Technologies used in loyalty programs – what is worth knowing?

Loyalty programs are tools that help companies increase customer loyalty and encourage more frequent purchases or use of services. One way to make a loyalty program more effective is to provide a web application that will allow users to easily access the program, manage their loyalty points and take advantage of special offers.

A decision on the technology to build a loyalty program on is crucial to the efficiency of the loyalty program and, very importantly, to the end-user experience. This article will cover which technologies are worth considering for building simple programs, as well as for more advanced ones.

Simple web applications

For simple loyalty program applications, consider using a popular content management system (CMS) like WordPress. First of all, this applies when the loyalty program is relatively simple in its functionality and does not require advanced integrations or custom solutions, such as when we need to collect data through forms or display a list of available rewards. WordPress offers an easy-to-use interface that allows you to create and manage websites without any knowledge of coding.

One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is the rich library of available plugins and templates. This allows developers to quickly and easily customize the platform to meet the needs of a specific client, adding functionality common to web applications, such as user registration, online payments and much more.

What specific plugins can we find in the rich resources of WordPress? Here are some examples of the most popular plugins used in simple online loyalty program applications:

• Loyalty Points and Rewards for WooCommerce – allows you to create mechanisms where customers can collect points for purchases in your WooCommerce store and then redeem them for rewards or discounts on future purchases;
• WP Affiliate Manager – allows to create affiliate programs. This plugin can be used to reward affiliates for promoting a loyalty program, allowing them to earn commissions for each completed order;
• Ultimate Member – allows to create advanced user registration and login systems. It enables you to create special form fields that let you collect all the information you need for your loyalty program.

In addition, WordPress offers many functionalities, including: SEO, automatic updates, and easy management of users and their permissions. As a result, operating the application is easier for non-IT professionals without technical expertise.

Advanced web applications

Enhanced loyalty programs go a step further and offer advanced features, such as collecting points, exchanging rewards, analyzing data, integrating with other systems such as CRM, or interacting with participants through various communication channels.

These applications use complex logic, requiring a more sophisticated architecture that will allow for scalability and flexibility in development. One of the most common architectural patterns is to separate the frontend (data interaction and presentation) and backend (data processing and storage and business logic) into two independent applications and connect them through an API (communication between different applications).

When it comes to the frontend, we recommend using the Nuxt framework for a web app or Ionic for a mobile app.

Nuxt.js is used to create applications based on Vue.js, which in turn allows you to create the following applications:

• SSR (Server-Side Rendering): is a method of rendering a web page on the server before it is sent to the user’s browser. This means that the server generates the full page content, which is then ready to be displayed in a browser. This gives the user a fully formatted page right away.
• Static sites: These are pages that are fully ready to be displayed as soon as they are generated. This means that each reference to a URL brings the same content without having to generate it on the fly. Static pages are simple and efficient, but do not offer dynamic content refresh.
• SPA (Single Page Application): is a type of web application in which all the page content is loaded once when the page is first accessed. Once loaded, the user can move seamlessly between different sections of the page without having to reload the entire page. This makes interaction with the application fast and smooth.

These approaches make the application efficient and responsive, which in turn results in a good user experience. What’s more, Nuxt.js offers easy and intuitive tools for creating SSRs, and this helps speed up page loading and – thus – improves UX.

Ionic, on the other hand, is a framework for developing mobile applications. This framework is perfect for developers who want to create a mobile application for a client, using a single source code that can be used on different mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android.

Easier app development

Both described frontend frameworks offer a lot of functionality that makes it easy to build efficient, responsive and visually appealing user interfaces. In addition, one and the other allow easy connection to the backend API and provide integration with various tools and libraries.

For the backend, we recommend using the Laravel framework. It is a popular and powerful PHP framework that offers a lot of functionality, including: database support, user authorization and authentication, as well as easy API creation and sharing.

Separating the frontend and backend ensures easier development of web applications. We can scale each part of the application independently, depending on the needs and workload, resulting in better performance and faster response times. Connecting the frontend and backend via an API makes it easy to add new functionality to the application without affecting the rest of it. It’s also easier to maintain the application because changes to one part don’t affect the entire application.

UX and optimization vs. user satisfaction

Regardless of the choice of the type of application, it is worth taking care of a good UX (User Experience). It is crucial to the success of the loyalty program. UX is what determines how users perceive our application and whether they will want to use it. Therefore, it is worth investing time and resources in designing an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

“Component Library”, or libraries of ready-made components that we can use in our application, can help us in implementing good UX. Vuetify, ElementUI and BootstrapVue are examples of popular libraries that offer many ready-made elements (including buttons, forms or tables). This allows us to focus more on designing the functionality of our application and not waste time creating each interface element from scratch.

All of the components in these libraries are already tested and aligned with today’s design standards to achieve a consistent and aesthetically pleasing application design. This, in turn, has a positive impact on the user’s experience with the application and translates into greater engagement with our service.

Using the Component Library speeds up the development process and improves application performance. By using off-the-shelf, optimized components, we avoid errors that often occur when creating each interface element from scratch.

Key to success – benefit from analysis and experience

In summary, the choice of technology for loyalty programs depends on the sophistication of the program. For the best solution, it is advisable to consult experts – we will help match the technology to specific needs and requirements in the most optimal way in terms of efficiency of operation, assumed effects and costs.

In a special workshop, we will discuss experiences with various tools and technologies, outline what their advantages and disadvantages are and what problems can be encountered when using them, as well as the latest trends and innovations in the field that interests us. Of course, other factors such as resource availability, costs and future prospects for project development must also be taken into account. Once we have gathered the necessary information, we can assess which tools and technologies are best suited to specific project needs and requirements.

References

• https://activebusinessgrowth.ca/wordpress-benefits/
• https://nuxt.com/docs/getting-started/introduction
• https://ionicframework.com/docs
• https://laravel.com/docs/10.x#why-laravel