The Loyalty Leap —Turning Customer Information into Customer Intimacy

LoyaltyOne President & CEO Pearson has written the seminal book on “customer-experience marketing.” Moving the reader past the specter of intrusion often associated with incentive programs and data collection, Pearson points out where a business’s focus should be: the customer. As he notes, focusing on the customer—or “customer intimacy”—is quite different from “customer loyalty” and the book is oriented to this latter goal. Loyalty for Pearson is more than a program; it’s an emotional connection gained when the “customer is yours.” He discusses components of this bond, how to engender it, and the roadblocks one may encounter in the process. Additionally, he outlines tactics to avoid—such as the creepy and the invasive—since data acquisition and mining are such crucial elements of loyalty development. With a book so strongly dedicated to achieving these very specific business/marketing goals, it is refreshing to find that Pearson is able to engage the reader, communicating without boring. Agent: Jim Levine, Levine Greenberg Agency. (May)