Company Profiles: Spotlight on Travel and Tech

With so much information out there these days, it’s often difficult to pinpoint how to get the best service or the best price. Lots of ratings sites claim to have honest information, but with sponsored ads, it’s hard to tell whether the reviews are really what they should be. Consumers’ Checkbook offers advice to help people save money, time and hassle, all ad-free on a variety of local services. RewardExpert spoke with Executive Editor, Kevin Brasler, about how Consumers’ Checkbook puts consumers first, and provides accurate, fair assessments on lots of industries from personal finance to travel to healthcare and more.

It’s not the data that companies collect, but the data that’s analyzed that can lead to higher revenue, bigger profits and a more successful business. For nearly a decade, a company called Mixpanel has been helping over 26,000 companies analyze user data and detect the newest trends to grow their business. Vice President of Global Sales at Mixpanel, Pierre Berlin, gave RewardExpert the inside story about the growing company.

E-commerce is a competitive business, and any edge companies can gain could be the difference between success and failure. The Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) @ RetailX has been helping businesses gain that edge and grow their profits since 2005. Doug Hope, RetailX Show Director and Senior Vice President, Emerald Expositions, spoke to RewardExpert about this year’s exhibition. “IRCE brings together all facets of e-commerce – including platforms, marketing, social media, SEM, fulfillment and merchandising – to give attendees a 360-degree view of what it takes to win hearts, minds, and dollars online right now,” he said. This year’s event occurs June 25-28, 2019 at McCormick Place South in Chicago.

By some estimates, gift giving drives between 20 to 25 percent of today’s retail sales. That means that one out of every four retail purchases a consumer makes is likely to fall under the gift category. With U.S. gift card sales reaching $160 billion last year, smart retailers are establishing engaging and efficient gift card programs to capitalize on this lucrative market.

CashStar, a leading provider of merchant solutions and services for gift card commerce, is at the forefront of the industry. RewardExpert spoke with Alex Barseghian, Group Vice President for North American Retail at Blackhawk Network, CashStar’s parent company, to learn more.

If you’ve found yourself increasingly anxious about your financial situation, you’re not alone. A recent study by Northwestern Mutual, an American financial services organization, found that 54 percent of Americans have experienced financial anxiety, 52 percent have dealt with financial insecurity, and 48 percent have felt financial fear. In fact, money was identified as the survey respondents’ dominant source of stress—with finances even more stressful than relationships and work.

Whether you run multiple restaurant or retail locations or have a single bank branch, your customers’ experiences need to be top-notch and consistent. If they aren’t, you risk damage to your brand and –over time– a negative impact on your organization’s bottom line.

Market Force Information (also known simply as Market Force) is a customer experience management company that has been recognized as one of the top 50 market research organizations by the American Marketing Association.

There’s no doubt that it’s sweet to save money, anytime, anywhere. And shopping online is no different. After all, how many times have you added an item to your cart, and then hunted around for discount codes, only to come up empty handed? Now, a company called Honey is making it easier to save money online.

Honey’s technology scans the internet to help shoppers find the top discounts at thousands of stores, automatically adding discounts and promo codes. Janine Kamwene, the director of communications at Honey, spoke to RewardExpert about the sweet shopping experience Honey provides.

Since the release of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrency mining has frequently made headlines in the media. But the industry has seen significant changes over the last decade. While in the early days it was possible for anyone with a computer and enough CPU or high-speed video processor cards to make a tidy profit mining cryptocurrency, specialized hardware and machines, mining groups and cloud-mining services have since risen to the forefront.

Over the years, the word ‘brand’ has meant many things. Where it was once only a piece of burning or smoldering wood, or an identifying mark burned on livestock, it’s now a common term for products manufactured by a particular company under a particular name. From Google and Facebook to AT&T and Nike, most of us interact with dozens of brands every day.

When you’re running a business, your brand is a valuable part of it. But how do you define that value and use it strategically to increase your company’s success? RewardExpert recently spoke with Laurence Newell, Director Americas at Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent branded business valuation and strategy consultancy, about how the company can help you answer those questions and more.

As a consumer, you’ve probably heard of J.D. Power  and J.D. Power ratings. Millions of Americans have considered the company’s ratings, reviews and awards when shopping for a new car or truck. But did you know that J.D. Power is also in the business of helping brands improve their customer satisfaction and company profitability?

Imagine an all-in-one payment platform that provides everything you need to accept and process payments –whether you sell on your website, through a mobile app, on a marketplace, by subscription, over the phone or in a brick and mortar store. Sounds too good to be true, right? It actually isn’t—it’s BlueSnap.

RewardExpert recently chatted with BlueSnap’s Vice President of Marketing, Estelle Mense, about the company’s easy-to-use product and how it’s helping small- to mid-sized businesses boost sales and cut costs.

As the old adage goes, numbers don’t lie. In the case of Gusto, an all-in-one platform for payroll, benefits and HR, the key number is 60,000. That’s 60,000 satisfied customers nationwide who say that Gusto has simplified complicated yet essential business tasks and saved them time and money as a result. RewardExpert recently spoke with Gusto spokesperson Rick Chen to learn more.

Did you know that nearly 300 billion emails are sent each day? Are you aware that Google is used nearly five billion times daily or that there are approximately 1.94 billion websites in the world? If you’re a marketer, the answer is probably yes. But that doesn’t make the internet any less overwhelming for the prospects and clients you need to attract and nurture.

Fortunately, Act-On can help. A software platform that offers adaptive marketing solutions, Act-On helps marketers in the financial industry (and others) cut through that overwhelming digital noise to reach the right consumers and convert more leads.

In the old days, the only way to collect customer or prospect data was on paper, usually through the completion of forms. Before anything could be done with it, the collected data would need to be entered into a physical database—a process that was very manual and took a lot of time. While computers and digital technology have made data collection and databases simpler, some companies are still wasting valuable hours manually completing tasks that could be automated.

It’s now February, and if you’re like most people, you’ve probably given up on your New Year’s resolutions, whether you had planned to spend less and save more, exercise regularly, lose weight or take steps to earn a promotion. In fact, these goals probably fell by the wayside weeks ago, or around January 17 according to a recent examination of data by one social network for athletes.

But here’s some good news: you don’t have to wait until December 31 to try again. stickK, a community-driven online commitment-setting platform, can help you achieve your goals –New Year’s and otherwise– by empowering behavioral change.

How much time do you spend each month invoicing your clients? How about following up with those who are slow to pay? If you’re like most professionals –freelance, consultant or otherwise– time spent on billing and collection can really add up, stealing your attention away from other tasks essential to building and maintaining your business.

Fortunately, Due can help. RewardExpert recently spoke with John Rampton, founder and CEO, about how Due’s seamless solutions are changing the payment landscape for businesses of all sizes.

Every year, U.S. consumers buy millions of cars—and that trend will continue in 2019. In fact, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), $16.8 million in sales of new light vehicles are expected in 2019. That figure doesn’t even include used vehicle sales.

If you’re among those contemplating a vehicle replacement or upgrade, you might want to consider checking out CarGurus, the largest automotive shopping website in the U.S. connecting buyers and sellers of new and used cars.

Do you want to pick up a few cutting-edge skills to help you advance your career? Are you trying to start or grow your own creative business? Do you wish you could find a way to earn a living sharing your knowledge and expertise in graphic design, film production, photography, human resources, leadership, management, marketing, data science or IT Security? If so, you need to check out Skillshare.

RewardExpert sat down with Cam Lay, Skillshare’s vice president of marketing, to explore the online community and how it’s helping more than seven million members learn and earn.

When a potential customer visits a website, giving a personalized experience can help turn that visit into revenue. That’s where a company called Sitecore can help brands looking for an edge. Sitecore touts its platform as a way to help businesses power the most relevant experiences possible. Senior Director of Corporate Communications, Matt Krebsbach, spoke to RewardExpert about the benefits of becoming a Sitecore client.

“We’ve really grown into becoming sort of this beacon for companies who are trying to solve their digital experience across not just the Web but a whole range of digital marketing and digital touch points,” he said. “You have to have a really good product, but you have to have a really good experience to go alongside of that.”

With more and more businesses going global these days, and people constantly traveling or working from home, it’s becoming harder to get everyone in the same place, let alone the same conference room. With FreeConferenceCall.com, up to 1,000 people can connect with each other via audio, video or screen sharing at absolutely no cost. RewardExpert spoke with Vice President of Product Development, Jeff Erickson, about how the company’s services can help boost productivity, and how it stands apart from competitors.