Offer choice without creating choice paralysis
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You are planning this wonderful rewards program, but what to offer? Give your customers enough options so that they can find something that works for them, but don’t give them the entire Argos catalogue.
Think about driving into the supermarket car park. When there are a handful of spaces, you pick the one that works best. When the carpark is nearly empty, you fluff your attempt at parking after not being able to decide exactly where to park. Ultimately disappointed in yourself for making a hash of something as simple as parking your car.
Translate that to picking rewards. You have the world to choose from, can’t decide what you really want, so you stop to think about it and then forget about it, never selecting a reward, never getting the benefit of that relationship, never remembering the value in choosing to spend with that business, going to the competition.
So how should you narrow down the range of rewards you want to offer? The obvious answer is to ask the people that you want to offer the rewards to. Well placed questions during onboarding, delving through the data in your CRM system, a quick pulse survey that just happens to have a question in there, all ways of getting a bit of insight into what could turn your occasional customers into regulars. You don’t have to tell them that you want to know for an upcoming rewards program or incentive campaign.
Being smart about picking your rewards gives you a much greater chance of success. Your customers have something to aim for, something aspirational, something they probably wouldn’t spend their own money on. Which means that the next time they have to decide where they have to spend their money, you’ve stacked the odds in your favour with a dream trip to see the Northern Lights, a toolbox full of pro mechanic spec tools, Dyson’s latest uber hairdryer or a lesson in Gin making followed by a Michelin starred supper.
Always include some gift card options too though for the ultimate in flexibility for the people that just want gift cards (which will probably be most people). You could even offer Argos gift cards.