August 2022
New Feature
NEW - Variable Data Tags for Personalization
{{ your unique data }}
We are releasing a new feature relating to using variable data tags in all customer-facing elements of your LoyaltyLoop service. This feature is available in both Basic and Promoter plans, and is available in all signatures, emails and thank you pages.
Tags Explained: System Tags and Client Tags
To personalize your customer-facing elements, making them more relevant to your customers, it's quite handy to use variable data tags. Tags are data elements you can insert in your signatures, emails and thank you pages, that will be replaced with real data values associated with your customer launch data.
Prior to this feature release, you've likely seen tags used in your service. We had a few tags that were available, like inserting the first name of a customer to personalize the invitation email. With this release, we are expanding the capability of variable data tags. There are now 2 kinds of tags: (1) System Tags, and (2) Client Tags.
System Tags
System Tags represent data associated with the LoyaltyLoop service like signatures, survey links, and opt-out links, and are common Tags to all LoyaltyLoop subscribers.
Client Tags
Client Tags are unique to your survey, and represent the data fields you've sent to LoyaltyLoop, regardless of whether it was sent automatically via an integration or manually uploaded to Launch Pad.
NOTE: There are 4 legacy tags. They have been updated to new tags, but the legacy tags will continue to work. The
legacy tags are {{first_name}}, {{last_name}}, {{full_name}}, and {{company}}. The new
tags, in the same order are, {{FN}}, {{LN}}, {{FLN}}, and {{CMP}}.
Inserting Tags
When editing your signature, emails, and thank you pages, you'll notice two drop-down menus for each set of Tags. The plus icon 
is the menu for System Tags, and the tag icon 
is the menu for your unique Client Tags. To insert a Tag, place your cursor in the body of the email or thank you page where you want to
tag, and then click the tag you wish to insert from the appropriate drop-down menu. The inserted tag is represented by its tag name
surrounded
by double curly brackets like {{tag_name}}.
Using Variable Data Tags in Emails and Thank You pages
The first use case for the new variable data tag feature, is adding tags in the copy of your LoyaltyLoop emails or thank you pages. While you can apply tags to both, to explain the feature let's look at an example of using them in emails. Suppose your launch data as sent to LoyaltyLoop includes fields for your invoice date, invoice number, the name of the item purchased by your customer, and the price paid by the customer for the item, as shown in the table below.
| customer_email | first_name | last_name | company | invoice_date | invoice_number | item | item_price |
| jane@anycompany.com | Jane | Doe | Any Company | 08/01/2022 | 18927 | Invisible Widget | $899.00 |
| ann@bigcompany.com | Ann | Smith | Big Company | 08/05/2022 | 18932 | Edible Widget | $699.00 |
| kent@thecompany.com | Kent | Jones | The Company | 08/15/2022 | 18954 | Fireproof Widget | $1,299.00 |
When composing your LoyaltyLoop emails, clicking the tag icon in the top menu opens a drop-down menu showing all the available Client Tags that you can insert into your email. All the data fields you send (or have automatically sent) to LoyaltyLoop will appear in this drop-down. To use tags, simply insert them in your email body or subject line.
For example, you might wish to reference the customer’s invoice number in your subject line. Make your Subject read as “Requesting feedback
on {{invoice_number}}” (your actual tag name may be different than what is shown in this example). While still in the editor,
click the preview button to see what you email will look like, and tags will be shown with "friendly names" in place of the tags. At
launch, the Client Tag {{invoice_number}} will be replaced with the actual customer invoice number associated with this transaction in
your launch data.
You might also want to include a Client Tag in the body of the email. For example, you might want to word your request for feedback to reference some of these tags to further personalize the message and add context to it, like including the Client Tag for the item name or price. All of this is possible with the new variable data tags.
Remember...
If LoyaltyLoop is applying any filtering to your launch data, which is common, this will affect the data being inserted. For
example, if you transact 5 times with the same contact (email address) during the survey window, LoyaltyLoop automatically de-dupe the
contacts in order for your customer to receive only 1 request for feedback. The de-dupe process is random, hence when you insert a
variable
tag like {{invoice_number}}, it could be any one of the 5 invoices that customer received within the survey window.
Keep this in mind as you use Client Tags to personalize your emails.
Using Variable Data Tags in Signatures
In the Senders & Signatures section of Settings, you can already create email signatures, and insert them as a template
parameter, {{signature}}, into your emails. But what if you need to vary your signature based on a field in the launch data
you upload to LoyaltyLoop? This is a more advanced application of the use of tags, but is made possible with this feature release.
For example, let’s suppose you have 3 locations with 3 General Managers operating each location. Now let’s suppose the rows of your Launch Data include the General Manager's email, name, title, and phone for each General Manager associated with each transaction. The Launch Data might look like this.
| customer_email | first_name | last_name | company | gm_email | gm_name | gm_title | gm_phone |
| jane@anycompany.com | Jane | Doe | Any Company | bwilson@xyzcorp.com | Bill Wilson | GM, New York | 888-555-1212 |
| ann@bigcompany.com | Ann | Smith | Big Company | jscott@xyzcorp.com | Janet Scott | GM, Hartford | 800-555-1212 |
| kent@thecompany.com | Kent | Jones | The Company | tgrant@xyzcorp.com | Trent Grant | GM, Newark | 888-555-1111 |
Using variable data tags for your signatures will allow you to add these parameters into the signature, and when the survey is sent, LoyaltyLoop will insert those parameter values for each survey sent. Let’s look at this example more carefully.
When composing your signature, click the tag icon in the top menu. This opens a drop-down menu of all your unique Client Tags available
when composing emails. Using the above table for this example, you would see Client Tags for {{gm_email}},
{{gm_name}}, {{gm_title}}, and{{gm_phone}}.
Simply place your cursor in the spot in the signature where you want to insert the Client Tag, and click that item from the drop-down menu. It will insert the Client Tag in that spot. You can copy/paste to move the tag around. You can even insert a variable data tag to replace the Sender’s Name and Email Address, and add tags to the Subject.
Once you’ve saved your new signature, and you’ve inserted the signature tag, {{signature}} , into your emails, when your
survey launches LoyaltyLoop will replace the Client Tags with the actual values from your launch data associated with that specific
customer.
Continuing with this example, let’s say we replaced Sender Name with {{gm_name}}, Sender Email Address
with{{gm_email}}, and we also insert {{gm_name}}, {{gm_title}}, and {{gm_phone}} into
the actual signature area. When LoyaltyLoop launches your survey, it will use these values from your launch data, and send the survey
invite from the email address of the GM associated with the customer's transaction, and insert that GM's personal
details in the signature.
Tip
Update Your Password Manager
We’re Updating the LoyaltyLoop app URL
Some of our sharp-eyed customers may have noticed that the URL you use when accessing LoyaltyLoop reflected our original company name (app.surveyadvantage.com) before we became LoyaltyLoop.
Our URL will be updated to app.loyaltyloop.com shortly. You will not be affected by this change, UNLESS you use password manager software to access LoyaltyLoop via the Login button at loyaltyloop.com.
We will continue to support access via app.surveyadvantage.com, which means if you access LoyaltyLoop directly from your password manager software or bookmarks, this will continue to work fine.
However, if you use a password manager, and you access LoyaltyLoop by clicking the Login button at loyaltyloop.com, your password manager will not recognize the new URL (app.loyaltyloop.com).
Here's how to update your password manager
1. First, make sure you know your LoyaltyLoop username (email address) and password (in your password manager).
2. Go to our website (https://www.loyaltyloop.com) and click the Login button. Enter your username and password, and your password manager should ask you to record the newly recognized site (app.loyaltyloop.com), and you’re all set.
3. To manually update your password manager entry, you'll need to follow that software's instructions.
For example, if you use LastPass, click the LastPass icon in your browser bar, and search for app.surveyadvantage.com. Click the pencil icon next to that entry, and replace the URL app.surveyadvantage.com with app.loyaltyloop.com. Save the change and you're done.
If you get stuck and need help, just give us a call (888-552-5667 option 3) or drop us an email (support@loyaltyloop.com).
Tip
The ROI of a Customer Experience Service
It Pays for Itself!
Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash
Investing time and money in a customer feedback program pays dividends. Deploying a customer experience service like LoyaltyLoop can generate high, sustained returns on investment (ROI) as the service helps you develop stronger customer relationships and deliver better customer experiences. By driving great customer experiences, your actions will create more loyal customers. The outcome for your business is a combination of reduced expenses (loyal customers tend to be easier to support), and higher sales (loyal customers promote you to others and give you more business). It will also serve to strengthen your brand in your local or national markets. In doing so, the ROI quickly follows.
By using LoyaltyLoop to consistently measure and monitor how your customers feel about doing business with you, it puts you in position to take specific actions to improve the business. You can take actions based on the ongoing customer experience (CX) metrics it tracks, like Net Promoter ScoreSM (NPS®), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and Product Quality Score (PQUAL). You can also take actions based on issues your customers may be experiencing, dissatisfied customers who may be on the verge of leaving, and customer's desire to do more business with you. By consistently using these outputs to take action you will improve your operations and hence your bottom line.
Let’s look at a few examples. Let’s say you’re the owner of a business, and you have a long-standing customer named Bill. You used to work closely with Bill, but now he’s being supported by your customer team. Bill has been very easy to work with, and rarely has a support issue. His account almost runs on autopilot, and on average Bill has purchased over $2,000 from you in each of the last 3 years. He’s on track to do that again this year. Bill is a highly valued customer.
However, from Bill’s point of view, his recent experiences have been less than satisfying, and he feels that no one is listening to his needs, nor addressing his issues. Frustrated, Bill responds to your personal survey request, and answers the Net Promoter Score question (“How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague?”) with a Detractor response (i.e., “Not Sure”, “Unlikely”, or “Very Unlikely”, or 0-6 on the numeric scale). Fortunately, your company has a process to immediately review all Detractor responses. You’re surprised to read this response from your old customer, particularly since no one on the customer team has said a peep about Bill’s frustration. You personally call Bill. He’s delighted to hear from you, and during the call, you learn of his frustration, and how he has already engaged one of your competitors, and was about to leave you for good. He says, “It’s a good thing you called.”
Photo by micheile dot com on Unsplash
The action you took to contact Bill, not only saved the relationship, but helped you identify and fix a flaw in how your customer team is organized. Bill is back to being happy and loyal, and back to being easy to work with. You’ve also corrected your organization, improving the experiences of all customers, preventing future “Bill issues”. Putting this example in terms of dollars and cents (or sense), your single action paid for the LoyaltyLoop service overnight. Now imagine how many issues like that you and your team can identify throughout the year. Each action, producing more returns on your investment in LoyaltyLoop and your customer’s experience.
While the above example is powerful in relaying the ROI of implementing a customer experience service, it’s even more powerful when you think about how it can help you generate incremental revenue. A CX service like LoyaltyLoop engages customers in multiple ways to drive incremental revenue. The very essence of creating better customers experiences, drives positive word of mouth referrals of your business in the marketplace, which, in turn can result in new business. It will also encourage customers to post reviews on 3rd party sites like Google, which, in turn will contribute to more prospects choosing to do business with you. And, as LoyaltyLoop helps you identify existing, and create additional, loyal customers, they will likely choose to buy more from you, and refer others to you. All it takes is just one of these methods to generate a few new customers, and the service is paid for outright.
The above examples, individually, demonstrate how a focus on improving the customer’s experience can generate a clear ROI. However, you are not likely to experience just one of these of benefits, but rather all of these benefits, simultaneously! As our name states, you'll find your business in a Loyalty Loop, continually driving change through actions that help you reduce expenses, increase revenue, and strengthen your brand, paying for your CX service many times over.
Tip
Did you know you can manage your Leads & Referrals flow like an Inbox?
As your survey uncovers new sales opportunities from your loyal customers, you can keep track of your sale status easily. Once you’ve followed up, select those Leads and click “Close Out”. This moves these Leads to your Closed box, leaving only those untouched fresh opportunities in your Inbox.
If you send a LoyaltyLoop Campaign to follow-up with your Leads, they will be moved automatically to the “Engaged” box. When the sales process if finished, set them to “Close Out”. Need to move an engaged or closed Lead back to your Inbox for more follow-up? Just click “Move Back To Inbox”.
Tip
Did you know you can preview your survey in Settings?
From time to time it’s a good idea to review your survey, and ensure everything is up-to-date. To view your survey, click your username, Settings, then Survey Preview.
Click through it as if you’re a respondent. If you see changes that are needed, or you want to add or remove elements, reach out to our support team, and we’ll be happy to help.
