When it comes to implementation, there really can be a nearly endless amount of questions coming from brands and some questions are more important than others. 

While there are some definite questions you need to answer before you begin, it’s not necessary to get everything answered. Instead, we have found that some of our most successful programs have been ones we launch in phases. 

Our team works hand in hand with yours to define features, deliverables, timelines, and who owns which part of the process. Developing an engagement program should be an exciting and fun process, not another burden, which is why we use our decade of experience to make the process easy and seamless. 

Below, we will discuss planning, standard integrations, questions to consider before integrating, and other implementation details. 

IMPLEMENTATION IN DETAIL

If you’re like most companies who find themselves starting a program, your biggest concern is probably centered around controlling so much data that’s in so many places, making sure it all talks to each other and that it’s safe. 

Typical client questions usually include variations.

“How are the earned rewards communicated back to our CRM (Magneto, SalesForce, etc.) so customers can use them with online purchases? 

Does NextBee integrate completely with X CRM so that promotions are set up?

If not, would it be given an electronic file of the earned rewards and then be responsible for creating them in our CRM?

The simple, quick answer to these is that NextBee can completely & seamlessly integrate with most CRM software (see below for a list of the most common ones).

We work with every client to set up everything and continue to assist as the program keeps moving forward. 

It allows the client to have minimal extra effort or resources for integration and implementation. 

One of the first parts of implementation is for us to consult with your company and nail down your most important program goals. 

Once we know what information our clients need, we can quickly start laying out phase one of the program’s structure and integration. Common questions include: 

• Why will people participate in the program? (Motivation, Incentives, etc.) 
• What activities will the user be rewarded for, and what do you need to be reported? (Referrals, Shares, etc.) 
• Why do you need the reports? (tracking rewards for accounting, etc.) 
• Who will be driving engagement, and who needs reports? (Sales, Marketing, Accounting, etc.) 
• Who needs access to the data? (tiered data, compliance needs, etc.) 
• And finally; How do they plan to use the data for rewarding or motivating users? (i.e., How are they going to keep the program ‘alive’?) 

Program development and integration ensure that an open line of communication exists between our teams and the client’s teams. 

Each client is assigned a Senior Project Manager (SPM), and the SPM becomes the primary point of access who can quickly answer or triage any questions or needs.

Now that we’ve covered some of the general implementation processes let’s dive a bit deeper into integration by looking at an example of a more common integration.

INTEGRATION EXAMPLE: SALESFORCE 

SalesForce Store NextBee Store 

Referrer Contact Information 

Associated Sales Rep 

Rewards Received 

Referee Lead and Opportunity 

UNDER THE HOOD 

Create a new ‘Contact,’ ‘Personal Account’ or custom object ‘Referrer’ (optionally, assign it to Sales Rep through SF workflow) and persist this record ID information in NextBee‘s system. 

Each referrer record in NextBee has a unique SF ID, and to use this for tracking:

Referrer profile along with SF record ID 

Referral Invites 

Invite Open/Click Data 

Referrer Reward Points 

Reward Preferences 

Referrer Registers Referee Submits 

Lead and Contract Closes 

Referrer Claims Reward 

Based on (referrer) URL 

If a referrer refers a user, then enter the referrer’s SF ID in the lead record, empty referrer value (optionally within a specific campaign), and issue referrer either waiting for credits (for lead submission) and approved credits closed opportunities. 

When a referrer receives credit points or redeems a reward, NextBee collects tax forms and referrer reward details to referrer’s record in SF. 

Optionally, each referrer’s activity (sending emails or sharing social posts can be posted to SF records). It is also possible to give ad-hoc credit to a referrer, and NextBee’s system can pull in this data to provide the referrer with bonus points referrer. 

IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS 

•  Work Division 

– Client Team 

•  a. Create custom fields and custom objects in SF 
•  b. Give NextBee team access to the Enterprise WSDL 
•  c. White list NextBee QA team IP address to review data 

– NextBee Team 

• Query SF data and map that to NextBee data objects with custom data parser matching client’s SF data schema 
• Process NextBee data objects 
• Post back data to SF 
• If admin interface within SaleForce is desired, then option to install a connected app within SalesForce 

*By default, NextBee polls the data every night for updates, but it’s possible to install code in your Salesforce org to trigger POST calls to NextBee endpoints on record updates. 

COMMON INTEGRATIONS LISTS 

Here at NextBee, our team of skilled professionals has a rich experience integrating employee referral programs, gamification programs, B2B referral programs, etc., with other management software systems.  

Here is a partial list of integration options. 

Standard Customer CRM Integrations List 

HubSpot NetHunt Salesforce Company

Hub Less Annoying OnePage Freshsales 

C2CRM Pipedrive Nutshell PipelineDeals 

Zendesk Sell Copper noCRM.io Nimble bpm’ online

Salesflare Membrane Affinity 

Relationship Intelligence Zoho CRM 

Common Employee Software Integrations List 

Gusto Connecteam Workday Oracle:

Peoplesoft Kissflow Bullhorn Litmos 

15five Halogen Employee Navigator 

Common Partner CRM Integrations List 

Allbound PRM Reviews ChannelCandy Impartner PRM channel Zift Solutions ChannelKonnect ZINFI ChannelValue Magentrix PRM Convey Portal Salesforce Partner EcoSoft 4.0 

Relationship Mgmt. LeadMethod PRM Elioplus PRM Channeltivity Gorilla Corporation NetSuite CRM+ Partner IBM Partner PartnerStack LogicBay Relationship Mgmt. Engagement Mgr Mindmatrix Perks WW Enterprise IBM B2B Collaboration Partnerize Partner Engagement Engine® (E3) 

Mgmt. Platform (PMP) Oracle Partner PRMDeals Workspan Scales PartnerPath Shuttle PartnerPortal StructuredWeb TUNE (formerly HasOffers) TapFwd Agentcis Trak.io BasisPoint Webinfinity Blueroads 

Who is NEXTBEE and How it helps?

NextBee believes to be the most flexible and robust engagement platform that can easily integrate with nearly every system available. It’s best practices keep your business going and support you till successful. 

Creating any engagement program is a great way to create a community, build brand advocacy, and create long-term loyalty for employees, partners, and customers. 

Integrating into your current systems makes the process even more reliable and more readily adopted by users, staff, and management. 

NextBee’s staff of developers and account managers will work for hand in hand with you to integrate our AI-Powered Community Engagement Platform and get you up and running with industry best practices quickly. 

We help companies to create and integrate full engagement programs that build loyalty, generate referrals, and grow your brand’s ambassadors.