Overview
When transitioning from another loyalty program provider/system, we have two main goals:
A frictionless experience for you, and your guests
Helping you keep as much data as possible about your guests, so you can continue to develop their relationship with your brand
Before You Start
If you currently have a loyalty program provider, there are a few important things to consider:
We can migrate large amounts of guest data, but there is one specific type of data we cannot migrate: guest passwords. This means all guests in your loyalty program will need to reset their passwords after you've migrated guest data to Paytronix. We work to make this as easy as possible for your guests, but you will likely notice an uptick in guest inquiries after a migration. We recommend deploying a robust communication plan, along multiple streams: cashier/server messaging, in-store signage (on tables, at registers, etc.), emails, etc. A strong communication plan will help maximize guest retention and satisfaction after migration.
There will likely be a cost associated with getting data from your existing provider(s). In general, we think there's value in getting all of your historical data, but we leave the decision up to you.
You will need to allow time for current providers to process your request for data; it can sometimes take them a while to deliver it to you. For this reason, we recommend requesting the data as early in the migration process as possible.
We migrate: card/account numbers, email addresses, activation date, activation location, current balance(s), and demographic info; we do not migrate a complete/detailed transaction history for each card.
We may not be able to migrate all inactive cards. This will largely depend on whether you can provide a full list of all card numbers that have ever been printed.
Migrations usually involve sending/receiving large amounts of data that contains guest PII. For this reason we require you use a secured method of file transfer when sending us data that contains PII.
Once you've started the migration process, do not purchase and new cards to add to inventory.
If you will have more than 1,000,000 accounts/cards to migrate, allow extra time for review and migration.
If you have a cardless program, any accounts without email addresses will be very difficult to migrate because you will have no way to communicate with the guest about the new program. Without an email address there's no unique way to identify a specific guest account in a cardless program.
The maximum card digit length is 38.
We have multiple check steps to preserve and improve the accuracy and completeness of your guest account data, however, you are responsible for final data validation. Make sure to budget time to review, and correct gaps/errors in the data. You don't want to be in the position of having to rush through this important step.
You are responsible for removing Operations' access to the legacy loyalty system (previous loyalty provider) from POS systems, etc. to ensure that Operations can't continue to process loyalty transactions via the old system after the migration. Frequently, this means your IT Team will need to do some work to remove or edit buttons on the POS.
Migration Types
There are two main migration types: indirect, and direct. Generally speaking, a direct migration is easier on guests but can leave you with incomplete/legacy data, whereas an indirect migration is a bit harder on guests but gives you better/more current data. Each has its own pros/cons; you'll need to decide which works best for your organization. Your Paytronix contact can evaluate your program's needs and your goals to help you pick the best option.
Indirect
Indirect migrations are frequently used when moving guests from an eClub to a new loyalty program. You'll communicate with guests about the new program, providing instructions on how to sign up.
Pros:
Guests join the program anew. It's a great opportunity to get a refresh on guest data. You're leveraging your existing guest database to get more/improved info from guests when they sign up for the new program.
No legal considerations as with a direct migration. You aren't moving guests from one program to another; guests accept the terms and conditions of the new program when they join.
You can still send emails to existing guests who don't re-register, they just can't be included in any campaigns.
Cons:
Guests aren't automatically moved into the new program; if they try to use their old card, it won't work at the POS. This can be frustrating to guests; you may lose guests in the transition from one program to another.
Existing balances in guest accounts (points, rewards, visits, etc.) will not transfer.
It may also be frustrating to Operations, particularly servers and cashiers. If they have a negative experience working with a loyalty program, they may not encourage guests to join. Having support from Operations can be key in increasing guest engagement in your loyalty program. Make sure you include them in your communications plan.
Guests may be frustrated by having to "sign up twice" or by losing their existing rewards/points. They may not want to have to do work to stay in the program. You can mitigate this a bit by offering a premium reward (different from a regular registration reward) to existing loyalty guests who join the new program.
Direct
In a direct migration, all existing loyalty account information is migrated from your old system to Paytronix with one exception: guest passwords. You'll need to require all guests to update their accounts with a new password. Messaging to guests is highly customizable; you can announce a brand-new loyalty program, or you can send a simple email asking guests to reset their password.
Pros:
This is generally the easier experience for guests. Guests do not need to do anything to continue use their cards (or account) to accrue (points, dollars spent, etc.) at your locations; they are automatically in the new program.
Because of its easiness, you are more likely to retain a higher number of loyalty guests in your program with this option.
This is the only option that preserves existing balances in guest accounts (points, rewards, visits, etc.).
Cons:
When you send the email asking guests to reset their password, only guests with good emails in their accounts will actually receive the message. If a guest provided no email address, or a fake email address, they will not get the password reset email.
While guests will not need to do anything to accrue, if they want to redeem a reward, they will need to register for the new program. Sometimes, clients will choose to mark all migrated guest accounts as Registered as a workaround to allow guests to continue to redeem rewards. This can have a couple impacts:
Some organizations use Registered status as a way to identify guests who took the action to register their card after using it; because it requires and additional action, it is often used as an indicator of increased guest engagement. For a while, it will be difficult to use Registered status as a barometer of engagement in the loyalty program. This will improve over time as new guests activate cards, and actively register their cards.
When guests register, they generally provide additional valuable demographic information. Since all migrated accounts will be marked as Registered, unregistered guest accounts with incomplete information are likely to stay incomplete. There's no way to require registered-via-migration guests to provide this information to continue being in the program; guests would have to voluntarily provide it by logging in, and editing their account information.
There may be legal considerations. If your guests signed up for one program, agreed to its terms and conditions, moving them to a new program with different terms and conditions may pose legal issues. You will need to check with your legal team to secure official approval before moving forward. We will need written clearance from your legal team.
Test Migration
The first step is to test the migration. To do this, we will need the following from you:
10 sequential physical cards, per card printer, per card template
Per card printer? Usually you can identify different printers by different card artwork, or the language on the back of the card.
Sequential? The actual human-readable card number may not be "sequential" as there may be random digits/check digits appended to the card number. But all batches of cards have a sequence to them. We need 10 cards of each batch in sequence.
Card template? If you issue different types of loyalty cards, we will need 10 per each.
Usually, this means 10 cards per card provider, but if a card provider has used different printers over time, and older cards are still in circulation, we will need those cards.
Confirm mailing address with the Paytronix contact working on your project. We have a few offices; mailing your cards to the correct location helps keep the project moving.
We need to know the full range of card numbers that exist. We need the first and last numbers for all cards that you've ever had printed. For example:
BATCH1 (25,000 cards) - TYPE = loyalty
first # = 6000104000000
last# = 6000104024999
BATCH2 (15,000 cards) - TYPE = loyalty
first # = 7992289000000
last # = 7992289014999
Data file that includes:
Full track data -- Track I and Track II
Registration codes, or PIN data, if available. If you do not have this data, we will ask you for written acknowledgement that you have been advised of the risks, and are assuming liability for cards migrated without this information.
We will also need this data:
Card/Account Number
Activation Date
Activation Store/Location
Current Balance(s)
Any other demographic information you want to migrate
Verification of printed information on the back of your cards:
Do you want to make changes to the text or images that appear on the back of your cards? We will need your updated preferences.
Before sending your data, you'll need to review it for accuracy, completeness, and format:
You are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the data. All data must also adhere to migration data validation parameters. For example, all states must be in 2-letter abbreviation form, all ZIP codes must match the state listed. Your Paytronix contact will review the full checklist with you before you gather the data.
Your Paytronix contact can provide a template for you to use in sending us your data; this is the best way to ensure your data adheres to the data validation parameters.
If you have incomplete records, Your Paytronix contact will review options with you.
All data must be sent via a secured method of file transfer.
Once we have all the data, we can begin a test migration:
We will review your data, and let you know if you need to send a new file with corrected data.
Once we have complete, accurate data, we will bring in all active and inactive loyalty accounts so loyalty accounts will continue to work at the POS.
We will activate all loyalty accounts, and load wallets (as necessary). For more information on wallets, see What are Rules and Wallets?
Then, we'll need to you to approve the data to be migrated:
We will provide a summary report of all Wallet totals (rewards, points).
You'll need to check the summary report against your records.
You'll also need to spot-check all guest account data to verify accuracy of guest account information.
This is the last chance for you to make any changes to data.
After thorough review, you'll give the final approval; you assume responsibility for all data inaccuracies.
Go Live Migration
During this process, your business keeps moving! After a successful test, you'll need to send us an updated data file that includes the additional activity between the test migration and the go-live time/date, so we can add it to the data to be migrated. There are few ways you can provide us the updated data for the period between the end of testing and the go-live time/date. Your Paytronix contact will help you select the best option based on: your organization's logistics, the amount of time between the completion of the test and the go-live time/date, the volume of guests and transactions. etc.
While we are migrating your data, your ability to process loyalty transactions will be offline. For this reason, Your Paytronix contact will carefully schedule the migration window with you based on your organization's business hours, to minimize downtime.
A typical scenario is that you'll need to wait until all your locations close to run the final reports. As soon as you have this last batch of data, you'll need to clean and verify it, and send it to us. We will then do the migration during off hours, while your locations are closed; when locations re-open they'll be ready to run loyalty transactions via Paytronix.
Post Migration
After your data has been migrated, all card information will be with Paytronix; all loyalty transactions will be processed by Paytronix.
It's important that you keep a close eye on transactions for the first ~48 hours. Report any issues immediately to your Paytronix contact.
For further assistance, please contact your solutions consultant or customer success manager, or email [email protected].