More and more publishers are choosing to tie the compensation they give their writers to some kind of traffic-based measurement — but short-term metrics like pageviews and unique visitors are inherently flawed, and as such aren’t always a good measure of actual value
Belly introduces the free sample to its local-business loyalty and rewards program. Through the Belly app, businesses can offer free goods and services to lure customers into their stores.
Timed to Halloween and the presidential election, New York-based social loyalty startup CrowdTwist analyzed user data related to brand preferences for chocolate and political affiliation. Its data suggest that Democrats tend to prefer non-premium chocolate, while Republicans opt for more up-market sweets.
Marqeta is trying to give merchants a Starbucks card-like approach to loyalty with a new card-based system that lets people preload cash on to a Marqeta card for a specific merchant, who throws in extra cash as a reward.
Foursquare is building out its merchant services by adding a new tool called Local Update that allows businesses to reach loyal customers nearby with news and updates. This is part of an effort to make Foursquare’s business tools valuable enough that merchants will pay for it.
LevelUp, a Boston-based loyalty and payment startup, is laying down the gauntlet to other payment competitors by doing away with processing fees forever in what it calls a bid to achieve “Interchange Zero.” It will only make money from selling offers and loyalty services.
App users are a flaky group, easily discarding apps in favor of the hot new thing. But new data suggests they are developing more loyal toward apps, abandoning them less frequently and visiting their favorite apps more often, according to app analytics firm Localytics.
LevelUp, the local loyalty and payment app, is getting $12 million to expand the service nationwide. The service, which is an offshoot of location start-up SCVNGR, now has 200,000 users, who are spending $2 million a month with the app.
Groupon is reportedly testing out its own Square-like mobile payment service. It’s a sign that local deals and loyalty providers are increasingly looking at adding mobile payments services to help build out their tool set for merchants and retailers.
Mirth and Cardify are two of the latest start-ups that are building loyalty programs that tie into credit and debit card accounts. That’s a growing opportunity thanks to enablers like CardSpring but it also means more competition.
