Comarch’s 7 Key Features of the Top Loyalty Management Software based on Forrester’s report

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 a 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’s a guide for B2C marketing decision-makers looking for loyalty program software tailored to their brand’s needs. Based on the growing demands for an efficient loyalty strategy across all industries, the report offers insight into the most successful initiatives and critical features that enable their capability. The Forrester report evaluates the 12 most significant players and divides them into leaders, strong performers, contenders, and challengers. Using a transparent methodology, the Forrester Wave™ Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 provides a detailed analysis of vendors’ products and services to aid buyers struggling with their purchasing options in a technology marketplace.

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. What was this achievement contingent upon? What were the conditions for being included in the report? 

Here are the primary directives that helped Forrester navigate the current loyalty vendors landscape and served as the inclusion criteria:

• Substantial loyalty technology product revenue – at least $35 million.
• Strong support for multiple industries – including retail, entertainment and leisure, financial services, and telecommunications.
• A solution with modular offerings – aside from the core functions of a loyalty marketing platform, the vendors in the report also offer several capabilities as standalone modules that can be purchased on their own (e.g., promotions and offer management, loyalty program management, measurement, and analytics).
• A broad customer base – an existing customer base of global enterprise clients and a focus on more than one region.

After gathering the top vendors who met the above conditions, Forrester evaluated them against 28 criteria grouped into three categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence. By measuring criteria like member data management, loyalty marketing, global and local support, product vision, or the number of customers, Forrester was able to create a guide through top loyalty program software with the top solutions in the market.

How does Comarch live up to the Forrester Wave™ Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 standards

The Forrester Wave™: Loyalty Technology Solutions Q1 2023 report includes the 12 most significant players – and we’re happy to share that Comarch was named a strong performer in this extensive evaluation. How did our global software house find its place among the industry’s top providers? According to our vendor profile in the report, Comarch has made significant investments in platform enhancements as well as our go-to-market strategy, and one of our biggest focus areas is community engagement. 

As the report states, “Comarch showcases its platform expertise with a range of strong technical services… [and its] planned enhancements align with [the company’s] experience-focused vision...” What’s more, the report states that our solution, Comarch’s Loyalty Management platform strengths include advanced member profile management and fraud prevention capabilities. We were also noted for having solid KPI measurements. 

Top loyalty management software providers – key features

The goal of the Forrester report was not only to evaluate the loyalty solution vendors but also to provide insight into what initiatives work best. We believe Comarch couldn’t have made the list if it wasn’t for the quality of our software – but which of its core attributes were seen as our biggest strengths and can be used as an example of what makes loyalty management systems prosper? 

Based on the criteria in Forrester’s assessment, here’s a rundown of our loyalty program features that we believe are shown to turn a loyalty solution into a success: 

 Member experience optimization

One of the main criterion Forrester evaluated its participants on was how they provide personalized experiences for individual customers. Comarch Loyalty Management meets this condition by offering a wide range of functionalities, from building individualized 1:1 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 personalized activities.

Rewards/benefits management

The best loyalty program software uses personalized incentives to boost customer engagement – but the rewards themselves are not enough to stand out from the competition. A high-quality solution is also about the complete customer experience and the ability to recognize their special status or engage them through non-financial benefits such as gamification – as shown by the example of Comarch’s loyalty platform. Our solution supports every possible rewarding mechanism, from cashback through points & rewards programs with a large variety of rewards & burn functionalities for members (cashback, vouchers, lotteries, auctions, charity donations, or gifts), gamified engagement to tiers and statuses. 

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 program 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 personalized 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 program management

The key loyalty software features include strong customer referral program management that capitalizes on existing members’ positive experiences. This functionality can be found in Comarch Loyalty Management, which lets you create a customer referral program that stands out. The platform allows for the segmentation of referrals, incentivization of both new and existing users, as well as fake account prevention. It’s characteristics like those that make our solution one of the top 5 on the market. 

Emotional loyalty measurement

Behavioral loyalty metrics are not enough to fully understand customers’ behavior. Loyalty program platforms need to combine them with the measurement of emotional loyalty to understand the "why" behind the numbers – as Comarch Loyalty Management does. CLM uses multiple metrics for stipulating the levels of customer satisfaction. From NPS to Recognition Tiers and Sentiment Analysis, our solution is full of functionalities to evaluate and improve emotional loyalty.

 Community engagement

The strength of a vendor’s customer community translates to the strength of their solution. That’s why Comarch focuses on fully digitalizing our growing client base by implementing a Learning Management System backbone structured around three main pillars:

1. Loyalty Marketing Academy: An e-learning course for marketing practitioners focused on gaining knowledge as well as designing and running loyalty marketing programs. 

2. Customer Community: An online space exclusive for Comarch customers that features 50+ product and strategy-related channels (discussion groups), recognition for most active contributors, and industry-oriented sessions moderated by Comarch and industry experts.

3. 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 the top loyalty vendors list are extensive and, in our opinion, can often be viewed as 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. We’re very proud to be named a strong performer amongst the most significant loyalty technology solution providers on the market and vow to work even harder to secure our position as the industry’s best.

Get Acess to the The Forrester Wave™: Loyalty Technology Solutions Q1 2023 report