Building Loyalty Through Technology: 3 tech trends you need to know

Today's highly competitive market has made it increasingly difficult for businesses to retain customers - due to the rapid changes in consumer loyalty trends. The abundance of options has empowered customers to quickly move on to a competitor, especially if a business fails to meet expectations - whether it's in quality, price, or experience. 

Bain & Company's report on customer loyalty highlights how increasing customer retention rate by just 5% can increase profits by up to 95%. With that said, it's important for businesses today to leverage loyalty program technology to boost customer loyalty. Here, let's discuss the 3 customer loyalty trends in 2022 to boost your success…

• Crypto payments
  
  More and more people are getting into cryptocurrencies, so you can expect these digital assets to become a part of customer loyalty program trends. The trade volatility charts on FXCM reveal that despite being relatively unstable compared to other investment vehicles such as stocks and forex, cryptocurrency pairs continue to be popular amongst today’s traders. However, crypto users have found that opportunities for spending their cryptocurrency are extremely limited due to their volatility.
  
  In order to help propel the adoption of cryptocurrency, as well as tap into the massive crypto user base, businesses should start accepting crypto payments through loyalty software companies. Thankfully, financial behemoths such as Mastercard and Visa have shown interest in cryptocurrencies, which can hopefully enable more businesses to integrate cryptocurrencies into their payment systems as a part of their loyalty program technology integration. By enabling crypto payments, businesses can avoid alienating those who use cryptocurrency. Following this customer loyalty trend in 2022 will ensure that you can retain and attract more customers.

• Artificial intelligence (AI)
  
  Technology has advanced far enough that loyalty software companies are leveraging them to build customer relationships. Through this advancement, businesses can follow customer loyalty program trends by investing in AI. This is very effective in the business landscape since AI-driven predictive analytics can process customer data to forecast future trends and help businesses better understand the purchase behaviour of their customers.
  
  Chatbots are another crucial AI loyalty program technology since they can be programmed to engage with customers. An article by Voice UI notes that AI chatbots use natural language processing to answer customer queries. Recognising that businesses can gain relevant and useful business insights and provide superb customer service using AI, AI chatbots have become one of the top customer loyalty trends. AI can personalise the services and products businesses provide, making it a great investment as a loyalty program technology.

• Mobile applications
  
  Today, it's almost impossible to find a person who doesn’t own a mobile device. Since phones allow us to be
  connected to our loved ones as well as keep us up-to-date on our interests, most of us feel deeply connected to our mobile devices. As such, one of the biggest customer loyalty trends in 2022 is investing in your business' mobile application. Mobile apps allow customers to quickly access and buy from a business’ ecommerce catalogue, making it a crucial loyalty program technology. Moreover, mobile apps have become a customer loyalty trend because they're great channels for loyalty access. Businesses can use mobile apps to send personalised promos and rewards directly to their market, which can further build customer loyalty and retention.
  
  Take a look at Starbucks and its loyalty rewards app. Aside from allowing customers to order and pay ahead of time, the Starbucks app has also cultivated a superb user experience that consistently engages customers. It's clear that mobile applications are an engaging extension for a business, making it one of the most crucial customer loyalty program trends. Through these tech tools, businesses can build a stronger relationship with their customers and further cultivate a loyal following.