with you in hopes that you’ll select them next time you have a need (or emergency.)

Those of us in the loyalty programs industry have long known the benefits of earning customer engagement, so it’s no surprise to see other industries catching up. We’ve already seen a lot of loyalty program growth and interest from services people use only occasionally such as accountants and plumbers, not to mention other emergency services such as bail bondsmen and DUI lawyers. Even vending machines are coming with loyalty program functions built in.

Ever had a business try to earn your loyalty that you surprised you? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.

(I personally have a punch card from my mechanic. It has one punch from 2009 but is STILL in my wallet. No shame.)

If you couldn’t tell, Access is fanatical about our 250,000+ merchant partners. They’re a huge part of what we do, and let’s be honest: we’re consumers just like everyone else. Participating in our own savings network is one of the best member benefits of working at Access. Every once in a while, a particular merchant strikes our fancy and we have no choice but to pen a love letter (er, blog post) to them, for all the public to see. This post is written by marketing assistant Ashley Butler. 

If you’ve been reading my past Brands We Love entries, it should come as no surprise that Christmas is the part of the year I look forward to most. And as we all know, along with this cheery holiday comes the tradition of the Nutcracker.

Conventionally, my family has always gone to see the Columbia City Ballet Nutcracker, but this year the Moscow Ballet was in town for a one-night-only performance. Naturally, the first thing I did was look them up on our Access savings site and sure enough we had an awesome discount for the Great Russian Nutcracker!

My mom and I went to the show and enjoyed the different costumes and a couple of new characters, while feeling good about what we paid. I sat in my theatre chair a bit more comfortably knowing that I saved fifteen dollars on our tickets.

The ballet added to my overindulgence of Christmas spirit and the money I saved was welcomed as an early Christmas present.

One of the best things about Access is its multiple discounts geared toward art lovers like me. It shows the depth of our discount network, that we don’t just have the same standard, drab deals that everyone has access to.

If you like the ballet, Moscow Ballet is currently offering 15% off $25 in their gift store for Access members. Keep an eye out, as tickets for the Moscow Ballet’s 2012 season go on sale in April.

Next time you’re looking to satisfy your creative side at an affordable price, check out what Access has to offer.

I like to think I’m a fairly savvy guy. I work in the loyalty world, I know the complex (and sometimes not so complex) tactics loyalty marketers deploy to attempt to build an emotional connection between consumer and brand. Working in this industry (and for a company that has relationships with 250,000+ merchants) has helped me refine my standards for the brands to where I offer my devotion.

With that in mind, I shouldn’t be bothered by the news that Dublin Dr Pepper will cease production immediately.  I haven’t had a Dublin Dr Pepper in ten years.

But I’m pretty bummed about it. Anytime a product that truly delivers on what it promises has to go away because of some extraneous circumstance, it hurts the customer-centric perfectionist inside me.

If you’ve ever lived in Texas, you’ve probably heard of Dublin Dr Pepper. This little town sits nestled somewhere between Abilene and Forth Worth, plus a little south. A suburb of Stephenville, if you will. Dublin is the home to the Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company, the first Dr Pepper franchise outside of its original home in Waco.

Photo courtesy of Greg Kendall-Ball

Dublin Dr Pepper had a distinctly different flavor from the usual Dr Pepper I had tasted. That’s because the Dublin varietal used Pure Cane sugar, eschewing the transition of nearly every other drink to high fructose corn syrup.

It. Was. Awesome. The sugar cane gave it a smoother, sweeter, more natural taste. It didn’t feel like drinking something generated from a dingy science lab somewhere in Jersey. It was the perfect companion to smoky West Texas BBQ. In short, it was the flavor of my college years (non-alcoholic category.)

Despite having an audience and a beloved tradition, it’s gone. Because of the threat of brand dilution. It was a perfect product that had earned oodles of customer loyalty the hard way over a century, and now it’s been sacrificed in favor of “protecting” the bigger brand.

Like a lot of other people who grew up in the 90s, I used to have a big chip on my shoulder about bands that would “sell out.” It took me a while to get used to hearing Metallica on top 40 radio when I had grown to love them as a heavy metal outfit that created ten-minute instrumentals with words like “Kthulu” in the title. I’m okay with it now.

But there is something to be said for a product that is built great and stays great (think AC/DC, still releasing the same album over and over again, and still good).

The perfection of Dublin Dr Pepper has spoiled all other soft drinks for me. It’s the last soda I drank regularly, and probably always will be.

Dublin Dr Pepper didn’t reach out to me with emails or ask me to check-in using FourSquare. I didn’t get a free one by purchasing ten. The point is, sometimes it isn’t about brand marketing, having a social strategy, or even loyalty programs at all.

They just had an amazing product that rigidly, sweetly stuck with what worked.

The lesson from my perspective? Master your product, perfect it, and any loyalty efforts you place on top will be that much more improved. Don’t let the law of the brand get in the way of something that works.

Ever had a product in a crowded category like soda, or cell phones, or batteries, that was so good it forever prevented you from even considering a competitor? Let me hear about it.

Access Vice President of Partnership Marketing, Dave Bona, leads a large team in the consistent development of our merchant partnerships. He and his team are experts at forming merchant relationships, and helping these businesses find profits from customers they can’t reach on their own. We asked Dave to brag a little and give us the inside scoop on Access’s Partnership Marketing department. Look for several posts from Dave in the coming weeks.

You already know Access as a company that provides unique merchant offers to members of various organizations. But what most people don’t know is what goes into building and maintaining a successful discount program. This is where our Partnership Marketing department comes in.

One of Access’s central assets is its merchant base and the relationships it has with those merchants. The Partnership Marketing division maintains this asset exceptionally. Our philosophy is this: the company that takes the best care of the merchants will ultimately win in our space. Access currently has partnerships with over 275,000 restaurants, retailers, auto shops, travel providers, etc, the largest such network in America. That’s a lot to manage and took years to build, but it adds big value to the company, our client organizations, and their members.

Partnership Marketing serves as a connector, bringing together merchants, clients, and customers in a way that meets everyone’s needs. We’re able to acquire merchants because we have a keen ability to speak their language and understand how to influence customer spend.

In many cases, other companies don’t operate with merchants’ best interest in mind. For many of them, the goal is to provide the deepest discount possible and/or commission to themselves, regardless of whether the promotion ultimately pays off for the merchant. At Access, we have a different philosophy. We understand that all businesses are not created equal. Coupons may drive the right customer type for one business, while giving a customer more air miles may be the best bet for another business. We consult with merchants individually to understand how and when to reach customers and empower these businesses with the solutions to make it happen.

As you have probably learned by now, our Partnership Marketing team’s position is not usually front and center. We are quite content working behind the scenes to power the value that makes loyalty programs work, drive member value, and increase merchant profits. Just because you can’t see us doesn’t mean we aren’t there.

We’re here at your service whenever we may be called upon.

We’re very proud to announce a brand new web home for Access Development.

If you visit www.accessdevelopment.com, you will see a renewed, revitalized, re-everything’d corporate website to represent our company in 2012. To say there are many updates would be an understatement. We built it to look, feel and sound like Access, but more importantly we built it to be a better user experience. Anyone who stumbles onto our site can find relevant information quickly and in uncomplicated language.

The site features new pages for specific items such as member benefits, discount programs, cardholder rewards and of course, careers. If you don’t know specifically what you’re looking for, you just know you need help with customer loyalty and retention, acquisition or revenue generation, then check out our industry pages for ideas from how we’ve helped others in those industries.

The point is, hopefully our new site can help you find what you’re looking for, even if you don’t know exactly what it is you’re looking for.

Of course, with any major new endeavor there will be some hiccups. You may find some old links that don’t work or other issues. Please help us out by bringing them to our attention in the comments. We apologize for the saw dust, but thanks for your patience.

Thanks to everyone at Access and our web partners who helped bring the new site to fruition.

We hope you enjoy our new site!

At the heart of everything Access does is our core base of over 250,000 merchant partners. We’re fanatical about driving new customers to these businesses through our discount and rewards programs, and sometimes we like to single one out for a particular ode of praise. We asked Ashley Butler, corporate marketing assistant, to talk about the merchant that stirs up the holiday spirit within, and…well, as you can see, she loves this time of year. (To read the rest of our “Brands We Love” series, click here.)

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year, complete with eggnog and lights. It seems I can always find a bit of magic floating around in the holidays, whether it’s in my favorite Christmas song or the smell of a burning gingerbread candle.

One of the best things about the holiday season is its uncanny ability to appeal to all of the senses with its decorations, festive smells, tasty treats, music, and cozy blankets. This is why one of my favorite brands is Bath & Body Works.

Bath & Body Works comes out with its holiday scents especially for this time of year. There’s Vanilla Bean Noel, Twisted Peppermint, Pink Sugarplum, Frosted Cranberry, Tis the Season, and many more. If you love the holidays as much as I do, you can’t help but be mesmerized by these once-a-year aromas.

Not only does Bath & Body Works bring the holiday season to life but it is also “…committed to helping consumers improve their emotional and physical being.” Using Bath & Body Works always seems to lift my spirits. Bring some joy and holiday scents into your home this year with 20% off any purchase online for Access members.

Happy Holidays from Access!

Thanksgiving is obviously a holiday meant to inspire reflection about the things in life we should be appreciative of. For a company and the individuals who comprise it, one aspect to be thankful for that is often overlooked is the office space the company lives in. This November we’re celebrating the 15 year anniversary of Access calling its current South Salt Lake address home.

The building Access was in over 15 years ago was a small, two story general office space that was previously a birthing center. At the time, there were only about 10 employees total, but the company was gaining serious momentum. In 1996, the “little company that could” finally decided that its building “couldn’t.”

Access made the decision to find a new building that matched its big ambition. The company needed a larger space to facilitate employee growth, a bigger warehousing department, and fit its future of becoming an industry leader. This new building was a symbol of growth for the company and of bigger things to come.

Employees that were here for the groundbreaking of the new building, of which six are still with Access, said it was a day that foreshadowed progress for the company. There were no longer any physical obstacles that were holding back Access from expanding.

Sherry Larsen, a 27 year veteran employee of Access says “It’s amazing how fast these 15 years have gone by. Initially

we started in a very small office and now we occupy two buildings and are still growing. It’s been really fun to watch this evolution over the years.”

Since the big move to the current Access building, the number of employees has gone from approximately 10 to over 160. New departments have been created and old ones have expanded, and in late 2010 Access doubled its space by spreading into another building just north of its current location.

Happy Anniversary to the Access building! We can’t wait to see what the next 15 years will bring.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

The Access Food Drive has been an annual tradition for over 15 years. Every year we split our staff into teams, with a simple assignment: acquire and donate as many non-perishable food items as possible. The winning teams gets a nice little prize, while the Utah Food Bank receives a load of food to help out needy Utahns this winter.

Access being an active and competitive company, things get out of hand – in a good way. This year the company collected a record high: over 4400 pounds! That’s two tons for the needy in our state, of which there are more than we know about. Nearly 1000 of those pounds came from TriQuest Fundraising (pictured), who win movie passes for their efforts.

We’re very proud to be a part of the Salt Lake community and try to do what we can to help out. Thanks to all the Access employees, friends and family who contributed time and money to the effort. For more hunger resources and links, and to find out how to help out your own community, check out this link.

From 2009 until about a month ago, everybody knew where I was. Or anybody who might be interested. I was intensely devoted to location-based services. I started with Foursquare, then connected  with Gowalla. Eventually I would mix in Facebook and Google while dabbling with Loopt and SCVNGR.

I checked in everywhere except my home. Gas stations, arenas, restaurants, playgrounds, everywhere I went (often with my four year-old in tow, hence the playgrounds). I built a network of hundreds of friends, and earned a boatload of badges and titles.

Then one day, I was just done.

I was tired of pulling my phone out every time I got out of the car. I was tired of worrying about my “titles.” I realized my friends on these services were the same ones I had on Twitter and Facebook, and what they were doing really wasn’t that interesting, just like what I was doing.

It dawned on me that I had nothing to show from the hours I had spent checking in, reporting duplicate venues, editing misspelled venue titles and spamming my friends with my check-ins. The closest I came to real value was free chips and salsa and a free cheesecake chimichanga from a taco joint.

The point is, badges and titles can pull someone in for a bit, but for me it’s not enough long term. I love gamification to a point, and maintaining mayorship is cool for a while, but for sustained, relevant, long-term engagement (not to mention mass adoption), the value has to be real. Like it or not, users want to be rewarded for taking their phones out, spending 30 seconds loading the app, checking in and telling the world where they’re spending their money.  It needs to impact my life in a real way.

I’m not the only one that’s walking away. Even still, the services have experienced phenomenal growth in the past year, with many of them gaining millions of users. To keep them the burden of checking in needs to turn into an opportunity to gain value.

I want to open an LBS app and see deals galore, and even better deals for places I check-in to on a regular basis. I want to be able to brag about the free lunch I got for my 20^th check-in to the sandwich shop down the road.

As someone who works in a company that has over 250,000 merchant relationships, I also want to see really quality deals that move the dial for them. Giving one deal to the mayor does not make a loyalty program, and giving everyone who checks in 20% off could be a profit killer. The problem is the LBS networks only skin in the game is usage, not creating a great productive channel for the merchant.

All of this just means these networks need to get serious about enriching the merchant-user value proposition. LBS has a tremendous opportunity to become the great connector of mobile consumers and merchants. Social commerce matchmakers, if you will.

But until these networks hit some sort of critical mass with merchants embracing them to engage customers, good luck finding me.