As brands face rising media costs, changing consumer behavior, and unproductive sales results, they can invest in loyalty marketing programs and software solutions having advanced features to help engage and retain consumers.
A loyalty management system is an advancing marketing automation software as a next-level platform to launch, manage and analyze the performance of loyalty marketing programs and other marketing events. Choosing the right one having advanced features can be a win-win strategy to boost marketing activities. Marketers need to think about functionalities brands need to run the loyalty program and maximize customer retention.
Here are the modernized software features which are a must-have for brands today. They are essential and are customizable also according to the business needs.
Referral Program Management
One of the critical loyalty management software features includes strong referral program management. The feature help marketers make the most of existing customers’ experiences through analytics. The functionality allows marketers to create exceptional customer referral programs by segmenting referrals based on customers’ interests, detecting customer data, and encouraging new and existing customers with new offerings. Segmentation through the software also helps marketers to target specific customer segments to market brand services accordingly.
Customer Touchpoints Interface
Marketers can find a suitable customer touchpoint interface in the modern loyalty management software feature. The interface solution is build-in and has customizable front-end solutions. The software includes the following features:
- Email editor
- Digital wallet including loyalty program status, rewards available, and their expiry dates
- Landing pages’ editor
- Widgets
Also Read: How CX can be a Strategic Tool for B2B Marketing in Times of Economic Turmoil
Zero-Party Data
Data obtained straightforwardly from users is the most valuable information about customers. Creating an effective loyalty program has a high chance of gaining zero-party data. The advanced loyalty management software focuses on having an in-built feature that helps gather zero-party data. The feature also allows marketers to collect zero-party data through various methods. The tools enable the assembling of data accurately and faster, providing options to create personalized promotions.
Behavioral Loyalty Metrics
Behavioral loyalty metrics are another essential feature that understands customers’ behavioral activities. Loyalty program platforms combine analytics with the measurement of emotional loyalty to know how and why of changing customer behavior. CLM uses multiple metrics for instructing the levels of customer satisfaction, enabling brands to offer more personalization to their customers.
Extensive Rewards Sequence
The advanced loyalty management software consists of features that support the following reward program types:
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Gamification
The gamification feature provides out-of-the-box options for marketers to build powerful and effective rewarding programs. The feature helps manage the programs on time, controls the frequency of promotions, and focuses on revenue generation.
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Handles Multiple Rewards
The software has the feature to personalize rewards and cover several types, including stored discounts, cashback, loyalty points, free vouchers, and more. However, to control the promotional budget, program designers should be able to limit the cart volume and fix the reward expiry date automatically. The features also provide options to handle multiple rewards for a vast segment of customers at a single point and help marketers slot each of them on time.
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Earn points
Using the software, marketers can easily define how customers can earn points. This feature supports marketing campaigns such as events, social media activities, rewards, and feedback through surveys and posts. Marketers can also choose between fixed and promotional points assignments. The feature is favorable as marketers can customize and modify it according to the loyal programs they set with the brand’s requirements.
Self-Service Customer Portal
While loyalty programs are run, the software gathers customer insights. The next feature of the software covers the in-built self-service customer portal. Insights of customers require instant responses, as they collect in large amounts. The software will provide customers with an easy way to monitor rewards and redeem rewards automatically, which claims as self-service customer service.
The customer portal integrates with the app, and they can get progress and previous rewards reports as a smart solution. Likewise, marketers can use this space to advertise more with more relevant offers.
A/B Testing and Analytics
Marketers with this feature can run multiple A/B tests and iterations to try different variations of reward programs to reach targeted customers efficiently. As large enterprises in the B2B landscape set their campaigns for a global launch, the software tools allow marketers to test campaigns and products multiple times to observe the workflow and mechanism of the process.
The tools provide results related to workflow and ensure that campaign launches can be successful for specific audiences. These software features thus help gain in-depth analytics and A/B testing of campaigns, such as landing pages, newsletters, and others.
Reminders and Notifications
An API-based software gives reminders about campaign launches and notifications about marketing deeds aligned with loyalty marketing. The software enables marketers to distribute marketing activities across channels. They can control information needed to spread across the audience base using loyalty software.
Besides rewards and offers distribution, this feature is helpful for marketers with an option to display the loyalty program information in the customer portal and send timely notifications or reminders about their rewards close to the expiration date. Organizations can check if the loyalty management platform has the option available.
How to Choose Loyalty Management Software
Finding suitable loyalty management software to help brands expand their business and know the audience base is imperative today to conduct the proper marketing.
The essential factor is that brands must clearly understand what they expect from this system. That makes it critical for brands to look for a loyalty program software that only focuses on data repository instead is a full-fleshed CRM that can host various marketing incentives.
In addition, brands need to look for suitable loyalty management software features that integrate with existing organization-based operational setups. Choosing the right software with these features can help brands understand how modern loyalty software is required to match the current marketing landscape.
Key Takeaways
An appropriate loyalty management software helps marketers to launch, manage, and track loyalty programs faster. It allows leaders to alter the validation rules, launch promotions time, change distribution channels, and re-segment customers. Also, it helps brands to keep fraud activities away from data breaches and supports optimization and concise budget at scale. An excellent loyalty management system allows brands to maximize ROI and form a strong customer base.
Proper planning to have adequate loyalty management software features is crucial today. If brands choose an out-of-the-box loyalty management software provider, make sure the software is flexible, preferably API-first, and adapt to the company’s future choices of the technology stack and distribution channels.
