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Glossary: Customer engagement and loyalty terms

What are airline miles?

Airline miles are reward points used in frequent-flyer programs. 

 

What is above the line (ATL) marketing?

Above the line (ATL) marketing is marketing for a general audience through mass media. → below the line (BTL), through the line (TTL) 

 

What is attrition rate?

Attrition rate, also known as churn rate, is a measure of customer attrition over time. 

 

What is below the line (BTL) marketing?

Below the line (BTL) marketing is marketing involving personalization for specific audiences. → above the line (ATL), through the line (TTL) 

 

What is a card-linked offer (CLO)?

A card-linked offer (CLO) is a discount received at the point of sale or as cashback on select card-based purchases. 

 

What is cashback?

Cashback is a refund of a percentage of the cost of eligible purchases, which is often as a statement credit for a card-based purchase. 

 

What is churn rate?

Churn rate is an alternative term for attrition rate. 

 

What is click-through rate (CTR)?

Click through rate (CTR) is the number of clicks on a link versus the number of times the link is shown. 

 

What is closed-loop loyalty?

Closed-loop loyalty is a loyalty program structure that is exclusive to a brand and is known as coalition loyalty when extended to specific partners. → open-loop loyalty 

 

What is a co-branded credit card?

A co-branded credit card is a credit card with the logo of the issuer and the logo of a partner, such as a retailer or airline, that is generally associated with a dedicated loyalty program. → private-label credit card 

 

What is coalition loyalty?

Coalition loyalty is closed-loop loyalty that is shared across select partners. → open-loop loyalty 

 

What is cost per acquisition (CPA)?

Cost per acquisition (CPA) is the amount spent on customer acquisition versus the number of customers acquired. → cost per action 

 

What is cost per action?

Cost per action is the amount spent to encourage people to take a specific action, which may overlap with cost per click (CPC), versus the number of times the action is taken. → cost per acquisition 

 

What is cost per click (CPC)?

Cost per click (CPC) is the amount spent to encourage people to click on a link versus the number of times the link is clicked. → cost per action (CPA) 

 

What is cost per impression (CPI)?

Cost per impression (CPI) is the amount spent to display a piece of content versus the times the content is viewed. → cost per mille (CPM) 

 

What is cost per mille (CPM)?

Cost per mille (CPM) is the cost per impression (CPI) measured in batches of “mille” or one thousand as the cost per thousand impressions. 

 

What is a credit card loyalty program?

A credit card loyalty program is an open-loop loyalty program with its benefits tied to a credit card. → co-branded credit card 

 

What is customer acquisition?

Customer acquisition is the process of attracting new customers, which sometimes overlaps with customer conversion. 

 

What is customer attrition?

Customer attrition, also known as customer churn, is the loss of customers as the opposite of customer retention. → attrition rate 

 

What is customer churn?

Customer churn is an alternative term for customer attrition. 

 

What is customer conversion?

Customer conversion is when prospective and existing customers carry out a desired action, such as clicking a link, which in the case of purchasing a product becomes synonymous with customer acquisition. 

 

What is customer engagement?

Customer engagement is interaction with customers, whether through customer relationship management (CRM) or a loyalty program, to achieve customer retention and support a referral program. 

 

What is customer experience (CX)?

Customer experience (CX) is the experience of a customer along a customer journey or customer lifecycle. → user experience (UX) 

 

What is a customer journey?

A customer journey is either a customer experience (CX) with a brand that begins with customer acquisition and continues along various brand interactions until a specific action occurs, or it is a synonym for customer lifecycle. 

 

What is a customer lifecycle?

A customer lifecycle is a customer relationship with a brand that begins with customer acquisition and then continues indefinitely. → customer journey, customer lifetime value (CLV) 

 

What is customer lifecycle management (CLM)?

Customer lifecycle management (CLM) is the analysis and improvement of the customer lifecycle, often based on insights from customer relationship management (CRM), to improve customer lifetime value (CLV). → lifecycle management (LCM) 

 

What is customer lifetime value (CLV)?

Customer lifetime value (CLV), also known as lifetime value (LTV), is the observed or predicted financial worth of a customer across their customer lifecycle. 

 

What is customer relationship management (CRM)?

Customer relationship management (CRM) is an analysis of customer relationships to bolster customer engagement and is often based on data stored in a customer data platform (CDP). 

 

What is customer retention?

Customer retention is keeping customers loyal by avoiding customer attrition. 

 

What is early month on book (EMOB)?

Early month on book (EMOB) is the first few months of customer engagement by an issuer of a cardholder to establish a payment card as top of wallet. 

 

What is earn & burn?

Earn & burn is the earning of reward points and the reward redemption that follows in a points-based loyalty program. 

 

What is a first-party cookie?

A first-party cookie is data placed by a website on a user’s device to allow the website to identify the device and remember the user without the need for a unique user ID. → third-party cookie 

 

What is a frequent-flyer program?

A frequent-flyer program is a loyalty program for airlines usually involving airline miles. 

 

What is gamification in loyalty?

Gamification is the use of interactive games or gaming concepts to enhance customer engagement in a loyalty program. 

 

What is growth hacking?

Growth hacking is the use of low-budget data-driven business experimentation for rapid customer acquisition and continued customer retention. 

 

What is hyper personalization?

Hyper personalization is heightened personalization through more data and the artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze it. 

 

What is lifecycle management (LCM)?

Lifecycle management (LCM), also known as customer lifecycle management (CLM) when applied to customers, is the analysis and improvement of the lifecycle of an asset. 

 

What is lifetime value (LTV)?

Lifetime value (LTV) is an alternative term for customer lifetime value (CLV) as applied to customers. 

 

What is a loyalty program?

A loyalty program is a way to foster customer engagement and customer retention through point-based loyalty, subscription loyalty, tiered loyalty, value-based loyalty, or a referral program. → open-loop loyalty, closed-loop loyalty 

 

What is a net promoter score (NPS)?

A net promoter score (NPS) is a rating of customer loyalty based on a survey to establish how likely a customer is to recommend a product or service. → referral program 

 

What is open-loop loyalty?

Open-loop loyalty is a loyalty program structure that relies on the ubiquitous acceptance of credit cards either as a credit card loyalty program or through co-branded credit cards. → closed-loop loyalty 

 

What is pay with points?

Pay with points is an alternative term for pay with rewards (PwR). 

 

What is pay with rewards (PwR)?

Pay with rewards (PwR), also known as pay with points, is the use of reward points either to pay for a purchase at the point of sale (POS) or to offset some or all of the cost of an earlier purchase on credit. 

 

What is personalization?

Personalization is tailored customer engagement to appeal to specific customer traits and is often based on customer segmentation or cohort analysis. → hyper personalization 

 

What is points-based loyalty?

Points-based loyalty is a loyalty program based on reward points and the earn & burn behavior associated with it. → value-based loyalty, rewards program 

 

What is premium loyalty?

Premium loyalty is an alternative term for subscription loyalty. 

 

What is a private-label credit card?

A private-label credit card is a merchant-branded credit card, without the logo of the issuer, for sole use at the merchant as closed-loop loyalty and sometimes at its partners as coalition loyalty. → co-branded credit card 

 

What is reward redemption?

Reward redemption is the action, and associated customer experience, of exchanging reward points or cashback for a tangible benefit. 

 

What is a referral program?

A referral program is either a form of loyalty program that gives rewards to existing customers who encourage others to become customers, or it is a form of social commerce that uses influencers to do the same. → net promoter score (NPS) 

 

What is remarketing?

Remarketing, also known as retargeting, is marketing to customers who have previously interacted with a brand. 

 

What is retail media?

Retail media is a retailer’s own online or offline properties used as media for advertising by other brands. → retail media network (RMN) 

 

What is a retail media network (RMN)?

A retail media network (RMN) is a grouping of multiple properties owned by the same retailer for retail media purposes. 

 

What is retargeting?

Retargeting is an alternative term for remarketing. 

 

What are reward points?

Reward points are representations of value in a points-based loyalty program that members may earn & burn. → airline miles, pay with rewards (PwR), utility token 

 

What are loyalty rewards?

Loyalty rewards are either a synonym for reward points, or more generally they are any loyalty program benefit such as cashback, card-linked offer, free shipping or exclusive access. 

 

What is a rewards program?

A rewards program is a points-based loyalty program, although it is sometimes used as a synonym for loyalty program. → travel rewards program 

 

What is social commerce?

Social commerce is a form of e-commerce that is facilitated through social media. → referral program 

 

What is subscription loyalty?

Subscription loyalty, also known as premium loyalty, is a loyalty program where members pay a fee for access to benefits such as permanent discounts or free shipping. 

 

What is a super app?

A super app is a multi-service app that also offers financial services via embedded finance on top of its other services. → total relationship banking 

 

What is a third-party cookie?

A third-party cookie is data placed by websites other than the one the user is visiting to identify a user across multiple websites, mostly used for marketing and advertising purposes. → first-party cookie 

 

What is through the line (TTL) marketing?

Through the line (TTL) marketing is a combination of above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) marketing. 

 

What is tiered loyalty?

Tiered loyalty is a loyalty program where members progress through tiers with better benefits associated with higher tiers. 

 

What are tokenized rewards?

Tokenized rewards are utility tokens on a blockchain used as reward points. 

 

What is a top-of-wallet card?

A top-of-wallet card is a specific payment card as the preferred choice of payment. 

 

What is total relationship banking?

Total relationship banking is a bank bringing its disparate business lines together to let its customers stay within one ecosystem. → super app 

 

What is a travel rewards program?

A travel rewards program is a rewards program that works across borders and currencies, although it is sometimes also used as a synonym for a frequent flier program or a hotel’s loyalty program. 

 

What is user experience (UX)?

User experience (UX) is the experience of using a particular product or service that forms part of a broader customer experience (CX). 

 

What is value-based loyalty?

Value-based loyalty is a loyalty program where the loyalty reward are donated to a good cause on behalf of the customer.

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