What marketers should look for from their loyalty platform
Forrester’s latest research into the loyalty market demonstrates the things brands need from technology vendors, with Comarch named a strong performer.
How do you measure the effectiveness of your loyalty management system? The Forrester Wave Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 report is here with an answer. Gathering the industry’s most significant loyalty technology solution vendors, this report shows us which providers matter most.
We’re happy to share that Comarch’s marketing platform has been named a strong performer. Why is this recognition so important? What are the main criteria that Forrester evaluated its participants on? And what can this report teach us about the characteristics of the top loyalty software providers? Let’s dive into it.
What is the Forrester Wave Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 report?
The Forrester Wave Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 is a thorough, 28-criterion evaluation of the most significant loyalty technology solution providers on the market. It provides insight into the most successful initiatives and critical features that enable their capability, evaluating the 12 most significant players and dividing them into leaders, strong performers, contenders and challengers. It’s a guide for B2C marketing decision-makers looking for loyalty programme software tailored to their brand’s needs.
The bar is high – how to reach it
Considering how the Forrester report contains a rundown of the most significant loyalty solution providers in the industry, it’s safe to say that getting onto the list must have been a real challenge. To be included in the report, vendors needed to meet specific criteria, such as substantial loyalty technology product revenue, strong support for multiple industries, a solution with modular offerings and a broad customer base.
How does Comarch live up to the Forrester Wave Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 standards?
Comarch was named a strong performer in The Forrester Wave: Loyalty Technology Solutions Q1 2023 report. According to Comarch’s vendor profile in the report, it has made significant investments in platform enhancements and its go-to-market strategy, and one of its biggest focus areas is community engagement.
According to the report, “Comarch showcases its platform expertise with a range of strong technical services… [and its] planned enhancements align with its experience-focused vision.” What’s more, the report states that the company’s solution Comarch Loyalty Management’s strengths include advanced member profile management and fraud prevention capabilities. They are also noted as having solid KPI measurements.
Top loyalty management software providers – key features
Based on the criteria in Forrester’s assessment, here’s a rundown of Comarch’s loyalty programme features that we believe are shown to turn a loyalty solution into a success:
Member experience optimisation
One of the main criteria Forrester evaluated its participants on was how they provide personalised experiences for individual customers. Comarch Loyalty Management meets this condition by offering a wide range of functionalities, from building individualised one-to-one promotions (every member gets their own promo conditions) to delivering relevant recommendations and universal experience across many brand touchpoints at every stage of the customer lifecycle. The platform enables A/B/n testing so that users can check which variation of promotions, rewards and messages gathers the best results and find the sweet spot for personalised activities.
Zero-party data
Data obtained directly from users is the most valuable type of information about customers (due to the trustworthiness of its source). And without knowing your members, creating an effective loyalty programme has a low chance of working. That’s why the best customer loyalty software focuses on gathering this information via member attributes, pop-up quizzes, questionnaires, contests and online polls.
Comarch Loyalty Management has a plethora of methods to collect zero-party data, and the ability to adapt the customer data model and data sources at any point in time by business users – no IT knowledge is required. These tools enable assembling any data point to target members with more personalised promotions.
Consumer privacy
Comarch puts much focus on personal data security. All the new features are assessed against the potential impact on personal data security, and complete assessments of the system’s compliance against personal data security regulations are performed annually. Our loyalty management software meets all the requirements of GDPR, CCPA and others in terms of hosting infrastructure (hosting regions match local requirements) and functionalities available in the system. That’s one of the functionalities contributing to our strong position in the loyalty vendors’ landscape.
Referral programme management
The key loyalty software features include strong customer referral programme management that capitalises on existing members’ positive experiences. This functionality can be found in Comarch Loyalty Management, which lets you create a customer referral programme that stands out. The platform allows for the segmentation of referrals, incentivisation of both new and existing users, as well as fake account prevention. It’s characteristics like those that make our solution the fourth best on the market.
Community engagement
The strength of a vendor’s customer community translates to the strength of their solution. That’s why Comarch focuses on fully digitalising our growing client base by implementing a learning management system backbone structured around three main pillars:
- Loyalty Marketing Academy: An e-learning course for marketing practitioners focused on gaining knowledge as well as designing and running loyalty marketing programmes.
- Customer Community: An online space exclusive for Comarch customers that features 50-plus product- and strategy-related channels (discussion groups), recognition for most active contributors, and industry-oriented sessions moderated by Comarch and industry experts.
- Partner Community: A closed community and portal dedicated to different types of official partners.
The future of loyalty marketing
The Forrester Wave: Loyalty Technology Solutions Q1 2023 report gives us insight into the direction the loyalty landscape is headed. Considering the challenges and needs faced by B2C marketing decision-makers, this evaluation shows the most critical pain points of customers looking for the best loyalty management software for their business.
Forrester sets the bar high – its conditions for being included among its top loyalty vendors list are extensive and often, in our opinion, difficult to meet, but that’s what makes this profile so worthwhile. With the features, functionalities and offerings mentioned above, Comarch is constantly pushing to not only fulfill but also exceed those expectations.
