You’ve put extensive thought, research, and dollars into your customer loyalty strategies. Now it’s time to execute your ideas. Ready to waste all that effort by choosing a crummy loyalty platform? Hopefully not!
Even with great loyalty strategies in place, the technology you use to manage and deliver your loyalty program is crucial to its success. With a customer loyalty management market valued at more than $5.5 billion and growing rapidly, the options for loyalty platforms can seem overwhelming. So how can you choose the right platform to boost customer loyalty?
Let’s look at a few crucial features of a winning loyalty platform:
API-Driven
Consumers today expect the different types of technology they use to seamlessly integrate. For instance, when they look at items on your website, they want to see those items reflected in their viewing history and recommendations on your brand app.
The technology that makes these integrations possible is called the application programming interface (API). In the case of loyalty platforms, API-driven solutions will allow you to incorporate other platforms you rely on for your brand’s success.
For example, this includes your:
- E-commerce platform
- Messaging applications
- Social media profiles
- Point-of-sale (POS) system
- Business analytics tools
Integration with these other systems not only makes for a seamless experience for customers, but also your IT team.
Securely Managed
Unfortunately, loyalty programs aren’t just attractive to consumers—they’re also attractive to fraudsters. A recent example is the Hilton Hotels Honors program, which fell prey to a data breach that exposed about 500,000 Honors members’ data.
Consumers take these breaches seriously. In one survey, when asked what they would do if their store account was compromised, more than half of consumers said they would delete their account with the business altogether.
Needless to say, security needs to be a priority for your loyalty program. Choose a platform from a provider who securely handles hosting and maintaining the platform, alleviating the burden on your IT team. If the provider hosts the program on non-public cloud servers, it indicates that they’re committed to keeping your and your customers’ data private and secure.
Intuitive
User experience (UX) can make or break the success of any branded apps and tech tools you deploy. Your loyalty platform should be intuitive, giving customers easy access to the features and functions they need. Strategies like gamification can make your loyalty platform even more fun to use.
Learn more about gamification and other strategies that go into a winning loyalty program in our eBook, Customer Loyalty Programs: What You Need to Know.
Keep in mind that UX also matters for your team. Your loyalty platform should be easy and intuitive for your company to use. Ensure you have easy access to the data points and reports you need to see how your program is performing.
Customized
Your brand and customers are unique, so you shouldn’t have to settle for a cookie-cutter solution. One of the most important things to look for in a loyalty platform is the flexibility to customize the platform to your brand and your customers’ preferences and needs.
Your loyalty app’s structure, rewards, look, and functionality should be built around the experience you want to offer your customers to keep them engaged and coming back time and time again. Look for a provider who will learn what that experience looks like and build a fully customized solution for your brand.
Not Just a Platform, But a Partner
Ultimately, you want to look for a loyalty partner—not just a platform. You want a partner who will build a custom solution tailor-made for your customers and loyalty goals. Baesman is a loyalty partner you can trust to help you achieve real results. Take a moment to learn more about our loyalty solutions and how we can help you from strategy to execution and beyond.