Nearly all aspects of business involve doing things digitally, including incentivizing a target audience. These powerful virtual enticers come in many forms. But what are digital incentives and what makes them so beneficial for your business and its customers?

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In this post, you’ll learn what digital incentives are and why they are helpful for loyalty and engagement among customers. 

What Are Digital Incentives?

A digital incentive is any virtual-based reward. Companies can use such incentivization to motivate shoppers to push that “Add to Cart” button. These rewards also work to motivate customers to complete a certain action.

Examples of digital incentives:

• Promotional codes
• Virtual gift cards
• Sweepstakes entries
• Cashback rewards
• Store credit
• Access to premium digital content

How Digital Incentives Keep Customers Engaged and Loyal

With the basics taken care of, it’s vital to learn why rewards and incentives work so well. Here’s why digital incentives entice customers while keeping them loyal to your business.

Convenient for Customers and Companies

A cornerstone of business-related success means knowing what shoppers want. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Blackhawk Network, 72% of those surveyed prefer digital incentives over physical ones.

Because so many people work and unwind online, digital incentives are convenient for people using their computers, smartphones, or tablets. Plus, your business can instantly send rewards points, discount codes, and other incentives.

Additionally, companies don’t have to incur storage and shipping costs associated with sending out a bunch of gift cards, T-shirts, or other types of physical incentives or rewards.

Showing Customers They’re Valued

There’s no denying customers typically have plenty of shopping options. Whether your company sells to consumers or companies, recognizing their loyalty can make your business stand out from the pack. 

If you use digital incentives, you have many ways to pull off this strategy. Reward loyalty by offering:

• Member-exclusive pre-sales
• Exclusive content
• VIP-exclusive sales and events
• Access to early product or service releases

These loyalty-related perks let you offer something other businesses may not be able to match. This exclusivity can ensure your business remains more attractive to customers than a competing company.

Personalizing the Shopping Experience

According to Twilio Segment, 60% of consumers say they’d offer repeat business to companies offering personalized shopping experiences. Using digital incentives is an excellent way to provide something a sizable portion of your company’s target audience likely wants: personalized shopping.

Offering incentives is great. Letting customers choose how they want to reward themselves is even better. And, with extensive options in your incentive playbook, taking the digital route means giving your customers plenty of choices. Plus, it can help solve the problem of shoppers not using their physical rewards often or ever. 

Tips to Pull Off an Ideal Digital Incentivization Strategy

After learning the many benefits of virtual incentives, wanting to offer them is understandable. Follow the tips below to get your incentivization program prepped for a successful launch.

Learn What Your Audience Wants

Conducting research is imperative before most companies launch new products or services. The same should apply to digital incentives and rewards. While you can offer a multitude of digital-based rewards, starting with a few at a time might be best.

Unsure how to learn what your customers want? Try the following methods:

• Utilize social listening
• Conduct surveys
• Ask your social media followers
• Send an email to current or former customers

Keep an Eye on Your Incentive Campaigns

Most people don’t hit home runs their first time at bat. That’s also true in the business world. Rarely will brand-new digital incentive campaigns achieve 100% success. Fortunately, a great way to avoid poor program performance is by monitoring the analytics of your incentives and rewards.

Many digital incentive programs offer built-in analytics, letting your business know what’s working well. You can find out what offers participants prefer, which ones aren’t converting, and other vital information.

The Power of Gamification

Companies everywhere are gamifying what they offer, including their incentive programs. Gamification is more familiar than you may think. Examples of this technique include leaderboards, point systems, and achievements for added engagement.

However you do it, gamifying things taps into those neural pathways that activate when we receive rewards. Using achievements, another popular gamification method, also makes more mundane tasks enticing for people to complete.

Whether you’re new to digital incentive programs or not, they can skyrocket customer loyalty and engagement when done well. Before your next campaign launches, utilize the previously mentioned tips for a potentially successful kick-off. After a little time, effort, and adjustments, your incentives can attract customers from around the world.