Integral to Loyalty Program Strategy

Program Vision

This is the initial work done to assess the needs of the program. Here, stakeholders define the objectives of the program (aligned to business goals), including desired behavioral and emotional outcomes that drive customer loyalty.

Program Design

Concepting and technical design work drive the process in this phase. Stakeholders define program elements, such as, the number of tiers, types of benefits (including hard and soft benefits), and engagement models with the customers. In this stage, analytics of customer data and primary research on the customers should aid decisions around program benefits and structure.

Business Case & Value

In this phase, stakeholders predict the value of the program to the business, which is critically important to ensure the company is not materially hurt from the program and sees a pathway to incremental profits. Loyalty simulation plays a key role here to validate the design from the previous phase. Often, parts of the program are found to have ROI impacts that were not expected, and the results can alter the program design. This creates an iterative process where the design and the business case adapt until the design drives the desired results.

Implementation & Testing

Once the design is complete, implementation can begin. This often involves back-end IT and organizational changes to support the program, communication plans to introduce customers to the program, and staff training. Rather than an immediate rollout across the entire company, the program can be tested in smaller, pilot settings, for example, in local markets or a partial set of features.