How Blockchain Can Improve the Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs are structured marketing strategies designed by merchants to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of businesses associated with each program. These programs exist covering most types of commerce, each one having varying features and rewards-schemes.

Loyalty programs can be an attractive proposition for customers. The opportunity to earn points in return for rewards is a familiar concept, and brands rely on the power of such programs to inspire repeat business.

The appeal of loyalty programs is almost timeless — one survey reports that 86% of consumers across all age demographics said they have signed up for a loyalty program to collect points for rewards.

However, the same survey also showed that 75% of consumers said they actively participate in three or fewer loyalty programs. Therefore, it’s crucial for brands to make their programs stand out from the competition. Unfortunately, not all of them succeed, as the sphere is plagued with problems, which not every brand has the power to cope with.

What are the Problems? Here, we highlight a few.

Closed Structure: Customers cannot use the rewards they have received at other brands
Insufficient Rewards: One of the main reason loyalty programs fail, is because they don't offer enough value to customers. If your customers aren't excited about earning rewards at your store, chances are they won't even take the time to swipe their card or open your app to earn points on their purchases.
Lack of Differentiation: While your customers might be interested in the same types of products, they’re not all interested in the same kinds of rewards. Offering only one type of reward can paint your loyalty program into a corner by lowering its perceived value for prospective members.

Blockchain Loyalty Platforms As A Solution

Blockchain-based loyalty platforms are now starting to emerge, and they are coming up with some innovative solutions to these problems. One example is SMATHIUM, an integrated loyalty program based on the blockchain technology, is a program that has been developed by connecting the unique characteristics of blockchain that are decentralization, dispersibility, and security to the loyalty program so that it can be applied in various fields.

SMATHIUM uses the concept of digital tokens as loyalty points. Any brand can sign up and allow customers to accrue a percentage of each check as Smathium tokens. Customers can download a smartphone app to manage their token balances and spend them at any participating brand partner.

A platform like SMATHIUM has integrated the reward points to the SMATHIUM infra that were separately provided by the existing loyalty program. Thus, the different reward points from each platform that forms a partnership with SMATHIUM can be exchanged into a SMATHIUM token. Such open-type reward structure integrates neglected reward systems from the closed structure as a single token system so that it can protect the rights and values of customers at any time, at any place. By applying the blockchain technology, transparent token transfers and transactions will be possible and this can enhance the brand loyalty of customers by sharing the benefits among the affiliated stores.

With point saving and vitalization of using points, SMATHIUM provides news and the loyalty service app that customers can participate. Along with the self-loyalty program services, by having a partnership with the existing online and offline loyalty programs, it plans to offer high value rewarding points so that the blockchain technology can be easily experienced and used in daily life and customized services.

Moreover, the loyalty program tokens have no expiry date and are even redeemable for cash if a customer wants to exchange them on a cryptocurrency exchange. Tokens are redeemable without any threshold value imposed, and with no barriers or difficulties in spending or exchanging their tokens.

For more information about SMATHIUM, kindly visit the following links:

Official website: https://smathium.io/
Whitepaper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14AOnnmRhb74E1OQ0ggofj2ZlOcgIq3SH/view
Telegram community: https://t.me/smathiumofficial
Telegram channel: https://t.me/joinchat/KrHV002fqNMYGIHmfKax8w
Twitter: https://twitter.com/smathium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smathium/

Author: jokowaru
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