7 Key Features of a Top Loyalty Management Software

If you are planning to create a loyalty program for your customers, you will require loyalty management software to launch, manage, and analyze the performance of loyalty programs. Loyalty software solutions can be a different platform or a built-in function in the CRM of your point-of-sale system. Often, built-in features of the software are larger but have certain limitations. Therefore, much bigger enterprises prefer to opt for dedicated software with more capabilities, flexibility, and possibilities of customization than a rigid and monolithic CRM platform. 

Not every loyalty management software is the same. Therefore, selecting the right one for your business can be tricky and daunting. You should determine which functionalities you require to run the loyalty program and which features will help your business in the future to maximize customer retention. 

Choosing the most suitable loyalty management software that helps you expand your business and quickly identify your business is imperative. After all, this software will help you decide all your future policies. Having a clear idea of what you expect from your system is essential. 

How to Choose Loyalty Management Software 

To select the best loyalty management software, you need to research the functionalities offered by different loyalty providers. Before you choose software, it is essential to sketch out which goals your loyalty program should meet, what factors you want to set, and who would be your target audience. Delve into the software features before you decide to opt for the software. To help you in your search for the best loyalty management software, we will list the essential 7 features it should have. 

Let's discuss the essential 7 key features a top loyalty management software should have: 

1. CRM Integration 

Ensure that the software you choose to opt for either has an in-built function or can be integrated into a CRM. In this way, you can store your data about loyalty programs in one place and interpret it quickly to gain a detailed understanding of your customers. With the help of this software, you can enhance customer experience by creating customer personas and single customer views. You can also understand how customers communicate with your business across different channels and use this information to build a solid marketing strategy for customer retention and acquisition.  

2. Tiers, Levels, and Gamification  

Adding a gamification effect can create tiers (levels) to make your loyalty program more interesting for your loyal customers. Depending on their purchases and custom events, you can qualify customers for various levels. The levels set can differ by the rewards by catalog, worth of rewards, reward earning rules, and expiry date of rewards.  

3. Omnichannel Loyalty Program 

Omnichannel marketing enables customers with a seamless shopping experience on all platforms. Omnichannel loyalty allows customers to experience the same loyalty program across different purchase channels. For example, customers can redeem their gift coupons online in your offline store or are eligible for a 10% discount whether they make an online or offline purchase. 

4. Map Customer Journey 

Customers usually go through a series of steps before making a purchase, and a good loyalty program software should help you map this customer journey to avail remarkable benefits. It enables you to understand your customers and get an idea of to whom you are selling. With the help of software, you can create buyer personas and understand the demographics of your customers, like their income, age, daily habits, location, occupation, and a lot more. On the basis of customer journey mapping, you can better understand which type of offers should be sent to your customers and at what time.   

5. Rewards Catalog 

The loyalty management software should provide a variety of rewards to the customers and delight them with exclusive offers and shopping experiences. Different rewards that customers can offer include a points system, where customers can win points for their behavior like social media activity, providing customer feedback, or making a purchase. A loyalty program software may also offer cashback points, gift cards, coupons, store discounts, and other incentives. The more rewards you offer your loyal customers, the more customer engagement your business can gain from them. 

6. Personalized Loyalty Programs 

Merely sending out rewards to your customers is not just enough. You should know about them and their choices and send rewards to them accordingly. Some customers may prefer just an upfront discount, whereas some might prefer an upfront discount, while others may prefer a free sample. With the help of customer loyalty program software, you can personalize the reward system by carrying out surveys and monitoring your customers' activities.    

7. Tracking and Analytics  

The software you select should have tracking and analytics options to optimize customer retention campaigns and protect your budget. It is good to have these options directly in the loyalty management system. You can extract data like the number of loyalty program participants, distributed rewards offered in the campaign and customer level, expiration dates of rewards, shopping frequency, and average basket value. Besides, you get a 360-degree view of customer profiles, including information about their purchases and rewards.   

Conclusion

Good loyalty rewards management software helps you launch, manage, and track loyalty programs without requiring much development effort. You can quickly change validation rules, launch promotions, change your distribution channels, re-segment your customers, and more. 

This article was written by Loyal-n-Save, an omni-channel customer loyalty solution for retailers looking to increase customer retention and new customer acquisition.