Airlines will bounce back

It’s clear to everyone that airlines are having a tough time, and are likely to suffer for quite a few years.  Industry observers everywhere are declaring the end of business travel thanks to the double-whammy of COIVID-19 and a ‘paradigm shift’ in how business meetings are conducted facilitated by Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

It may take a while, and a few airlines will go under, but the flight industry will certainly bounce back, just as it always has, whether the disaster has been pandemics (SARS), volcanoes (Iceland), financial crises (GFC) or union issues (Qantas vs AIPA, TWU and ALAEA).

Now is the time to accumulate points

Many frequent flyer program members have turned their attention away from strategising how to maximise points earn at the moment, figuring they won’t need them any time soon. This is a flawed, short-term view; now is an amazing time to accumulate large amounts of points ready for the day we can all fly long distances again. Small to medium business owners (SMEs) which implement effective strategies today will be the happy travellers flying on points tomorrow.

Clearly, flying long-haul is not an option to build large points balances at present, and while credit cards can still be used to some effect, the RBA changes to interchange fees have significantly eroded the ability to truly drive value from business spend.

A new tool for SME’s to accumulate points

So what other tools are available to SME’s looking to build a big points balance?

Loyalty & Reward Co recently trialled Yak Pay, a payments platform for business owners to earn Qantas or Velocity points when paying their bills.

Here’s how Yak Pay works:

1. Business owners create a free account.
2. They select which program they’d like to connect to. Current options are Qantas Business Rewards or Velocity Frequent Flyer.
3. They make payments to earn bonus points.

Yak Pay has been designed to maximise convenience for business owners. Single invoices can be paid, but bulk uploads can also be processed (and in different file formats). Businesses using Xero can connect their account and load bills directly into Yak Pay for easy payments.

Pay anyway you like

Payment options include Visa, Mastercard or AMEX, but the truly revolutionary feature is the ability to also pay via bank transfers (EFT or PayID).

Businesses can now earn points for payments to anyone or anything; employees (salaries), ATO, other businesses and even repayment of credit card debt.

Introducing the Triple Dip

The best part is Yak Pay’s Triple Dip; business which have points-earning credit cards can earn three times:

1. Earn points directly from your credit card program (all payments qualify for full earn rate, including ATO payments)
2. Earn points from Yak Pay (1 point per $10 spent)
3. Earn points when paying your credit card statement via Bank Transfer (1 point per $3 spent)

On top of that, new customers who sign up to Yak Pay can earn 50,000 bonus Qantas Points by paying $10,000 or more off a credit card using the bank transfer service by 23 April 2021.

Fees

Fees do apply. This ranges from 0.6% + GST for bank transfers up to 2.15% + GST maximum for AMEX. Visa and Mastercard are 1%-1.2% + GST. While the idea of paying fees may not appeal to all SME business owners, those looking to maximise their points earn via Yak Pay’s Triple Dip will certainly see the value.

Strong security

Yak Pay have invested heavily in building security features which are more impressive than most banks. This includes Payment Guardian, which applies four rule when processing payments:

1. Vendor Checks: check that the ABN status of the payee is still valid.
2. Disbursement Details: check the Bank Account or BPAY details used for the payment to identify potential errors in the bank details submitted.
3. Duplicate Payment: check for any recent payments that match the Amount Paid and the Invoice Number.
4. Authorisation Check: logs the user that authorises the payment.

Yak Pay also apply multi factor security on all access and authorisations, while all card details are tokenised and PCI compliant.

Join the herd

Yak Pay has managed to build an impressive member base with limited promotion. They have over 5,500 users, and have processed over 580,000 payments totalling in excess of $3.5bn.

Since creating an account, Loyalty & Reward Co have paid employee salaries and are soon to pay the Jan-Mar 2021 BAS. Setting up the account was completed in about 20 minutes, including linking to Xero and our preferred frequent flyer program. The salary payments were processed without a hitch, and the bonus points appear in the company account within 48 hours. Overall, it is a very slick experience. Our calculations indicate the company will build a points balance in excess of 1m points over a 12 month period.

Business class London, here we come!

Need more info? Contact The Points Whisperer

For more information about Yak Pay and many other strategies that SME businesses can use to build enviable points balances, Loyalty & Reward Co recommend engaging the services of The Points Whisperer, Steve Hui from iFlyFlat. Steve will work with you to develop an accumulation strategy which will suit your business and your travel needs. 

Philip Shelper, CEO of Loyalty & Reward Co, has many years experience within the loyalty industry, including roles at Qantas Frequent Flyer and Vodafone. Loyalty & Reward have consulted to over 60 major brands in the past eight years.

Phil is a member of several hundred loyalty programs, and a researcher of loyalty psychology and loyalty history, all of which he uses to understand the essential dynamics of what makes a successful loyalty program.

Phil is the author of ‘Loyalty Programs: The Complete Guide’, the most comprehensive book on loyalty programs available.

Let’s connect!

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/philipshelper

Twitter: @phil_shelper