RewardStream, Inc.: Turning Customers into a Powerful Sales Channel
James Christensen, CEOIncepted in 1999, RewardStream’s refer-a-friend software and loyalty platform solutions can help brands build deeper and more profitable long-term relationships with their customers. The James Christensen-led firm, tracks, measures, and motivates a wide range of behaviors beyond the purchase transaction to help clients connect with consumers. According to Christensen, "The real concept of our company is all about incentivizing a customer base to help our clients grow their own business.”
The company’s proprietary, real-time technology platform, Spark, stands as a powerful combination of software, proprietary data and management tools. It simplifies the incorporation of digital, mobile, and word-of-mouth referrals into a customer acquisition and brand awareness mix for marketers. Once launched, a referrer can use the software to refer a product to their friends by accessing social channels such as Facebook and Twitter, by picking a variety of email channels such as Gmail or Outlook.com, or by referring in person and then reporting that a referral was made. The result of making every referral message could gain a reward for the customer, which is chosen by the brand depending on the value of the client being acquired. The Spark refer-a-friend program layout automatically adjusts to provide the optimal user experience, dynamically improving clients CPA (Cost per Acquisition) and driving higher conversions on referrals. RewardStream’s referral programs typically find that for every active referrer that a client has, they can gain approximately 1.5 new customers.
For RewardStream, “Facebook likes” and “shares” fall short of the desired mark. RewardStream goes beyond all of that and closes this loop on purchases made as a result of customer advocacy. “We focus on connecting the referral to a purchase, and not just the social sharing. We believe in linking the referrer and referee and by doing that, we can reward and effectively pay for the transactions. If a client wants to incentivize people and treat them like its sales force, it is necessary to ensure they are rewarded for the successful referrals,” believes Christensen. Since the firm utilizes previous customers of clients, marketing turns out to be relatively inexpensive as the customers share an existing bond with the client.
After almost 15 years, RewardStream prides itself on earning the right to name companies such as Royal Bank of Canada, Sprint Wireless, AT&T, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, T-Mobile, TELUS, BC Lottery Corporation, CISCO, Nestle, Purolator Courier, and Grand & Toy amongst those it has worked with.
RewardStream is all about converting what is already being done—prove ROI on word of mouth marketing and refer a friend—and harnessing its power to boost awareness with the use of technology. The company has plans for incorporating mPOS and mWallet solutions on its roadmap and further strengthening its solutions. The firm foresees the referral industry to become a standardized way of businesses to acquire new clients. “Today we are working directly with large brands but we envision moving downstream into any market where customers can be incentivized to refer new customers. As consumers get familiar with Smartphone’s and mobile wallets, brands will be able to communicate in real time and share “easy to use” offers. We have shown that referrals are a cost effective new customer acquisition channel and believe that our platform and services combined with Smartphone advances will make referrals a mainstream marketing channel for all businesses.” concludes Christensen.
After almost 15 years, RewardStream prides itself on earning the right to name companies such as Royal Bank of Canada, Sprint Wireless, AT&T, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, T-Mobile, TELUS, BC Lottery Corporation, CISCO, Nestle, Purolator Courier, and Grand & Toy amongst those it has worked with.
RewardStream is all about converting what is already being done—prove ROI on word of mouth marketing and refer a friend—and harnessing its power to boost awareness with the use of technology. The company has plans for incorporating mPOS and mWallet solutions on its roadmap and further strengthening its solutions. The firm foresees the referral industry to become a standardized way of businesses to acquire new clients. “Today we are working directly with large brands but we envision moving downstream into any market where customers can be incentivized to refer new customers. As consumers get familiar with Smartphone’s and mobile wallets, brands will be able to communicate in real time and share “easy to use” offers. We have shown that referrals are a cost effective new customer acquisition channel and believe that our platform and services combined with Smartphone advances will make referrals a mainstream marketing channel for all businesses.” concludes Christensen.
Company
RewardStream
Headquarters
Vancouver, BC
Management
James Christensen, CEO
Description
Provider of refer-a-friend software and loyalty platform solutions that can help brands build deeper and more profitable long-term relationships with their customers.
