I’m bumping this older thread because I’m taking a look at this program right now. I use Point of Success but really don’t like the idea of buying .70 cards that people treat as throw aways. And since Point of Success requires the cards without a way to use a phone number, it’s a dealbreaker for me. As a consumer I hate the cards and most everyone I’ve talked to hates them.
I completely agree that the website (even today) lacks basic information about the product. It was the first thing I noticed, so I was glad to see the posts on this forum agreeing. However, there are now lots of testimonials on the website and I’m going to give a phone call to a couple to discuss their experience tomorrow.
I value Kamron’s experience and advice very much but disagree with the use of some of his strategies - particularly the vapid newspaper article appearing adds that contain zero information. I see those ads in papers and magazines and they have a very negative effect on me. However, so much of his advice is good that I thought this program was worth a look.
I did go through the sales pitch which was low pressure but still not terribly informative (and a bit scripted). The website advertises a $99.00 monthly minimum price, but I was quoted $247.00/month. I inquired and was told that the $99/month is available but is a very stripped down version of the product
I also subscribed to a handful of their customers’ programs just to see the e-mails. They look very professional. My only complaint is that the privacy policy refers you to a website (
myrewardsprogram.net) based in Kansas City. I WHOIS’d and came up with a big daddy referral for a company called “Lockyear Holdings” in a suburb of KC. Lockyear Holdings operates a company called Silver Stream Marketing which appears to be the same (or similar) product to repeat returns. The address given is a suburban house. I don’t know if this is outsourcing or what, but it does make me a bit nervous that the privacy policy does not reference back to repeatreturns (which is in Las Vegas and a shiny picture of their office is on the website). Seems like a bit of hide the ball to me.
As an aside, I find this part pretty ironic because Kamron, in his recent book (“Gun to the Head”) tells a story about a vendor with a snazzy website. Kamron buys the product or service assuming they are a legitimately well put together company. When he starts having issues, he decides to go on a surprise visit and finds, to his dismay, a shanty of an office.
Anyway, to the good stuff. I downloaded the widget and it works great. The widget floats in front of the order entry screen. The software uses OCR technology to capture the dollar amount of the sale (and the clerks name as well, I think). It’s very easy to enter someones phone number in and hit one button to award them points. Contrary to previous posts, you need no additional hardware with their product now.
The e-mail schedule and flexibility to add campaigns looks good. The backend software (which I have demo’d) is very full featured with tons of reports, campaign management, database editing, etc.
$247 is pretty steep, but this program does appear to be better than most. I’m strongly considering it because:
- I think systems that utilize phone numbers are better than card-based systems.
- Reward points are effective to me (Best Buy is the ONLY rewards program I use with any regularity). This is especially true when every e-mail has the balance posted in the e-mail along with the amount needed to attain the next level.
- The promise (we’ll see if they produce) of handling the bulk of campaign mailings is very valuable to me. I currently have an e-mail list I manage with Max Bulk Mailer. It is not effective.
Anyway, I’m doing some comparison shopping so if anyone has any ideas on other similar services, let me know. I’ll keep you posted on what I find out.
Patrick Cuezze
www.nextdoorpizza.com
