How The Obama Credit Card Decline Shapes The Future Of Analytics
President Barack Obama’s credit card got declined in a New York restaurant. Because, to quote Obama himself, “…I guess I don’t use it enough, so they thought there was some…
Five Ways To Win Lost SaaS Customers Back
Many of us have signed up for free software trials and not upgraded to the paid version when the trial period ended. Some of us might have bought a subscription…
Difference Between Data Mining & Predictive Analytics
I've been asked several times about the difference between Data Mining and Predictive Analytics. Well, that's not strictly true. I've been asked only once and that too in the following…
How To Fulfill Targeted Offers To Hear More Ka-Chings!
All of us receive spammy offers from banks, consumer brands, ecommerce websites, retailers and many other businesses. If you're like me, you probably delete these SMS / email messages without…
How To Accelerate Mainstream Adoption Of eBooks
As soon as I opened The Inner Circle, Brad Meltzer's novel about the presidential spy ring Culper Ring, on my B&N Nook Color, I noticed that it had 977 pages.…
How Can Fincumbents Grow When Banks Are Shedding Customers?
In their diatribes about the underbanked, unbanked and financial inclusion, many suppliers of financial services technologies to banks (aka "fincumbents") and members of the digerati threaten banks with the risk…
Apple Pay Puts Banks Squarely At The Center Of Mobile Payments
Like many, I’ve long held that nothing is broken with plastic cards for instore payments and made the case for mobile wallets to stick to gift, loyalty, ID and other…
Walking The Tightrope Between Driving Repeat Purchase And Rewarding Loyalty
I recently received an offer for INR 100 discount on my next trip on Meru Cabs, India’s leading cab dispatch company. To redeem this offer, I’d need to enter a…
Mast Kalandar Shows How Not To Run A Loyalty Program
Mast Kalandar is a North Indian quick service restaurant chain that has branches in Bangalore, Pune and a few other Indian cities. I happened to visit one of its outlets…
Cash in Hand Is Worth More Than Card In Bush
There’s no shortage of studies about the hidden costs of cash to merchants and others. Take this recent HBR report for example. On the face of it, they all make a…