For businesses that rely on a network of channel (or retail) partners - distributors, dealers, retailers, agents – a strong and motivated channel is the secret sauce to their success. However, 73% of channel partners express dissatisfaction, primarily due to the loyalty programs integrated by the companies.
The result? Broken channel loyalty. This contributes to a chain of complications like disengaged partners, underperforming incentives, choosing the competitors and more. Usually, opaque reward systems and lack of personalisation is what contributes to the downfall of a partner channel loyalty.
But is this a permanent condition? Or can modern loyalty platform providers—especially those focused specifically on channel loyalty like Channelplay—step in and fix the problem?
Let’s take a closer look!
Before the resolutions, it is vital we pay close attention to the complications first. What’s contributing to the channel loyalty issues in the first place?
If we were talking about the early 2000s, maybe a standarised channel loyalty platform might have worked. However, we are currently in 2025 where competition in the B2B landscape is cutthroat. If you aren’t offering the desired incentives to your channel partners, your competitor might.
We have to understand, as a business, that a high-volume regional distributor and a neighbourhood retailer operates in vastly different environments. So, treating them with the same loyalty programs and approach will result in dissatisfaction.
What’s missing: Customisation, tiering, and goal alignment tailored to partner profiles.
Majority of the traditional loyalty programs lack one major thing – real-time data and visibility. The reliance, in this case, is heavily on periodic manual updates. So, if a sales representative made a huge breakthrough today, it might take a week or month for the data to be updated, further delaying their incentive.
The use of quarterly sales reports, outdated claim forms and SMS-based submissions are no longer fruitful. Instead, they cause delays, errors and lack of transparency in the channel loyalty programs.
What’s missing: Real-time integration with sales data, automated validation, and transparent dashboards.
We briefly highlighted the importance of personalisation when it comes to channel loyalty. Long gone are the days of traditional loyalty programs and shelling out coupons as incentives. The concept of points and generic gifts have lost their charm, contributing to a condition called “reward fatigue.”
In short, your channel partners are tired of the “same-old” rewards. So, if they don’t find the loyalty program rewards aspirational, they will either switch to your competitor or not put in the efforts to push your products.
What’s missing: Personalisation, choice, and gamified engagement to keep the program exciting.
Channel partners aren’t always associated with one brand. Chances are that the retailer you are working with for selling your electronics is also selling another brand’s television besides yours. So, if your brand fails to foster an emotional connection with the channel partner, emphasising on their importance, you are already losing out on their sales.
Without emotional and brand connection, loyalty becomes transactional and very fragile, something that will take a hit on your company’s sales.
What’s missing: Consistent engagement, communication, and recognition that fosters a relationship beyond incentives.
Research suggests that the success of a channel partner loyalty program can be increased by 1.4x with a simple claim process. However, multiple loyalty program solution providers make the process so convoluted, it pushes away the channel partners altogether.
From length forms to approvals and payment cycles that take months, a complex claim process only creates friction and leads to partner frustration.
What’s missing: Seamless digital experiences, mobile accessibility, and instant or near-instant rewards.
As cited before, a poorly constructed channel loyalty program is bound to take a toll on the business growth and productivity. However, working with the best loyalty platform providers can be a strategic differentiator.
In short, brands that invest in building and sustaining loyalty with their channel partners are better positioned to:
The integration of the top loyalty program providers, especially those tailored for channel partner ecosystems—bring in a suite of tools and technologies designed to fix these long-standing problems.
If you want your channel partners to stick around and uplift your brand, you need to give back to them in a way that keeps them motivated and on track.
Here’s how the modern loyalty service providers can help:
The biggest factor when curating a channel partner loyalty program is to prioritise customisation. Not all partners are equal and modern platforms understand this.
With the help of advanced segmentation, it allows you to:
With our attention span slimming down to 8 seconds, it isn’t surprising that we live in a world where instant gratification is everything. So, there is no point making your channel partners wait for weeks or months to claim their rewards just because there are no “real-time” updates about their sales and progress.
A comprehensive channel loyalty solutions provider takes away that worry since they are designed to connect with your existing ERPs, CRMs, or sales data platforms to pull real-time data. This allows:
In the long run, access to an open, centralised hub with leaderboards and real-time data creates transparency. Transparency, in turn, creates trust.
In India alone, there are 650 million smartphone users. Chances are that majority of your channel partners are reliant on their mobile phones for communication, instead of having access to a laptop or computer.
So, the need for a mobile-first approach with the modern channel partner loyalty solutions is not only intuitive but user friendly too. Mobile-first loyalty apps allow them to:
All from the palm of their hand. This, in turn, reduces friction, ensures higher adoption and better program performance.
A well-designed channel partner loyalty program can increase a company’s market share by 30%. If you want that for your business, here’s what you must do differently:
The notion that "channel loyalty is broken" isn't a death sentence, but rather a wake-up call. It highlights the need for a paradigm shift from outdated, transactional approaches to more modern, personalised, and relationship-focused strategies.
As one of the leading loyalty platform providers, Channeplay helps you adapt and make your channel partners feel seen and valued. We bring in real-time engagement that traditional programs lack.
