Loyalty on the Blockchain; Here’s What Resonates at Blockchain Economic Forum 2017
[Editor’s Note: LoyalCoin CEO Patrick Palacios, together with Head Blockchain Developer Anthony Vipond and Business Development Manager Marylaine Viernes, represented LoyalCoin in the Blockchain Economic Forum 2017 in New York City. Here’s his message, straight from the Big Apple.]
After attending the Blockchain Economic Forum 2017 in New York City this week, one thing is clearer than ever: Blockchain will play a major role in simplifying customer loyalty programs, especially as consumers continue to struggle to navigate the complexities and barriers between them and their rewards.
One of the biggest problems that loyalty programs have been trying to overcome is that consumers aren’t always able to maximize their memberships due to not knowing how to use the program itself and/or how to redeem the points. The points eventually expire, and this defeats the entire purpose of the loyalty program for both the consumer and company. Another problem of equal concern is that, due to expenses and technical considerations, companies find maintaining a robust database of members and how they use their points to be challenging. Finally, redemption becomes an issue when many companies don’t have enough partner merchants that universally accept loyalty their points.
To date, there are an estimated $100 billion worth of loyalty points that go unredeemed. This is a symptom of a larger problem — companies are not succeeding in satisfying and retaining consumers. The solution is to improve the tracking function of a loyalty program as well as to make it easier for the consumer to enjoy their points.
At Blockchain Economic Forum 2017, I presented Appsolutely’s new blockchain-backed LoyalPlatform and how it will revolutionize the loyalty economy with an omnichannel digital asset called LoyalCoin (LYL). LYL will replace traditional rewards points earned during transactions and will be redeemable across a broad spectrum of participating brands. By using a highly secure and decentralized digital ledger system, we can help companies create transaction records shared across a network. In the case of a loyalty program, every transaction creates a new block of information for every point created. These “blocks” of information are “chained” to previous blocks, which are then shared across a network.
We are providing an all-new experience for customers that enable them to realize the full potential of their transactions. Likewise, merchants can introduce more innovative rewards and eliminate limitations of an otherwise unremarkable experience. Because of the ease of use and security that blockchain provides, we hope to see more companies adapting blockchain for their own loyalty programs.
The future is loyal, thanks to blockchain.
Visit the LoyalCoin website for more details about this virtual currency, including our whitepaper and other important information. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more real-time updates. We’ll announce further milestones of our token generation event shortly.
