WashingtonPost launches online/offline loyalty program

Last week I posted a video review of the new Washington Post newspaper web site. This week, the paper is launching a new loyalty program called PostPoints. The program is open to anyone however most of the offline shops are only available in the Washington, D.C. area. Online Media Daily has a great writeup of the program. A couple snippits:

"The main purpose is to reward readers of the Post's content," says Steve Hills, president of the Washington Post Co. "It's primarily a retention tool, and an acquisition tool."

Hills acknowledges that consumers are likely to be wary of yet another doodad on their keychain. "So many reward programs are much more limited–you can only use one credit card, or you can only use it at one chain of stores. The beauty of our card is that you don't have to make a choice." Let's say, for example, that a PostPoints member is shopping at CVS, which has signed up with the PostPoints program, but also offers its own rewards for frequent shoppers. "You can use both the CVS card and the PostPoints card at checkout," Hills says. "You can even pay for it with whatever credit card you're accumulating points on–it's possible to triple-dip."

I am a deal finder and maker and adding yet another card is a bigger issue than Hills realizes. When you use the CVS card, you know where it works. You don't have to think or ask. I have never walked into a walmart and handed then my CVS card. With this card, you have to keep checking the list of merchants or you have to ask every shop you purchase from. That's a hassle.

There is also no list of points redemption on the site. They MUST have this listed because the home page says you get 1,000 points for signing up and what good is that if it takes 5 million points for a gift card? Whenever I don't see the points redemption list, I think of the arcades with the tickets for skee ball. After you played for an hour, had 200 tickets you realized that all you could get was a stuffed dog, while the sega game gear required 100,000 tickets.

I would have looked at tying into the Thank You points system from Citibank. Now getting points for reading the newspaper you already read makes sense. While I could see this working more effectively on the USA Today type papers, it may increase loyalty to the WP over other papers, both online and offline. Loyalty is crucial in this space and the WashingtonPost is using money and prizes to increase their customer loyalty.