In-House or Outsource? How to Decide Whether to Build Your Retention Management Software

When choosing a retention software for your company, there are a variety of factors to consider. One of the most prominent debates, especially for medium to large companies, is whether to build their retention program in-house or outsource the whole ordeal.

In this blog post, we will consider all the different aspects of a good retention software and explore when companies might want to build their own and when companies should consider integrating an outsourced retention software. There are many layers to an adequate; retention management software, the core layers of the system are the following:

1. Points System
2. Leveling & Tiering System
3. Segmentation System

Other systems to consider:

1. Wallets
2. Cashback Programs
3. Rule-Based Rewarding

To outsource or not to outsource is the question!

For businesses currently stuck in this debate, the first thing to consider is the time and resource factor that insourcing a retention management software will take from your company. Determining if it is a feasible option in the first place should always be the first course of action.

Some questions to consider internally:

• Will this take away from resources creating a deficiency in another business area?
• Will the time and resources invested in creating this outweigh the R.O.I.?
• What are the main reasons I want to create this internally?

These guiding questions will allow you to assess if insourcing is in your best interest. Let's explore the best starting places for companies that find that they do want to move forward with building their retention management software.

Retention Management Software: Breaking It Down

There are three areas of a retention management program that will be the most beneficial and most minor complex for a business looking to build its own:

The first is to create your points and rewards system; this is one of the most potent aspects of retention management software as it keeps customers engaged with the business, constantly drives them to make more purchases, and take the actions you want them to take.

The second is to create a manual referral code system; referral systems are one of the best tools for a business to improve their conversion and sales rate using the power of word-of-mouth advertising.

The third and final step is creating a manual tiering/segmentation system. Organizing and classifying your customers allows for deeper and more in-depth targeting and personalization.

Is that it?

As with any strategy - of course not. When it comes to more complex features like the ones we are about to discuss, the considerations of practicality and feasibility become significantly more important. Compared to the 3 basic starting points, these features will take considerably more work for a dev team and require a lot of testing and ironing out bugs.

It may be feasible to implement one or two of these features into your retention management system if your team can manage it, but if you need a lot of these functionalities, we would advise that you turn to software like Gameball as a more logical course of action.

5 Complex Retention Management Software Features

The first complex feature is events/trigger-based promotions, allowing you to create unique promotions sensitive to specific rules and triggers. This is a handy feature to create engaging campaigns for customers driving massive action during specific timeframes or around certain products.

The second function that is often needed and that offers a lot of functionality is the capacity to automate segmentation based on customer behavior. This allows you to target customers in a much more personalized way, improving conversions and sales dramatically. This feature can be challenging to implement but can work wonders for a company.

The referral program's automation is a step up from the three essential functions discussed. This allows you to have a system that automatically generates unique links for customers, automating the whole referral process. This can be very useful for creating a smooth customer experience and allows you to no longer worry about any errors that can occur with a manual system.

A related function to the automated referral is the rule-based referral which allows you to set certain conditions that must be met for a successful referral. For example, a referral will only be successful if the new customer places an order. The value and capability offered by a feature like this are invaluable.

The final complex function of a retention management program is the ability to have flexible leveling methods. Offering customers the ability to follow different pathways as they grow their loyalty towards your business improves their experience with your company and increases their engagement and retention. By offering the choice of level, you provide them with a more personalized experience.

Other Considerations

As we wrap up the article, here are a few more factors you may want to consider as you decide on outsourcing your retention management program. Always consider how this decision will affect your team's pipelines and the time it will pull away from product managers to oversee the creation of a program.

The cost factor is, of course, a necessary consideration and can be one of the determining factors. The predictability of results is a huge factor, especially concerning the more complex aspects of software; a small error can result in many complications.

Finally, having a dedicated support team that comes with outsourcing the software can be precious, especially when saving time and ensuring complete customer satisfaction.

We hope this article has helped you come to a more informed decision regarding the debate of insourcing vs. outsourcing your retention management software. If you have decided to outsource, then make sure to click here and explore the power of Gameball to help you unlock your growth and create a whole new customer experience!