LEWISVILLE, Texas, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Parago, a global engagement management company and the US’ largest rebate provider, today unveiled its third annual consumer research study. One highlight of the 2012 research: consumer preference for rebates versus instant discounts is growing. The survey shows that while economic recovery may be on its way by the numbers, consumer sentiments around spending are still timid.

According to the study, bargain hunting is still a priority among shoppers and rebates are highly popular with consumers. In fact, today 95 percent of consumers are interested in products that come with rebates and 80 percent of consumers actively seek out rebates.

“With our third annual study of consumer shopping behavior, we have seen sustained sensitivity to price and willingness to hunt for bargains. Price perception is king, and consumers are indifferent to how that price point is achieved, whether through rebate, coupon, club or sale,” said Juli Spottiswood, Parago President & CEO. “However, because consumers understand that rebates offer deeper discounts than other sales, there is a strong interest in the promotions and shoppers are actively looking for rebates before and during the shopping experience. As such, marketers are able to leverage rebates to drive lower price perception while gaining high value customer information during the redemption process.”

The rebate research was conducted independently through online delivery and surveyed more than 1,000 consumers. Key findings include:

Consumers’ preference for higher value rebates versus instant discounts grew

80 percent of consumers look for rebates

Because rebates are only offered for a specific period of time, they make 54 percent of shoppers feel like they caught an exclusive sale

57 percent of consumers feel that rebates are easy to redeem nowadays

Today, marketers are looking at the (nearly ubiquitous) value-seeking consumer differently. Rebates and other redemption programs give consumers value, and in turn marketers are able to gain reciprocal value from their customers by gaining valuable data, opt-in and email capture in ways that coupons, clearance and sales cannot. Building a CRM strategy around a rebate campaign has become a successful way for marketers to deliver on price perception, but drive incremental value from that value-seeking consumer. This approach can also be a gateway to a long-term engagement strategy.

Parago provides consumer incentive and customer acquisition rewards to one out of every two US households, for several Fortune 500 companies and for some of the largest brands in America.

About Parago

Parago is a leading provider of end-to-end engagement management programs for consumers, sales channels and employees, which deploy technology to drive better results. Parago provides services to many of the top companies around the globe. Parago has distinguished itself in the rewards-based incentives field for more than ten years by consistent reinvention of legacy approaches, introducing 27 industry firsts and receiving three patents. Parago issues more than $2 billion dollars in rewards every year, and offers the most all-inclusive approach to turn-key consumer, channel and employee management worldwide. For more information visit www.parago.com , the Parago blog or Twitter.

SOURCE Parago

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Parago has been a leader in paperless promotions since the launch of its first paperless rebate in 2004. During the past seven years Parago has delivered more than 75 million paperless rebates, totaling more than $2.5 billion in promotional funds distributed. Customer satisfaction with the programs has driven strong returns and also created longer-term customer loyalty for Parago’s clients.

“Not only do paperless rebates make the rebating experience simpler and more rewarding for consumers, but the online redemption platforms give sponsoring businesses access to a captive audience that is more likely to opt-in to ongoing email communications or make additional purchases,” said Juli Spottiswood, Parago President & CEO. “Thanks to these benefits, and also because businesses want to respond to consumers’ evolving preferences for technology and communication, we are seeing more and more clients move toward paperless rebates.”

Advances in promotional technology have driven growth of paperless rebates. For example, some businesses now allow consumers to take a photo of their receipt and upload it to a mobile friendly site to redeem their rebates.

Paperless rebate programs offer more than just a simple, modernized solution to a legacy promotion, they also present a range of new integrated marketing opportunities to businesses. The web-based, interactive nature of paperless rebating provides an ideal platform to deliver important information to the customer and imprint additional brand messages. It also provides the ability to cross-sell associated products or services and promote additional offers. In fact, the average paperless rebate offers clients 10 more communication and brand touch points than paper-based rebates. Paperless rebates are also attractive to eco-conscious businesses.

Parago provides consumer incentive and customer acquisition rewards to one out of every two US households, for several Fortune 500 companies and for some of the largest brands in America.

Best-in-Category: Paylution Visa Prepaid Card

• hyperWALLET Systems Inc.
• The Bancorp Bank
• FIS Payment Solutions Group

Even today, international payments can be complicated, particularly for commission-based pay. Companies with a global workforce must juggle different systems and file formats, creating costly inefficiencies.

hyperWALLET Systems Inc. is revolutionizing the process through its Paylution Visa Prepaid Card. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, hyperWALLET delivers global payment technologies to top-tier, direct-selling companies that need an easier way to pay commissions to their sellers. Companies are able to fund electronic payments in more than 20 currencies to 50-plus countries across multiple payment channels—e-wallet, locally issued prepaid cards, mobile handsets or as cash pickups at 400,000 Western Union locations.

In addition to secure, global payment technologies and client-branded solutions, The Bancorp Bank-issued Paylution Visa Prepaid Card addresses a longstanding concern of paying commissions to non-employees. In tackling this “freelance” direct-selling market, hyperWALLET helps fuel growth in the industry by making commissions more efficient and hassle-free.

Companies that had been sending checks or using wire transfers can switch to one of hyperWALLET’s client-branded solutions for more efficient commission payments. One client, MonaVie, with 1 million commissioned sales agents worldwide, reduced its payment distribution costs by 80 percent and time of funds availability from 20 to 30 days to one to three days.

Cardholders can use online and mobile apps to manage their accounts, send money to an e-wallet or set up automated transfers across multiple accounts.

Winner: MetroPCS Visa Prepaid Rebate Program

• Parago

Since launching the MetroPCS Visa Prepaid Rebate Card program in 2009, MetroPCS has tallied $2.5 million in rebate funds spent back in their stores, increased its loyal subscriber base and decreased churn.

Prepaid cards are familiar to MetroPCS customers, many of whom are already GPR cardholders who recognize the convenience and security of prepaid. MetroPCS customers like receiving rebates that can be spent immediately, rather than having to cash a rebate check.

The rebate program additionally offers bilingual fulfillment, allowing customers to indicate if their preferred language is English or Spanish. From that point on, all communication touch points are tailored to reflect that, including rebate Website information, emails, phone service and more.

The program helps drive customer retention by offering a satisfying experience and by timing the rebate distribution with when customers pay their second bill—the threshold for churn, according to MetroPCS data. Also, using a more sophisticated validation process improves efficiency in the long term.

Results show churn continues to drop for MetroPCS and subscribers are up more than 2.5 million in the last two years.

Winner: N.E.W. Rapid Product Replacement Plan

• InComm
• Walmart
• N.E.W. Customer Service Companies LLC

Beginning in November 2009, Walmart’s U.S., Puerto Rico and Canadian stores began offering product warranties in a new way—via Walmart gift cards. By providing customers with near-immediate delivery of warranty funds, N.E.W. Customer Service Companies and InComm brought a more robust consumer experience to market by turning an intangible product warranty into something consumers can hold in their hands—a closed-loop gift card.

Redemption is a significantly more seamless process for customers. Cards are loaded within 48 hours of a warranty claim validation, reducing the time it takes customers to get their replacement value from weeks (due to check delivery) to days.

The sale of the Walmart Product Care Plan has exceeded projections, with warranty sales increasing exponentially. And, the closed-loop card drives replacement product spending back to Walmart stores and Websites.

The program is being expanded internationally based on positive customer feedback for its speed and accuracy.

InComm’s direct integration with Walmart is the only existing partnership in the market that enables the delivery of warranty value on a retail gift card immediately upon purchase.

April 11, 2012 (Lewisville, TX) –Parago, a leading provider of end-to-end engagement management programs for consumers, sales channels and employees, today announced that its proprietary prepaid reward ordering portal, PROP™,  has achieved significant milestones in a mere six months since its launch. PROP has attracted dozens of new clients to Parago, and has distributed 500,000 Visa® prepaid cards totaling $20 million in issued or loaded funds.

PROP, an acronym for Parago Reward Ordering Portal, provides large organizations a central destination for ordering, loading, activating and customizing Visa® prepaid cards for incentives and rewards. The one-stop online destination is a customizable portal that makes the prepaid incentive procurement process simple for every business department and provides the much needed controls and ability to audit that corporations require. Whether it is a short run of cards used by Human Resources for employee recognition, or thousands of cards for a large-scale consumer incentive program, PROP enables all departments within an enterprise to procure prepaid incentives through a few quick clicks.

“PROP’s overwhelming popularity right out of the gates confirms that it is a useful solution to the many large companies that struggled with the reward and incentives purchasing and procurement process, which historically required coordination of multiple contracts with a number of approved vendors, various pricing schedules and internal brand and legal review,” said Juli Spottiswood, President & CEO of Parago.  “PROP’s speedy growth is also an indication that prepaid cards continue to be attractive rewards vehicles, providing recipients with easy-to-use cards that can be spent anywhere the Visa brand is accepted.”

Research conducted by Parago is 2011 showed that prepaid cards are the incentive of choice for employees. When asked what type of holiday gift they would like to receive from employers, prepaid cards came out on top with 57%, over gift cards, company-branded merchandise or cash. An overwhelming 85% of survey respondents said they would feel grateful if they received a prepaid card as a reward. When asked about their favorite features of prepaid cards, the majority pointed to the fact that prepaid cards can be spent almost anywhere and at multiple retailers.

“Prepaid cards have long been a reward in our toolbox at Silverleaf, for both customers and employees,” said Anton Pomakov, Senior VP, Marketing, Silverleaf Resorts, Inc., a PROP client. “Now, with PROP from Parago, we are able to easily order cards from our custom catalog – across the organization – simply and hassle-free. The portal works for all of our applications – we can order one or many cards, reload and activate all in one site, any time of day. The flexibility PROP provides is great for our business.”

Parago pioneered the use of prepaid cards for promotional incentives, and the payments vehicles have now become a staple in the industry. Parago provides consumer incentive and customer acquisition rewards to one out of every two US households, for several Fortune 500 companies and for some of the largest brands in America, and delivers seven of the leading global channel management programs, servicing more than 220 countries.

For more information, a demo or pricing on PROP, contact the Parago Prepaid Team at 888.219.7533.

Engagement management provider receives NBRI Circle of Excellence Award for dedication to continuous improvement and client delivery

Lewisville, TX, March 13, 2012 –Parago, a leading provider of end-to-end engagement management programs for consumers, sales channels and employees, today announced that it has received the Circle of Excellence Award from the National Business Research Institute for its commitment to continuous improvement and client delivery. This award was granted as a result of Parago’s 2011 client survey results, which showed market-best levels of client satisfaction, Parago performance, and above all, client’s willingness to recommend Parago to others.

Record-breaking Client Satisfaction and Service

In 2011, Parago saw record-breaking client satisfaction, with improvement and high levels of performance along measured categories, including delivery team, Parago people, quality of service, commitment to partnership, value of service, reporting and willingness to recommend. The company received overall improvement in client satisfaction scores, with the highest scores for Parago team quality and delivery. Parago’s rebate and incentive clients agreed that their contacts at Parago listen to their concerns, communicate and interact effectively and are responsive to their needs. Impressively, 100% of Parago’s major rebate clients reported that they would recommend Parago to others.

The NBRI Circle of Excellence Award recognizes organizations that place a high value on employee and customer satisfaction. These organizations demonstrate their dedication by conducting best in class survey research with NBRI and taking action based upon the results. NBRI commends the leadership of these organizations for their commitment to the Continuous Improvement Process and recognizes their achievements with the Circle of Excellence Award.

“At Parago we infuse customer and client satisfaction into everything we do, and are consistently pushing the envelope to improve our client’s programs and our delivery. We are thrilled to see that our dedication to continuous improvement is reflected in our client satisfaction,” said Juli Spottiswood, Parago President & CEO. “We were pleased to hear that in 2011 our high-impact, value-driven consumer and corporate incentives programs were well executed and received by our top-tier client roster, including many Fortune 500 brands and American legacy companies. We look forward to ongoing performance and innovation in 2012.”

The NBRI Circle of Excellence is one of Parago’s many industry distinctions and accolades that recognize their dedication to industry performance and client, and consumer satisfaction. Parago is a Net Promoter Certified organization, recipient of dozens of awards for client programs, culture and executive leadership, for a list of achievements, please visit http://www.parago.com/parago-awards/.

Lewisville, TX, March 6, 2012 –Parago, a leading provider of end-to-end engagement management programs for consumers, sales channels and employees, today announced that its rebate program for MetroPCS Communications, Inc., leveraging a branded Visa prepaid card as reward delivery, is a winner of the Best Prepaid Incentive, Reward, Rebate or Loyalty Program category in the 2012 Paybefore Awards.

Paybefore Awards is the most prestigious recognition of excellence in the worldwide prepaid and stored value industry. The awards are presented annually by Paybefore, whose publications are the leading source of industry information for the global prepaid community.

The Parago rebate program for MetroPCS, which has now spanned two years, offers rebates on a variety of MetroPCS phone models with a branded Visa prepaid card as the reward vehicle. Since the launch of the prepaid rebate program, MetroPCS has enjoyed very positive results.

“We have been delighted to work with MetroPCS and Visa to deliver an intelligent consumer incentive program that leverages prepaid rewards to drive customer acquisition, revenue and delight MetroPCS consumers in new ways,” said Juli Spottiswood, Parago President & CEO. “We are proud to have pioneered the use of prepaid cards for promotional incentives, as the payments vehicles have now become a staple in our industry. We are honored to be recognized by Paybefore.”

“Paybefore Awards was created to honor the companies and individuals that are keeping prepaid on the cutting edge of payments,” said Loraine DeBonis, Paybefore editor-in-chief and chair of the judging panel. “Our industry continues to break new ground and expand the reach of electronic payments because of the businesses that make innovation and execution a priority. We are proud to recognize the contributions of our winners to advancing the prepaid industry.”

This year’s Paybefore Awards was extremely competitive, with companies from across the globe vying for recognition as the best in the world in 20 diverse categories. Winners now are competing to be named “Best in Category” at the 2012 Paybefore Awards ceremony to be held during the Prepaid Expo USA, March 12 at 5-5:45 p.m. in the Islander Room at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Lewisville, TX, February 14, 2012 – Parago, a leading provider of consumer and corporate incentives in the US, today announced the acquisition of Intuitive Group International, which specializes in implementing powerful multi-channel, multi-touch global marketing programs in Europe and across the globe. Together Parago and Intuitive Group form the new Parago, an international provider of end-to-end engagement management programs for consumers, sales channels and employees.

“This acquisition pairs the United States’ leader in consumer incentives with a premiere international provider of total channel management and employee performance solutions, for a powerful combination,” said Juli Spottiswood, Parago President & CEO. “At Parago we are dedicated to continually advancing our engagement offerings, and this step will allow us to provide clients full-service programs designed to increase customer acquisition, enhance channel sales performance and reward and recognize employee performance, all from one provider. And we now offer this around the globe, with the scale and expertise that Parago is well known for.”

While Parago previously offered channel and employee programs, they were limited to US-based programs only. Intuitive Group’s robust platform includes complete channel and partner relationship management capabilities such as marketing automation, management of marketing development funds (MDF), email and direct mail, event management, campaign on demand, lead management, marketing and sales integration and campaign analytics. Additionally, Intuitive Group has a complete rewards and incentives offering that spans the globe. The employee incentive platform allows companies to improve performance, provide training incentives and reward and recognize employees.

The combination of the two incentives providers will result in a greater reach and suite of total engagement offerings, plus a client roster that includes many of the world’s leading companies, across many industries. Today, Parago provides consumer incentive and customer acquisition rewards to one out of every two US households, for several Fortune 500 companies and for some of the largest brands in America. Intuitive Group’s clients include many leading technology, telecom and financial services clients, and they deliver seven of the leading global channel management programs, servicing more than 220 countries, multiple currencies and myriad languages. Combined, the companies interact with more than 2 million channel participants around the globe, every day.

Parago will maintain the European Intuitive Group office in Reading, UK.

America’s Growth Capital served as financial advisor to Intuitive Group.

Lewisville, TX, October xx, 2011 –Parago, a leading provider of consumer and corporate incentives, today announced the launch of a promotional fulfillment service offering designed to reward and communicate to clients’ Spanish-speaking customers in their language of preference. Many consumer promotions are currently marketed in Spanish; however, translation gaps in reward fulfillment and customer service communications exist. SOLO Spanish addresses this shortfall and is now available for all Parago consumer incentive and customer acquisition programs including rebates, gift with purchase and others.

The new Spanish-language program tailors all communication touch points to the language of the customer’s choosing during reward submission. For example, once a customer identifies preference for the Spanish-language, all following communication will be tailored to this preference. SOLO Spanish will not only provide better customer service by communicating in native or language-of-preference, it will also make consumer incentives fulfillment more personalized. Some consumer promotions include two languages in all written fulfillment materials – both English and Spanish. Parago’s new program will only have a single version of each communication piece in the language that the consumer selected, speaking directly to the customer and reducing the volume of communication materials.

MetroPCS Communications, Inc. the nation’s leading provider of unlimited, no annual contract, flat-rate wireless service, has implemented SOLO Spanish with great success.

“MetroPCS’ customer-base has a large Spanish-speaking component,” said Phil Terry, senior vice president of corporate marketing, MetroPCS. “We work with Parago to help drive customer acquisition, deliver incentives and maintain ongoing engagement with our valued customers and now, with dedicated Spanish-language communication, we are able to better serve our customers.”

“Parago delivers rewards on behalf of most major consumer brands in America, and as such is pleased to offer a more personalized reward fulfillment service offering tailored specifically for Spanish-speaking consumers and Hispanic-focused marketing campaigns,” stated Juli Spottiswood, President & CEO of Parago. “As Spanish-speaking consumers represent 12 percent of US residents, SOLO Spanish will help our clients meet the increasingly diverse American consumer. Companies have realized the benefits of marketing in the native language of Spanish-speaking communities, and we are proud to extend that approach to promotion fulfillment and post-purchase communications.”

Parago provides consumer incentive and customer acquisition rewards to 1 out of every 2 US households.

A longtime leader and innovator in the consumer incentive and rebate fulfillment industry, this year Parago advanced the promotions industry again with the launch of GoRebate Mobile iPhone and Android shopping applications, which allow consumers to find great rebate deals on the go, to track the status of submitted rebates and receive alerts when a rebate deal is nearby.

While Parago has continued to expand its incentive offerings, the company saw record-setting rebate issuance in 2010, this year introduced an industry-best rewards fulfillment platform, PROP, has maintained a 98% client retention rate and continues to deliver incentive innovation and results in market.

Best in Biz Awards 2011 were presented in more than 30 categories, including Best Overall Company of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, Executive of the Year and Best New Product of the Year. More than 150 entries were received in this year’s awards program, from an impressive array of public and private companies from a variety of industries, sectors and regions. The companies that won gold, silver and bronze awards in this year’s program represent the best in American business.

“I credit our success and recognition from the Best in Biz program to our ability to continually evolve promotions, to make them more rewarding for consumers and more profitable for businesses,” said Juli Spottiswood, President & CEO of Parago. “GoRebate Mobile is a great example of how Parago continued to innovate in 2011. We are thrilled to receive this award and look forward to continuing to drive the incentive and promotion industry forward.”

Winners of Best in Biz Awards 2011 were determined by scores from a panel of high-caliber judges from top-tier business and technology publications, as well as analyst firms, including: Accounting Today, AllBusiness.com, ECT News Network, eWeek Channel Insider, Financial Times, Fox News, Hartford Business Journal, Insight Media, Kelsey Group, King Features Syndicate, Lab Reviews, Network World, PC Magazine, Portfolio, Puget Sound Business Journal, Tech.Blorge, Tech-Gaming, Techtalk and Wired. The 20 judges on this year’s panel boast more than 470 years of combined experience and have written for a combined total of more than 180 consumer, business, financial, trade and technology publications nationwide.

For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2011,
visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2011-winners.

Lewisville, TX, October 13, 2011 – Countless employers have eliminated big bonuses and extravagant end-of-year celebrations. Yet many still seek simple ways to reward their staff and keep employees motivated to ensure their companies remain competitive in the recovering economy. Parago, a leading provider of consumer and corporate incentives, today announced new research that indicates that even a small token of appreciation goes a long way to keep employees motivated and feeling appreciated and loyal to their employers. In fact, 64% said a prepaid card of $50 or less would meet their expectations for an end-of-year reward, with 55% expecting $25.

According to the recently completed survey, most employees do not expect their employers to give end-of-year rewards or holiday gifts this year, yet an even bigger majority indicates that even a little reward would be greatly appreciated. In fact, 81% say that end-of-year rewards are a nice thing to do for employees but should not be expected. This data uncovers a missed opportunity for employers to foster a loyal environment and maintain a productive workforce:  respondents overwhelmingly reported positive emotions about an employer that would give a holiday or end-of-year reward, if even a small one. Key findings of the research include:

• Small rewards make a big impact: 84% of employees reported that an end-of-year reward of a prepaid card valued at $100 or less would meet their expectations.  55% of employees said it would take just a $25 prepaid card to meet their expectations.
• Holiday incentives are not expected this year: 69% of employees do not expect their employers to give end-of-year rewards or holiday gifts this year, with the main reasons being lower company profits, missed quotas, lack of appreciation for employees or the fact that their company does not normally give out holiday rewards.
• Rewards will boost morale: 81% of employees said a reward would make them feel either appreciated, motivated to work harder or more loyal to the company. 79% of employees said that receiving an end-of-year reward would mean that they had done a great job and worked hard or that their employer appreciates and/or values them.
• Prepaid cards are the incentive of choice: When asked what type of holiday gift they would like to receive, prepaid gift cards backed by Visa or MasterCard came out on top with 57%, over gift cards, company-branded merchandise or cash. An overwhelming 85% of survey respondents said they would feel grateful if they received a prepaid card as a holiday reward this year. When asked about their favorite features of prepaid cards, the majority pointed to the fact that prepaid cards can be spent almost anywhere and at multiple retailers.

“Employees are not expecting rewards this year, but if they received one it would clearly foster positive attitudes and behavior that could help many companies compete in this tough economy,” said Juli Spottiswood, President & CEO of Parago. “Whether it is for the holidays or as an end-of-year incentive, our research shows that employee rewards are dearly appreciated, no matter the value. Low-dollar prepaid cards are an easy way to reward employees given the many benefits of the cards – not to mention they remove any guesswork from giving the ‘right’ reward to a diverse group of people.”

Last month Parago launched PROP™ (Parago Reward Ordering Portal), a proprietary reward ordering portal that provides large organizations a central destination for ordering, loading, activating and customizing Visa® prepaid cards for incentives and rewards. PROP is a perfect portal for companies seeking a quick and easy way to obtain employee incentives this holiday season.