Emarsys Loyalty requires a working Smart Insight integration, and an additional three mandatory fields in your sales data file.

You will also need to confirm that your sales data is loaded daily and that your returns and cancellations are processed accurately (so that any points earned from then can be removed).

If you want to use the Loyalty Wallet you will need to implement the Loyalty JavaScript commands on your website, otherwise you can use Loyalty’s API and build your own UI on your website.

Emarsys Loyalty allows you to manage multiple loyalty plans simultaneously in the same account (multiplan). Parallel plans can be for example B2C/B2B, Amateurs/Professionals, etc. 

In the first step of onboarding, you are required to define a plan name and plan identifier of your first plan, which is also your default plan. Additionally, you need to select the plan type.

Plan name - This is the official name of your plan as it will be communicated to the customers. A branded name will help you to market your plan. Customers also will see the name of your plan in the Loyalty Wallet before joining. 

Plan identifier - This is a permanent ID that will be used to identify the plan internally. The ID cannot be changed after the plan is launched.

Plan type - We currently support the following types of plans:

• Redemption - Members earn points from purchases and engagement, and they can redeem them for rewards. You can start a one tier plan quickly and with a minimum number of complex decisions. You can also run a multi-tier plan to increase the gamification element and regularly encourage members to upgrade to the next tier and earn upgraded rewards.  
• Benefits - A multi-tier plan that increases the gamification element and regularly encourages members to upgrade to the next tier and unlock new benefits. You can decide if members earn points or not, but the points are not redeemable.

If your customers belong to different markets with different languages and currencies, each of them can receive the Loyalty treatment in their own language and currency. 

This step is divided into the following parts:

• Language - Select primary and additional languages if needed. 
• Store url - You can define the store URL that supports the selected language. This will automatically preset these URLs in all the required settings fields.
• Currency - Select currency and additional currencies if needed.
• Market - Select your primary market (e.g. country or region) and your additional markets if needed. This is an optional free text field that will allow you to target Loyalty offers by selecting the relevant market. For example, your customers are located in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but you are interested in offering a voucher for points only to the German market. Markets can also distinguish between different websites in the same country or different regions in a country.

In the Plan settings tab, you can define the basic rules of your plan, that will affect all members regardless of their Loyalty status. The plan settings are changeable after launch (except for ‘Yearly calculation for tiers’), but we do not recommend doing so if it is not really required. Any such change will require you to communicate this to your customers. 

• Plan name - This is the official name of your plan as it will be communicated to the customers. A branded name will help you to market your plan. Customers will also see the name of your plan in the Loyalty Wallet before joining.

Plan Type:

• Points & Redemption - Your members will accumulate status and balance points. Then, the balance points can be redeemed for vouchers and exclusive access.
• Points & Benefits - For this plan type, your members will accumulate balance points behind the scene (In case you want in the  future to switch to a redemption plan), but will not be able to redeem those points.

When you later decide to switch to a redemption plan, there will be a new setting opening up:

• Historical Balance points - Select whether to award historical balance points accumulated by existing members, based on their Loyalty activity from the moment they joined the plan. This is a one-time process that is being performed once you re-launch your plan.

• Reward with Balance points - The ideal option to immediately incentivize members to redeem points for rewards.
• Do not reward with Balance points - Accumulation of balance points starts from scratch and customers will have to earn new points for redemption.

• Status points expiration - Select when the Status points expire and reset:
  • Status points expire and are reset on the day of calculation for tiers - Once the points are calculated they are reset, but the customers maintain their tier status at least until the next calculation.
    This option is not relevant if the tiers are not calculated.
  • Status points expire and are reset every [X months] from the moment they are earned - At the time of calculation for tiers, only the valid points for that day are calculated. Based on this calculation customers maintain their status or drop out to a lower tier.
  • The Status points are not expired or reset - This option is relevant only if the tiers are not calculated.

• Status points validity - If the second option is selected, define the validity of status points from the day they are earned.

After specifying the general Plan Settings, consider your Membership settings.

• New members distribution- Select how your contacts will be distributed among tiers once they join your Loyalty plan.
  • Add new members to the bottom tier - Ideal option to start a new Loyalty plan from scratch with an equal starting line for all members.
  • Add new members to a tier according to their historical spend in a defined calculation period - Ideal option to incentivize new members who were already loyal before they joined the program.
• Points distribution- Select how points will be distributed among new members once they join your Loyalty plan.
  • Add Status points - Select how the new members should be rewarded with Status points, according to their historical spend in the selected calculation period.
  • Add Balance points - Select how the new members should be rewarded with Points to spend, according to their historical spend in the selected calculation period.
• Calculation period- Define how much historical data you want to use to calculate contacts' and points distribution. The calculation is performed according to the defined period from the moment a new member joins the Loyalty.
  • From the beginning of the current calendar year
  • By a predefined period - Define the timeframe to reward points for historical purchases.

Now, you are ready to activate your account and configure the rest of your settings such as customer actions, benefits and rewards.