Offers Great Rewards With Little Effort
MyPoints
In its heyday, the web was filled with affiliate and affinity programs that existed to simply drive traffic to sites. The entire premise was reminiscent of English companies advertising for settlers in the New World. Journey forward and stake your claim was the pitch that worked best.
MyPoints built a business not from content, but advertising those claims. The company has since grown into other areas, but its core remains advertising merchant specials to consumers who opt-in to receive email that directs them to merchant sites. Those sites offer specials or simply awareness. Consumers who visit the site through the program are awarded points that can then be redeemed for gifts. Purchasing through the link yields even more points.
For example, a consumer visiting a site may be awarded five to ten points for their visit. If they purchase, however, they may receive a certain number of points per dollar spent or by crossing a threshold.
If This Sounds Familiar…
The whole process is reminiscent of an airline’s frequent flyer program, which is why it is not surprising that UAL, the parent of United Airlines, runs MyPoints through its UAL Loyalty Services subsidiary.
The company’s strength lies in its senior management team. Most are long tenured, all have great marketing and entrepreneurial backgrounds and understand how to monetize web traffic. Claiming ten million members and thirty to fifty million monthly visits is one thing. Making money off that traffic is something else, and something the company does in a way that most imitators failed to manage.
MyPoints claims a healthy but understandable 34% click-through-rate from their rewards emails. What may surprise you is that more than 1% of those consumers purchase goods exceeding $100. Start doing the math, and you may be impressed.
Choose Your Frequency
If you opt to receive email, the company allows you to select the relative frequency in which you receive offers. Picking the highest level and filling out several non-intrusive, but well-written surveys, I receive a half dozen to ten offers each week. The company also encourages viral marketing through its member referral programs, but rather than smacking of a Ponzi scheme, there is no one left propping a pyramid at the end.
The viral program allows you to build points faster as does shopping at the selected sites or at the new virtual malls MyPoints has launched to keep some of their traffic.
But Does It Work?
Surprisingly, yes. Many companies who tried similar models folded and left behind angry customers. MyPoints has operated since the early days of the web and invested in building a strong service infrastructure and solid partners.
Points are redeemed for gift certificates for online or bricks and mortar merchants or points in hotel and airline loyalty programs. The conversion rate is pretty good. When I had a lot of points to spend, I did a quick analysis to find the highest value. Most partners redeemed points at roughly a half-cent to one cent per point. Consider opening 300 emails over the course of 6 months without obligation to buy. Your reward will most likely fall in the $10-$20 range. You may not get rich, but the program is certainly worth participation.
I have redeemed awards multiple times and have been impressed by the ease of using the site and timeliness of receiving the award.
But What About Spam?
Ah yes, the company does offer a mail list service to commercial clients. Savvy web users will simply create a free email address (call it yourname@whatever.com) and start clicking on email. The problem with spam, or unsolicited email, is that consumers are not compensated for receiving unwanted advertising. The combination of MyPoints’ opt-in program and its rewards solves that issue nicely.
Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. Click on email offers and get points.
2. Shop at those sites or at the main site and get even more.
3. Do not use your primary email address.
4. Customer service is first-rate.
5. The rewards collection may be the best on the web.
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