A lack of real-time response capabilities is another problem. Marketers are still relying on push messages. Real-time response based on behavioral triggers is trickier and requires more planning and advanced capabilities to execute. However, without proper real-time capabilities, programs are limited in their ability to understand and respond to customer behavior or to deliver dynamic offers and rewards. This can also be related to an inability to manage customer data flow. Loyalty programs generate a lot of consumer data, from basic enrollment and contact information to transactional history to personal preferences and qualitative information. However, without the proper infrastructure and systems in place, marketers cannot use the data to build the insights that drive segmentation, targeting, and offer management.

Lastly, there’s the old chestnut: Data, process, and technology silos. We’ve all heard that before. Even when marketers have the ability to gather and apply analytics to loyalty program member data, integrating these insights with other parts of the organization or with enterprise-wide customer data infrastructure poses a much larger challenge. Data orchestration and integration rarely extends beyond the loyalty program itself.

Driving digital adoption now

In a world where customer expectations are high—and still increasing—and where customer experience is key to success, CSPs must set the bar high and ensure they are meeting a demanding customer’s requests. This will not be achieved by rushing headlong into the digital service world without first mastering the basics. Without a solid foundation, loyalty programs limit rather than improve chances for success. 

To drive digital adoption, CSPs must build a customer intelligence practice. Capturing user data is only the first step. CSP marketers also need analytics to help them sift through and make sense of the data. Applying intelligence to loyalty program data generates insights based on customer value that improve and focus a program’s segmentation, targeting, and offer management.

They must also optimize customer journeys and brand experience. Using real-time data at the individual customer level can help analyze current behavior, predict future behavior and adjust the journey in real time for increased customer lifetime value, operational efficiency and business results. At the same time, CSPs must design personalized offers, rewards and experience portfolios. Creating memorable experiences inundated with emotion and that show empathy, care, and trust builds relationships and adds additional value for customers by associating offers with quality (lifestyle) brands that will raise customer satisfaction.

With all this in mind, CSPs must then deploy a technology platform that captures and manages customer insights and preferences. Technology represents a crucial aspect of loyalty program management. It manages the loyalty currency, tracks earn-and-burn mechanics, maintains a historical record of member data, controls dynamic offer management, and integrates with systems and partners. Without an efficient and powerful loyalty technology supporting your loyalty program, your time will be spent orchestrating day to-day operations with little time left over for innovation.

To justify the impact of this investment, CSPs should also define a Loyalty Measurement Framework to consistently track operational metrics (think enrollment rates, response rate, and so on), engagement scores (such as Satisfaction, NPS, etcetera) and commercial returns (including churn, ARPU, CLV, and more) to understand the success of loyalty program and increase the relevancy and commercial impact of  loyalty marketing campaigns through better targeted actions to ensure that the programs deliver meaningful offers to the most profitable customers.

World-class loyalty: best practices that drive digital adoption

Faced with the challenge of driving digital adoption, digital CSPs must build world-class loyalty programs to ensure their future success. Digital technology has freed telecom customers to engage with their chosen brands on their own terms—researching, discussing and shopping at all hours via multiple devices and different channels. Yet the consumer wants still more. It’s not just about the product or the service. It’s the entire experience a brand provides.

Customers want to be treated as individuals, to be valued, entertained and, ultimately, delighted. Digital networks can enable these requirements to be met. To deliver the comprehensive and satisfying digital experience required to drive digital adoption, brands must clearly define what they want to achieve and how they will go about it. A deep customer understanding together with a solid data and technology foundation that supports interactive and personalized experience are now table stakes requirements for commercial success.