Should a reward scheme be part of your recovery plan in 2021?
Tags: Employee Engagement, Loyalty Rewards Program, Loyalty Marketing, Marketing Strategies, Incentives

With a difficult 2020 drawing to a close, how have business strategies had to adapt in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty Brexit will bring? In previous years, companies’ may have turned to travel incentives and large scale events to reach their goals and objectives. However, with the uncertainty of the future still upon us, other avenues are being considered to ensure businesses can still hold a competitive edge in a time that is crucial to retain customers and employee motivation.

Implementing an incentive program is a great way to achieve employee engagement, create lasting client relationships, and drive sales from your customers. With the pandemic disrupting consumer relationships with brands and businesses, a reward scheme is a great way to reconnect.

DRIVING SALES

A reward scheme can help you to create momentum in sales and retain loyalty. By tailoring your scheme you can help switch buying behaviour, increase purchase frequency and raise sales value. This can be achieved through an incentive scheme, tactical marketing campaigns (such as, seasonal competitions created alongside a business goal) or even a monthly prize draws. As well as driving overall sales, these marketing strategies can generate an increase in customer footfall, drive brand awareness and increase sales within specific product ranges.

The campaigns also provide the perfect opportunity to involve your key partnerships. By inviting them to promote their products to your customers, for a contribution to the campaign costs, you will see sales growth from high margin product sand your key partners will increase sales and brand awareness.

INCREASING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

In this current climate, you need a united and engaged workforce that’s ready to take on new challenges and drive your company towards achieving its goals. Employees are pivotal in moving a business forward and over these past months, many industries have seen a lot of change. Your employees may have had to adapt to new working styles, go through furlough, work from home, or even change the way in which they can engage and sell to your customers. These changes can not only add pressure, but cause staff to become distracted and disengaged.

While previous strategic plans may have included a once a year companywide rewards ceremony or conference, being able to offer incentives throughout the year with a rewards scheme will keep your employees motivated and engaged. It is important to keep this engagement and connection, whether it’s rewarding employees on hitting KPIs or celebrating milestones (be it personal or professional), to drive both loyalty and output from your personnel. This helps to ensure no one feels underappreciated and provides motivation to achieve their objectives. When everyone feels like they are making a meaningful impact at work, it creates success all round, for the business, its teams and individuals.

BUILDING STRONGER CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

These incentives also bring value in the data obtained, which can be used to better understand and engage your customers in more personalised and targeted manner.

By presenting your customers with a personalised targets and rewards, you can encourage engagement, repeat business and leave your customer feeling valued. In these uncertain times, feeling supported and connected has become even more essential, a personalised campaign will make your customers feel like they have an emotional connection with your brand and this can be achieved through tailored promotions, offers and incentives.

Statistics show that more than a quarter of customers who belong to a loyalty scheme say that they feel emotionally connected with a brand whose programme they belong to. Allowing customers a choice of rewards after targets are reached, also increases engagement and giving them motivation to spend and reach their own goals.

If people have a reason to keep coming back to you to spend, they will.

DATA INSIGHTS TO BETTER KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS

Reward schemes also help improve your customer data, provide analytics that you can use to inform strategic decision making and grow your customer base. This data helps to create more meaningful marketing initiatives through micro-segmentation and in the long run, drives deeper and creates more profitable customer relationships.

For more information on our full range of services and how we can help your business, call us on 0113 887 8620 or drop us an email to hello@theloyaltyworks.co.uk.