APC - Loyalty Management

Introduction

I guess I should start with how I actually came across the need for accreditation in Loyalty Management. It's no surprise if you work in a consulting company that one day you'll be approached by a customer with a need to deploy Loyalty Cloud. It should be added that the customer I'm talking about here is already successfully using Service, Sales and Marketing Cloud. So deploying Loyalty is not quite a "greenfield" implementation, but essentially about installing a managed package, integrations and setting up a Loyalty program.

Here we go!

However, to the point. As is sometimes the case, the "there's no shame in not knowing" and my knowledge of Loyalty processes was almost nil, unless you count my collecting points in the Loyalty program of an unnamed tobacco company, which I then use to buy unhealthy strws. So now imagine implementing something that you are not process-savvy about. I have to thank my colleagues in the US who tackle similar projects every week for their help.

I started with a theory, but I'll come back to why it was a mistake later. Partner Learning Camp, Trailhead, Help documentation, trial org for hands-on play - all helped me to understand the data model, standard flows, fictional company NTO, Data Processing Engine, Batch management, integration with Marketing and Commerce Cloud and other possibilities from Service process perspective. And also the rediscovery of OmniStudio.

After a few weeks, I figured it was time for accreditation. I have to admit that the result caught me a bit by surprise - Failed.

Second attempt

The next chapter begins and after a month or so of searching for motivation I came back to the topic from the other end.

I thought it would be good to look at the issue from a technology independent perspective. I connected with people who are tackling Loyalty at a business level and educated myself from that perspective. It helped me to better understand customer retention through different types of Loyalty programs and also helped me to better understand the details of the Salesforce Loyalty product. At least I found additional help directly in the Examity platform. After a failed accreditation, you know the success percentage of the circuits - anywhere less than 100% needs to be addressed.

Whew, it worked on the second attempt and given the Friday exam date, I really enjoyed the weekend.

If you want more details and are interested in Loyalty Management, get in touch. I'd be happy to give advice or learn something from you. 

Author: JG