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volume 9 • spring 2016
The only downside to being named a pioneer is that you have to admit how long you’ve been in the business, laughs Bob Legters, chief product o cer, global retail payments, at FIS. He recalls the days of lling out orders from paper catalogs, nding rewards merchandise in a stock- room, wrapping it and mailing it out. Aside from the obvious move to more e cient processes, Legters says the biggest change in more than 20 years of working at FIS is that loyalty has gone from being a wonderful add-on to being an essential for anybody that has anything to say to a consumer.
“When I started, I was trying to convince clients that they needed loyalty, now I’m just convincing them about how to execute,” he explains. “Everybody knows loyalty is critical.” Programs today must have digital access, real-time use of rewards points and e ective marketing that gets customers “Uber”-engaged, Legters adds. “Consumers are more intelligent about rewards programs and are shopping for rewards like they shop for every other product.”
Starting with Customers
The Florida native’s path to pay- ments and loyalty started with a job at a AAA call center, which led to a position with FIS customer service. After various leadership roles across consumer and client servicing and strategic planning, Legters still relies on conversations with clients now that he’s in charge of product. “I try to make sure I speak to one
“The days of every loyalty member getting the same reward are coming to an end. But being able to deliver di erentiated o ers requires signi cant infrastructure
and data security, which we have built.”
client every day,” he says. Connect- ing with clients helps Legters and his team ensure they’re executing on the plan but also helps them build strategy for the future.
As consumers demand real-time loyalty, one of the biggest pain points can be POS integration, he notes. Because FIS has connections into POS systems, mobile banking apps and mobile wallets, the company is well-positioned to solve that particular problem. Another attribute the massive technology company brings to the table is helping clients analyze data to deliver targeted o ers for speci c consumers. “The days of every loyalty member getting the same reward are coming to an end,” Legters says. “But being able to deliver di erentiated o ers requires signi cant infrastructure and data security, which we have built.”
He believes American Express’ launch of Plenti—the rst coalition
loyalty program in the U.S., which enables consumers to earn and spend rewards with a variety of merchants—is a turning point. “Creating ubiquity with points
is where the market is headed.
For example, I’ll be able to go to a pharmacy, but I can use the points I earn there the next time I go out to dinner or to pay for a round
of golf,” he says. Retailers are protective of their brands and have been reluctant to jointly cooperate, but he believes that mentality is shifting. “Consumers are at a saturation point. To keep your program relevant, it’s going
to have to become more exible.”
Legters says his 13 nieces and nephews help him embrace exi- bility and new perspectives. “They look for and expect things from the world in a new way,”
he says. “Their expectation of how the world should work tells me about the way the world could work.”
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BoB Legters
Chief Product Of cer, Global Retail Payments, FIS