Mercedes-Benz Owners Shape Loyalty Rewards
If there are two things that Bank of America’s Robin Siczek has learned about Mercedes-Benz owners: if you listen, you can cater to.
Bank of America last month re-launched the Mercedes-Benz Visa Signature loyalty-based credit card. An Internet-based survey in April 2004 queried Mercedes-Benz USA’s customers to determine rewards and other characteristics of the program and found that in additional to traditional perks, this demographic wanted something different.
“Because the demographics of a Mercedes-Benz owner is higher, and Mercedes-Benz owners tend to carry more high-end credit cards, we wanted them to think outside the box for rewards that would be unique to them,” Mercedes-Benz marketing manager Kevin Boglarsky said.
So added to the list of rewards is a category for members to create their own perks such as a wine tasting or a custom-designed family vacation. Mercedes-Benz owners also wanted to earn points for being brand loyal and can now earn points for making their monthly car payments with their co-branded card, as well as for servicing at a Mercedes-Benz dealer.
“Most Mercedes-Benz owners already had loyalty-based credit cards,” Siczak said. “So we told them we wanted them to have something different from that, something that would show how unique Mercedes-Benz owners are.”
Other perks include the chance to redeem points at high-end retailers including Tiffany & Co., Coach, Dooney & Bourke, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and J Crew. Cardholders can earn 1.5 reward points for every dollar spent on net monthly purchases, with up to 10 reward points on Mercedes-Benz dealership transactions.
And of course, there are the practical rewards such as dining privileges, roadside dispatch, airport parking guarantee and lost luggage reimbursement.
The existing Mercedes-Benz Visa Platinum card, now known as the Mercedes-Benz Visa card, also offers rewards points with no annual fee. Both cards can be used without any cap on rewards points and as few as 1,000 points can be applied towards a reward.
