Texas banks participate in customer loyalty program

Customer loyalty programs can be driven by points-based rewards, the basis for a new initiative from former FundsXpress executives and other industry veterans who have provided new BuzzBanking services for credit unions, and independent and community banks.

Founded in June last year by a coalition of social media and banking experts, fisoc has created a new web-based platform that enables these financial institutions to reward its clientbase by providing them points and the possibility for adding to those points by incorporating their friends.

“We are leveraging our team of experts in both Internet banking and social media to provide the industry’s most highly integrated and secure platform for rewards points being offered to credit unions, community and independent banks; programs that were generally available only from big banks,” said Jay Valanju, CEO of fisoc. “Consumer spending is at its peak during the holiday shopping season[,] and these banks now have an option to offer rewards points to their customers for their spending and extra points and for sharing BuzzBanking with their friends.”

The program, put in place just in time for the holiday shopping season, will affect fisoc’s banks and credit unions across Texas, from Lubbock to Texarkana. The company is backed by Daylight Partners, an investment firm, and has extensive experience providing banking solutions that have proven effective for more than a thousand financial institutions and social media campaigns across the globe.

“Rather than charging our customers to use their debit card, fisoc’s BuzzBanking enables us to provide rewards programs that benefit not only our customers, but also merchants and retailers in our community,” said Matt Seidenberger, vice president of Arrowhead Bank of Texas.

The current economic crisis – with Occupy Wall Street and the big bank bailouts in recent years – has led many consumers to sour on major financial institutions. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have reported these banks are losing thousands of customers to small banks and credit unions that have avoided implementing high fees and other hidden costs.

Customer loyalty programs are a cornerstone of global business, with competing companies looking to attract as many consumers as possible. Research and data analysis has shed new light on what makes an effective program, with a deep psychological connection and face-to-face interactions surpassing social media tactics and fleeting deals and savings as concrete ways to attract and retain a quality consumer base.