A new WhichWich franchise opened up near our house and we've enjoyed a few sandwiches there (I recommend the buffalo chicken on wheat). I picked up a loyalty punch card and you know the drill: buy 10 get 1 free. Problem is that I walked in there after the first of the year and there's a new sign that says the old cards are no longer being honored or issued anymore. Sometime in the future, they're supposedly going to implement an electronic loyalty program. I like the improvement, but can't say much for the implementation. Unless you've lost focus on your most valuable asset – repeat customers – I think it's a mistake to justify yanking an older dangled carrot from the mouths of your customers by saying the new carrot will be bigger and better. You're not making good on the first promise, so why should I expect you will make good…
If you travel very much, you know what a hassle it is to keep up with travel loyalty programs. You want to take advantage of available rewards, verify credits and avoid unexpected expirations. On the other hand, you don’t want to spend your weekends logging into one site after another to accomplish this. To solve the problem, I started using AwardWallet last year after evaluating available solutions. Setup was easy (similar to applications like Mint, etc. if you such for viewing financial accounts in one place). The interface is sufficient and the consolidated information is a real time saver. I liked the fact that the plus version, which includes additional info for each account, was free, although they asked for me to contribute what I thought it was worth. I paid $10 and was happy to do so. Now, six months later, I get an email saying my plus account…