Incentive Management Technology – Why is it Important?

We thought so, and we’re glad you’re exploring what it takes to create, launch and manage a successful incentive program – Technology! Developing a well thought out incentive program strategy is just one aspect of creating a reward incentive program. Thinking beyond the types of the rewards offered in your program, you need to make sure you are shopping around for the right loyalty program provider and management tool to ensure your program’s transparency, performance, and ease is just as important as the selecting the right rewards to offer, maybe even more important.

Bottom line, a fully custom tool that works for your program’s needs is definitely the best option to include at program launch, but sometimes the budget doesn’t allow for this option (or so we think) and you might not be exploring the best available options in today’s loyalty technology market space. But what if we told you that you could have a program management tool tailored to your specific program needs, at an affordable price?

The following is what you can expect from All Digital Rewards, a leading reward management technology provider, and what you should be on the lookout for when shopping around for other providers.

The Necessities:

• CX experience. Are the loyalty service providers you are considering interested is helping you build relationships centered on customer value and engagement or just an out of the box points or discounts program?
• Advanced technologies. Does the loyalty service provider have the technology, advanced analytics, and expertise to help you identify all the differentiators for acquiring the loyalty of your customers?
• Customize don’t configure. Run don’t walk from a packaged platform that requires configuration – not customization – to meet your requirements. The boxed platforms might get up faster, but with today’s advanced technologies, there is no need for a boxed solution. If the provider’s core technology is built employing advanced micro services (not older legacy technologies), you can meet today’s customer’s preferences.
• Strategic services. Make sure your vendor can provide more vital services, such as the predictive and industry-specific analytical models there’s more of an emphasis on relationship management than the “do this, get that” model.
• Loyalty management solution comparisons. Selecting a big-name loyalty provider is not necessarily in a company’s best interest anymore in today’s evolving technical climate. Response time is slow, and for the most part, their systems are built on legacy technologies and to accommodate today’s consumer preferences they have had to incorporate many workarounds…thus the reason for their inability to provide real customization. To put it in a visual perspective – think of the big box loyalty provider as a 5,000-passenger cruise liner and a fully customizable provider of a 500-passenger elite yacht. The cruise liner must provide food, activities, and amenities geared to the masses whereas the yacht is built to recognize the differentiators that are needed to construct personalized loyalty experience to extend the lifetime value of the cruiser.
• Response time. Think about the cruise line scenario. Which ship do you think can turn on a dime when market conditions change, or you have a need for a feature update or to make a change to meet the needs of a customer?
• Behavioral economics. Are they employing a psychological approach to loyalty strategy or are their processes being dragged down by lagging technological capabilities?
• Self-service. Is the service provider’s platform a self-service technology platform? Can it provide flexibility and responsive?
• Loyalty marketing strategies. Do they understand the loyalty marketing strategies necessary to drive the technologies and promotions to support your various channel, sales, consumer and employee initiatives?
• Extensive incentive and reward offerings. Will you have to go to multiple resources to provide relevant rewards? Or does the provider have merchandise, digital rewards, VISA prepaid cards, gift cards, and travel?

Top 4 Program Offerings to Be on The Lookout For:

• Account Management
  -The provider should be able to accommodate full Admin access for you and any other users that will need to get in to control the program.
• Program Reporting/Analytics
  -Ability to receive/see real time analytics and comprehensive reporting to help measure your program’s success.
• Your Own Branded Marketplace/Participant Portal
  -A marketplace with your branding is so crucial for your participants so they don’t feel like they are being sent to some third party who will release their information.
• Extensive Reward Offerings
  -Extensive, but not excessive. Sometimes too many rewards is overwhelming. Offerings that provide the latest trending and beneficial items for your participants.
• Communication
  -Communication between you and your incentive program management provider is vital to a successful program. Have the ability to reach a person for a question or to help solve a dilemma, you should never have to sit on hold or communicate with a robot.

There you have it. 10 important points to consider when shopping around for the right incentive program management providers, plus a little extra information to help you along the way! Be sure to include All Digital Rewards, a leader in reward management technology, when procuring a new provider. ADR offers a customizable experience at an affordable price. Our loyalty reward management platform, SaaS with Stack ™ and incentive and reward issuance applications and technologies meet the needs of today’s channel, consumer, sales and employee loyalty initiatives. Our advanced micro services and dynamic technologies are cloud-based and built to evolve with the changing needs of your business. We have a one-stop approach to incentives and rewards giving clients the biggest bang for their buck with an extensive offering of merchandise, digital rewards, VISA prepaid cards, gift cards, and travel. All Digital Rewards will assist you in building a strategy and identify key customer differentiators and help you match the appropriate incentive. The best part is it is done with automated technology!

To learn more about driving higher engagement through Reward Management Technology call today at 866-415-7703 or click the “Schedule a Demo” button at the bottom of the page!