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 Back to Rewards Main Page 

Excerpt
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Understand the usage of Rewards within CRM.COM

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Table of Contents

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What are Rewards?

Rewards module allows merchants to award loyal customers, with a plethora of Reward Offer options. Awards are directly converted to cash which is either available for spending on specific products at specific times and on specific Units or spent with no conditions at the liking of the customer.
Via the Rewards module you can set up all your business specific Reward Offers, create Rewards Participants,  create Reward Participating Merchants that can have their own Reward Offers, award participants instantly or at a later stage via batch runs, and handle all reward-related transactions.

Rewards Glossary

TermDescription
Reward Offers

Reward Offers are used to:

  • Define an amount of money that will be awarded to Rewards Participants, based on Customer Events that were performed by them,
  • Define the conditions that should be met for an award to be given
  • Define the conditions that should be met for the awarded amount to be spent. (Optional) 
Rewards Participants

The customers who have signed up for rewards or have been automatically selected to participate

Rewards Participating Merchants

Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0
 

Rewards Participating Merchants are merchants that have a partnership with the business that owns the reward platform and can participate in the provided reward Schemes.
Reward Participating Merchants are contributing to the amount that is awarded to Rewards Participants, based on rules which are agreed and defined between the merchant and the business.
Contribution
Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0
 
The money that must be given by the Rewards Participating Merchant to the business that owns the Reward Platform, defined as a percentage of the total amount of awards provided to Rewards Participants by the specific Merchant.
Reward SchemesReward Schemes group together Reward Offers and are used to define which Reward Offers will apply to which Rewards Participants.
You can have multiple Schemes, each one with different Reward Offers, and when signing up Rewards Participants, you can choose in which Scheme(s) you would like them to participate
Award Reward Transactions

Award Rewards Transactions are used to award a Rewards Participant, for a specific amount of money that was provided by a Reward Offer, and credit the Rewards Participants Wallet for that specific amount.

Visit Managing Award Transactions for more information

Spend Reward Transactions

Spend Reward Transactions are used to spend a specific amount of money, that was awarded by a Reward Offer, and debit the Rewards Participants Wallet for that specific amount.

Visit Managing Spend Transactions for more information

Award Expiration Transactions

Award Expiration Transactions are used to expire an awarded amount given to a Rewards Participant by debiting the Rewards Participant's Wallet. Award Expiration Transactions are generated because the Rewards Participant's awarded amount expires due to Reward Award Offer Validity period.

Visit Managing Award Expiration Transactions for more information

Reward Settlements

Reward Settlement is a batch process that is responsible for evaluating Customer Events and Spend Transactions to debit or credit the Merchant's accounts, based on the awards provided or redeemed.
Customer Events

Customer Events are financial and marketing events performed by customers and are registered within CRM.COM to be rewarded or additionally processed by other functions of CRM.COM

Access TokensAccess Tokens are used to identify a customer, user or app that can access CRM.COM and authenticate them while accessing the system

Rewards Key Processes and Concepts

Awards are added to a Rewards Participant's Wallet and they can be spent conditionally (specific products, specific times and
Processes / ConceptDescription
Ending Rewards Scheme ParticipationAn agent can end a Rewards Participant's participation in a Scheme, resulting to halting any awards related to Reward Offers from the specific Scheme, by removing the Scheme from the Participating Schemes section
Awarding Loyal Participants

CRM.COM Reward Platform, allows you to award loyal customers not just on money being spent but in various other cases that are helpful for Marketing Promoting

  • Award customers based on purchases by using any of the following Reward Offers:
  • Status
    colourYellow
    titleAvailable from CRM.COM R11.0.0
    Award customers who have reached specific key business objectives as measured through Financial Statement Customer Events
  • Award customer based on common business characteristics which can be determined by one or multiple Segments
  • Award customers for liking the business Facebook page or visiting the business website by using the following Reward Offer:
  • Award customers on their birthday by using the following Reward Offer:
  • Award customers on their name-day by using the following Reward Offer:
  • Award customers for providing all their personal details, such as email addresses, telephones, addresses, etc. by using the following Reward Offer:
  • Award customer for referring friends by using the following Reward Offer:
  • Award customers on signing up to the Rewards Platform by using the following Reward Offer:
  • Award customers for being loyal subscribers, with no deactivation periods throughout their subscriptions by using the following Reward Offer:

 

Evaluating Customer Events

While some Reward Offers awarding can be deduced from data registered in the System, i.e. name-day, birthday, subscription maturity, most of the Reward Offers require the creation and evaluation of Customer Event to be awarded. Customer Events of the following types are used and evaluated by the Rewards Engine

  • Purchase

  • Referral

  • Web

  • Social Media

  • Achievement

  • Financial Achievement

    Status
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    titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

  • Financial Statement

    Status
    colourYellow
    titleAvailable from CRM.COM R11.0.0

Evaluating Spend Request Customer EventsCustomer Events are used to evaluate if a customer should be awarded as well as allowed to spend a specific awarded amount of money. Evaluating Spend Request Customer Events & Spending Awarded Amount are applied on Customer Events of the following type
  • Spend Request
Batch Process Reward Offer Evaluation versus Batch Process & Interactively 

A Reward Offer related to Customer Events can be evaluated, and thus create reward Award Transactions on two occasions:

  • When a Customer Event related with the Reward Offer that has the "Process Immediately" flag checked is saved
  • When a Rewards Run is executed, and there exist unprocessed Customer Event related with the Reward Offers included in the run. These are Customer Events  that have the "Process Immediately" flag unchecked

Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0
You have the option of creating a Reward Offer to define whether related Customer Events (i.e. events with "Process Immediately" flag checked) can be processed immediately (i.e. evaluate related Reward Offer immediately and provide the reward Award Transaction) or whether they can only be processed and evaluated during the Rewards Run.

The option to allow both Batch and Interactive processing is only available for the following Reward Offer Types:

  • Utilise Free Capacity
  • Increase Revenue, Transaction based
  • Increase Revenue, Product based
  • Reward Behavior
Note

For the rest of the Reward Offer types, the evaluation can only be done in Batch mode, via the Rewards Run

Reward Award ValidityAwarding Reward Offers only for specific Periods

Once a Reward Offer iscreated and set as effective, Reward Participants are eligible to get awarded by the Offer as long as it belongs to a Scheme they participate.
However, you have the option to define specific periods during which the Reward Offers will be used for awarding Reward Participants, even if they are effective. The following options are available:

  • Always Valid from Effective Date onward
  • Specific Period: Make a Reward Offer available for a specific period
    Status
    colourYellow
    titleAvailable from CRM.COM R11.1.0
  • During Birthday Period: Make a Reward Offer available on a Participant's birthday
  • During Name-day Period: Make a Reward Offer available on a Participant's name-day
  • During a recurring Period: Make a Reward Offer available during a specific period of the year, every year, such as Christmas Season Offers.
Note

Check the Offer Validity setting available in each Reward Offer for more information.

Defining validity on the Awards

Awards are added to a Rewards Participant's Wallet and they can be spent conditionally (specific products, specific times and days of the week, or at specific places) or unconditionally.
In addition to the above, the business can set an expiration to the awards, thus encouraging them to spend them within a specific period. Once the expiration date is reached, the participant's Wallet is debited, and the awarded money is no longer available.

To set a Validity Date on the awards the Reward Award Validity attribute must be set on the Reward Offer at the time of setup, and the Expiration Process must be executed to identify expired awards.

Note

Additionally to the Award Expiration function, the System can also be set only to allow participants to redeem their Awards after a period since the award has passed.
This is defined by the  Allow Spending Only After a period Since the Award Was Offered field available at the Spend Conditions of the Reward Offer.

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instant_spent
Instant Spent based on Reward Offer
Status
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titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0
 

There exist, two models, you can choose from with regards to the exchange of the customer's awards.

Model 1 - Instant Spent

Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

Awards can be exchanged and spent instantly, i.e. when making a purchase related to an award, the award/money can be automatically deducted from the invoice, like an instant discount.

Note

The Instant Spent option can be set on the Reward Offer. This model is only applicable for the following offer types:

Model 2 - Spend on Request

Awards are added to the loyalty account and can be spent at a later stage upon the customer's request.
i.e. when making a purchase related to an award, the money is added to the customer's loyalty account, while the full amount of the current purchase is paid.

Instant Spent Authorisation based on Rewards Participant
Status
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titleAvailable from CRM.COM R11.0.0
 

Rewards Participants have the option to define whether they wish to enable Instant Spent; this means that awards can be exchanged and spent instantly, i.e. when making a purchase related to an award, the award/money can be automatically deducted from the invoice, like an instant discount.

The Instant Spent Authorisation, is done regardless of the Instant Spent setting on the Reward Offer and it is only applicable for the following offer types:

Apply Only Reward Offer, Offering the Best Award
Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.1.0
 

If many Reward Offers are set up in the System, then an event may be awarded multiple times, that is, whenever the Reward process is executed.
Option is available to only award an event once, with the Award from the Reward Offer that gives the highest awarded amount, every time the Reward Process is executed.

The "Best Award" decision process can take place either when the user works with an Interactive Rewards Model, or a Batch Rewards Model.

Providing Awards either on the whole amount or per product sold on transaction based Reward Offers
Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0
 

The amount or percentage to be awarded is set on the Reward Offer. As a general rule, when a transaction is completed, if the Award Conditions are met then the award is provided on the whole amount.

An additional option is available, where the award can be provided per item sold within a transaction. i.e. if within a transaction you have different products or 5 items of the same product, then the award will be provided once for every product.

Note

The option to set the award, per transaction item, is only applicable for the following offer types:

Temporarily Block 'Spending of Awards' from Particular Rewards Participants

Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.1.0

It is possible to block Participants from spending their Awards, in case of a dispute or a suspicion of fraud. In the same way, blocked Participants can be unblocked and resume spending their Awards.
View Managing Rewards Participants for more information. 
Previewing Awards on Purchase Customer Events
 
Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

Many CRM.COM Reward Offers are directly related to Purchase Customer Event, meaning, awards will be granted based on a Purchase Customer Event, given that the offer conditions are met.

An option is available (ONLY VIA WEB API) to preview awarded amount information, before the purchase Customer Event is submitted. In greater detail, using the Preview function the following information is available:

  • Amount that will be awarded
  • Amount that will be spent instantly
  • Additional amount that can be spent on a purchase Customer Event (based on what is available in the customer's loyalty account
Rewards Participating Merchants Contributions
 
Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0
 
Merchants that have a partnership with the business that owns the Reward Platform can participate in the Reward Schemes. Using the module, awards can be given only for events occurring via the particular merchants. For example, a merchant can set up a Reward Offer that will only be applicable when Rewards Participants buy a good from his store.
Additionally, the merchants can be required to pay the business that owns the Reward Platform, for the awards that were provided via its own Reward Offers. This is referred to as Contribution and in the system is defined as a Percentage (%).
Amount owed to the business = Contribution % * Awarded Amount
Crediting and Debiting Participating Merchant's Accounts Based on the Awards and Redemption of Awards

 

There is the option to debit or credit Merchants' accounts, based on the Awards provided through their Reward Offers, and the spending of Awards done via their Units.  For example:

  • When an Award is handed via a Customer Event that was created by Merchant A, then Merchant A's account will be debited with the Award amount.
  • When a Spend Request Customer Event is created by Merchant A, then Merchant A's account will be credited with the spent amount.

View Using Reward Settlement Run Definitions for more information.

Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

For the calculation of the amount with which, the Merchant's account will be debited or credited, the System will take into account the Contribution Rules set up at the Rewards Participating Merchants.
View Applying Rewards Participating Merchant Rules for more information. 

Crediting the Accounts Receivable of Rewards Participants
Status
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titleAvailable from CRM.COM R11.0.0
 

In the case, that the POS of your Reward's Platform Participating Merchant cannot be changed so that it fully integrates with CRM.COM, in order for redemption of awards to be done through Participant's Wallet, the System allows you to credit the Accounts Receivable of the Participant with the amount of money that should be paid to the merchant through the redemption of the participant's awards.

When Rewards Participants, wish to redeem their awards (i.e. Create Spend Request Customer Events) the System apart from debiting the Wallet of the Participant, so that a correct balance is maintained, it also automatically credits the Accounts Receivable of the Rewards Participant, with the amount it should be redeemed.

For example, if the customer wants to buy something worth €115.00 of which €15.00 is the redemption of awards, the customer will pay the full amount to the merchant, and the System will credit the Account Receivable with €15.00.

Note

It is up to you to set up a custom procedure where you will pay back your customers with their awarded redemption.
i.e. extract the money owed to the customer and credit their bank accounts.

The option to credit the Accounts Receivable is optional and it can be set up on the Rewards Participating Merchants. In order to help you identify the Accounts that should be handled a Report is available in the System: Rewards Participating Merchant Credits Report

  

 

Rewards Access & Viewing Controls

Business Network Characteristics define the level of access for each record, i.e. Whether it will be available for selection, for viewing or editing, etc.

EntityNetwork CharacteristicsDescription

Reward Offer Types

A Reward Offer Type can be selected when creating a Rewards Offer, provided the user adding the Type belongs to one of the Allowed Organisational Units defined in the Reward Offer Type, or a collaboration exists between their Unit and the AOU of the Type, or is a Super User
Rewards OffersRewards Offer records can be accessed viewed and modified by non-Super Users defined as members of the offer's Owned By Group, by non-Super Users that belong to a Group that collaborates with the Owned By Group, or by Super Users.
Rewards SchemesA Rewards Scheme can be selected when creating a Rewards Offer, provided the user adding the Scheme belongs to one of the Allowed Organisational Units defined in the Rewards Scheme, or a collaboration exists between their Unit and the AOU of the Scheme, or is a Super User
Award TransactionsAward Transaction records can be accessed viewed and modified by non-Super Users that belong to the Group defined at the Owned By Group of the Accounts Receivable of Rewards Participant or that belong to a Group that collaborates with the specified Group or by Super Users
Spend TransactionsSpend Transaction records can be accessed viewed and modified by non-Super Users that belong to the Group defined at the Owned By Group of the Accounts Receivable of Rewards Participant or that belong to a Group that collaborates with the specified Group or by Super Users

Award Expiration Transactions

Award Expiration Transaction records can be accessed viewed and modified by non-Super Users that belong to the Group defined at the Owned By Group of the Accounts Receivable of Rewards Participant or that belong to a Group that collaborates with the specified Group or by Super Users

Rewards Related Modules

Interaction EntityHow
Access TokensAccess Tokens are used to identify a customer, user or app that can access CRM.COM and be able to receive or spend rewards
Customer EventsRewards can be Customer Event Initiated. Active Customer Event definition must be configured. Customer Events module should be fully understood before proceeding with Rewards
Wallets

Wallets serve as the customer's loyalty accounts. Awards and Spend Transactions cause Wallet Transactions. An active Wallet Definition must be configured

Products
Products can be used to award or spend rewards
Accounts Receivable
Rewards Participants is related to an account
CommunicationsCommunications can be sent to customers, related to their Rewards Participants, Award Spend and Expiration Transactions.

Rewards - Business Examples

The following section provides business examples to help you understand how CRM.COM Rewards module is used.

Note

Visit Understanding Customer Events for more business examples related to Reward Offers and Customer Events

Set up a Reward Offer for liking the company's Facebook page

Panel
nameblue
titleAward Participants for Liking Facebook Page

Business Requirement

Company ZX would like to set up a Reward Offer for liking their Facebook page


CRM.COM Solution

  • Configuration
  1. Verify that a Reward Scheme exists in the system, for example, "Marketing Reward Scheme" and make sure that there are Rewards Participants that are participating in this Scheme
  2. Set up a Reward Offer Type that can be used only for Facebook likes
    1. Name: Reward Behaviour Facebook
    2. Classification: Reward Behaviour
  3. Set up a Reward Offer so that participants can be awarded 1 Euro for liking your Facebook page
    1. Name: 1 euro on liking Facebook Page
    2. Scheme: Marketing
    3. Type: Reward Behaviour Facebook
    4. Award Amount: 1
    5. Award Conditions:
      1. Facebook likes
      2. Enter Facebook page
      3. Specify any segments or organisational Units that need to be included
    6. Click on SAVE

Note

More Information on Rewards configuration can be found at Rewards - The Admin Stuff

Provide Instant Discount on an item basis - 
Status
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titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

Panel
nameblue
titleInstant Discount on Transaction Item Amount

Business Requirement

Company ZX would like to provide a 10% discount on each Product sold of type " accessories" at the time of the purchase


CRM.COM Solution

  • Configuration
  1. Create a new Utilise Free Capacity Reward Offer with the following setup
    1. Award: 10%
    2. Award Scope: Apply Award Per Transaction Item
    3. Spend Method: Instant Spend
    4. Award Conditions: product Type is Accessories
  • User Process
    Every time a new Purchase Customer Event is created for an accessory item, the system will make 10% discount for each one of them.


Provide Instant Discount on a complete transaction - 
Status
colourGreen
titleAvailable from CRM.COM R10.0.0

Panel
nameblue
titleInstant Discount on Transaction Amount

Business Requirement

Company ZX would like to make €10 discount on the total amount on any purchases made on Hardware


CRM.COM Solution

  • Configuration
  1. Create a new Utilise Free Capacity Reward Offer with the following setup
    1. Award: €10
    2. Award Scope: Apply Award Per Transaction
    3. Spend Method: Instant Spend
    4. Award Conditions: product Type is Hardware
  • User Process
    Every time a new Purchase Customer Event is created including Hardware, the system will make 10% discount on the total amount of the invoice/Customer Event.

Award Loyal Subscribers for Rewards Participation

Panel
nameblue
titleAward loyal subscribers

Business Requirement

Company ZX would like to award with 5 Euros the Rewards Participants who have been subscribers for a continuous year and participated in marketing Schemes


CRM.COM Solution

  • Configuration
  • Set up a Reward Offer Type
    1. Classification: Reward Subscription Maturity 
  • Set up a Reward Offer 
    • Type: with the above type
    • Scheme: Marketing
    • Category: Marketing
    • Amount: 5 Euros
    • Conditions:
      • Uninterrupted Subscription Period: 1 year
      • Segment Conditions:
        • Included Segments: Effective Subscribers

  • Create a new Reward Run Definition
    1. Name: Award Mature Subscribers once a year
    2. Reward Offer Type: select the type previously created, Award Mature Subscribers once a year
    3. Under Criteria: specify all the criteria that will retrieve the subscribers that have a continuous subscription for the last year:
      1. Reward Schemes: Marketing
      2. Reward Offer Types: Reward Subscription Maturity
    4. Under Scheduling

      1. Schedule the definition to be executed on a specific date and time

      2. Schedule the recurrence to be each year


  • User Process
  • Execute Run Definition
    • Look at the run results
    • Navigate to Award Transactions: Transactions have been created for all participants that match the criteria
    • Navigate to the participant's Wallet: 5 Euros have been credited to participants that match the criteria

Note

More Information on Rewards Offers configuration can be found at Reward Subscription Maturity

Configure and Execute an Award Expiration Transactions Run Definition 
Status
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titleApplicable up to CRM.COM R9.0.0

Panel
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titleExpiration of Awards

Business Requirement

Company ZX would like its Reward Participants to spend their Awards within a month from the time they are awarded.


CRM.COM Solution

  • Configuration
  1. The Awards Validity for Reward Offers should be defined, displaying the expiration date of the Awards Transactions.
  2. Wallet Definitions must define Financial Transactions to be created when:
    1. Causes Debiting Wallets: On Award Expiration Transactions
    2. Causes Voiding Wallets: On Cancelling as Award Expiration Transaction
  3. Award Expiration Run Definition must be created and scheduled to be executed each month to produce Award Expiration Transactions and cancel the Awards that have been Expired.
    1. Specify the following:
      1. Award Transaction expired X days ago: 1 day
      2. Reward Offers
      3. Segments to be Included or Excluded from the Run.

  4. Each month after the Run is executed, the Award Expiration Transactions will be created to expire awarded amounts by debiting the Rewards Participant's Wallet. Award Expiration Transactions trigger the generation of Debit Wallet Transactions which deduct the remaining (unspent) awarded amount.
Note

More Information on Award Expiration Transactions Run Definition can be found at Using Award Expiration Run Definitions

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