Companies want their loyalty programs to succeed. Ask any program administrator and they’ll agree that ensuring their program is working smoothly and achieving objectives is their top priority. However, what some of them don’t realize is the subtle ways they might be holding their programs back.
Loyalty and incentive programs have been around for a decent amount of years, long enough that most people recognize them and the basic principle they follow: do something, get a reward. B2B loyalty and incentive programs especially follow this model and for good reason. It’s worked so well and for so long that program administrators can find it hard to build an argument for redesigning their program in any significant way. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” as the saying goes.
The downside with that old saying is that at some point, not fixing what’s “not broken” can lead to your program breaking over time.
The trouble with a loyalty or incentive program essentially staying the same and never changing is that people, quite simply, do not.
Customers and businesses are constantly growing and evolving, even in B2B industries where long-term relationships and lengthy buying cycles are the norm. As we already discussed in our previous blog post, B2B buyers are more likely than ever to switch to a new supplier if their existing one no longer meets their needs or expectations.
A loyalty or incentive program that keeps the same processes, earning rates, reward options, etc. year after year will gradually become less and less valuable to members who are always facing new challenges and changing market conditions. Eventually, these customers will reach a tipping point where they find it makes more practical sense to disengage with the B2B program completely rather than stay.
You might have already noticed early warning signs that your incentive program is experiencing a stall, such as low or declining participation rates, reward redemptions, or enrollment numbers. Here are a few reasons participation or activity rates in your B2B program might have stalled:
Every program requires some level of effort on the consumer’s part for them to qualify for the program benefits, most typically by making a purchase or taking similar actions. Customers know and expect this, and most are willing to put in the time.
The trouble starts when the level of effort, time, or money spent on the customer’s part is no longer worth the return the program provides.
One instance is when the available reward options or member benefits are no longer valuable or relevant to customers. The cost of materials, labor, operating expenses, and more continue to rise, and as such B2B buyers are looking for how they can get the most value for their spend. If they no longer feel an incentive program is worth the time spent, they'll easily disengage.
All loyalty and incentive programs rely on user engagement to succeed. This is true regardless of industry or company; loyalty programs need customer participation in order to have an impact and produce results.
However, as we discuss in our latest whitepaper “The Business Case For Smarter Incentives,” B2B member engagement needs to go beyond just transactions. If a brand also provides dedicated tools, training, and ongoing support to help customers achieve their goals (on top of a reward program), it shows itself as the more desirable option than a brand that only offers rewards points and little else.
A good customer experience is key to winning sales, and it plays a part in winning customer loyalty as well. With seamless digital connections and automation quickly becoming the norm, an outdated and clunky user experience can spell disaster for an incentive program.
Businesses risk alienating their customers when they fail to continuously optimize and improve their programs. Requiring program members to go through manual processes when such tasks can be automated or maintaining outdated point-earning rules that no longer align with how customers spend not only frustrates users but will likely lead to significant drops in activity and engagement.
Investing in regular updates and enhancements for your incentive program isn’t just about staying relevant—it’s about showing your participants that their ease of use and satisfaction are your top priorities. By neglecting this crucial aspect, brands risk losing the very loyalty and participation these programs are designed to foster.
The first step to getting your B2B loyalty or incentive program out of its stall is to focus back on its original purpose - to build relationships with your entire customer base from distributors to end customers.
To do this, you need to understand what the individuals in this audience consider important and meaningful. Then you need to incorporate these factors into the core of your B2B loyalty or incentive program, even if it requires redesigning or refreshing your program entirely. This is the basic process for creating what we call a smarter B2B incentive program, a more detailed breakdown of which you can get in our latest whitepaper.
The benefit of adopting this strategy is that your brand will end up in a better position to keep optimizing and improving your B2B incentive program in the future. By ensuring your program stays attuned to the needs and desires of your users, you can create a program that not only boosts engagement and loyalty but also generates real ROI and revenue.
It’s tempting for program administrators to feel that any changes to a working program will be what causes it to decline. Some brands are wary that any changes will disrupt their current customer audiences and cause them to leave – which is an especially viable concern these days when customer retention is more important than ever. However, these fears are precisely what holds B2B incentive programs back from reaching their peak levels of performance and return on investment. By regularly reviewing and updating your incentives, rewards, and overall strategy, you can ensure that your B2B incentive program aligns with industry best practices and meets the evolving needs of your target audience.
This blog is part of our “Smarter Incentives” series, companion posts for our newly-released whitepaper "The Business Case For Smarter Series". The series explores the reasoning for why today's B2B incentive programs need to be redesigned to be smarter, and how program managers can refresh their programs to experience greater success and returns. You can download the full whitepaper for free here.