How Big Data is Offering Companies ‘Frictionless Loyalty'

Think about a perfect customer loyalty program. What would it offer? Discounts and deals available at the moment of purchase? Or how about cashback sent directly to your credit and debit cards? Okay then, how would it work? Well, there’d be no need for a lengthy signing up process, definitely no more irrelevant offers, just targeted rewards based on individual consumer behavior available precisely when your customers need them. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? A personalized customer loyalty program that works at scale; a solution that benefits both consumers and brands; an effective way to empower and retain customers while also learning more about their particular habits and needs. 

This is, however, increasingly becoming the type of customer loyalty program companies can offer and that customers will come to expect. And it’s all down to two magic words: big data.

Customer loyalty programs can often sound “too good to be true,” and too often run into the same problems. Many reward programs are still being built around outmoded models: points schemes, loyalty cards, apps and other mechanisms that actually require more effort on the customer’s part than the potential rewards on offer. Or, once customers have signed up, they find themselves targeted with irrelevant offers, messages so impersonal that they read like spam, or an unnecessarily clunky funnel for actually using their accumulated rewards at the point of purchase. 

However, big data is changing all of that, as it is changing so many industries. To put the growth of big data in perspective, Google partner Nubosoft forecasts that the global big data market will reach US$103 billion by 2027, with a 45 percent share of this market being taken up by big data software. This is on top of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also altered consumer habits significantly and permanently. 

One of the most significant impacts felt from the pandemic is the increase in churn due to poor customer service and experiences. As Deloitte wrote in its report on post-pandemic customer loyalty, companies need to be extra careful when it comes to customer retention, and should be offering to “drive a specific customer behavior that corresponds to a value specific to the business,” “deliver a portfolio of compelling benefits and interactions,” and “engage the customer throughout their active journey while extending and building new connections across their customer life cycle.”

By utilizing the latest advances in big data software, companies can take full advantage of the analytical potential of the data that their consumers provide them, thereby achieving what was previously thought impossible: personalization at scale. Not only that, but the technological advances big data offers also allows for an end to all of the friction points that made customer loyalty programs too often just a case of “too good to be true.” 

For example, at REWORTH, we offer clients a variety of big-data powered programs that are turbocharging customer rewards and delivering what we call “frictionless loyalty.” We offer a cashback program that allows companies and banks to reward their customers with money deposited directly onto their debit and credit cards, giving them the freedom to choose where and when they want to spend their rewards and the convenience of a frictionless transfer from your company to your customer’s point of purchase.

Cashback, therefore, becomes not only a hypothetical reward, but an active differentiator for companies looking to boost their competitiveness and expand into new markets. At REWORTH, we’re also able to use the power of big data to offer highly personalized rewards that are in the best interests of each individual customer, while simultaneously localizing these rewards with the place and time that your customer is most likely to make a purchase.

Now think back to that perfect customer loyalty program we were dreaming up at the top of this article. Look familiar? It isn’t magic, only the power of big data. At REWORTH, we’re enabling companies to eliminate the “friction” that often keeps customers from their rewards. And it’s high time. Personalization at scale is both a possibility and a necessity in the post-pandemic consumer environment, where customers have little patience for clunky purchasing experiences and companies need to avoid poorly focused campaigns that lead to losses in both profits and customer retention. We’ve seen what happens when a company offers a bonus where the user decides, without friction and right at the point of purchase, how to take advantage of it: it all but guarantees consumer loyalty and satisfaction.