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What customers want from your loyalty program

Emma Fitzpatrick Marketing

You probably already know that acquiring new customers costs more than retaining the ones you already have. Acquiring new customers can be a staggering five to 25 times more expensive than retaining a customer you already have. On the flip side, if you increase customer retention rates by only 5 percent, you can raise profits by 25 to 95 percent, according to Bain & Company research. That's the power of customer loyalty, and yet, it's an area most companies can do much better in. Read on to find out the research-backed characteristics shoppers want from your loyalty program.

Analysis: Standard work arrangements surprisingly dominate labor force…

Seth Sandronsky Association Management

Beware of talk that we are living through the rise of nonstandard employment. We turn to a new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data from the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C. “In 2017, the total share of the labor force working in nonstandard arrangements was 10.1 percent, down from 10.9 percent in 2005,” according to Eileen Appelbaum, Arne Kalleberg and Hye Jin Rho. Accordingly, the fraction of workers in standard work arrangements was 89.9 percent in 2017, roughly the same as 1995.

Surprising strategies to boost consumer happiness

Lisa Mulcahy Marketing

As a marketer, it's your ultimate goal to make every consumer happy with your product once they get it home. But did you know that the specific amount of personal happiness that a consumer feels at the time of potential purchase has a surprising impact not only on whether they buy but how they'll feel about the product down the line? Science has taken a fascinating look at this phenomenon. Use these cutting-edge strategies to build upon their research and ensure that consumer joy has a positive effect on your profit margin.

Schools, law enforcement team up to curb new trends in drug use

Bambi Majumdar Law Enforcement, Defense & Security

The latest surge of drugs impacting teens is a matter of serious concern. While drug abuse has always been a problem, some of the newer ones are scary in the ways they are presented inconspicuously and innocently. This is why some law enforcement officials are teaming up with schools to warn parents of the latest teen drug trends as a part of their preventative efforts. These troubling new trends include prescription drugs, fentanyl, and heroin. Additionally, there's the risk of having entire generations addicted to nicotine. Federal, state, and local authorities want parents to be aware of all these so that they know the signs and act right away.

Let’s not kid ourselves: The real reason for employee turnover

Roberta Matuson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

I recently received a call from a CEO who was concerned about the sudden increase in employee turnover in his organization. He couldn't understand why anyone would leave his firm. He then went down a laundry list of perks he recently added. I let him speak and then said, "Tell me something. Is this turnover happening throughout the organization or is there a particular area where you've noticed a spike?" He thought about it and said, "It seems most of the turnover is taking place in Bob's department. There are a few leaders in his operation who can be a bit abrupt at times — maybe even a bit abusive, but they're hitting their numbers." Boom! There you have it.

When do you owe too much on your credit cards?

Patrick Gleeson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Putting the title of this article another way, how much can you owe on your credit cards before it lowers your quality of life? There's never an absolute number — if you're living on your Social Security, it could be as little as $5,000 on a single high-interest-rate credit card. If you’re Amazon's Jeff Bezos, currently the world's richest person, there is no such number. But for the rest of us, there’s a point of credit card indebtedness that will cause the credit-rating agencies to lower your credit score enough to make your life more difficult.

Pet nutrition myths: A review of the facts — part 3

Natalie Asaro, Dr. Jennifer Adolphe and Michele Dixon Pet Care

Many pet parents today are interested in learning about optimal nutrition for their furry loved ones, and the first place they seek answers is often on the internet. Unfortunately, there are a variety of blogs and courses published online that may disseminate inaccurate or biased information. There is a lot of information out there, so how does one sort out fact from fiction? While nutrition science isn't perfect, it's the best approach we have to figure out how to best feed our pets. The following review is the last part of a series featuring evidence-based approaches to some common myths found online about pet food and the pet food industry.

Training is an investment, not a cost

Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk Management

The race to attract skilled labor is on. Productivity may be slowing but it is still moving in a positive direction, and new unemployment applications are still declining. And according to a recent analysis by The Economist, American manufacturing, particularly among "agile smaller firms using advanced techniques" may be expanding. While this tight labor market may look different than the one before the recession, one thing is consistent: the most challenging staffing shortage is in skilled labor. Because of this, organizations across industries must recognize that training is an investment, not a cost.

Check that behavior at the door

Anne Rose Business Management, Services & Risk Management

As a manager, how do you respond to behavior you don't approve of, whether it's because it violates company policy or company culture? Perhaps that behavior isn't terribly offensive but just a little annoying that you can almost ignore it. For example, one employee clocks in three minutes late without a compelling reason. That’s not so bad, is it? Yes, it is that bad, because of human nature. The old adage, "give an inch, take a foot,” applies. That three-minute tardiness, unaddressed, insidiously and chronically morphs into 10-minute tardiness, or 30-minute tardiness, or one hour.

Amazon scraps plans for HQ2 in New York City

Michelle R. Matisons Civil & Government

Amazon, which reported $11.2 billion in profits last year while paying no federal taxes, pretty much does what it wants, doesn't it? Well, not quite. In November, when the company announced its expansion plans, known as HQ2, to include Long Island City in Queens, residents, community activists, and those taking on Amazon immediately mobilized opposition. In the end, local character and vehement opposition to corporate welfare won. Amazon announced last week that it was no longer considering New York City as the location for its grand headquarters expansion.

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