Thanks to the expert contributions from LoyaltyLevers’ tech partner network, we’ve curated the most actionable insights and impactful tips on how to boost loyalty program performance and ROI. Key themes include increased use of zero-party data, subscription-based loyalty programs, B2B loyalty, personalized loyalty programs, gamification loyalty programs and loyalty program partnerships (coalitions).
Antavo
Contributed by Zsuzsa Kecsmár
Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder
The new way of being relevant
Member data nowadays has more value than gold. Loyalty programs that actively encourage members to share zero-party data through gamified surveys, social media challenges and incentivized reviews can better understand their core audience. In turn, the data that’s collected can be used to come up with more relevant rewards, leading to lower churn rates and better overall program performance.
Premium programs are on the rise
Though most loyalty programs are free, many businesses are experimenting (successfully) with the premium / freemium model. In this case, being a member costs a monthly, annual, or one-time fee, but in exchange, they get access to better rewards, VIP customer service, early access etc. With the premium model, loyalty program owners can cater to their privilege-seeking segments and see upfront ROI.
Fully Leverage API Technology: API powered platforms enable marketers to quickly introduce new benefits or reward an ever-changing set of actions -- greatly improving a loyalty program’s performance. The nature of API’s allows for efficient change, connecting to your existing processes and faster, more streamlined data communication behind the scenes. An ambitious test and learn approach will help to identify the winning programs, fully realizing the loyalty platform potential.
Currency Alliance
Contributed by Charles Ehredt
Co-Founder and CEO
Target New Customer Segments: The challenge around managing data and building rich customer insights continues to be the biggest challenge for most organizations, but we have been seeing significant progress in the past couple years. This progress is also unlocking the ability to focus marketing resources on less frequent customers, who are often still big spenders in a particular category, but previously had little motivation to allocate the majority of share-of-wallet to a single brand.
Renewed interest in multi-brand collaboration in loyalty marketing: The industry has historically called this type of collaboration a coalition loyalty program, but modern technology allows brands with lower customer frequency to remain top-of-mind by collaborating with complementary brands using many techniques for customer acquisition, enabling higher value rewards at lower operating cost, building richer customer profiles with shared data, or simply enabling greater customer choice in how they earn or spend points/miles across an ecosystem of complementary partners to drive customer engagement.
Annex Cloud
Contributed by Erin Raese
Global SVP Strategy
SaaS Loyalty enables rapid response: Using a configurable SaaS loyalty solution rather than a customized one enables rapid, often no IT involved, campaign deployment and reporting. Respond to market trends, product launches, stock availability, and more with a few mouse clicks. Also, with a SaaS solution, updates are provided on a regular basis from a variety of clients, industries, and loyalty experts rather than requiring scheduling and long development cycles.
Expansion of B2B Sector: Business to Business Loyalty programs need to extend out to build engagement and deliver personalized experiences. Engage B2B customers through education on products and services. B2B customers also like to share their information in exchange for more personalized experiences. Using interactive surveys, you can make the experience of data collection another engagement point. Then use the collected data to make your customers’ lives easier.
Comarch
Contributed by Sydney Shapiro
Strategic Growth Manager, Loyalty
Align AI initiatives with changing privacy laws: Zero and first-party data collection is more important now than ever before, especially with the advancement of privacy laws and the phase-out of cookies. This is highlighted even further by the rise of AI and ML and their need to leverage this new data environment to personalize reward redemption and purchase experiences even further.
Don’t let rewards overshadow CX: Getting creative with rewards and value-based experiences is crucial in the coming year. The best of both worlds is becoming the bare minimum, and brands need to accept this. You can't just hand out rewards without providing a memorable or enjoyable experience as well.
LoyaltyLevers Take
To enhance the performance of loyalty programs, it is crucial to take full advantage of the vast amount of data they generate, with a growing emphasis on zero-party data. Modern loyalty software platforms have made it easier than ever to collect and utilize this type of data. By implementing a data-driven platform, you can enhance capabilities across the board, including personalization, segmentation, and even artificial intelligence.
Loyalty programs are evolving far beyond the traditional earn and burn model. It is essential to expand your thinking to include options such as subscription-based loyalty premium programs, as well as broader and more targeted partnerships with other loyalty programs, and B2B loyalty components.
Furthermore, successful loyalty operators prioritize taking action through systematic test and learn initiatives, which can significantly boost key loyalty KPIs. Implementing API-driven technologies minimizes risks and ensures quick and efficient implementation – there is no substitute for real-world results. Embracing this practice will not only expedite approvals from executive-level stakeholders but also foster ongoing engagement in evaluating and defining the loyalty program roadmap.
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