Every CCM firm offers its universal rewards card holders a rewards section or site, where users can easily redeem their earnings for merchandise, gift cards and other reward options. Many firms have begun to move past offering simple redemption portals, however, augmenting their sites with travel scheduling tools, dinner reservation features and the ability to earn accelerated points by spending via the site.

In this research report, we look at the design and capabilities of each firm's universal rewards site, focusing on advanced features integrated with the site. In particular, we concentrated on the following key issues:

• Is a standalone rewards site offered, and how is it accessed by both prospects and existing clients?
• Are partner tools integrated with the site to provide a wider range of redemption options or unique capabilities?
• Does the site or sitelet link to resources for accelerated earnings?
• Is a travel-booking feature built into the rewards site?

At this stage in the development of online rewards sites, every firm has mastered the basics. Each firm offers ways to search for redemption options and to add items first to a cart before redeeming them, and each rewards site now displays a client's current rewards total.

With these and other aspects of sites now largely uniform throughout the industry, new sets of rewards features – like the ability to schedule a travel itinerary directly from a rewards site – are now the differentiators between firms. Beyond helping to differentiate between firms, these advanced features are signs of where rewards sites may be heading in the future.

With many advanced capabilities offered on rewards sites, co-branded partnerships are important for both providing a feature and adding to its cachet. Two firms use a partnership with Amazon to provide merchandise. Similar partnerships are leveraged in various ways at other firms, with many promoting a link to Expedia or Travelocity for travel booking.

This report also expands on the following key findings:

• 70% of rewards sites offer links to either online shopping portals or other resources for clients looking to earn accelerated points
• Only two firms enable account holders to log-in directly from a standalone rewards site; all others require card clients to log in via the card management site
• Six firms currently offer redemption options within an Experiences or Unique Redemptions category

Segment: Credit Cards
Publication date: Friday, July 30, 2010
# Pages: (63 pages)