A good loyalty program system supports a wide range of customer incentives. These can include point-based rewards, couponing, automatic discounts, gift card credits, cashback, loyalty gamification, and another custom “currencies”.
Look for a solution that allows you to track all loyalty campaign elements in one place. This way, you can automate routine tasks and take the burden off your customer service representatives.
Customization
If you’re looking for loyalty program software to support your business, you must look at the features and functions available to ensure they align with your needs. This includes customization, integrations, and a return on investment (ROI).
Your industry will determine what kind of loyalty program you need. For example, you’ll need software supporting this program if you offer subscriptions. The type of rewards you offer will also impact what you need from your loyalty software, such as tier programs that motivate customers to spend more to earn perks.
Look for loyalty software that lets you set up fine-grained validation rules to protect your brand from fraud and misuse. These can be based on customer attributes, orders, product or service categories, custom events, etc. Also, ensure you can launch timed promotions and re-segment your customer base as needed. Also, consider how easy it is to use your loyalty platform’s landing page builder, form editor, and e-mail marketing capabilities. This makes it easier to ship loyalty messages faster and more personalized.
Integrations
The best loyalty programs provide a seamless customer experience across all channels. Customers want unhindered support, whether they’re banking from their couch, investing on the go, or redeeming rewards in a physical store. For this reason, an LMS must connect all touchpoints and serve as a central database for managing loyalty cards, offers, rewards, and more.
Look for a loyalty program provider that supports multiple integrations and makes it easy to add new ones. It should also have a self-service user portal so that customers can update their information without needing to call a customer service representative.
Additionally, a good loyalty management system should be platform agnostic and work with any e-commerce platform you have. This is crucial for mitigating fraud, as loyalty programs attract dishonest people looking to take advantage of the program. Look for a solution that provides robust personalization features, like eligibility rules, calendar-driven promotions, and timing personalization to drive engagement. It should also be able to analyze program data to detect suspicious behavior and alert you when it’s detected.
Reporting
Getting insights about your loyalty program’s performance is vital but requires an effective reporting system. Look for a provider that makes it easy to configure reports in a way that aligns with your business goals. A flexible reporting system lets you view performance metrics and gauge your program’s success based on key indicators.
The best customer loyalty programs offer a high level of personalization for every member.
With this information, marketers can design and execute marketing campaigns tailored to each user. For example, they can build automated campaigns that target customers who have stopped frequenting the store, re-engage them, and encourage them to return. The software also offers a customer-facing dashboard where customers can track their points, see their loyalty tier, and manage their personal profile. The dashboard also includes referral marketing functions that allow users to share their unique codes with friends and family.
Security
The most important aspect of loyalty program software is security. Fraud can have huge financial consequences, as well as damage consumer trust. To protect their business and customers, loyalty programs need strong fraud detection tools and services like Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and Multi-factor Authentication (MFA).
These measures make it much more difficult for hackers to take over account data. They are also designed to detect suspicious activity, including password changes or points balances. Criminals often attempt to cash out large amounts of points or use stolen credit card information to commit fraud. Additionally, they may use credential stuffing or formjacking tactics to gain access to loyalty program accounts.
When selecting a provider, look for built-in loyalty anti-fraud measures such as easy marketing permissions management, e-mail anti-fraud options, and double-opt-in verification. This will help ensure that your messages aren’t in the spam folder, which can hurt your customer retention efforts. Also, ensure that the provider offers referral marketing functionality. This feature allows your business to create unique codes that customers can share with friends and family to earn rewards.
Mobile
In a world where consumers are always connected to their phones, mobile devices have an especially important role in loyalty programs. Look for a loyalty platform that supports the mobile experience with clear navigation and easy user interfaces for program members to use on their devices.
A good mobile loyalty solution also allows customers to go cardless, allowing them to track points and rewards directly on their smartphones for maximum convenience. It can also give them unique referral codes to share with friends and family to earn rewards.
A robust loyalty platform should support multiple rewards, including gift cards, cashback points, coupons, and store discounts. It should also allow marketers to create and assign promotions to specific customer segments, such as by location or demographics, which help businesses personalize their messages and offers. It should also support hyper-gamification, letting businesses reward their customers with activities like spinning a prize wheel or completing challenges. The platform should be able to manage these milestone-based rewards with fine-grained validation rules based on customer attributes, purchase history, cart structure and volume, and even custom events.