Feature: Motivation: Real-time rewards

As incentives become increasingly global, going online is becoming the best option for many organisations who want to motivate staff. “With channel partners potentially widely dispersed across the UK, or even the world, online programmes are cost-effective as they can be accessed easily by most people and are an instant way of reaching all participants,” says Derrick Hardman, managing director of Capital Incentives & Motivation.

The major players in the motivation sector now all work with clients operating across borders. Some, such as Globoforce and Michael C Fina, highlight their multiple languages and worldwide reward partners that take their online systems across all five continents, while The Grass Roots Group, which has just opened an office in India, has a growing number of international clients using Global Options, a version of its Options 25 platform.

Motivation company Intercentive has been running a successful online programme for HP using a theme to appeal to participants in all 29 countries where it operates. But, as Intercentive managing director Phil Williams explains, the cost-effectiveness and ease that going online brings is only one factor. Others include real-time rewarding and measuring, which is something that helps to get buy-in from management. “The ability of the new media solution to provide programme drivers and senior management with sophisticated real-time reporting systems, which can be viewed at the highest or most detailed level, ensures that the programme becomes and remains integral to business planning,” Williams explains.

Katharine Roseveare, director of Intelligent Marketing, says real-time rewarding is becoming more important in a world that is getting ever faster-paced. “News and business have to be delivered in real time to satisfy demands and expectations,” she says. “Consequently, business targets are no longer reviewed annually. More frequently evolving targets require more frequent updates for staff and channel partners.”

She says the ongoing regular updates that are possible through online systems help to keep momentum going, making it easy to refresh them and keep them front of mind. “Using online communications means recognition can be quickly, flexibly and easily communicated not just to the participants but openly to many people,” she says.

Adam Maher, director of loyalty at online incentive specialist Maximiles UK, agrees that online communication provides the instant recognition missing from many incentive programmes as well as the chance to offer more choice of rewards. “The scheme operator can offer and manage a much broader selection of rewards to maximise the appeal of the programme to an often diverse audience,” he explains. “Sometimes, it’s not money or vouchers that will provide the greatest motivation for an individual but a holiday of a lifetime or a personal gift that will have more impact over a longer period.”

Online platforms can also provide a more interactive experience for participants, from simple feedback to quizzes and games. “Digital media, with their opportunity for interaction and two-way communication, combined with the cost-effectiveness of avoiding traditional print, provides more opportunities for creativity,” explains Roseveare at Intelligent Marketing.

Incentive Direct offers a survey tool and online training modules to plug into its iD-points system, while Corporate Rewards has picked up on the popularity of eBay to give people the chance to use their points to bid for incentive products.

Games can bring excitement and added engagement, such as the online scratchcards offered by the likes of Corporate Rewards and motivation company P&MM. These can also be used tactically to address a particular sales issue. “People love the scratchcard instant-win feeling, and there is a great ‘wow’ factor in being able to rub away portions of a web page to see what you’ve won,” says Dan Kelly, business development director at Corporate Rewards.

Motivation company Maritz runs programmes where reaching a specific goal gains a participant a code to use in an online game. It can be either one big prize or smaller ones where everyone wins. “Online fixed-fee gaming is an innovative way of maximising the budget you have for an incentive,” says Maritz incentives specialist Paul Brown. “It’s taking a popular and proven concept from the consumer sales promotion world and dropping it into the incentives arena to great effect.”

Škoda

Motivation company BI developed an online communication portal for Škoda build to brand awareness within its network from retailer principals and sales managers through to parts, servicing and valeting personnel.

The platform communicates strategic messages, product information, news and incentives. Personal log-in means information is relevant to the various job functions, and Škoda can set different measures for the incentives set for each department and see where the points originate and how they were achieved.

Each programme is launched with tailored email communications detailing the incentive with click-through to the Engage website. Follow-up emails maintain engagement. E-newsletters are sent monthly to the entire retailer network.

Average participation throughout the year has been 70 per cent. While the overall UK car sales market was down during the first year of Engage, Škoda’s sales and market share rose by over one per cent.

Microsoft UK (pictured)

Corporate Rewards has been running online channel incentive programmes for Microsoft UK SMS&P division for five years to drive awareness and behaviour across the two channels of distribution and reseller partners. It uses a points-banking system driven by the My-Rewards.com engine.

A headline brand, Pump Up The Volume, has been developed to run across both channels. A separate website was created for each partner, along with email shots, posters, flyers and sales collateral in line with the incentive brand. There were awareness days when Corporate Rewards went in to make sure everyone knew about the programme.

Participants received either points to spend through the web portal, fully managed overseas incentive trips, fully managed team nights-out and a weekend at the Reading Festival.