CRM.COM software is a turnkey Real-time Loyalty Solution that is designed to help loyalty operators* launch and manage innovative cash back or points based loyalty schemes for multiple participating merchants.
Cash or point rewards are offered on purchases made at participating merchant outlets and are mostly, if not entirely, funded by merchant contributions. Advertising and direct marketing carried out by the loyalty operator provide a powerful incentive for merchants to join the loyalty operator’s scheme.
One of the key advantages of a merchant funded scheme is that in exchange for marketing exposure and valuable customer analytics merchants are willing to fund rewards to cardholders and offer high returns (e.g. double digit cash back amounting to as much as 20%) to drive traffic to their stores. Meanwhile, loyalty operators benefit from non-redeemed rewards while controlling costs of running the scheme.
*A loyalty operator is an organisation that undertakes to implement a loyalty solution for a number of merchants in an effort to help them acquire and retain customers. A marketing / branding agency that decides to run a loyalty scheme for a group of clients is an example of a loyalty operator.
Key CRM.COM Business Processes and Functions
Loyalty Operator
- Uses the CRM.COM web platform to run sophisticated loyalty schemes, however complex
- Signs up merchants willing to participate in and fund each scheme
- Defines which cards (e.g. loyalty operator’s cards) participate in the scheme
- Works in close partnership with its business network to define unique loyalty offers for cardholders
- Reconciles reward and redemption / spend transactions with merchants (reimburses merchants for redemptions and charges merchants for reward transactions)
- Utilises the CRM.COM reporting module on a regular basis to monitor scheme effectiveness
Cardholder
- Is assigned at least one loyalty account in CRM with one or more cards associated with it
- Makes purchases at participating merchant outlets that are automatically matched against a set of loyalty offers
- Earns rewards at the point of sale (POS) and spends them on subsequent purchases
- Uses a cardholder web interface to access own account details (account balance, etc.)
Merchant
- Offers rewards to cardholders when they make qualifying purchases at the merchant’s outlets
- Uses the CRM.COM merchant web interface to access relevant cardholder data, manage targeted offers, promotions, adjust scheme contribution levels, view statements of account, etc.
- Accepts cardholder payments at the POS that are automatically matched against a set of loyalty offers
- Reconciles reward and redemption / spend transactions with the loyalty operator (reimburses the loyalty operator for reward transactions made by cardholders and receives payment for redemptions)
These business processes and functions are best illustrated using an example of a loyalty operator’s reward scheme that can be managed through CRM.COM Software. It demonstrates the system’s configurability and flexibility in accommodating the needs of loyalty operators.