January 30, 2008

Top Customer Acquisition and Retention Travel Benefits Available from CBSI

Harrison, N.Y., January 30, 2008 – Two enhancements now available from CBSI, Companion Airline Ticket and Airport Lounge Access, generate customer loyalty from frequent travelers.  These products drive acquisition, retention and usage for a wide variety of transaction and relationship based accounts.

Companion Airline Ticket – The Companion Airline Ticket program provides recipients with a companion ticket when purchasing one adult round-trip ticket for travel between more than 104 US major cities on most major airlines.  This valuable benefit offers customers a simplified immediate redemption process via website or dedicated telephone line.  Sponsors can choose from several program options to fit their customers’ needs.

This benefit when provided to account holders can lift retention results from 10-50% across various campaigns and industries. This product also works favorably toward retention as customers tend to plan leisure trips three to nine months down the road. They feel if they leave the product or service, that they may lose the benefit.

Airport Lounge Access – Frequent travelers normally pay from $125 - $610 annually (depending on their frequent flier status) for membership in airport lounge programs and those programs are often limited to specific airline lounges.  The Airport Lounge Access benefit provides enrolled customers with access to a network of more than 500 airport VIP lounges in over 90 countries worldwide, regardless of ticket class or airline flown. The cost of the membership to this program is paid for by the sponsor for a reduced fee and cardholders simply pay a nominal per lounge visit fee.

As with all CBSI programs, these programs are turnkey providing sponsors with the following:

·        Simple sponsor enrollment process

·        Complete marketing and fulfillment support

·        Ongoing program management and quality controls

·        Easy Sponsor billing process

“This type of reward program has worked very well for our transaction account clients for many years”, comments CBSI Vice President Kenneth G. Kraetzer.  We see this type of service as an excellent tool for not only financial institutions, but for tele-communications marketers seeking a way to reward customers for adding and retaining services such as cable or satellite television, or high speed internet, or for other emerging payment technologies.” 

CBSI is a leading developer of direct response marketing programs designed to attract, activate and retain customers, and generate revenue.  The thirty – five year old firm based near New York City with a mid west office in suburban Chicago provides enhancement programs that provide travel protection  retail purchase protection and convenience benefits that cover more than 200 million consumers.  More information is available at CBSIServices.com.

Mr. Kraetzer is a VP at CBSI, a credit card program marketing firm located Harrison, NY and serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Direct Marketing Master’s Program at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY.  He can be reached at kkraetzer@CBSIservices.com.