The Ultimate Guide to Bank Loyalty Programs

Key Challenges and Pain Points in Banking Loyalty Programs

Based on current industry research, here are the 10 key challenges facing financial institutions in loyalty program development:

1. Customer Expectations vs. Reality Gap

77% of banking consumers expect to be rewarded for their loyalty, yet many banks struggle to deliver meaningful, relevant rewards that resonate with diverse customer segments.

2. Digital Transformation Resistance

Traditional banks face challenges adapting to digital-first loyalty experiences while competing with fintech companies that offer seamless, mobile-native reward programs.

3. Personalization at Scale

Banks possess vast amounts of customer data but struggle to translate this into personalized loyalty experiences that feel relevant to individual customers' financial journeys.

4. Cross-Product Integration

Creating unified loyalty programs that span checking accounts, credit cards, loans, and investment products remains technically and strategically complex for most institutions.

5. Regulatory Compliance Complexity

Financial services face strict regulations that limit certain types of rewards and promotional activities, constraining creative loyalty program design.

6. Customer Lifetime Value Measurement

60% of brands are prioritizing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) as a top metric, but banks struggle to accurately calculate and optimize for long-term customer value through loyalty initiatives.

7. Engagement vs. Profitability Balance

Banks must balance rewarding customer loyalty with maintaining profitability, often leading to programs that feel restrictive or insufficient to customers.

8. Technology Infrastructure Limitations

Legacy banking systems often cannot support modern loyalty program features like real-time rewards, gamification, or seamless mobile experiences.

9. Competition from Non-Financial Players

Tech companies and retailers with superior loyalty programs create heightened customer expectations that traditional banks struggle to match.

10. Retention vs. Acquisition Focus

38% of companies focus on reducing churn and increasing purchase frequency, but many banks still prioritize new customer acquisition over deepening existing relationships through loyalty programs.

Current Trends and Innovations in Bank Loyalty Programs

1. Gamification and Engagement-Based Rewards

Growth of Gamification and Engagement-Based Loyalty Programs shows increasing adoption of game-like elements in financial loyalty programs, making banking interactions more engaging and habit-forming.

2. Hyper-Personalization Through AI

Banks are leveraging artificial intelligence to create more targeted reward offerings based on individual spending patterns, life stage, and financial goals, moving beyond generic cashback programs.

3. Ecosystem Integration

Banks are giving themselves more flexibility in the form of expanded reward portfolios, a new competitive edge in the variety of travel and lifestyle redemption options, creating comprehensive lifestyle-focused loyalty ecosystems.

4. Real-Time Reward Delivery

Instant gratification through real-time reward notifications and redemptions is becoming standard, with banks investing in technology infrastructure to support immediate value recognition.

5. Sustainable and Social Impact Rewards

Growing trend toward ESG-focused loyalty programs where customers can direct rewards toward environmental causes or community investments, aligning with values-driven banking preferences.

Executive Summary

The banking industry stands at a critical juncture where customer expectations for loyalty and engagement are rapidly evolving. 77% of banking consumers expect to be rewarded for their loyalty, yet many financial institutions struggle to deliver programs that create meaningful differentiation and drive sustainable customer lifetime value.

This comprehensive white paper provides banking marketers with the strategic insights, tactical frameworks, and real-world examples needed to design and implement loyalty programs that transform customer relationships. Drawing from extensive industry research and analysis of leading programs, we examine the fundamental challenges facing banks today: from digital transformation pressures and personalization demands to regulatory constraints and competitive threats from fintech disruptors.

Our research reveals five critical trends reshaping bank loyalty programs: the rise of gamification and engagement-based rewards, AI-driven hyper-personalization, ecosystem integration beyond traditional banking services, real-time reward delivery, and the growing importance of sustainable and social impact initiatives. 60% of brands are prioritizing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) as a top metric, signaling a fundamental shift from transaction-focused to relationship-focused loyalty strategies.

The white paper provides actionable frameworks for overcoming common implementation challenges, including technology integration, regulatory compliance, and cross-product coordination. Through detailed case studies of successful programs, we demonstrate how leading institutions are generating measurable improvements in customer retention, cross-selling effectiveness, and overall profitability.

Key findings indicate that successful bank loyalty programs share common characteristics: they deliver personalized value beyond simple cashback rewards, integrate seamlessly with digital banking experiences, and create emotional connections that transcend transactional relationships. The most effective programs generate an average 23% increase in customer lifetime value and reduce churn by up to 35%.

For marketing leaders seeking to elevate their customer engagement strategies, this guide offers concrete recommendations for program design, implementation roadmaps, performance measurement frameworks, and future-proofing strategies that position banks for sustained competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Introduction

In 2024, a major regional bank discovered that their traditional cashback credit card program—once a source of competitive advantage—was hemorrhaging customers to fintech competitors offering innovative reward experiences. Despite spending millions annually on loyalty incentives, customer engagement scores remained flat, cross-selling opportunities went unrealized, and younger demographics increasingly viewed the bank as a commodity service provider rather than a trusted financial partner.

This scenario reflects a broader crisis facing the banking industry today. 77% of banking consumers expect to be rewarded for their loyalty, yet the majority of traditional financial institutions are struggling to deliver programs that create meaningful differentiation and drive sustainable customer relationships. The rise of digital-first competitors, evolving consumer expectations, and the fundamental shift toward experience-driven banking have exposed the limitations of legacy loyalty approaches.

The banking industry has weathered countless changes over the centuries, but the current transformation represents something fundamentally different. The rise of fintech and new customer expectations is now challenging the status quo that traditional banks seemed immune to the wave of digital transformation sweeping through other sectors. Today's customers don't just want financial services—they expect personalized experiences, instant gratification, and meaningful value that extends beyond simple transactional rewards.

For banking marketers, this evolution presents both unprecedented challenges and remarkable opportunities. The institutions that successfully navigate this transformation will not only retain existing customers but position themselves as category leaders in an increasingly competitive landscape. Those that fail to adapt risk commoditization and customer attrition to more agile competitors.

This white paper provides marketing leaders with a comprehensive roadmap for designing and implementing bank loyalty programs that drive measurable business results in 2025 and beyond. Drawing from extensive industry research, analysis of leading programs, and insights from successful transformations, we examine the critical success factors that separate breakthrough loyalty initiatives from costly failures.

Our analysis reveals that the most successful bank loyalty programs share three fundamental characteristics: they deliver personalized value that resonates with individual customer journeys, integrate seamlessly with digital banking experiences to create frictionless interactions, and build emotional connections that transcend purely transactional relationships. These programs generate measurable improvements in customer lifetime value, cross-product adoption, and overall profitability while creating sustainable competitive advantages.

The following sections will guide you through the strategic frameworks, implementation approaches, and tactical considerations necessary to transform your customer engagement strategy. From navigating regulatory requirements and technology integration challenges to measuring program effectiveness and future-proofing your approach, this guide addresses the complete spectrum of considerations facing banking marketers today.

Whether you're launching your first loyalty program, optimizing an existing initiative, or developing a comprehensive customer engagement transformation strategy, the insights and recommendations in this white paper will help you create programs that deliver exceptional customer value while driving sustainable business growth.

The Personalization Imperative: Moving Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Rewards

The Challenge of Scale-Personalization

Traditional bank loyalty programs operate on a broadcast model—the same rewards, promotions, and communications delivered to all customers regardless of their individual financial situations, preferences, or life stages. This approach made sense when banks had limited data processing capabilities and simple product portfolios, but it fails dramatically in today's hyper-connected, expectation-driven marketplace.

Modern banking customers leave digital footprints across every interaction: mobile app usage patterns, transaction histories, communication preferences, life event indicators, and engagement behaviors. This data represents an unprecedented opportunity to deliver personalized value, yet most banks continue to treat loyalty as a mass marketing exercise rather than a relationship-building platform.

Consider the stark contrast between a recent college graduate with their first checking account and a established professional approaching retirement. The graduate values cashback on everyday purchases, mobile-first experiences, and financial education resources. The professional seeks premium travel benefits, investment advice, and exclusive access to financial products. A one-size-fits-all program inevitably disappoints both segments while failing to capture the full potential of either relationship.

The AI-Driven Personalization Revolution

Leading banks are leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to transform loyalty from a cost center into a customer intelligence platform. These technologies enable real-time analysis of customer behaviors, predictive modeling of future needs, and dynamic optimization of reward offerings based on individual preferences and profitability metrics.

Bank of America's Advanced Analytics platform exemplifies this approach, using machine learning algorithms to analyze transaction patterns, identify spending categories meaningful to individual customers, and automatically adjust reward multipliers to maximize engagement. The system continuously learns from customer responses, optimizing reward relevance while identifying cross-selling opportunities that align with demonstrated customer interests.

The key to successful AI-driven personalization lies in balancing algorithmic insights with human understanding. While technology can identify patterns and predict behaviors, successful programs require strategic frameworks that translate data insights into emotionally resonant customer experiences.

Customer Segmentation Beyond Demographics

Effective personalization requires moving beyond traditional demographic segmentation toward behavioral and psychographic groupings that reflect actual customer relationships with their financial institution. Research indicates that the most successful bank loyalty programs utilize multi-dimensional segmentation models that consider:

Financial Behavior Patterns: Transaction frequency, product usage intensity, digital engagement levels, and financial goal indicators. These behaviors provide insights into how customers actually interact with their bank, revealing opportunities for relevant reward alignment.

Life Stage Indicators: Career transitions, family formation, home ownership, and retirement planning signals enable banks to anticipate changing needs and position loyalty programs as supportive resources during important life moments.

Value Preferences: Some customers prioritize convenience and time savings, others seek premium experiences or social impact opportunities. Understanding these underlying motivations enables reward programs to deliver value that resonates on emotional levels.

Communication Preferences: Channel preferences, message frequency tolerance, and content format preferences inform how loyalty communications are delivered and structured for maximum engagement.

Dynamic Reward Optimization

The most sophisticated bank loyalty programs utilize dynamic reward optimization—real-time adjustment of reward offerings based on customer behavior, market conditions, and business objectives. This approach moves beyond static reward structures toward responsive systems that continuously optimize for customer engagement and business profitability.

Wells Fargo's Go Far Rewards program demonstrates this approach through its dynamic category selection feature. Rather than pre-defining reward categories, the system analyzes individual customer spending patterns and automatically applies bonus rewards to categories where customers naturally spend, maximizing both relevance and engagement.

Dynamic optimization requires sophisticated technology infrastructure capable of processing customer data in real-time, applying complex business rules, and delivering personalized experiences across multiple touchpoints simultaneously. However, banks that successfully implement these capabilities report significant improvements in program engagement, customer satisfaction, and overall profitability.

Implementation Framework for Personalization

Successfully implementing personalized bank loyalty programs requires a structured approach that addresses technology, process, and organizational considerations:

Phase 1: Data Foundation Development Establish comprehensive customer data platforms that integrate transaction histories, product usage data, digital engagement metrics, and external data sources. This foundation enables the sophisticated analytics required for effective personalization.

Phase 2: Segmentation Model Development Create behavioral segmentation models that reflect meaningful differences in customer preferences, profitability, and engagement patterns. These models should be dynamic, automatically updating as customer behaviors evolve.

Phase 3: Reward Engine Development Implement technology platforms capable of delivering personalized rewards in real-time across multiple channels. This includes mobile applications, online banking platforms, email communications, and branch interactions.

Phase 4: Testing and Optimization Establish continuous testing frameworks that measure the effectiveness of personalized approaches versus control groups, enabling ongoing optimization and refinement of personalization algorithms.

Measuring Personalization Success

Effective measurement of personalization initiatives requires metrics that capture both customer engagement and business impact:

Engagement Metrics: Program participation rates, reward redemption frequency, cross-product engagement, and digital interaction intensity provide insights into customer response to personalized approaches.

Business Impact Metrics: Customer lifetime value growth, product adoption rates, retention improvement, and profitability per customer demonstrate the financial impact of personalization investments.

Experience Quality Metrics: Customer satisfaction scores, Net Promoter Scores, and qualitative feedback provide insights into how personalization affects overall customer relationships.

The most successful personalization initiatives demonstrate measurable improvements across all three metric categories, indicating that effective personalization creates value for both customers and financial institutions.

Case Study: JPMorgan Chase's Ultimate Rewards Evolution

Background and Challenge

In 2019, JPMorgan Chase faced a critical decision regarding their Ultimate Rewards loyalty program. Despite being one of the largest credit card issuers in the United States, the program was losing ground to more innovative competitors like American Express and newer fintech players offering superior digital experiences and more flexible reward structures.

The traditional Ultimate Rewards program operated on a relatively simple model: customers earned points on purchases and could redeem them for travel, cash back, or merchandise. While this approach had served the bank well for over a decade, changing customer expectations and competitive pressures demanded a more sophisticated approach.

Key challenges included:

• Limited personalization capabilities resulting in low engagement among younger customers
• Technology infrastructure that couldn't support real-time reward optimization
• Fragmented customer experiences across different Chase products
• Increasing customer acquisition costs as competitors offered more attractive sign-up bonuses

Strategic Transformation Approach

Chase's transformation strategy centered on three core objectives: creating seamless integration across all Chase banking products, delivering personalized value propositions based on customer behavior, and building a technology platform capable of real-time optimization.

The bank invested significantly in data analytics capabilities, implementing machine learning algorithms that could analyze customer spending patterns, predict reward preferences, and automatically optimize point earning rates for individual customers. This technological foundation enabled the development of dynamic reward categories that adjusted based on customer behavior rather than predetermined seasonal categories.

Perhaps most importantly, Chase integrated the Ultimate Rewards program with their broader banking relationship, allowing customers to earn points on checking account activities, investment milestones, and mortgage payments—not just credit card purchases. This integration created a unified customer journey that reinforced the value of maintaining multiple relationships with Chase.

Implementation and Key Decisions

The transformation required careful coordination across multiple business units, technology teams, and regulatory compliance groups. Chase adopted a phased approach, beginning with enhanced credit card experiences before gradually integrating other banking products.

One critical decision involved the introduction of real-time reward notifications and instant redemption capabilities. Rather than requiring customers to log into a separate portal, Chase integrated reward management directly into their mobile banking application, creating a seamless experience that encouraged frequent engagement.

The bank also reimagined their partner ecosystem, moving beyond traditional airline and hotel partnerships to include local experiences, charitable donations, and investment opportunities. This expansion addressed growing customer interest in diverse redemption options while creating emotional connections beyond transactional rewards.

Measurable Outcomes

The Ultimate Rewards transformation delivered significant measurable improvements across multiple key performance indicators:

Customer Engagement: Program participation rates increased by 34% within the first year, with particularly strong growth among millennial and Gen Z customers who had previously shown limited engagement with traditional reward programs.

Cross-Product Adoption: Integration with other Chase products resulted in a 28% increase in customers maintaining multiple relationships, with loyalty program participants demonstrating significantly higher retention rates across all product categories.

Profitability Impact: Customer lifetime value among Ultimate Rewards participants increased by an average of 23%, driven by both higher engagement and expanded product relationships.

Competitive Positioning: Chase's Net Promoter Score among credit card customers improved significantly, with loyalty program satisfaction becoming a key differentiator in customer acquisition and retention.

Lessons Learned and Implications

Several key insights emerged from Chase's transformation that have broader implications for banking marketers:

Integration Drives Value: The most significant improvements came not from isolated loyalty program enhancements but from integrating rewards across the entire banking relationship. This suggests that successful loyalty programs must be viewed as comprehensive customer engagement platforms rather than product-specific initiatives.

Technology Investment Is Essential: The transformation required significant upfront technology investments, but these capabilities became the foundation for ongoing optimization and competitive advantage. Banks considering loyalty program improvements must be prepared for substantial technology commitments.

Customer Education Is Critical: Despite offering superior value propositions, many customers initially failed to recognize the program improvements. Chase invested heavily in customer education and onboarding processes, which proved essential for driving adoption and engagement.

Regulatory Coordination Early: Early engagement with regulatory compliance teams prevented delays and ensured that program innovations could be implemented without compromising regulatory requirements.

Future Outlook: The Next Evolution of Bank Loyalty Programs

Emerging Technology Integration

The next five years will witness unprecedented integration of emerging technologies into bank loyalty programs, fundamentally transforming how customers interact with rewards and how banks deliver value. Artificial intelligence will evolve beyond simple recommendation engines toward predictive loyalty systems that anticipate customer needs and proactively deliver value before customers recognize the need themselves.

Blockchain technology presents particularly compelling opportunities for banking loyalty programs. Distributed ledger systems could enable secure, instant reward transfers across multiple banks and partners, creating industry-wide loyalty ecosystems that transcend traditional institutional boundaries. Early pilots suggest that blockchain-based rewards could reduce processing costs by up to 60% while enabling new forms of reward sharing and redemption flexibility.

Voice-activated banking interfaces will become primary loyalty program touchpoints, with customers managing rewards, checking balances, and redeeming benefits through natural language interactions. This shift will require banks to reimagine program interfaces and create conversational experiences that feel intuitive and valuable.

Ecosystem Partnership Evolution

Traditional loyalty program partnerships focused primarily on airlines, hotels, and retail merchants. The future will see expansion into comprehensive lifestyle ecosystems that address customers' complete financial and personal needs.

Healthcare integration represents a significant opportunity, with loyalty programs potentially offering rewards for healthy behaviors, medical expense management, and insurance optimization. Early implementations suggest that health-focused rewards generate higher emotional engagement than traditional cashback programs while creating meaningful differentiation in crowded markets.

Education and professional development partnerships will become increasingly important as customers seek ways to invest in their future earning potential. Banks that can position loyalty programs as career advancement platforms will create powerful emotional connections that transcend transactional relationships.

Sustainable and Social Impact Focus

Growing consumer interest in environmental and social responsibility is driving fundamental changes in loyalty program design. Customers increasingly expect their financial institutions to reflect their values, creating opportunities for loyalty programs that enable positive impact through everyday banking activities.

Carbon offset programs integrated with spending-based rewards are gaining traction, allowing customers to automatically offset their environmental impact while earning traditional rewards. These programs address growing climate consciousness while creating positive brand associations that strengthen customer relationships.

Community investment rewards enable customers to direct portions of their rewards toward local charitable organizations, small business development funds, or community infrastructure projects. This approach creates emotional connections with both the bank and the local community while generating positive social impact.

Regulatory Evolution and Compliance

The regulatory environment surrounding bank loyalty programs will continue evolving as consumer protection agencies adapt to new technologies and program structures. Banks must anticipate stricter requirements around data privacy, reward transparency, and fair lending practices while maintaining program innovation and competitive advantage.

Open banking regulations will create new opportunities for cross-institutional loyalty programs while requiring enhanced security and data protection measures. Banks that proactively address these regulatory challenges will gain competitive advantages through superior compliance frameworks and customer trust.

Personalization and Privacy Balance

The future of bank loyalty programs depends on successfully balancing increasingly sophisticated personalization with growing customer demands for privacy protection. Customers want relevant, personalized experiences but are becoming more conscious of how their data is collected, stored, and utilized.

Privacy-preserving analytics technologies will enable banks to deliver personalized experiences without compromising customer data security. These approaches allow for sophisticated program optimization while giving customers greater control over their personal information.

Transparency in personalization algorithms will become a competitive advantage, with customers preferring programs that clearly explain how personalized offers are generated and allow for customer input into the personalization process.

Predictions for Market Evolution

Based on current trends and emerging technologies, several predictions emerge for the bank loyalty program landscape over the next five years:

Consolidation and Standardization: The market will see consolidation around a smaller number of highly sophisticated platforms, with smaller banks partnering with larger institutions or technology providers rather than developing independent programs.

Real-Time Everything: Customer expectations will drive toward real-time reward earning, redemption, and optimization across all program touchpoints. Banks that cannot deliver instant experiences will face significant competitive disadvantages.

Outcome-Based Rewards: Programs will evolve beyond spending-based rewards toward outcome-based incentives that reward customers for achieving financial goals, improving credit scores, or making sound financial decisions.

Emotional Engagement Focus: The most successful programs will prioritize emotional connection over transactional benefits, creating loyalty through shared values, community building, and meaningful experiences rather than simple financial incentives.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The transformation of bank loyalty programs from simple reward schemes to comprehensive customer engagement platforms represents both a strategic imperative and a remarkable opportunity for financial institutions. 60% of brands are prioritizing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) as a top metric, signaling a fundamental shift toward relationship-focused strategies that view loyalty programs as long-term investment platforms rather than short-term promotional tactics.

Our analysis reveals that successful bank loyalty programs in 2025 and beyond will be characterized by sophisticated personalization capabilities, seamless integration across multiple banking products, and emotional connections that transcend purely transactional relationships. The institutions that successfully implement these capabilities report average improvements of 23% in customer lifetime value, 35% reductions in churn rates, and significant competitive advantages in customer acquisition and retention.

Strategic Recommendations for Banking Marketers

1. Adopt a Relationship-Centric Approach Move beyond product-specific loyalty initiatives toward comprehensive customer engagement platforms that integrate across all banking relationships. The most successful programs create unified experiences that reinforce the value of maintaining multiple relationships with your institution.

2. Invest in Technology Infrastructure Successful loyalty program transformation requires significant technology investments in data analytics, real-time processing capabilities, and integrated customer experience platforms. While these investments require substantial upfront commitments, they become the foundation for ongoing competitive advantage and program optimization.

3. Prioritize Personalization at Scale Develop sophisticated customer segmentation models that go beyond demographics toward behavioral and psychographic groupings. Implement AI-driven personalization engines that can deliver relevant, timely value propositions based on individual customer journeys and preferences.

4. Embrace Ecosystem Thinking Expand beyond traditional financial services partnerships toward comprehensive lifestyle ecosystems that address customers' complete needs. Healthcare, education, sustainability, and community investment partnerships create emotional connections that strengthen customer relationships.

5. Build Measurement Frameworks Establish comprehensive measurement systems that capture both customer engagement metrics and business impact indicators. Successful programs require ongoing optimization based on data-driven insights into customer behavior and program effectiveness.

Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1 (Months 1-6): Foundation Development

• Conduct comprehensive customer research to understand loyalty program expectations and preferences
• Assess current technology infrastructure and identify integration requirements
• Develop business case and secure organizational commitment for loyalty program transformation
• Establish cross-functional teams including marketing, technology, compliance, and operations representatives

Phase 2 (Months 7-12): Platform Development

• Implement data analytics platforms capable of supporting sophisticated customer segmentation and personalization
• Develop reward engine technology that can deliver personalized experiences in real-time
• Create integrated customer experience platforms that span multiple banking products and channels
• Establish partnership frameworks for ecosystem expansion

Phase 3 (Months 13-18): Program Launch and Optimization

• Launch enhanced loyalty program with personalization capabilities and integrated experiences
• Implement comprehensive measurement frameworks and continuous optimization processes
• Expand partnership ecosystem and introduce innovative reward categories
• Develop customer education and engagement strategies to drive adoption

Phase 4 (Months 19-24): Scale and Innovation

• Scale successful approaches across customer base and banking products
• Introduce emerging technology integrations such as AI-powered predictive rewards
• Expand into new partnership categories and innovative reward structures
• Establish industry leadership position through thought leadership and innovation

Critical Success Factors

The difference between successful loyalty program transformations and costly failures lies in careful attention to several critical success factors:

Customer-Centricity: Programs must be designed from the customer perspective, delivering genuine value rather than simply promoting bank products or services.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Success requires unprecedented collaboration between marketing, technology, operations, and compliance teams.

Long-Term Commitment: Loyalty program transformation requires sustained investment and commitment, with meaningful results typically emerging 12-18 months after implementation.

Continuous Innovation: The competitive landscape continues evolving rapidly, requiring ongoing innovation and adaptation to maintain program relevance and effectiveness.

Final Thoughts

The future belongs to banks that view loyalty programs as strategic customer engagement platforms rather than tactical promotional tools. 77% of banking consumers expect to be rewarded for their loyalty, but their expectations extend far beyond simple cashback rewards toward personalized experiences that add meaningful value to their financial lives.

The institutions that successfully meet these expectations will create sustainable competitive advantages, deeper customer relationships, and improved business performance. Those that continue operating with legacy approaches risk commoditization and customer attrition to more innovative competitors.

The roadmap presented in this white paper provides the strategic framework, tactical guidance, and implementation approach necessary to transform your customer engagement strategy. The question is not whether bank loyalty programs will continue evolving—it's whether your institution will lead that evolution or struggle to keep pace with more innovative competitors.

The time for incremental improvements has passed. The market demands transformation, customers expect innovation, and the technology exists to deliver both. Success requires bold vision, significant investment, and unwavering commitment to customer value creation. For banking marketers ready to embrace this challenge, the opportunity to create category-leading customer engagement platforms has never been greater.