How to Manage a Multi-Country Loyalty Program with Ease?
- Posted on March 30, 2022 by Robert
- Reading time about 6 minutes
If your organization has a global presence, it is essential to have a recognizable brand image. However, it is important to ensure that your business operates in a given region by following the standards and expectations of the local audience and market. This applies to the loyalty program as well! From tailored offers, personalized campaigns to the loyalty logic, every aspect of your program must be customized keeping in mind the local customers’ likes for maximum engagement & participation.
So the question is- do you need a separate loyalty program for different countries? The answer is no, all thanks to the services offered by the multi-country loyalty program technology. Let’s check out everything we need to know about single customer loyalty management and how it can be managed in different countries.
Which one to Choose- Centralized or Decentralized Loyalty Program Setup
Talking about multi-country loyalty programs, they are best explained as the means to offer a personalized loyalty experience, not for a small customer segment but the multiple locations in the country. Whether to choose a centralized or decentralized approach is something every business must think of before running a loyalty program across multiple countries. Here, we will check out the difference between the two for a better understanding.
- Centralized Setup
In this program setup type, there will be only one loyalty management team that is the in-charge of all geographies and uses one main interface. One thing about this setup is that there is a huge similarity among all market’s core loyalty logic to put up with the workload. This helps in providing a unified experience with only minor changes for each regional program. Following this approach will help your business have more control over the overall look and feel of the program.
- Decentralized Setup
Talking about the decentralized loyalty program setup, it is used for market-specific ownership, which means each market’s loyalty program is customized and managed as per the specific local needs. Customers get a more personalized loyalty experience in this case as the loyalty program’s core logic differs broadly per market. This enables brands to tailor the experience easily but managing the different versions of the program can be time-consuming as well as takes lots of effort and resources.
Both types of program setup have their pros and cons, which is why any business that has to choose between the two must think wisely and choose the suitable one as per their global strategy and business goals.
Must-Have Features for the Success of Your Multi-Country Loyalty Program
Several loyalty programs are offering similar features and the competition is quite tough making it possible for your brand to fail if the loyalty program you are developing is not well-equipped with the best features and rewards. To help you in this, we have shortlisted the top features that you can keep in mind to help you execute the best loyalty program that works best across the globe. They are as follows-
Import/Export of Rules & Campaign Templates
Building a program for a completely new country can be a complex task as re-creating campaigns, offers, rules, and applying automation for a different location is a very time- taking process. One thing you can do for a faster time to market is to ensure that your multi-country loyalty program offers import/export functionality. Through this, all templates can be transferred from one platform to another with ease.
Our Novus Loyalty program Management Platform is built with robust features making it easy for businesses to set up different loyalty programs in new markets. With the support of loyalty campaign management system, every loyalty program element can be saved & re-uploaded in just a few clicks making it easy for program owners to mix and match campaigns & rules as per the needs of different countries.
Platform Users’ Hierarchy & Access Privileges
Keeping the focus on the access privileges is very essential in your loyalty program as it affects the security of the platform & prevents any unwanted data modifications in the platform data. In the case of a centralized setup, we have a huge number of resources that are available to run multiple regional programs. While in the decentralized approach, lots of different user groups need access, not just the higher officials or management. Ensure that your loyalty technology is capable of giving access privilege visibilities and all parties can only modify relevant data of the program as per their roles.
Talking about Novus, we have user group functionality to ensure that every user only has customized access privileges that are unique from one another. For instance, some users will have view-only access while others can view & make changes as well.
Translation Capabilities to Overcome Language Barrier
Ensure that your multi-country loyalty program comes with the support of the translation functionality for any customer-facing content. Dealing with different customers at different locations means it is important to know their languages to offer a personalized loyalty experience. Having this feature helps in solving one of the main issues faced by managers of the loyalty program i.e. language barrier.
Without the translation capability in your loyalty program, new rewards need to be individually translated across all available platforms, which will take effort and time. Not just for the front end, ensure that your backend loyalty program supports multiple languages for your local management team to understand & perform their duties well.
With the Novus platform, one can easily add translations in one place solving the language barrier which reduces both time and effort.
Usage of Loyalty Rewards at Multiple Locations
As your loyalty program is meant for multiple markets, you must ensure that your brand offer benefits of rewards in every country i.e. their points can be earned in one country and redeemed in another country when they shop. Your loyalty program membership should not be restricted to one country only, they should have the capability that allows customers to use points wherever and whenever they like. This not only boosts the number of customer touchpoints but also increases engagement keeping them connected with your brand for a long time.
Novus’s Loyalty Program Management system has worked for multiple brands helping them transform their loyalty experience. From banking to the restaurant sector, we have created loyalty programs for various industries. We have built uniform offers and loyalty platforms readily for banks named ‘nth Rewards’ for NPCI, India’s digital payments & settlement systems.
Final Thoughts
Multi-Country Loyalty programs can be a great advantage if you are planning to target customers at the global level. Whether you opt for a centralized or decentralized set-up, the core loyalty technology is the same, which means the management process will be smooth & seamless. Connect with our experts to know more about the multi-country loyalty program & the benefits it will offer like faster time to market and enhanced time to value in daily operations.