A rewarding experience
Editor's note: Kathryn Felke is founder and CEO of All Digital Rewards, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based incentive firm.
Panel loyalty programs are the foundation for increasing your research firm’s profitability and revenue by increasing panelist retention, survey frequency and panelist acquisition programs. Panel incentive programs, when done correctly, build brand advocacy and increase the lifetime value of the panelists. But to get to this point, you will need to have panelists to enroll and you will need your program to be able to capture all the necessary data because getting the critical insight into your panelist for your clients is what sets the stage for the goldmine of information needed for future panel projects.
Let’s look at four basic building blocks of creating a great panel loyalty program strategy: objectives, gaining program support of key stakeholders, rewarding the participants and measuring the program.
Objectives
Before anything else, take a step back. Devote time to planning and deciding what you want to get out of your panel loyalty program so you have a clear value proposition in mind. Do you want to improve panelist acquisition? Decrease panelist turnover? Increase the number of surveys undertaken? One of the first steps in developing a panel loyalty incentive program is deciding who your audience is. Are you addressing consumers with surveys they are qualified for? Perhaps it’s a particular segment of the panel and you want to incentivize them to participate in a new client product survey or to encourage dormant panelists to update their core profiles.
If the primary goal of your panel loyalty program is retention, you may want to rethink what you are currently doing and be honest with yourself about what isn’t working and make sure you don’t include any stale promotions. Obtaining new panelists can cost up to 10 times more than retaining current ones so this gives even more reason for focusing your program on current clients and their loyalty. In the end, it doesn’t matter which track you decide to pursue but there is one thing you should never forget: Your program should be about making your panelists happy and keeping them “your” panelists.
Every consumer has different needs to keep them faithful to your brand. Implementing a loyalty incentive program will work wonders to keep panelists as advocates but you must deliver on your promises to reward them for surveys. Today’s panelists tweet and post their survey experiences all over social media and in many cases refer friends. If you keep them happy they will let others know, thus extending the lifetime value and contributing to your panelist acquisition. It’s a win/win scenario.
Regardless of how you develop your loyalty incentive program - based on currency or softer benefits such as special games, exclusive tiered benefits, and offers – you must make sure there is continuous alignment between your panelist and the program. You must have the program support the experience of the panelist and not the other way around.
Gaining support of key stakeholders
When preparing for a panel incentive initiative, panel managers are often greatly frustrated by roadblocks in the approval phase of their proposal. Upper management always drills down on the potential costs and returns of any marketing proposal brought to them. The program review is part of the fiduciary responsibility of their respective positions and it’s no different with loyalty programs because of the serious investments they require. For this reason, you must be prepared to show them a sound business case which includes measurable and accurate metrics.
In developing a panel loyalty program, you need to follow a sequence. There are too many loyalty program designers who don't want to take the time to plan properly and instead take shortcuts and jump to platform selection or program execution before doing the basics.
All across the globe research companies are starting to grasp how important loyalty incentive programs are in cultivating and rewarding repeat panelists. However, just starting a loyalty program isn't enough. You need to be sure it is valuable to the key stakeholders.
Who exactly has a piece of the pie when it comes to your loyalty program? If you get the buy-in of other departments early on you’ll get that much more support during the life of the program. Seeking input from not only a loyalty provider but executives in marketing, finance, operations and IT will make your program a success. You must be sure that you address all concerns at the outset. By not bringing in the other divisions you will certainly flounder if not fail altogether.
Of course, we can’t predict the future but with a viable plan in place with a clear financial objective, you’ll help management understand and quantify the risks and rewards associated with your program and continue to warrant their support. Collaborate with finance folks early in the program design phase and be sure to show information in their language. Always take into consideration complex variables like technology needs, booked liability and reward costs.
You will also want to understand and communicate the likely sources of incremental income, including the program’s ability to drive more surveys completions, referrals, enrollment opportunities from more visits and other beneficial behaviors. Be realistic about the possible return and whether it is driven by softer behaviors such as social interactions and “likes” on social media. Develop and explain a range of scenarios to test using your model; a well-constructed model should provide insight into a wide range of possible actions and likely outcomes.
Rewarding the participants
You will want to be sure that you implement the correct loyalty solution for your incentive payouts and that you've included the right reward mix. There are several types of incentives to select from, including cash payments, PayPal, digital rewards, merchandise, experiential rewards and games. Carefully consider each type when making your selections to ensure that your audience is motivated by the incentive you offer – and that it fits into your budget. The last thing you want is your reward management technology to hit a snag or offer the wrong reward and create unhappy panelists.
The cash option is desirable in many cases because it can meet corporate objectives efficiently and is deliverable worldwide via checks, prepaid cards, PayPal and digital reward cards. PayPal is entirely digital and mobile and can deliver in multiple currencies. Using checks as incentive payouts is helpful when there are no other options but doing so can create the mind-set of a paycheck and may not necessarily build loyalty. Digital prepaid rewards delivered via e-mail reduce card inventories on hand and streamline fulfillment. And while a prepaid reward put the burden of redemption on the user, it also gives them instant gratification with the sense of having cash in hand.
You can also recognize and reward your top panelists with more rewards through tiers. Reward tiers may add an extra layer of cost to your program but this approach shows your survey community you care and that you’re willing to thank them with, for example, double points since they are often your most loyal panelists. Panelists who regularly complete surveys are your VIPs but how much do you know about them? Is this segment of panelists engaged in a way that lets them understand they are special? They are staunch advocates of your brand and by them delivering surveys on a consistent basis you are meeting your client project initiatives, so it’s important to keep these panelists engaged and satisfied.
If you are a small panel, consider hosting focus events a few times a year that are only for your VIPs. Inviting your “regulars” to provide valuable input is an excellent way to show them how much you appreciate them. This personalized treatment adds stickiness to their life cycle and will also increase the satisfaction of your loyalty program participants.
The points-based reward program model is a panelist favorite. They understand the approach and how it works. If leveraged correctly by your company, this type of loyalty program can provide significant savings versus the cash-based incentive model. A points program allows a panelist to self-select their preferred incentive using the concept of reverse preference. By conveniently offering the featured incentive (check, PayPal) to reward the panelist, along with a wide variety of other high perceived rewards, a percentage of the panelists will naturally self-select a different reward type based on their interests. The reward for this purpose should be chosen carefully and aimed at motivating the demographics that you want to engage. You should consider incentives such as digital rewards, Visa prepaid rewards, brand name merchandise, gift cards and instant-win games in your marketplace. Applying the concept of reverse preference provides a loyalty program with 18+ percent in savings off your incentive cash spend. Companies like this type of loyalty program because it can easily be designed with customized specifications and, when combined with proper planning, will allow for real-time changes, reporting and analytics and promotion overlays. Points-based reward programs also allow for more diverse demographics to be addressed and considered.
Measuring the program
To gauge a program’s success, you must consider your ROI measurement goals. Even if you’ve just assembled your program outline, it’s never too early to start thinking about your ROI goals and benchmarks. The best practice is to begin the build-out of your loyalty reward technology with measurable goals in mind and structure it to be ROI-positive at the outset. It’s here that a loyalty management software program comes into play to provide the data for the major performance metrics.
Understanding, and agreeing on, how the loyalty program will be measured and evaluated is critical; achieve alignment from all the key stakeholders on metrics in advance. Getting alignment early in the design process can help avoid surprises or misunderstandings. Articulate the program’s key point indicators and lay out expectations, complete with anticipated milestones on the road to success.
You will want to answer any questions that arise with solutions that are as measurable and accurate as possible. Without creating measurable goals with due dates, you will not be able to stay on track. For example, you may have a goal to decrease panelist turnover by 20 percent in the next 18 months. You should attach a project time frame to each desired goal to make sure that you complete all steps in the manner you planned.
Having the right loyalty program software solution can help you gather and use much of the information you need all in one place. In today's world of remote employees, it is more important than ever to consolidate costs and remove duplication of efforts by streamlining productivity. To take advantage of emerging low-cost technologies and microservices, you will want to implement a SaaS reward management technology, which includes agile APIs, allowing all your existing system assets to connect effectively and efficiently. Instant access to the analytics helps you adjust to real-time information that contributes to decisions on what is working and adjustments you may need to make related to the quantifiable data that you gather.
The system selected should connect your panelists to an offering of incentive reward products for instant engagement and let you change the reward mix as needed. You should be able to run multiple panel projects and programs with different demographics simultaneously, each with its incentive scheme tailored to your needs.
Drive more completions
So, the essence of creating a successful loyalty program is this: Will it make our customers happy? Whether it is the technology used, event-processing strategies, rewards offered or notifications issued, when creating your loyalty program, if you make them happy, loyal panelists will drive more survey completions, word-of-mouth and social boosts to your brand. Additionally, your current panelists can help you turn valuable prospects into loyal members of your panel community.