People or Process?
by Joshua Tretakoff | VP, Client Services
One of the more interesting facets of providing software as a service in loyalty is the assumptions many companies make when designing their programs. For instance, one of the first things companies do is hire a “team” to run the program. The team usually consists of an executive to run day to day operations, a marketing analyst, a part time data integration jockey, and a customer service manager. These are all great positions and people…and should be all you need.
After the team gets settled, they start doing a lot of ad hoc work. Should we send a special email this week? Maybe a double points offer? In the end, each customer touchpoint is individually discussed among the team, and a promotion is launched. Next week, the process starts over again.
SaaS makes this process a thing of the past. Imagine the team sitting down for a day, and actually making a list of the key interaction points in a customer’s lifecycle. From the first communication, to the time when a customer has not interacted with you in a few months, to when that customer becomes one of your best. Then, imagine mapping each of those interaction points to a specially crafted communication or promotion, specific to that customer. Finally, imagine the system automatically checking every customer, every day, to find the new people who should have that special communication and sending it, without the team needing to discuss.
SaaS allows for just this, and the smartest clients looking to maximize their loyalty efforts with a minimum of wasted human cycles are already taking advantage of it. The question remains: why wouldn’t you?
