Vendor scorecard

How to use it

1. Start this after you have shortlisted two to five vendors and received each vendor's written commercial proposal and a live demonstration date.
2. One person from the loyalty programme team fills in one scorecard per vendor, using only the proposal, the demonstration, and reference calls.
3. The programme sponsor signs off each completed scorecard before any contract negotiation begins.
4. Allow half a day per vendor for the first draft and one hour for internal review and sign-off.

What goes in each section

Vendor identification and proposal date

Write the legal entity name, the product or service named in the proposal, the proposal version, the date received, and the sales contact. A good answer gives the exact legal entity that will sign the contract, not just the brand name used in the slide deck.

Core loyalty capability fit

List the three capabilities your programme cannot go without, such as points expiry rules, tiered earning, or partner statement files. For each one, mark whether the vendor showed working software, a roadmap item, or a custom build. A good answer names every unmet requirement and attaches a cost or a delivery date to close it.

Data access and portability

Record who owns member data, how often a full export is available, and the format of that export. State the notice period for leaving and whether historical transactions are included in the final extract. A good answer gives a file format you can load into your warehouse without the vendor's help, such as columnar text.

Service commitment

Write the uptime percentage, support hours in your time zone, and maximum response time for severity one incidents. Include the penalty or service credit the vendor accepts for missing each target. A good answer has one number per commitment, not a range or a promise to agree later.

Commercial terms

Enter the one-time setup cost, recurring licence or transaction cost, minimum contract length, and the price for the first renewal year. Separate costs you must pay from optional modules. A good answer shows the cost of serving 100,000 members and the cost of serving one million members, not a blended headline price.

Integration and technical requirements

List the systems the vendor must connect to, such as point of sale, ecommerce, call centre, and data warehouse. For each one, note the integration method and whether your team or the vendor owns the connector. A good answer says which connection is already tested in a reference account running the same platform you use.

Account management and escalation

Name the delivery lead, the operational contact, and the executive sponsor on both sides. Record the cadence of business reviews and the route to escalate a stuck issue. A good answer includes a named person who can stop a failed implementation, not a generic support queue.

Score and recommendation

Give each section a weight that sums to 100, then score the vendor from 1 to 5 on evidence shown, not on sales discussion. Multiply and total. A good answer states the conditions under which you would not select this vendor, even if the score is high.

What to watch for

1. The data export format is the question people skip. A vendor that says "the data is yours" but produces only a PDF report is not granting portability.
2. Scoring a vendor on its own self-assessment instead of a live demonstration makes every section empty. Score only what was shown working in your environment or confirmed by a reference customer.
3. Copying the vendor's standard service level table without checking your time zone, support hours, and penalty currency turns that section into marketing copy.
4. Letting price dominate the total hides the cost of custom development for the capabilities that are missing. Attach a cost to each gap before you add the commercial terms.
5. Signing a scorecard without naming who signs off on the vendor side leaves no lever when delivery slips. The executive sponsor line must be a real person, not a team inbox.
6. Weighting every section equally is the same as weighting none. If uptime matters more than partner statement files, its weight must show that.