Last week we launched our new ecommerce site to one of our largest clients, Southwest Airlines. Almost every day since last September, we’ve migrated a new client to the site—literally millions of people around the world redeeming points for rewards. Most of you probably know, we run motivational programs for people who participate in employee engagement, sales incentive and consumer loyalty programs. It may not seem like a big deal to have an ecommerce site with all the bells and whistles of any major online retail site—but it’s a first for the incentive industry. Consumers’ expectations about shopping online have changed– so we asked ourselves, “Why should a shopping experience be any different on a points-based reward site?” It shouldn’t.
Right now about 95% of our clients have migrated to the new platform that we call “RewardSphere™” Its debut was featured in this recent article in Incentive Magazine.
RewardSphere is powered by the same tools and technology behind the most popular online retailers. We have our partner Oracle to thank for providing the ecommerce technology that runs the site. In fact our friends at the technology giant have asked us to share the story of our innovative use of their software at the Modern Customer Experience Conference in Las Vegas on April 1. Maritz Motivation Solutions CIO Bryan Phillips and VP Jim Slattery will present at the conference and tell attendees about how RewardSphere came to be.
Most of the time, people on the site won’t even realize Maritz has anything to do with it. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Each site is branded for the client. Each site has different rule structures and point values. Each site is heavily customized—not only in terms of how the site is run but how it looks and what it offers. For example, one client doesn’t want to offer firearms in its reward collection and another prohibits images of people in sleeveless tops. Perhaps our biggest challenge in developing the site was that a cookie cutter approach simply would not work. Our internal team developed a proprietary layer on top of the existing Oracle Commerce technology that delivers a unique functionality for multiple clients. We’ve created a more personalized experience because the people in reward programs are motivated in different ways by different things, and you must understand what’s meaningful to each of them.
Attendees at the conference will have an opportunity to tour the ecommerce site and win some of the most popular rewards in the RewardSphere™ collection! We invite you to join us for Jim and Bryan’s presentation at 12:30 on April 1 if you’re attending. If you aren’t lucky at the tables in Las Vegas, you may get lucky at the Maritz presentation and walk away with an iPad mini, Kindle, Fitbit, Sony smartwatch or Bose mini-speaker – five of the most popular rewards offered in the collection. Bring your smartphones or tablets to demo the RewardSphere site for a chance to win! We hope to see you there.
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