Read This Before Running Your First Rewards Campaign

Interrupting the omnichannel path to purchase and making your product stand out in a sea of others is a challenge. A whopper of a challenge. And consumers don’t just want a good brand and shopping experience—they want incentives. As a brand, you need to engage your modern consumers, drive sales, build brand loyalty and appease your key retailers. So, where do you begin? 

Rewards programs, sweepstakes or other engaging promotions can drive meaningful engagement with your brand and jumpstart the loyalty life cycle, all while exciting your key retailers. 

Incentivaze™ takes the guesswork out of rewards. This turn-key solution makes it easy for brands to customize programs that drive sales, wherever your consumers shop. Simply put, Incentivaze works because it was created by seasoned shopper and brand marketing experts to be an easy-to-use solution so you can focus your time and effort on other things that matter. 

But even the most seasoned marketers can overlook critical details that make or break a rewards program if they don't have experience executing these campaigns.  

Keep reading for a few insights into campaign set-up from our reward campaign experts: 

Start off simple 

While intricate loyalty and rewards programs may seem appealing, marketing teams should keep it simple for the first go-around. This approach allows teams to identify what offer levels and types of rewards will drive the most engagement and sales from your consumers.  

Initial rewards campaigns should be easy to understand and participate in, with clear instructions and start/end dates. Bloomaze® encourages clients to onboard the Incentivaze product with our Starter campaign to prove the platform's impact toward meeting goals and using data to develop future campaigns. The simpler your loyalty program is, the easier it will be for customers to follow along and participate. 

Customers also expect to know what they're getting involved in. Be upfront about the participation requirements, like purchase prerequisites, how to earn rewards, and the process for redeeming and fulfilling rewards. 

Common misconception 

A common misconception is that you devalue your brand with a rewards promotion. In fact, it is the complete opposite. You are incentivizing your consumers with a reward that is delivered after they purchase your product at full price. But you still stand out on the shelf with a compelling offer that implies a discount and allows you to compete with other trade deals or discounts happening in your category. Training your consumers to pay full price is great for the brand, and your retailers are happy because you're rewarding their shoppers, which helps drive foot traffic in store.  

Promotion is key 

If you build it, they will not just come. It is critical to look at your reward program as one element of your omnichannel campaign. It can certainly be the centerpiece, but you will need to drive awareness. Most Incentivaze clients leverage a reward program to excite their retailers with the goal of gaining incremental feature and/or display during a key drive period. It is critical to stand out online or instore with messaging promoting your reward program. Store signage, digital media, social content, email marketing, and influencer messaging are some great ways to generate awareness of your reward program. 

Sales aren't the only return on investment 

Though many brands require a purchase to participate in these programs, the mighty dollar isn't the only valuable return that rewards campaigns can deliver to brands. With the impending cookieless future, brands need to find ways to collect valuable customer information. Incentivaze offers clients the ability to gather this critical 1st party information about their shoppers. As receipts are uploaded to validate purchase, the data that becomes available includes consumer name, email address, retailer name and location, purchase date, receipt total, other products in their cart, payment method, etc.  Brands can feed this data into their customer data platforms (CDPs) for future target development and messaging.  

Think outside the box 

Customer engagement campaigns are not one-size-fits-all solutions. Clients should consider how they can differentiate their campaign to stand out from other cookie-cutter rewards in the market.  

From virtual punch cards tracking repeat purchases to Venmo instant cash back rewards, Incentivaze offers unique branded campaigns that are a good fit for the brand that motivate and engage its consumers. Campaigns on the platform are fully customizable to appeal to each brand’s target audience. Have a target that cares about their community and wants to give back? Motivate them with a charitable donation instead of a traditional gift with purchase.  

The long-term perspective is critical.  

While one-time promotions can indeed change consumer behavior quickly and effectively, it’s still critical to have a long-term strategy so your consumers become or remain brand loyal. 

After your first reward program, use the campaign insights to influence your future rewards and loyalty programs. The full potential of rewards programs is realized when customers change their habits and transform into sustainably loyal consumers of your brand or product. This shift occurs as companies develop and deliver long-term engaging benefits for consumers.  

Why Incentivaze? 

Keeping consumers coming back requires brands to take the time to understand what drives consumers and build a plan to reward them accordingly. Incentivaze delivers turn-key access to personalized rewards campaigns that help brands execute award-winning programming time after time.

Surprise gifts, rewards, and prizes are some of the most attractive ways to incentivize consumers and shoppers, but the details that go into these campaigns ensure success. Incentivaze was designed to accomplish just this.  

Our solution is different from others on the market because it was created by experienced marketers who understand the complexities of running rewards programs that reach consumers in the oversaturated media landscape. Incentivaze allows brands to engage with the consumer in tangible and meaningful ways with a strategic approach that considers your brand and target audience to ensure successful campaigns.

To learn more or brainstorm how Incentivaze can work for you, schedule an introductory call with our reward experts.