As another World Earth Day has come around again (on 22nd April 2021) and we are still very much in the middle of a global health and economic crisis, it has become clear that environmental stewardship is no longer a ‘should do' but a ‘got to do' imperative. That we urgently need a little more action and your B2B loyalty program could (or should) be driving the action.

As loyalty marketers it is hard to not fall asleep at the wheel and lose sight of the bigger picture. But if you sometimes do, be prepared to make the business case for your program when you hear the call from the C-suite. That is why we present you with a nudge - a marketing metrics refresh

When and how to prepare for the return of face to face events such as incentive travel, conferences and product launches and why you need to do it sooner rather then later.

Over the past 10 years we have seen the rise of the pre-paid card (both MasterCard gift and reloadable) as well as the use of online retail vouchers, become the preferred reward medium in our loyalty and incentive programs.

One of biggest fallacies about loyalty and incentive marketing programs is that they will be a cure for all your business challenges. When this is the belief there is a tendency to quickly launch a program targeting everyone with aspirational rewards and benefits. Customer acquisition is the primary goal but quickly turns to disillusionment when all those that have signed up fail to get engaged.

One of the reasons for this disillusionment is that loyalty programs are designed to appeal to a certain segment of your customer base. In other words they are not applicable to everyone. So who should you target?

Have you ever wondered why points are used in a loyalty program, and how many points should you award your B2B loyalty program participants?

Check out our Five Point Plan for setting the value of a reward point:

Many B2B channel loyalty programs are known for their ‘star’ rewards - the stuff that dreams are made of: a trip to Vegas or the International Space Station on Virgin Galactic and a $100,000 gift card are likely to speak to anyone’s imagination. But does it speak to your business sense? Offering your loyalty program members the opportunity to become an astronaut will set you back by at least $250,000. This would be quite a challenge to your program ROI.

One of the key elements of a successful loyalty program is communication”. But what, how and when should you communicate, you wonder….?

Artificial intelligence has already changed the way we interact with technology. We are almost at the point where we will be conversing with chatbots that text like your best friend. AI will tell you what to do when your dog misbehaves, how to save on your energy bill and whether you really do look good in that suit. But what do these technological advances mean for B2B loyalty programs? Our R&D team list 3 ways that AI can enhance your B2B loyalty program.

A term that we commonly use in channel loyalty and incentive programs is the effort advantage ratio. This is the study of consumer loyalty programs and the effort a participant must undertake to achieve a loyalty program reward and how this effort impacted on attractiveness of the loyalty program for their continued participation. 

These are 7 things to consider when weighing up the Effort Advantage Ratio.

‘Motivation’ is a complex concept, but it’s what drives loyalty. It determines why your loyalty program participants are willing to increase your share of wallet, or even go the extra mile for your business.

But how can you measure ‘motivation’? Most agencies and pundits will only tell you how to measure ‘loyalty’. Often this is done using the basic method of asking program participants ‘the only question that matters’, aka calculating your Net Promoter Score (NPS). But the science has repeatedly shown that the NPS is at best marginally related to loyalty program success.

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.

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.

‘Social distancing’ is a concept that most of us had never come across before the outbreak of covid-19. Now many people around the world are having to adapt their personal and professional lives radically to adhere to rules about staying at home and self-isolation.

Our human need for face to face communication and camaraderie has been put on hold indefinitely. But within days of ‘lockdown’ there was a surge in people using social media and video platforms.

The light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel. As countries start the process of emerging from lockdown, many C-suite executives will be struggling with challenging cashflow positions and your loyalty program may still run the risk of being deemed ‘non-essential’. So, we felt we needed to go further than offer well-meant advice.

B2B Loyalty Marketing in the Post Covid-19 Era

We tend to share Motivforce’s prediction on what will happen in the loyalty marketing space at the start of every new year. The Covid 19 crisis has changed everything, including the moment when we put our thinking caps on and reflect on what is in store. Because we feel it is important for loyalty marketers to prepare for a different future:

Covid-19 is continuing to cause chaotic and challenging business conditions where many industry sectors are forced to close, suspend or modify their trading options. But now is the time to invest in your loyalty strategy. Rather than reducing focus and suspending elements of your loyalty program, this is the time for vigorous planning and innovative programme design so that companies are in the prime position to cash in on the tsunami of pent-up demand that will follow when the virus has passed.

Use the current downturn as an opportunity to conduct research among your loyalty program participants. The downturn caused by Covid-19 and government efforts to contain the pandemic is set to continue for the foreseeable future for many industry sectors. But there are ways you can turn this downtime into an opportunity for your B2B loyalty and incentive program, even if your sales have taken a nose dive.

As Covid-19 continues to create chaotic and challenging business condition’s many industry sectors have seen a collapse in sales and huge downturns in trading. Lack of sales is like a horror movie for all businesses. And if your company has a loyalty programme, how can you maintain participant engagement, when the core concept of rewarding for sales has been eliminated?

The answer is to use this downtime as an opportunity.

How can you give resellers and business partners in your distribution channel a competitive edge and persuade them to sell your products rather than those of a rival vendor?

The answer is ‘enablement’ – in other words, you need to give your resellers the skills and product knowledge to sell your solution or services effectively to their end customer. But how do you convince stakeholders to invest?

Internal misalignment often begins with a lack of a strategic vision, while clarity starts with a clear sales, marketing and loyalty strategy. Developing a cohesive strategy educates the entire company on the expectations. A clear and complete vision of the program will pre-empt a “let’s-slash-the-loyalty-budget” attitude. Educating company stakeholders is an ongoing process. Like anything else, if they don’t understand its value, you are not going to get their buy-in.

A GOOD PLACE TO START IS TO IDENTIFY A NUMBER OF COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS;