Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1264, Customer Loyalty Programs.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1264.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Wynn and Dixie. getting rewarded for using a certain company.
Let's get started.
I've come up with a surefire way to bring in more business.
How?
We'll start a customer loyalty program.
All of the big businesses have them.
They're mainly point-based systems.
Our customers sign up. and will give them a membership card or keychain tag with a barcode.
Each time they make a purchase, they get points.
Once they've accumulated enough points, they can redeem them for rewards.
Okay, but what's this?
It's a punch card.
Each time a customer buys something over $25, they get a punch.
When they've received 10 punches, they get a $10 discount.
I understand all that, but what is this chart for?
It shows our new tiered system.
Customers who spend over a thousand dollars a year are on the blue level.
Those who spend more than five thousand dollars are on the red level.
And those who spend $10,000 are on the gold level.
We'll have incentives to get people to move up the ladder.
So which of these customer loyalty programs are we adopting?
All of them.
Huh?
How are customers supposed to keep track of all of these programs?
Good question.
See this?
It's a free wallet we'll be giving away.
Customers can keep all of their customer loyalty cards in it.
Isn't it nice?
You've got a point.
Maybe we should come up with a reward program for those who do.
Hey, that's brilliant!
Our dialogue begins with Wynne saying to Dixie I've come up with a surefire way to bring in more business.
To come up with something is to invent or imagine or create something new.
Wynn has created a surefire way.
Surefire, S-U-R-E, F-I-R-E, is something that is going to be successful.
Something that cannot fail, cannot go wrong.
Another word for this would be foolproof, F-O-O-L-P-R-O-O-F.
Something that is surefire or foolproof will be successful no matter what.
Wynn has a surefire way to bring in more business.
To bring in means to get more people, in this case, to buy things at a store.
Dixie says, how?
Wynn says, we'll start a customer loyalty program.
A customer is someone who buys something from a store or a company.
Loyalty, L-O-Y-A-L-T-Y, is the connection and the support you have for someone or to someone.
If I am loyal to you, I will help you even if it's difficult, or I will always support you and not someone else.
Customer loyalty programs are things that companies design, companies create to get their customers, the people who buy things from them, return to them, and they do this by giving the customers something extra.
Sometimes it's extra discounts.
Some companies will give you a certain number of points that you can collect, and if you get so many points, you then get a free item from that store, and Coffee shops, for example, will often have little cards they give you.
And each time you buy a drink, they put something on your card that shows you bought a drink.
And after 10 drinks, you get a free drink.
That's what happens at my local coffee shop here in Los Angeles.
Wynn wants to start a customer loyalty program.
He says all of the big businesses have them.
Dixie says, I'm not sure how they work.
Then Wynn explains how a customer loyalty program works.
He says they're mainly or primarily point-based systems, meaning you get a point for every time you buy something, or perhaps a point for every dollar you spend.
Our customers Wynn continues, sign up or register for and we'll give them a membership card or keychain tag with a barcode.
A membership card is usually a paper or plastic card, sort of like a credit card.
A keychain K-E-Y-C-H-A-I-N is something that you use to put your keys on when you put them in your pocket or purse.
A tag, T-A-G, is like a little small card that goes on your keychain.
These cards, or tags, usually have a barcode attached B-A-R-C-O-D-E on the back of them.
A barcode is a series of thin and thick lines that can be read by a special computer.
Each time they make a purchase when, says they, meaning the customers get points.
Once they've accumulated enough points, they can redeem them for rewards.
To accumulate a c c u m u l a t, e means to gather or to increase the number of something by adding to it a little at a time.
To accumulate enough points means to get enough points because you've gone to the store over and over again.
Once they've accumulated enough points, Wynn explains they can redeem R-E-D-E-E-M them for rewards R-E-W-A-R-D-S.
To redeem means to exchange something, usually for a prize or a reward.
If you go to Las Vegas or a casino where there is gambling, they usually will give you small round objects, called in English chips C-H-I-P-S.
These chips are used for gambling at, say, the poker table.
When you are done, at the end of the night, if you still have any left, you take those chips in and you cash them in, or we might use the verb redeem them for money.
Normally however, the verb redeem is used when someone gives you something that you can then exchange for or give to someone else to get money or some other prize or reward.
If you buy a lottery ticket and you win, you can redeem that little piece of paper with the correct numbers on it for a million dollars or however much you won.
By the way, congratulations.
If you did win, I'd be happy to help you spend that money.
Anyway, we're not redeeming lottery tickets here.
We're redeeming points.
Four rewards.
A reward is a prize, something you get for free, because you've done something well or because you've won some competition.
Dixie says, okay, but what's this?
She is showing Wyn something.
Wyn says it's a punch card.
A punch P-U-N-C-H card is a small paper card in which there are a series of holes made every time you buy something.
There's a small device to make holes in paper called a punch.
And when you put the piece of paper in this little device, it makes a hole in it.
Wynn says each time a customer buys something over 25, meaning worth more than 25, they get a punch.
When they've received 10 punches, they get a $10 discount.
D-I-S-C-O-U-N-T.
A discount is a reduction in the price of something.
Sometimes it's a percentage reduction.
Sometimes it's an actual dollar amount.
Here it's a $10 discount.
Dixie says, I understand all that, but what is this chart for?
A chart says, C-H-A-R-T, is an organized way of presenting information.
Sometimes it will have a table on it.
Sometimes it will have graphs on it.
Wynn says it shows our new tiered system.
This chart he's looking at then shows their new tiered, T-I-E-R-E-D, system.
Tiered refers to something with many different levels or steps.
Wynn explains customers who spend over 1000 a year are on the blue level, or we might say blue tier, since tier T-I-E-R is just another word for level.
Those who spend more than $5,000, Wynn says, are on the red level.
And those who spend $10,000 are on the gold level.
We'll have incentives to get people to move up the ladder.
An incentive I-N-C-E-N-T-I-V-E is something that motivates you to do something.
An incentive makes you want to do something.
It may be money.
It may be power.
It may be the possibility of going on a date with a beautiful woman.
That might be an incentive for you to go to the gym and get big muscles like me.
Well, not like me.
I don't need any more beautiful women.
I have my wife.
Anyway, Wynn is talking about incentives to get people to move up the ladder.
L-A-D-D-E-R.
To move up the ladder here means to increase in value or to go up to the next level, from the blue level to the red level, to the gold level.
Dixie says, so which of these customer loyalty programs are we adopting?
To adopt, A-D-O-P-T.
Here means simply to decide to use or to begin to use.
Wynne answers, all of them.
Dixie's confused.
She says, huh?
That's a way we indicate confusion in English.
Huh?
How are customers supposed to keep track of all of these programs, she asks.
To keep track, T-R-A-C-K, of something is a phrasal verb meaning to know the details of something as something. things change usually we use this phrase when we are talking about a complicated system as this apparently is Wynn says good question see this it's a free wallet we'll be giving away a wallet w-a-l-l-e-t and is something that a man or woman uses to put his or her money and credit cards in.
Wynn is showing Dixie these wallets, or a wallet and telling her that they're going to be giving them away.
They're going to be giving them to their customers for free.
Customers, he says, can keep all of their customer loyalty cards in it.
Isn't it nice?
Dixie says it's nice, but will people really use it?
Wynn says, you've got a point.
You've got a point means you are right about that.
He says maybe we should come up with.
In other words, he's going to give them a wallet so they can keep all of these cards in it.
That is, the customers can keep all of these reward cards in it.
After Dixie points out that maybe customers won't use the wallet, Wynn says they'll create another loyalty program, another reward program for those who do use the wallet.
He says, hey, that's brilliant, meaning that's very clever, that's smart, that's very intelligent.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I've come up with a surefire way to bring in more business.
How?
We'll start a customer loyalty program.
All of the big businesses have them.
I'm not sure how they work.
They're mainly point-based systems.
Our customers sign up and we'll give them a membership card or keychain tag with a barcode.
Each time they make a purchase, they get points.
Once they've accumulated enough points, they can redeem them for rewards.
Okay, but what's this?
It's a punch card.
Each time a customer buys something over $25, they get a punch.
When they've received 10 punches, they get a $10 discount.
I understand all that, but what is this chart for?
It shows our new tiered system.
Customers who spend over $1,000 a year are on the blue level.
Those who spend more than 5000 are on the red level, and those who spend 10000 are on the gold level.
We'll have incentives to get people to move up the ladder.
So which of these customer loyalty programs are we adopting?
All of them.
Huh?
How are customers supposed to keep track of all of these programs?
Good question.
See this?
It's a free wallet we'll be giving away.
Customers can keep all of their customer loyalty cards in it.
Isn't it nice?
It's nice but will people really use it?
You've got a point.
Maybe we should come up with a reward program for those who do.
Hey that's brilliant.
Our scriptwriter is brilliant for writing all of these wonderful scripts.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
