

Fivestars (YC W11) Raises $26M - cktsai
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/25/helping-local-businesses-get-the-five-star-review-fivestars-raises-26-million/

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dougmccune
Is a weird SF/Silicon Valley cognitive dissonance required to say that 100%
automated software "communication" is "establishing a personal connection"?
The fact that an algorithm asks me to come back after I stop frequenting a
restaurant doesn't strike me as personal, just kind of overbearing and HAL
9000-esque.

Or a cashier reciting my name after reading it off a prompter. Safeway has
been doing that for years and I don't feel a personal connection just because
they're tracking my every move and making me well aware of it on a daily
basis.

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KaoruAoiShiho
Because the alternative to automated communication isn't personal
communication... it's no communication. Automated communication is still more
of a personal connection than no connection.

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orbifold
I don't get why people opt-in to tracking and behaviour analysis just so they
can get a free taco, that seems counter intuitive. There is little choice,
when you purchase things online, but that doesn't mean it is desirable. There
are really old fashioned ways of maintaining customer loyality, offer a good
product, hire attractive waiters and maybe offer a stamp bonus card. Spam mail
from the local coffee shop surely does not increase customer satisfaction.

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cm2012
It is innovative because it reduces effort for all parties while fulfilling
the same function.

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bastawhiz
This might be a dumb reason, but I stopped using FiveStars because it was just
such a hassle. The card interfered with the other NFC cards in my wallet, and
eventually started showing up as unregistered when I did try to use it. In the
months that I was using it, I earned exactly zero rewards at the venues that I
was using it at.

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cm2012
Only 1 location in all of NYC so far, it seems.

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7Figures2Commas
> “We see things in order of a 20% lift,” says Ho. That means shoppers that
> would come into a store once a week now typically come in three times a
> week, he says. “

Is there some sort of new Silicon Valley math I wasn't informed of?

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campo
I saw this statement and was puzzled at first myself.

That would not be a 20% lift on number of visits by the customer, but it could
be a 20% lift on revenue or margin from that customer.

~~~
7Figures2Commas
In retail, "lift" is usually used in the context of sales. If you can
consistently get customers who were visiting your store once a week to come
back three times a week, but you only lift sales 20%, something is terribly
wrong.

That said, the notion that there's a technology or technique that can
_sustainably_ triple repeat store visits on a widespread basis for small and
mid-sized services businesses is absurd. If you could do this, you would not
be raising $26 million from VCs.

Obviously, it's most likely that the author of this post simply didn't
understand what he was writing. Or that I'm not hip to the New Math of the New
New Economy.

