The Lacek Group Applies Detect and Redirect Technology to Starwood's Loyalty Marketing Initiatives

Challenge:
As part of its loyalty marketing efforts, Starwood sends targeted promotions to Starwood Preferred Guest members on an ongoing basis. Most of these promotions require registration. Over time Starwood learned that members were “gaming” or cheating the system by registering for multiple offers whether or not they were eligible. Starwood's internal online registration process could not police this gaming effectively, so members were receiving credit for offers for which they were not targeted, complicating promotion reporting and analysis and increasing award costs.

Solution:
The Lacek Group developed a technology called Detect and Redirect which allows Starwood to manage promotional gaming by optimizing Starwood Preferred Guest's ability to police member eligibility. At the start of a campaign, all qualifying member numbers are loaded into a promotion eligibility table. When members visit the registration site, their number triggers the information for their promotion only. If they try to register for another promotion, the system tells them they are ineligible and redirects them to their intended promotion. By closely tying the marketing database to an intelligent Web site, Lacek is able to detect promotion eligibility and redirect members to their targeted offer.

Results:
Promotional gaming has been virtually eliminated. Detect and Redirect has helped Starwood reduce award costs and increase the accuracy of promotion results and analysis. Return on investment has improved by nearly 40% due to better targeting and more effective policing, all without compromising the member experience.