Issuing an RFP for reward, recognition & engagement solutions?

Ask the right questions to shortlist the right vendor.
Evaluating your vendors requires putting together the right Request For Proposal (RFP). Empuls has created comprehensive FAQs and an RFP template to help streamline the process for you.

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Essential features of reward, recognition & engagement solutions

Putting together an RFP for reward, recognition, and engagement solutions can be complex. We have put together an FAQ section that covers the key features we think you should look for in any platform you short-list.

1. Is Xoxoday for a specific industry or geography?

Xoxoday is designed to be flexible and adaptable across industries and geographies, whether you're in technology, manufacturing, finance, or any other sector. It supports multiple currencies and languages, making it ideal for businesses operating globally or across diverse markets.

2. What kind of rewards, incentives and payouts use cases do you support?

We support multiple use cases across industry segments. Here are some examples. Survey rewards, Customer rewards, Consumer promotion, Gaming and Casino, Channel incentives, Customer refunds and many more.

1. Do you offer a global rewards marketplace?

We have a marketplace with 10 mn+ SKUs & products across 30 categories. We cover over 55+ countries, cater to 80 million+ users and distribute more than one billion rewards every year.

2. What kind of financial products and services do you offer?

Here are some of the financial options we support - mass payouts, pre-paid cards, Wallet transfers, Direct bank transfers, meal and fuel cards, insurance, salary loans, early wage and payday.

3. What categories of rewards do you list in your marketplace?

Our rewards span the following categories - Gift cards, Experiences, Amazon products, Travel and entertainment, Financial products, Charity, Swag, Offers and discounts.

4. What categories of gift cards do you have?

We list over 8000+ gift cards across categories like electronics, fashion, utility, food, grocery, e-commerce, travel & more.

5. Does your catalogue cover experiences?

We have curated over 100k experiences covering over 100 countries.

6. Can I distribute Amazon gift cards through your platform?

We support Amazon gift cards in 20+ countries.

7. What are the travel categories you cover?

In 100+ countries, we have over 100k travel and hotel options - covering Hotels, Flights, Airports Lounges, and Homestays.

8. Do you cover charities in your marketplace?

You can select from 10k+ charities including all the leading ones like the American red cross, American cancer society, UNICEF, Girls who code and many more.

9. Do you regularly run discounts and other offers in your marketplace?

We constantly update our discounts and offers.

10. Is your storefront customizable?

We can customize the storefront for your business. We can integrate into your existing systems like Slack, Salesforce, HRMS and others. You can also integrate our white-labelled store front for your brand and give your users a seamless experience.

11. What kind of distribution modes do you support?

Depending on your, needs we support the following

Vouchers (Unique code with a value)
Points (Your accrual brand currency)
Links (Single click redemption)

11. What kind of personalization do you support?

Store Branding (Pick Colours, Logos, Header, Footer, URL)
Custom Rewards (Choose the catalogue you want from millions of options)
Personalization (In email/landing page/SMS etc)

1. How many countries do you operate in?

We currently serve customers from 55+ countries which include major geographies like North America, UAE, Africa, South Asian countries and UK. We have business partnerships with vendors in 100+ countries to serve clients globally. Our sales offices are in 9 countries
(Details here: https://www.xoxoday.com/resources/about-us)

2. How scalable is your system across geographies?

Xoxoday's full-stack embedded solution makes it extremely easy for businesses to run scalable rewards programs across geographies. Our catalog features 10 Mn+ reward choices from 8000+ brands across 55+ countries and not to mention, a redemption portal that supports 12 languages. We also have teams in the EU, MENA, GCC, SEA, US, Canada, and India to manage local meetings and other custom catalog requirements. With multi-region capabilities, Xoxoday can quickly fulfil local cloud deployments if needed. Our support teams are spread globally and can work in different time zones.

3. What options do I have for delivering rewards?

Xoxoday offers a multi-channel delivery system that allows you to send rewards through various personalized channels, including email, SMS/text, and WhatsApp. This flexibility ensures that recipients receive their rewards through their preferred communication method, enhancing delivery rates and user satisfaction.

4. Does your product architecture support local data storage requirements?

Our poly cloud infrastructure ensures your data reside and never leaves your requested country or region.

1. How does the platform work with multiple currencies?

Xoxoday enables organisations to deploy reward points with a fixed conversion value. For example, you can set the conversion value as 1 Point = 1 USD. Customers, partners and others can accumulate reward points and redeem them for reward of their choice from the our global Rewards catalogue.

2. Can you take into account the cost of living when converting points to local country currency?

Xoxoday allows administrators to set up awards with different denominations to factor in the cost of living based on the recipient's base location. This configuration allows recipients in US and India to receive the same awards with different monetary values calibrated to the cost of living differences.

3. Can recipients redeem rewards in their choice of currency?

Recipients from around the globe can redeem rewards of their choice and in their currencies. The conversion value of points (despite being in the base currency) is automatically converted into the equivalent currency value on the recipient's side.

4. What kind of payment options do you support?

We offer the convenience of multiple payment methods like points, codes, and different payment gateways.

5. Do you support multiple languages in your platform?

Xoxoday currently supports English, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, and French as a standard offering. The platform adapts to new languages and can be added based on your needs.

1. What types of reports can I access with Xoxoday?

Xoxoday offers a variety of standard reports, including redemption history and transaction details. Additionally, you can create customized reports tailored to your specific needs. This allows you to gain insights into reward program performance, recipient behavior, and overall ROI, enabling more informed decision-making for your incentive strategies.

2. How do I create a custom report?

Creating a custom report in Xoxoday is straightforward. Simply navigate to the reporting section of the platform, choose the metrics you wish to analyze, and select the relevant filters. You can then generate a report that highlights the data most important to your goals, ensuring that you have the insights needed to optimize your reward program.

3. Can I track the effectiveness of my reward programs through these reports?

Our customized reporting feature allows you to track various metrics that reflect the effectiveness of your reward programs. You can analyze recipient behavior, redemption rates, and overall program ROI, helping you to make data-driven adjustments for improved performance.

1. How can I customize the branding of my reward program?

With Xoxoday’s Custom Branding feature, you can tailor the user experience by applying your company’s colors, fonts, and logos across all emails, landing pages, and the marketplace. This ensures a cohesive and professional presentation of your brand identity throughout the reward process.

2. Will the customization apply to all communication channels?

The custom branding settings you choose will be applied consistently across all touchpoints, including emails, landing pages, and the reward marketplace, helping to create a unified experience for your recipients.

3. What elements of the reward emails can I customize?

You can personalize every aspect of your reward emails, including subject lines, sender names, salutations, logos, sending domains, and banner images. This high level of customization enhances recipient engagement and strengthens your brand identity in each communication.

4. Can I create custom landing pages for my rewards?

Xoxoday allows you to create unique landing pages for your rewards by personalizing content, logos, and banner images. This feature provides a branded, cohesive experience for recipients from email to redemption, increasing engagement and enhancing brand recognition.

5. Can I send rewards using a custom email domain?

Setting up a custom email domain is a straightforward process in Xoxoday. Our platform provides step-by-step guidance to help you seamlessly integrate your company’s domain for sending reward emails.

1. Do you have pre-built integrations to other enterprise platforms and software?

Yes, we integrate with all major enterprise systems. Custom integrations can be built on demand.

2. Are there integration fees? If so, what are they?

Integration fees may vary depending on the complexity and scope of your requirements.
- If it’s native integrations there’ll be no costs involved.
- There may be associated fees if custom or advanced workflows are required.
Discussing your needs with the team for a detailed breakdown of potential integration costs is best.

3. Do you support single sign-on features?

Our SSO (Single Sign-on) feature lets your business have fewer logins to deal with, making the process smoother, safer, and more convenient.

4. Is an Open API available?

Xoxoday provides an Open API, enabling customers to connect to the platform with their internal systems or third-party applications. Currently, we have more than 400 clients who integrate with our API to use our services.

5. How can we get started with the API integration?

You can create a sandbox account to get the access keys for your integration on the staging server. Once you have created the sandbox account, you can explore our API documentation to view the next steps.

6. How do I use API keys?

All requests to the Xoxoday API must be authenticated. Xoxoday uses the standard OAuth 2.0 protocol and RESTful API for clients to integrate Xoxoday’s libraries into their environment.

1. Does the platform support different implementation options?

We will help you set up our platform once you are onboard. We ensure your data is pulled into Xoxoday without errors and offer comprehensive training and support until you familiarize yourself with your platform.

2. Is there a reasonable implementation timeline?

The typical implementation time is between 5 to 6 weeks, but will depend on the complexity & the number of integrations to existing systems.

3. Does the platform offer a self-serviceable plan-building and adapting experience?

Yes, our platform is completely user-friendly, which provides a very low learning curve, allowing you to build and launch reward, incentives and payout plans 10X faster than you did manually or with multiple vendors.

4. Does the company have an in-house customer success team?

We will have a dedicated Onboarding Consultant assigned from the start of the onboarding who will eventually transition you to the Dedicated Customer Success Manager of the account, post-go-live. We will help and consult around setting up the platform and share best practices in an ongoing manner. We have employees around the world ready to assist with any local market issues.

5. Is there a flexible Service Level Agreement (SLA) that can be catered to unique customer needs?

Xoxoday supports a comprehensive plan based on the Success criteria / SLAs mentioned and conducts a case-wise Training plan. The Training plan spreads across different teams and different users.

6. Is there a Knowledge/Support Center resource where users can easily solve issues, register for events, and track product releases?

We offer access to detailed documentation, FAQs, and tutorials to help users troubleshoot problems. Additionally, it provides information on upcoming events, such as webinars or training sessions. It keeps users informed about the latest product updates and feature releases, ensuring they stay up to date with new capabilities.

1. What kind of security accreditations or attestations of compliance are in accordance?

We ensure the confidentiality, integrity, security & privacy of our customers and their end user's data by adopting industry-standard best practices.
While we continue to invest resources into building hardened systems, we are simultaneously compliant with the certifications listed below:
· ISO 27001:2013 (Information Security Management Systems),
· SOC 2 Type 1,
· GDPR,
· HIPAA
We have also adopted a standard practice to conduct periodic VAPT to mitigate any new risks that arise over time. We are earning a SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27701 and ISO 14001 certification.

2. How do you handle PII data at rest and in transit?

We ensure AES 256-bit encryption for Data at Rest & TLS1.2 for Data in transit.

3. How do you ensure security during authentication?

We are ISO 27001 certified & SOC 2 type 1. We have policies in line with the same. We always ensure the least privileged access is provided. We have MFA & SSO enabled for our products.

What types of recognition programs does Empuls support?

Empuls supports multiple recognition types including:

Peer-to-peer recognition (monetary and non-monetary)
Manager discretionary awards
Service awards and milestones
Nomination-based awards
Core values recognition
Special occasion recognition (birthdays, work anniversaries, etc.)

How are award values determined across different countries?

Empuls uses a built-in Cost of Living Index (COLI) to ensure award values are equitable across regions while maintaining purchasing power parity.

Can managers create ad-hoc recognition programs?

Yes, your admins can allocate reward budgets with discretionary points to managers to give spot awards or rewards for completing milestones. These can be configured with or without approval workflows.

How does Empuls enable manager-driven recognition?

Managers can use discretionary points to give spot awards for achievements. Awards can include personalized messages and certificates.

Can recognition be linked to organizational values?

Yes, recognition can be linked to company values through options like attaching badges, certificates, and points.

Is public recognition possible?

Yes, achievements can be showcased on the Wall of Fame, social feeds, and digital displays across the office.

Can recognitions be customized?

Yes, recognition messages can include multimedia elements like images, GIFs, and videos.

What milestones can be recognized with service-based awards?

Empuls supports configurable service milestones like the completion of 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 years ,and more, along with other achievements like promotions and employee referrals.

What features does Empuls offer for an organization-wide newsfeed?

Empuls’s social intranet provides a centralized newsfeed where employees from across the organization can view recognitions, celebrations, and announcements.

How does the rewards redemption process work?

Employees can instantly redeem their reward points for various options in our global reward marketplace, including:

Digital gift cards
Merchandise
Experiences
Travel bookings
Charitable donations
Amazon store products
Company branded merchandise

Is there a markup on rewards or points?

Empuls operates on a bill-on-redemption model with no point breakage and no markups on rewards.

What happens to unredeemed points when an employee leaves?

Upon exit of an employee, unredeemed points can either be:

Transferred to the employee's personal email
Retracted to the admin's wallet
Set to expire after a specific deadline

How can Empuls manage Peer-to-Peer Awards?

Peer-to-Peer Awards can be monetary or non-monetary, with configurable budgets by team, department, or location. Access controls ensure proper usage.

Can rewards be automated for milestones like birthdays or anniversaries?

Yes, Empuls has workflows can automate recognition and rewards for events, anniversaries, and service milestones.

How does Empuls support wellness programs?

Empuls enables organizations to create wellness contests, like fitness challenges, step goals, meditation goals, hydration goals, and more, assign activity credits, create milestones and link them to rewards, and gamify the experience using custom leaderboards to foster a healthy and engaged workforce.

What redemption options are available in the rewards catalog?

The catalog includes e-gift cards, experiences, merchandise, prepaid cards, Amazon Store, utility payments, travel bookings, charity, swag, and more. Custom items can be added on demand.

How does Empuls ensure budget control?

Budgets are centrally managed by your platform admins. They can set up workflows to automatically allocate budgets to departments and managers at a scheduled frequency, with real-time tracking and alerts to ensure compliance.

What social recognition features are available?

Key features include:

Social recognition feed
Wall of Fame
Wish boards for celebrations
Digital yearbook
Comments and reactions on recognition
Team and department recognition feeds

Can recognition be kept private?

Yes, employees can choose to keep recognition private or make it public on social feed.

Can employees share recognition on external platforms?

Yes, recognition can be shared on social platforms like LinkedIn.

Are AI nudges available for recognition?

Yes, AI reminders prompt employees to participate in cheering for colleagues who are receiving recognitions, celebrating personal events, or completing service milestones.

Does Empuls support recognition across teams?

Yes, your platform admin can set up workflows for team awards to recognize achievements by a group who are individuals of the same team or individuals across teams collaborating on a project.

What is the global reach of the reward catalog?

Our global reward catalog includes:

8000+ brand gift cards across 30+ categories in 100+ countries
10,000+ merchandise items in multiple countries
100,000+ experiences in 50+ countries
Travel and accommodation options globally
Partnerships with 10,000+ charity organizations

How often is the catalog updated?

The catalog is continuously updated with new options added weekly based on user feedback and regional requirements.

Are shipping costs included in reward prices?

Yes, for most items the displayed prices include all costs including shipping and taxes. Symbolic awards may have additional shipping costs.

Are surveys customizable?

Yes, our pulse survey is customizable. You can add, edit, or remove questions, change the rating scale, and choose a frequency of your choice. You can also create surveys from scratch for any use case, using our question bank.

How is survey participation encouraged?

Automated notifications and nudges remind employees to participate, ensuring high response rates.

What types of surveys does Empuls support?

Empuls supports:

eNPS surveys
Pulse surveys
Lifecycle surveys
Custom surveys
360-degree feedback
AI-assisted personalized conversation

How is survey data analyzed?

Surveys data is analyzed using AI to provide the following data:

Sentiment analysis
Engagement driver analysis
Trend reports
Benchmark data
Custom reports and analytics

Are surveys anonymous?

Yes, surveys can be configured to be anonymous to encourage honest feedback.

What types of reports are available?

Empuls provides comprehensive reporting including:

Recognition activity reports
Rewards utilization reports
Budget tracking reports
Engagement metrics
Program adoption analytics
ROI measurements
Custom reports

Can reports be customized for different stakeholders?

Yes, reports can be customized for senior executives, managers, HR leaders, program administrators

How frequently are reports updated?

Reports are updated in real-time, with automated daily, weekly, and monthly report options available.

How is the platform hosted?

Empuls is hosted on AWS cloud infrastructure in a multi-tenant SaaS environment with dedicated encryption keys for each client.

What is the platform's uptime?

Empuls maintains 99.99% uptime with redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities.

What devices and browsers are supported?

Empuls supports all major web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge), native iOS and Android mobile apps, and desktop and tablet access.

Does Empuls support Single Sign-On (SSO)?

Yes, SSO is supported with providers like Okta, Azure, and Google.

What security certifications does Empuls have?

Empuls maintains:

ISO 27001 certification
SOC 2 Type II compliance
GDPR compliance
HIPAA compliance

How is data protected?

Data protection includes:

AES 256 encryption at rest
TLS 1.2 encryption in transit
Multi-factor authentication
Regular security audits
Penetration testing

Where is customer data stored?

Data is stored in AWS data centers with options for specific geographic regions to meet data residency requirements.

How is personally identifiable information (PII) protected?

PII is encrypted at rest and in transit, with access limited to authorized personnel.

What compliance frameworks does Empuls adhere to?

Empuls complies with GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, local data protection laws, and industry-specific regulations.

How are regulatory changes handled?

Empuls maintains an active compliance monitoring program and updates the platform to meet new requirements as they emerge.

What languages are supported?

Empuls supports 20+ languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic

What currencies are supported?

The platform supports 37+ currencies with automatic exchange rate updates.

How are global programs managed?

Capabilities for managing a global recognition and reward program for teams spread across multiple countries include regional customization, local currency support, multi-language interface, cost of living adjustments, and country-specific catalogs.

What is the maximum scale Empuls supports?

Empuls has a high availability architecture with multi-AZ deployment, using cloud features such as auto scaler and containerization for managing the load. When the load increases, the system can adapt and scale accordingly. Currently, Empuls has customers with over 50,000 employees and can scale with their growing workforce needs.

What can be customized on the platform?

Customization of the Empuls platform includes options such as the use of your branding and colors, program name, award types and values, recognition templates, email notifications, recognition certificates, favicon, custom URL, etc.

Can the mobile app be branded?

Yes, the mobile app interface can be customized with company branding elements, and these elements are mirrored from the customization of the web-based platform.

Can employees personalize their profiles?

Yes, employees can personalize their profiles by sharing professional and personal details so their colleagues can know them better. They can update their preferred pronouns, social profiles, profile picture, skills, languages, and hobbies.

What implementation services are provided?

As part of our Professional Service, our implementation services include program design, platform configuration, integration support, user training, launch support, andchange management.

What ongoing support services are offered?

As part of our Customer Success Program, our ongoing services include program optimization, usage analytics, best practices consulting, quarterly business reviews, and program success monitoring.

What support channels are available?

Support is available via 24/7 email support, chat support, phone support (US toll-free), self-help resources, and training materials.

What are the support response times?

Our standard support SLAs include:

Priority 1 issues: 1-hour response
Standard issues: 4-hour response
General inquiries: 24-hour response

What systems can Empuls integrate with?

Empuls integrates with HRIS systems (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors), SSO providers (Okta, Azure AD), collaboration tools (MS Teams, Slack), learning management systems, applicant tracking systems, performance management systems, health apps, fintech apps, intranets, and payroll systems.

Are APIs available for custom integrations?

Yes, Empuls provides REST APIs and SDKs for custom integrations.

Can Empuls connect to payroll systems?

Yes, integrations with payroll systems enable reporting and reward disbursement.

Who are Empuls's key partners?

Empuls has key partnerships with Amazon for Business, major gift card brands, local merchandise vendors, global shipping providers, cloud service providers (AWS & Microsoft Azure) and technology integration partners.

How are suppliers vetted?

Our suppliers undergo security assessments, quality checks, performance monitoring, and compliance verification.

What environmental initiatives does Empuls have?

Empuls supports environmental initiatives using a digital-first approach to engagement, reducing paper waste, energy-efficient data centers, and sustainable digital reward options

How does Empuls support DEI?

Empuls supports DEI via inclusive recognition programs, multi-language interface, diverse supplier network for diversity in reward redemption options, accessibility features, and DEI surveys.

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Thank you for considering Empuls in your vendor selection process.

RFPs can be lengthy and time-consuming, so we intend to make the process seamless and on-point. We will work closely with your team to discuss the scope and requirements and understand your business KPIs to deliver a tailored formal bid.