Going global - How to expand your existing loyalty program into other countries

By Annika Brebion

If you already operate a successful B2B loyalty program in one market but your business is international, you may well consider rolling the same program out across other countries and regions rather then starting a new program in each region.

However, replicating your program in overseas markets is not always that straightforward. There are some key elements that you need to make sure you get right. Here are some helpful tips and steps to guide you as to the best way to go about it.

Translations

Quick reminder, a B2B loyalty program is meant to link your channel partners to your brand by creating positive associations and a feeling of belonging, being part of something. Needless to say, the best way to create these situations and emotions is if you speak to your partners in their native language. As such translations are very important and given their financial impact, worth mentioning as a top of the list item.

Here is a quick checklist of the most important items to translate:

1. Website translation

2. E-Learning courses

3. Gamification

4. Website tutorials or manuals

5. Terms and Conditions

6. FAQ

Legal Aspects

Make sure you consider all the legal aspects. Let’s use the UK as an example. Say, your loyalty program is already established in the UK, if the legal entity (your company) is the same for the UK and the rest of Europe as the country where you want to expand to, then it should be enough to simply translate your terms and conditions. If this is not the case, then it is best to send the existing terms to the legal department of the new countries or regions for their local review.  Consider also GDPR and other local data protection rules, which might be applicable to your new country.

Data

Whatever process is set up to calculate points based on sales for each participant, make sure that the same process can be used for the new countries. Check the data itself and the format in which it is submitted to your agency. Create a base list of products and points to be used, and ideally do a test run.

Budget

Keep in mind that monthly management fees and redemption costs will need to be calculated up front to ensure your budget will allow for the expansion. It is highly recommended to stick to the same point/monetary value ratio across all regions.

E.g. if your point in the UK program translated to 0.10 GBP, ensure you stick to that ratio in the other currencies, or even better, stick to one currency and one formula for your point calculation. (e.g. 1 point = USD$0.25)

Not every country will have the same budget available to contribute to the program. There are numerous ways to avoid overspending your budget, which should be discussed.

Rewards and Redemptions

Make sure you have enough options in each country in terms of rewards. Consider vouchers and gift cards for local retailers, local store credits etc. Remember that some rewards are not available or allowed in all countries and different regions and cultures prefer different items. Your rewards are the key to driving engagement in your program so ensure that the rewards they can redeem for are relevent for the region the end user is based.

Communications

Communication in a loyalty program is fundamental and we have covered this topic at length in other blog posts. In short, though, here are some recommendations for your country/region expansion in terms of communication:

1. Make sure everyone at your local office is aware of the program and knows how it works and how your partners can register

2. Use social media where possible to announce your launch

3. Task your local sales force with new channel partner registration

4. Establish a list of channel partners you want to invite to the program (consider a sign-up bonus)

5. Send out a local language launch EDM, making reference to the fact that this program is not new, but new in your country

Ideally you will have already thought about the expansion of your program into other countries when your first launched in your initial market.  Once you have the process established in one market, if you make sure you consider all the above elements fully, then expanding to other countries will be easy. New countries will be convinced to join the program after seeing its success and ROI in your launch market.

At Motivforce we run channel partner programs for clients in anything from one or two markets in one language, to global programs in multiple languages. Know Your IBM for example, first launched 2001 in Canada and Australia, but expanded to EMEA in 2004, North America in 2005, Korea in 2006, Asia in 2007 and Latin America in 2009, and now runs in 131 countries in 14 languages! So, if you need support with taking your program into additional markets, don’t shy away from asking us for help.