In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce, a premium loyalty program solutions provider. Caporaso discusses Clarus Commerce's loyalty solutions for retailers, his 25-plus year career in customer loyalty and subscription programs, and what premium loyalty programs entail. He shares why premium loyalty programs are valuable to retailers, why consumers are willing to pay for a membership to receive instant benefits, and how these premium programs increase loyalty with retailers' best customers while also providing a recurring revenue stream.

Furthermore, Caporaso discusses key findings from the Clarus Commerce 2020 Premium Loyalty Data Study, why offering both free and paid loyalty tiers can help convert top customers to the paid model, and what he's seeing as the cost threshold that consumers are willing to spend to join a premium loyalty program. He shares why loyalty may be even more critical as the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic subside, how new omnichannel consumer behaviors will affect retail loyalty programs, and how retailers can connect with Clarus Commerce to improve their loyalty offerings.

Tom Caporaso is the CEO of Clarus Commerce, the only company specializing in building, managing and optimizing premium loyalty programs. He has been in the loyalty and subscription space for over 25 years, empowering brands to build better relationships with their top customers for the long-term. A solidified thought leader across the retail and loyalty sphere, Caporaso has been quoted in national publications like CNBC, Reuters and U.S. News & World Report. In addition to his loyalty expertise, Caporaso also has a 100 percent CEO approval rating on Glassdoor, a 2020 leadership award from The Hartford Courant, and has helped Clarus Commerce earn the Connecticut Top Workplaces award every year since 2013.

Listen to part two of this multipart series here.