In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Carlos Dunlap-Beard, vice president of business development and loyalty strategy at Clarus Commerce, a premium loyalty program solutions provider. Dunlap-Beard discusses what retailers should be thinking about when building a premium loyalty program. He shares what the first step would be to build out a paid program to complement, not compete with an already existing free program; the importance of ensuring quality benefits and engagement to retain paid members; and what merchants should look for in a premium loyalty partner.

In addition, Dunlap-Beard discusses Clarus Commerce's process when partnering with retailers to create and implement custom premium loyalty programs, why its an iterative process to continually evolve the program post-launch, and how retailers can start a conversation around loyalty with Clarus Commerce. Lastly, Dunlap-Beard shares a list of resources available from Clarus Commerce, such as the 2021 Loyalty Industry Data Study and the 2020 Premium Loyalty Data Study, which retailers can utilize to better understand the role that premium loyalty programs can play in their future success.

Carlos Dunlap-Beard is the vice president of business development and loyalty strategy at Clarus Commerce. He has spent the past 25 years cultivating a rich background in B-to-C/B-to-B engagement strategies, direct marketing, business development, customer acquisition, customer loyalty, data analysis and strategic marketing. A proven marketing strategist and consumer engagement thought leader, Carlos has authored dozens of articles, blog posts and whitepapers featured in numerous publications, as well as spoken at many conferences and events.

If you missed the earlier episodes of this multipart series, you can listen to part one here, part two here, and part three here.