Incentivized marketing can be the most effective way to accomplish marketing objectives. Motivated customers are more likely to purchase goods and services. Those who are truly motivated to purchase goods and services will make purchases rapidly. This method of advertising is also an effective way of driving visitors to your online business site. If you combine incentives with the appropriate message, you can create a highly compelling incentive program that will dramatically increase sales.
Before you start implementing any incentive marketing program, you need to identify your target audience. You also need to choose the right incentives. For example, if you want to encourage customers to take a particular course, you may wish to offer a cash incentive for signing up for the class. Alternatively, you could offer points or maybe even an inexpensive product like a gift card to encourage a customer to check out your site. The point system could be a great incentive for a customer to check out your site.
As you are developing your incentive marketing platform, it is important to think carefully about how your customers will perceive your program. One way to do this is to make sure you provide a general explanation of what your incentive program is designed to accomplish. For example, if you are offering a free report as part of your incentive marketing platform program, it is important to explain why your customers should receive the free report and how they can benefit from it. However, when you provide details about how the free report will be used, how customers will be motivated to check out your site, and where they will find the report, customers may not understand why they should be motivated to take advantage of your program.
To ensure that your incentivized marketing plan will be effective in increasing sales, you will also need to carefully select the specific incentives you include in your campaign. For example, some companies offer customers a discount if they purchase more than one item from a single source or if they purchase two or more items from a single source. Other companies might offer a percentage of the total sales price for each of their products to customers who order using particular shopping carts. Even the most attractive incentive programs may have limited appeal if they are offered to a highly targeted customer base.
Incentivized incentive marketing programs are very useful for increasing business sales. However, they can sometimes backfire. If the targeted audience has an inherent dislike or distrust of the company, they may be less inclined to make a purchase. This is true whether you are implementing an incentive marketing program to reward repeat business or if you are using a program to promote new products or services to a niche market. Because few people enjoy receiving gifts, the increased sales will usually not be successful unless your products and service are highly in demand. Unless your incentives are clearly defined and well understood by your customers, they are unlikely to be as motivating as they might be.
The most successful incentive marketing offer tends to be those that are specifically tied to the customer needs. For example, if you are offering a discount to consumers who bring their laptops or tablets with them to the store, you can increase your chances of getting customers to make a purchase by offering special laptop or tablet bags or cases. On the other hand, if you were offering customers an extra entry into a drawing for a chance to win a free vacation, you could increase your chances of winning by including the draw criteria in your incentives. Again, the details have to be carefully considered to make sure that you get the most out of your incentives.
Many companies choose to implement an incentive marketing program involving rewards for referrals. In an environment where it is difficult to get customers to refer your products or services to friends and family, it is often more efficient and motivated to offer a cash bonus to those who make a referral. Whether the bonus is in the form of cash, coupons, or gift cards, your marketing team will need to carefully consider whether a cash bonus is appropriate for your company and how the award should be determined. For example, some companies award points when referrals are made but these points do little to increase sales since most of these referrals are from repeat customers. Others award a flat fee per sale and in the current economy, this may not be feasible. Once again, you will need to carefully consider whether your motivations for offering incentives actually outweigh the possible costs.
Finally, another option that is becoming popular among affiliate marketers is the use of affiliate bonuses. Affiliates are often offered a cash bonus when they refer new customers to a merchant. Again, the details need to be carefully evaluated to ensure that you are offering a substantial reward for such an effort. While this strategy has worked well for some affiliate marketers, it is important to keep in mind that the popularity of this particular incentive marketing practice may be temporary because people quickly learn that affiliates need to be compensated for every sale they generate.
