Incentive Programs

An incentive program is a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees, and in sales in order to attract and retain customers. The scientific literature also refers to this concept as Pay for Performance.

Program design considerations

If programs are to be effective, all the factors that affect behavior must be recognized, including: motivation, skills, recognition, an understanding of the goals, and the ability to measure progress. Often companies turn to incentive programs to counter failures in meeting targets, poor behaviors or performance, unengaged employees, poor morale or attitude, high turnover or loss of talent, or increases in expectations from management.

Many companies mistakenly assume that what works for one organization will work well for all organizations. Companies often attempt to create incentive programs without thinking in detail about how each program feature will best suit their targeted audience.

To facilitate the creation of a profitable program, every feature must be tailored to the participants’ interests. A successful incentive program requires clearly defined rules, suitable rewards, efficient communication strategies, and measurable success metrics. By adapting each element of the program to fit the target audience, companies are better able to engage program participants and enhance the overall program effectiveness.

An incentive program represents a substantial investment to most organizations. Receiving a sufficient return on that investment requires the full participation of the program participants. Incentive programs are based upon the concept that effort increases as people perceive themselves progressing towards their goal. Therefore programs should offer participants a variety of products and services based on their unique interests and diverse needs. Successful programs need to carefully develop their reward methods to keep participants eager to approach a new goal once they have achieved a reward.

Objectives should be drawn up on the basis of the organization's strategic goals and should be straightforward and specific so that participants clearly understand the expectations. They should be challenging, yet achievable; if they are viewed as unattainable, the program will be destined for failure. Objectives may include motivating employees, recognizing performance, persuading customers to make a purchase, or even reinforcing a marketing message. Once the program goals have been determined, every aspect of the program must be measured against this goal in order to ensure the program's success in goal achievement. If successful, objectives should provide measurable results allowing the organization to track performance and measure the overall success of the program.

Types

Points program

Points-based incentive programs are a type of program where participants collect and redeem points for awards. Depending on the program type and the organizational objectives, points can be awarded on a number of criteria including positive employee behavior, the demonstration of organizational values, repeat customer purchases, the sale of new products, increased overall sales, or even the use of proper safety precautions. In addition to point awarding, the levels at which points can be redeemed can be customized by the organization and set at virtually any level. Points programs are a way for organizations to motivate behavior over time while improving the organizations’ overall performance.

Employee

Main article: Motivation

Employee incentive programs are programs used to increase overall employee performance. Employee programs are often used to reduce turnover, boost morale and loyalty, improve employee wellness, increase retention, and drive daily employee performance.

Consumer

Consumer incentive programs are programs targeting the customers and consumers of an organization. In a recent study conducted by Bain & Company’s research, researchers found that a simple 5% increase in a company’s customer retention rates will increase the average lifetime profits per customer. Consumer programs are becoming more widely used as more companies realize that existing customers cost less to reach, cost less to sell, are less vulnerable to attacks from the competition, and buy more over the long term.

Dealer/channel

Dealer incentive programs are used to improve performance for dealer and channel resellers using sales incentive programs. It can motivate the staff which in turn only helps business. These programs help companies capture market share, launch new products, reduce cost of sales, increase product adoption, and ultimately drive sales.

Sales

These programs are primarily used to drive sales, reduce sales costs, increase profitability, develop new territory, and enhance margins. Sales incentive programs have the most direct relationship to outcomes.

A Sales Incentive Plan (SIP) is a business tool used to motivate and compensate a sales professional (or sales agent) to meet goals or metrics over a specific period of time, usually broken into a plan for a fiscal quarter or fiscal year. A SIP is very similar to a commission plan; however, a SIP can incorporate sales metrics other than goods sold(or value of goods sold), which is traditionally how a commission plan is derived. Sales metrics used in a SIP are typically in the form of sales quotas (sometimes referred to as point of sale or POS shipments), new business opportunities and/or management by objectivess (MBOs) independent action of the sales professional and is usually used in conjunction with a base salary.

SIPs are used to incentives sales professionals where total dollars sold is not a precise measure of sales productivity. This is usually due to the complexity or length of the sales process or where a sale is completed not by an individual but by a team of people, each contributing unique skills to the sales process. SIPs are used to encourage and compensate each member of the sales team as he/she contributes to the team's ability to sell. It is not uncommon for the members of such teams to be located in different physical locations (often working in different countries) and for the product introduction to happen in one location and the purchase of such a product to occur in another location.

Online programs

When first emerging in 1996, the use of online incentive programs was extremely rare. According to the Online Incentive Council (OIC), since its emergence, the number of online programs has almost doubled in size every year. At present, nearly every traditional incentive company offers an online component in programs including employee motivation and recognition, sales performance, channel programs, and consumer promotions. Companies that run their programs online experience efficient communication, reporting, and awards fulfillment. Online incentive programs pose an attractive alternative to traditional offline programs since online programs save money and time and allow organizations to have much greater control.

Monetary rewards

Selecting the appropriate rewards is vital to any programs success. The goal in choosing rewards is to select items that will spark the participant’s interest or feelings, and support the program’s objectives. Effective rewards will both motivate short-term behavior and provide motivation over time. There are several types of rewards.

Cash

While incentive program participants often state that they prefer cash to non-cash rewards, research has shown that cash is a poor motivator due to its lack of “trophy value.” In a recent study conducted by the Center for Concept Development, three of five respondents agree that a cash payment is perceived to be part of an employee’s total compensation package and not as part of an incentive program. Additionally, cash is quickly forgotten as many participants tend to spend it on everyday items or use it to pay bills. Given that most people do not generally talk about cash awards, cash programs do little to generate the interest required to create an effective incentive program.

Non-cash rewards

Merchandise and other non-cash rewards are more often perceived as separate from compensation. Accordingly, non-cash rewards tend to stand out as rewards for performance, which enhances their long-term effect. Branded merchandise and other non-cash rewards have high trophy value, bringing greater recognition to the recipient at the time of the award and possessing a long-term lasting effect that can result in increased engagement in the organizations goals.

Gift cards/certificates

Gift cards/certificates are prepaid retail cards or certificates which are redeemed at a later time at checkout. In general, they are available in two types: (1) cards which carry a major credit card brand, commonly referred to as universal gift cards (UGC), and are redeemable at all merchants accepting the credit card brand; and (2) retailer-specific cards, issued by well-known merchants, redeemable only through the issuing retailer. In the 2005 Incentive Federation Study of Motivation and Incentive Applications, gift cards were ranked as the most frequently used type of corporate reward.

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