Rewards are psychologically powerful tools for influencing behavior. People offer rewards to encourage strangers to help search for their lost items or pets. Grade schoolers will study extra hard on their spelling tests to earn a bonus recess. And stubborn 8-year-olds would probably still be in diapers if it weren’t for the power of stickers and M&Ms as potty training rewards.
For years, businesses have been harnessing the power of rewards to earn the attention of their customers and employees. And with good reason. They work.
However, employees only have a finite amount of attention to give, and an increasing number of businesses are fighting for a piece of it.
When you look a little deeper, it becomes clear that – while high-value rewards are important, of course – even more, employees want to be able to redeem their rewards quickly and easily.
So, how do you keep employees engaging in your rewards program for years to come?
Have a Good Reward Mix
Having both cash and non-cash rewards is important to providing a good reward mix. Non-cash rewards are just as important as cash rewards because it gives consumers a tangible item or experience that they can cherish and remember.
Experiences have become very popular in the customer reward industry – and for a good reason too. Customers are more likely to remember a concert or vacation that they really wanted to go to over being handed straight cash. employees will link experiences with your company and value the relationship more.
Create Multiple Ways to Earn Points
Creating different ways to earn points will increase engagement by providing different avenues of engagement. Earning points through purchases is the go-to and overall best option, you can also complement this by adding bonus points campaigns on items you are featuring. Another unique way to allow employees to earn points would be to award birthday points. It’s a nice gesture that everyone can appreciate on their special day.
Remind Employees – But Not Too Often
Sometimes people need to be reminded that you have a great loyalty program running. Sending out reminder emails is a great way to gently remind your less engaged employees. A lot of the time we’re led to believe that an inactive employee has abandoned the rewards when they could have just forgotten.
You can also use emails for special occasions such as employee birthdays. This lets your employees know that you value them and remember their special day and can help create a stronger emotional connection with your program like stated above.
Have an Easy to Use Interface
The look and feel of your reward program is just as important as anything else. Companies such as Facebook and Twitter spend millions customizing their user interface to appeal to the masses. The best interface is one that is simple and doesn’t confuse the employees.
Also, make sure that the available points and links to the reward gallery are always easy to find as this is likely the reason why your employees are logging in most of the time. If the user interface is too busy it makes for a frustrating experience since employees will have to troubleshoot.
The bottom line is: if your interface isn’t simple or easy to use, it will decrease employee engagement.