July 31st, 2007
Hey, how about a BlackBerry loyalty program-with gifts?
I’m back here after finishing a book project.
According to a survey of 935 business cellphone users by research firm In-Stat, even the most frequent of these customers feel their cellphone carrier doesn’t appreciate them.
“Of those who spend at least $150 a month on service, more than 60% say they don’t think their carrier appreciates them,” writes Michelle Kessler in USAToday. She notes In-Stat says that about 1.8% of this group switches carriers each month, In-Stat says.. “That’s 40% more turnover than among customers who spend less than $50 a month.
There may be an easy answer to keeping some of these folks around. Loyalty programs, similar to airline frequent flyer programs.
In-Stat analyst Bill Hughes tells Kessler that since most heavy cellphone users are also travelers- some 89% of travelers on the road more than half the time spend more than $75 a month, he says.- they are liable to be used to loyalty programs from airlines, rental car companies and hotels.
So what about loyalty programs for users of BlackBerrys and other devices? Here’s how this could work. Maybe a free extra day for a rental car, or a given amount off one night’s room stay- when you exceed xx amount of BlackBerry data or minutes in a calendar year?
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
