Starting from a passion for collecting points, Member.id was founded

On Tuesday (15/08) the loyalty service provider startup Member.id announced initial fundraising from East Ventures. We had the opportunity to have an interview with Member.id Co-Founder & CEO Marianne Rumantir to discuss more about Member.id and its vision.

"Actually I basically have an obsession with collecting points, especially points airlines, hotels and points earned from credit card transactions. Because of this, I rarely pay for use cash," said Marianne, opening the story.

Precisely he really enjoyed taking advantage of the customer loyalty program while living in the United States. According to him, such a program has been veryrefined' and really makes it easier for customers, in relation to the process of getting or claiming these points in the form of reward certain.

Marianne herself is a traveler and his experience with the loyalty points was felt to be very beneficial, especially since he claimed to have always been loyal to brand for example when choosing a hotel. What he feels – like getting free lodging and so on from points – is often written down in blog travel personal.

“Then my friends in Indonesia were confused to see that I could have a good but free vacation. From there I developed Member.id. Because I don't think there are many in Indonesia yet loyalty programme which can offer solid offerings that can make it easier for members to stay loyal di brand certain," added Marianne.

He is also well aware that Member.id debuted when the loyalty program was not yet popular in Indonesia and the existing ones seem less attractive. From there he took on a mission to change the landscape of loyalty programs in Indonesia so as to produce "point geek" like himself.

In general, Member.id is a technology company specializing in the implementation of loyalty programs. Starting from preparing the design, creating a management framework, data analysis, to marketing.

Service customization is the key to a successful loyalty program

Several loyalty service providers already exist in Indonesia, however Member.id quite optimistic about its debut offering services online end-to-end. Member.id itself focuses on several industrial sectors, namely transportation, hotels, lifestyle, retail, and business E-commerce. For Marianne the sector is the driving force market and behavior people in Indonesia.

“So we don't provide a standard loyalty program that can be bought just like that, because every industry and company has needs and needs market different ones. We want to be able make sure if this loyalty program is really effective for every business and rewarding, that's why we offer services for operations and management as well,” explained Marianne explaining her business strategy.

Member.id is also in the process of developing a platform that can be used as central point bank for the industrial sector. Functioned to make it easier for viewers reward in claiming or transferring earned points. The point is through this channel, member will make it easier to manage benefits which is owned.

On the Indonesian consumer side, loyalty programs are actually nothing new. According to Marianne, in Indonesia, most people prefer to collect points to be exchanged for goods or exchanged for discounted meals.

"Every redemption indeed the value is different, but what I see is indeed benefits what is offered is like that, so in exchange for experience-based rewards –like flying with business class with a very minimal price, for example—not many have done it yet,” he said.

According to him, this condition makes people even chase discounts in different places, instead of being loyal to wearing them brand certain only.

The challenge is good execution

Although not new, implementing a loyalty program in an industry line has its own challenges. For Member.id, socializing and changing market behavior it is always a challenge let alone introduce something new. But according to him it can be changed with the right execution and provide the best experience for its users.

Member.id's target is to develop partnerships and clients in the transportation and hotel sectors, as well as to add to the portfolio in the lifestyle sector – in addition to the partnership currently underway with the Ismaya Group.