From the inception of railroads in the U.S., commercial freight railroads operated private passenger service. However, by the 1960s, travel by air and interstate highways dominated, and it was no longer profitable to operate passenger railroads.
As a result, private railroads in the U.S. were not doing well. Passenger service was one of many headwinds they had in the business, and they were essentially looking to end it. The federal government did not want to see a wholesale failure of the railroads in the country and decided to develop a solution: Amtrak.
Amtrak, founded in 1971, is a private company, but the sole shareholder is the United States Federal Government. In some regard, there is a public side to the brand. Amtrak assumed all the passenger lines managed by the different railroads throughout the country. Since then, the company has grown — cutting some lines while adding others and revitalizing the fleet.
Today, Amtrak has observed historic interest and levels of investment in passenger rail as a low-energy, sustainable way to travel. This recognition points to passenger rail as having a role to play in the future of travel in the U.S. Over the next 10 years, the company plans to move its services into new markets while improving service in existing ones.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Adam Levin-Epstein, Director, Amtrak Guest Rewards, and Ross Nizlek, Director, CRM Operations & Strategy at Amtrak, about Amtrak’s Guest Rewards program, using customer loyalty data to determine program enhancements, and the brand’s commitment to “proactive service recovery.”
From the inception of railroads in the U.S., commercial freight railroads operated private passenger service. However, by the 1960s, travel by air and interstate highways dominated, and it was no longer profitable to operate passenger railroads.
As a result, private railroads in the U.S. were not doing well. Passenger service was one of many headwinds they had in the business, and they were essentially looking to end it. The federal government did not want to see a wholesale failure of the railroads in the country and decided to develop a solution: Amtrak.
Amtrak, founded in 1971, is a private company, but the sole shareholder is the United States Federal Government. In some regard, there is a public side to the brand. Amtrak assumed all the passenger lines managed by the different railroads throughout the country. Since then, the company has grown — cutting some lines while adding others and revitalizing the fleet.
Today, Amtrak has observed historic interest and levels of investment in passenger rail as a low-energy, sustainable way to travel. This recognition points to passenger rail as having a role to play in the future of travel in the U.S. Over the next 10 years, the company plans to move its services into new markets while improving service in existing ones.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Adam Levin-Epstein, Director, Amtrak Guest Rewards, and Ross Nizlek, Director, CRM Operations & Strategy at Amtrak, about Amtrak’s Guest Rewards program, using customer loyalty data to determine program enhancements, and the brand’s commitment to “proactive service recovery.”
Good afternoon and good morning. It's Mark Johnson from Loyalty 316. Everyone's happy, safe and well. Welcome back to another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series. In this series, we speak with leading brands about what they are hearing and seeing on the front lines of customer channel and brand loyalty. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Adam Lynn Epstein, director of Amtrak Guest Reward, and Ross Nislick, who's the Director of CRM Operations and Strategy at Amtrak. How are both of you today Doing well?
Speaker 2:Doing well.
Speaker 1:Great. Well, thank you for watching, taking the time to talk with us today. First off, we'd like to start these on a more personal level, so we'd love to know a little bit more about yourself, your roles with Amtrak and maybe a little bit about your work history, how you got into the customer loyalty space.
Speaker 3:Sure, I'll kick it off. Adam Levine Epstein been with Amtrak for a little over six years now. I'm from the DC area, so it works out well working with Amtrak I started off. I've been with the loyalty program at Amtrak the entire time. I started off doing a lot with promotions, moved on to email marketing and now I oversee the strategy of the program member engagement. I got into the loyalty space really as a personal passion. I'm one of those people who joined every loyalty program and tried to accumulate as many points as I can, and part of the reason for that is I just love to travel. It's a great way to do that. As far as fun factor or passion, I'll say that I'm very into sports and very into watching movies and tracking those movies, how many I watch and all that fun stuff.
Speaker 1:So I'm glad to be part of this next part. How many movies have you watched, I?
Speaker 3:think it's about 1745. 1745?.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh well, I've got 1,280 in my iTunes library. I kind of like you. I don't watch a lot of series, but I'd love to watch movies. That's good, all right. Well, I think we're gonna go over, switch over to Ross now. I'd love to know a little bit more about you as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Um, well, a lot of my answers are exactly the opposite, adam. I did not grow up here in the DC area, grew up in Connecticut and actually came to Amtrak just by way of some. Some other Transportation providers, spent a little bit of time in the airline industry. Really, what? What I did prior to coming here was public transit, and then I came back in and did not start and loyalty here. I started in our revenue management group and was working on revenue optimization. I did that for about two, two and a half years and then an opening in loyalty came up.
Speaker 2:I had been, I guess, towards members since before coming to the company. I've just been a lot of programs personally. I thought it was an interesting area and so joined the team about the world team about seven years ago. So I have been here for a while. I have very much enjoyed it. As I said, adam, I do do a lot of travel. I love to travel across the country, across the world, and so I definitely you know counting how many different places I visit and Use a lot of loyalty points to get me there.
Speaker 1:That's something that's good. For those who may not familiar with Amtrak, it would be good to have a overview of Amtrak and the heritage lineage, how you guys are started, what you guys do I'm sure familiar, but great to have that detail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. A bit of an interesting story. We just came up a few years ago on our 50th anniversary as a company. We were founded in 1971 and really the story is that Since the inception of railroads in the United States, commercial freight railroads were Operated.
Speaker 2:Passenger service in this country was all private and as you get into the 60s, you the dominance of the airplane, of interstate highways and it was no longer profitable to operate passenger railroads, and the private railroads in this country were not doing well. Um, passenger service was one of many headwinds they had in the business and they were essentially looking to get rid of it. And so the federal government I did not want to see a wholesale failure of all the railroads in the country decided to come up with a solution, and that solution was Amtrak. We are a private company but we are social shareholder is the United States federal government. So in that way we have a little bit of a public side to us and what we do is we've we assumed all of those passenger lines that that different railroads throughout the country had.
Speaker 2:Since that time we've grown, we've cut some of them, we've added some others, we've revitalized our fleet, but really it's been a journey of growth From there. I'll say right now is a very exciting time to be here at Amtrak that we are seeing Historic interest and levels of investment in passenger rail. It's recognized that we're a sustainable way to travel Low energy, greenway to travel and so that's getting us a lot of recognition that passenger rail has a place in the future of travel in the United States. So over the next 10 years we're going to be going into a lot of markets where we don't exist today, both with new service and then improving service in our existing markets. So that's, that's the quick 53 year history. But we're definitely an interesting entity in how we structure and what we do what we do.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Can you provide a brief overview of the Amtrak guest rewards program, how the program works, how members engage with it and what are the benefits?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So Amtrak guest rewards is Amtrak's loyalty program. It is free to join. Members can earn points both on and off the train and then use those points and redeem them for either Amtrak travel, gift cards, hotel reservations and a lot more by traveling on Amtrak or also by using one of our credit cards. You can earn TQPs, which are tier qualifying points, and the more TQPs you earn in a calendar year, the more you can climb and achieve status with our program. So we have different status levels select, select plus, select, executive, which is our highest and those all come with Different benefits. So these benefits could include things like a higher earn rate on your Amtrak travel. You're getting more Amtrak guest rewards points when you step on the train. They could include upgrade coupons, so you buy a seller business class ticket and you want to use an upgrade to go to first class Lounge access. So a number of our stations have very nice lounges, including at Moynihan train hall, our newest lounge which overlooks the main hall If you're in the New York City area and taking Amtrak, I would highly recommend checking it out and just many benefits that are going to enhance your experience both on and off the train.
Speaker 3:I mentioned credit cards. We do have two credit cards. One has an annual fee, one does not have an annual fee, and they both carry different benefits, such as earning points on all your spend, earning additional points when you buy a ticket with Amtrak or dining, and they also come with some of those benefits I mentioned, like upgrade coupons, companion passes, maybe a lounge pass as well. Next, just a couple more things. Yeah, throughout the years we do run a few promotions, so these could be like point multiplier promotions. Frequency offers route specific. So you asked about how can members engage in the program. We'd like to offer them promotions to facilitate that engagement and get them on the train and taking part in Amtrak services.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. Amtrak has been recognized again as a finalist in this year's loyalty 360 customer experience awards, based on the brand's commitment to customer satisfaction and enhancing customer experience. Can you tell us more about Amtrak success with customer engagement this year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean, we've been number of initiatives, but one that we're very excited about is what we call Proactor service recovery, and really what that is.
Speaker 2:It start as a pilot program and it's grown and, simply, when you get on a train with us, you want to arrive on time, and we do our best to make that happen on every trip.
Speaker 2:But there are issues that come up, just as there are with planes and with bosses and with traffic, where something comes up and we don't get you to that destination on schedule, and so really, what we try to do with practice service recovery is proactively reach out to customers, apologize for that experience and, in many cases, provide some form of compensation, typically in the form of and practice rewards points. So what we don't want to have happen is, after you, you've already arrived late and now you need to pick up the phone and we don't hold and talk to our contacts and our agents to get some compensation for your experience. So it's really a it's an automated Process that runs on the back end that we've created, and it's something that that we're proactively reaching out, communicating to our customers, both our members, who are automatically getting those points, and and nonmembers, where it's a bit of an acquisition Opportunity for us. We offer the opportunity to join the program and to get the practice service recovery points.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know what resources, or are we asking a different question? And when you do this proactive outreach, when you engage with your customers that we've had kind of a service level issue you know how do you see that impacting long-term customer loyalty or engage or your recovery efforts Is that? Is that obviously a positive potential opportunity?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. It is different ways to measure that and I think there's a short and a long term. So we have an internal customer satisfaction metric here that we is generated by surveying customers after a trip. So one thing that we've done is we've we've looked to see whether, if you get this service recovery against a control group, do you Actually rate is higher in that survey. Are these points making a difference? Is this something that customers actually value? And it does. It does noticeably Improve our customer ratings. That's really the short-term view. The longer term view is if you are more satisfied, which we can measure with that survey, you're more likely to come back and take us again. So we practice recovery is a relatively new thing that we're doing. It will be very interesting to look over time how that encourages future customer loyalty, additional return trips and and you know what we're gaining in terms of Keeping a customer after an experience that's probably not our best experience and getting them re-engaged to travel again with us.
Speaker 1:Excellent and this is not the first time Amtrak has been recognized by loyalty 360. In the past, the brand has received rewards and customer loyalty and customer experience strategy. You know what resources or systems that must be in place to maintain a level of excellence in your customer loyalty program.
Speaker 3:So I think one of the most important things Is data when we're making decisions about, you know, the future of the program, what enhancements to make, what changes to make, looking at both loyalty data as well as as travel data. You know on the on the Amtrak side. So you know, obviously it's important that we collect it, but we need to be reviewing it and making sure that we're acting upon Um the data to make these decisions. I think that you know we can come up with All great ideas in the world, but we're not using the information to make the decisions. You know it might prove futile, um. So making sure we're able to get that Uh, give the data in a digestible way and now we're using it to make the decisions.
Speaker 1:And can you share more about the role technology plays in your customer experience strategy and how it facilitates a longer and a stronger customer loyalty overall?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, technology is critical and it's in part just because of our scale.
Speaker 2:So this year we'll do about 32 million trips across our network.
Speaker 2:We operate in 46 of the lower 48 states and we have a variety of different routes, different trains, different service offerings, and so, with that scale and complexity, when we roll something like this out, in order to really touch a significant part of our customer base, it has to be at least somewhat automated.
Speaker 2:There has to be technology behind it. So, with this particular effort, we've implemented a CDP, a customer data platform, and that's really the place where we can unify all this data that used to be in very different areas. So we would have our member data in our loyalty system, we would have our reservation data with upcoming bookings and what trips you actually took in a different system, and then the on-time performance data of the train that was actually in a third system. And so by implementing the customer data platform, we're able to unify all of that data in a single place, build an audience that gets pushed out to our email communication tools to get out to the customer, to get the points and to actually send them the email letting them know that they got this. So, really, technology is critical to scale and making sure our data is available and accessible to execute these cases that we want to execute on.
Speaker 1:Excellent, and what emerging technologies would you like to learn more about? Would you even be maybe interested in implementing in your rewards program in the future?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think AI is extremely interesting. There's a lot of interest, obviously from all different sectors, but how can that make us more efficient? Today, amtrak, like many companies, has some automated tools. If you pick up the phone and call us, we have an automated agent. Those tools they do very basic things so they can book a train ticket, they can give you your train status and anything. When you need a little bit higher level service, you're talking to our agents, who are great folks, but there's scale limitations for that.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you're going to call at a busy time and wait on hold.
Speaker 2:Or if you look at some of our email communications, we have templates that we write and those are sort of in our system that are going out. When these things happen, I think AI advances and matures, becomes really interesting in some of those cases where we can provide a little bit more of a custom, personalized touch to customers. There's obviously a lot of challenges in that area too, around, say, a few customer data and ensuring that an AI comes up with meets our brand guidelines. So I think there's places to some challenges that have to be overcome there. But I think it would be really interesting to see five or eight years into the future If we could have an AI that handles more complex customer inquiries things that you maybe can't do on the app or the site, or handling escalations, as opposed to just those routine inquiries. So I think that's an area where I don't know if anyone knows where it's going to go, but just what's happened in the last year or two gets me very excited about where the future lies. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:When you look at the customers. Listening to the customers is the challenge that brands have struggled with for a while. Listening versus hearing. Being proactive, how does Amtrak leverage voice of the customer feedback when they are implementing new technologies or determining strategies for an enhancement to their customer experience?
Speaker 3:with your customer loyalty efforts, yeah, we talked a lot about data earlier. I also think that hearing customers and listening to their feedback is imperative to improving the program as well. So we do things like we periodically run customer satisfaction surveys that might have how you would rate different things about the program, as well as asking open-ended questions and taking that information and seeing how it could improve the program. We also spoke earlier about the customer satisfaction scores that we get when people travel on Amtrak. There is ratings and open-ended feedback on those as well, and a recent initiative that we've done is taking a particular look at those scores for our members, and specifically our cheer members, and seeing what feedback they have and, on many cases, replying directly to them. They should not only acknowledge the feedback but to provide that one-to-one experience of that they're hopefully getting back on the train and we're gonna, just like Ross mentioned with the product of service recovery, we will be measuring the performance of those members that we've reached out to on their future CSI and performance.
Speaker 1:Okay, when you look at customer loyalty, you got into it because of the passion you have and it's great. I think there's more people that have passion and customer loyalty now than ever before. It's a growing trend and it's great because we've been growing brand membership and working on very cool things and obviously you're a big part of that. When you look at other programs, are there programs you admire or you find yourself loyal to from a customer loyalty perspective and, if so, what do you like about their offerings?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think there's a lot. A couple that come to mind are actually out of the travel space, so I'll mention Starbucks. I think they do a tremendous job of really specifically targeting their promotions. They know what types of drinks I have bought and might be interested in buying, so they might send out a buy this drink twice in next week, but my brother or friend might get a completely different offer catered to their preferences. So I think, from a targeting standpoint, they do a really good job and that's something that I'd like to bring to Amtrak.
Speaker 3:We do a lot of targeting right now, but I think it's something that we can use to improve upon. Also, call out Chipotle. I think they do a lot of good things with their technology. They've done a lot recently with app notifications and also very targeted promotions, time-sensitive promotions, so really using different technology to promote the program. I really like something that they do is when you log into their site, they have like a notification, almost like a social media site, or hey, you just earned 375 points, here's what you can use them on. So those two programs I think are doing a really good job lately.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. And when you look at loyalty 360, voice customer being important what can we do to help you, your team and Amtrak with your customer loyalty programs?
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I think that the conversations with other leaders in loyalty are great and I love participating in those conversations. So continuing on with those. I will call out that I really particularly enjoy the university sessions. So when Pilden or another brand that's a part of loyalty 360 does a half hour half hour presentation on something that they've worked on, I do find it really useful because that can really go in depth on what other brands are working on.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Well now, thank you very much for that. By the way, both university sessions, the next generation customer loyalty sessions, are great and we're gonna have a surfer of them in 24. Looking forward to that Quick fire question time. Find time Like to limit the responses to one word or short phrases, or I get in trouble with the editorial team and I'm always in trouble with them, so we'll go ahead. I think, adam, you're taking these, yep. What is your favorite word? Win, win, okay. What is your least favorite word? Lose, nice. What excites you?
Speaker 3:Like accomplishments, checking things off the list and what do you find tiresome? Arguments or conversations that go nowhere.
Speaker 1:What is your favorite travel destination? I'll go with Copenhagen. Okay, what profession other than the one you are in now, would you like to attempt? Nba basketball player? There you go. Well. What is your favorite book recommendation that you make to colleagues?
Speaker 3:I'll say something. I'm gonna say something like Harry Potter or Dune to escape work for a bit.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. What. Who inspired you to become the person you are today? My parents. Okay, what do you typically think about the end of the day?
Speaker 3:What I'm gonna have for dinner.
Speaker 1:And how do you want to be remembered by your friends and family?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean hopefully nothing's happened to me anytime soon, but I'll say someone that was a good friend or family member did the right thing and stood for what they believed in.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, thank you, evan Ross, for taking the time to speak with us today. It was great getting to know more about both of you and also about some of the really interesting and hopefully very, very proactive things of doing an Amtrak. It always seems to be something new that you're doing very well and kicking kind of that customer experience to a new height every time we talk, so it's great to share that with our audience. So, thank you, thanks for having us. Absolutely Thanks, man, and thank you everyone for attending. Make sure you join us back again soon for another edition of our Leaders in Customer loyalty series and until then, have a wonderful day.