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Manage Loyalty Program Partners

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, you’ll be able to:

  • Add partners to a loyalty program.
  • Create a prepaid points pack for a partner.
  • Associate products with a program partner.

Onboard a Program Partner

A business entity that creates a loyalty program is considered a partner in the context of the loyalty program. This means Cloud Kicks is a partner in its own loyalty program. To associate other businesses with a program, you need to add them to the program as partners. 

Before she can add a partner, Mary has to answer a couple of questions. 

  • Will program members benefit from the partner during accruals, redemptions, or both? An accrual partner is one who rewards members with non-qualifying points for doing business with them. A redemption partner is one with whom members can spend their non-qualifying points. Non-qualifying points are based on a conventional currency system, while qualifying points count toward a member’s tier status.
  • How do partners want to be billed? In the same way that you can opt between prepaid and postpaid billing for your cellular network, partners can choose to be billed in advance or to pay their bill at predefined intervals.

After some analysis and discussion with the team, Mary designates Ursa Major Solar as an accrual partner and Kacy Retail as both an accrual and redemption partner. Ursa Major Solar chooses prepaid billing, and Kacy opts for postpaid billing. 

Note

From this point on, the module demonstrates the set-up for Ursa Major Solar only. Ursa Major Solar is already added to the program in your special Developer Edition org, so you can just read along as Mary completes the next steps. If you're working in a production org or on a real-world project, you must follow each of these steps to add a partner to your loyalty program.

Here’s how Mary adds Ursa Major Solar to the program.

  1. Click App Launcher, and select Loyalty Management.
  2. Ensure that the All Loyalty Programs list view is displayed.
  3. In the Program Name column, click Cloud Kicks Inner Circle to open this loyalty program.
  4. In the Cloud Kicks Inner Circle program record, click the Members And Partners tab.
  5. In the Loyalty Program Partners related list, click New. The New Loyalty Program Partner window opens.
  6. Add the following details.
    • Name:Ursa Major Solar
    • Program Partner: Ursa Major Solar
    • Type: Accrual
    • Program Partnership Start Date: Current Date
    • Industry: Renewable Energy
    • Status: Active
    • Billing Type: Prepaid
  1. Click Save.

The New Loyalty Program Partner window with the details populated

Ursa Major Solar is added as a partner to the loyalty program.

Note

Use the Alert Value field to warn partners about their bill value. You look at this feature in more detail in the next section.  

When members purchase partner products, they earn points. Let's learn how partners are billed for these points.

Explore Partner Billing

Mary can define whether the partner is prepaid or postpaid depending on whether they want to pay for points up front or after the fact. Let’s understand how this works.

Prepaid Billing

Partners who choose prepaid billing must purchase points from the loyalty program in packs. Partners use the purchased points to offer their products or services to members. 

  • When a member accrues points from a partner transaction, points are debited from the partner’s prepaid packs.
  • When a member redeems points, the points are credited to the partner's account.

For example, Ursa Major Solar is a prepaid billing partner, so it purchases a points pack from the Cloud Kicks loyalty program. Let's say a member buys a product and accrues 1,000 points. The loyalty program deducts these points from Ursa Major Solar’s points pack. The reverse happens when members redeem their points, and the points are credited to the partner. 

A partner can also purchase multiple points packs. Points from the earliest-purchased pack are deducted first. If this pack doesn’t have enough points for a transaction, then the points are deducted from the next pack.

Postpaid Billing

In postpaid billing, the partner pays the bill amount after the member buys a product or uses a service. For example, if a member purchases a partner product and accrues 2,000 points, this amount is added to the partner’s liability. Conversely, when a member redeems points, the value of the points is credited to their bill amount. 

The Postpaid Bill Amount field, in the Postpaid Billing Details section of the partner record, shows the sum of all credits and debits. A positive value means the partner is liable to the program, and a negative value shows the program is liable to the partner.

Points Alert

Mary can set up an alert to notify prepaid partners when they’re close to running out of points. To do this, she sets the alert value accordingly. Similarly, a postpaid partner can set an upper limit and receive alerts when they’re approaching a value that’s close to it.

Let’s see how Mary creates a prepaid points pack for Ursa Major Solar, who wants to buy a pack of 50,000 points. 

Note

Optionally, you can complete the next set of steps in your Developer Edition org for practice, but it's not part of the challenge exercise. This means we won't check whether or not you've completed the steps.

  1. In the Loyalty Program Partners related list, click Ursa Major Solar.
  2. In the Loyalty Program Partner Prepaid Packs related list, click New. The New Loyalty Program Partner Prepaid Pack window opens.
  3. Add the following details.
    • Name: Purchase Points
    • Purchase Date: Current date
    • Purchased Points: 50000
  1. Click Save.

The New Loyalty Program Partner Prepaid Pack window where you can create the points purchased by the partner

The points are now added to the partner points balance. These points are adjusted in the partner account each time a member purchases an Ursa Major Solar product. Before exploring partner points further, let’s look at how Mary adds partner products to the program. 

Add Partner Products to the Program

Not all Ursa Major Solar’s products suit the Cloud Kicks customer base, so Mary curates a list of items that are likely to be popular with members. She can choose individual items or categories of items. In the next set of steps, she adds a few Ursa Major Solar products to the program. 

Note

Optionally, you can complete the next set of steps in your Developer Edition org for practice, but it’s not part of the challenge exercise. This means we won’t check whether or not you’ve completed the steps.

  1. In the Loyalty Program Partners related list, click Ursa Major Solar.
  2. In the Loyalty Partner Products related list, click Add Products.
  3. Select Add Products.
  4. Click Next.
  5. Find and select Portable Wireless Solar Speaker, Solar Cooker, Solar Panel Batteries, and Solar Powered Torches.

The Add products window where you can search for and add partner products to the loyalty program

7. Click Done. The products are added as loyalty partner products.

Mary has added Ursa Major Solar as a program partner, created a points pack for it, and added products to the program. Members can now purchase Ursa Major Solar’s products and accrue points. Each time a member accrues points, the points are debited from Ursa Major Solar’s points balance. 

In the next unit, you learn how partner points are converted and how currencies and rates play a part.

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