3 Most Important Moments in Your Incentive/Reward Program

Except when it provides fodder for these genius posts.

Today was no exception.

As I swam through the garbage of my feed I did see this little ditty:

There are 9 minutes during the day that have the greatest impact on a child:

The first 3 minutes right after they wake up.

The 3 minutes right after they get home from school.

The last 3 minutes of the day before they go to bed.

Make those minutes special and help your children feel special, loved and accepted.

I love the sentiment of this – and I do believe these 9 minutes can really set the tone for other 960 minutes of the day kids are awake. If you can do those moments correctly I think they will be able handle the rest of the day. I also understand not everyone is in a position to make this happen but goals are still good. And knowing these are important “moments of truth” one should work very hard to ensure something is done in those moments to show our kids they are worthy, valuable and wanted.

All of that is wonderful.

But, Paul, how does that relate to running an incentive or reward strategy?

Simple.

Can You Do 3 Things?

Just as in the previous example, there are moments of truth in marketing and incentive initiatives that inform and impact all the other moments your audience experiences with your program.

What are they you ask?

They are:

Moment #1 – When you announce the program/initiative.

Did you provide enough fanfare about the initiative? Shooting out a poorly worded email to your participants signals you don’t care, and they shouldn’t either. Spend time crafting an announcement worth of the budget and effort you’re going to put into the program. Otherwise, why even bother.

Moment #2 – When you reward someone for their behavior or accomplishment.

Remember, how you handle these moments are signals to your audience how much you value them and the work they’ve done to earn something in the promotion. Just throwing points in an account, or dropping a few extra bucks into a reloadable debit card is lazy and tells your participants their work isn’t worthy of you sending a congratulatory note. Every program should have reporting that goes to management showing who earned what so they can send personal notes to the award earning thanking them for their efforts.

Moment #3 – When the program ends.

Do you just let the initiative/program fade into the sunset? Do you do a wrap-up and congratulate all who earned something? Do you do any sort of final recognition for best of the best (it can be a surprise award – you don’t have to announce EVERYTHING at the onset.)

As you can see, none of these things are difficult or even complex. Just knowing there are inflection points in the participant’s journey through your program should give you enough information for you to start to lean into those moments.

Invest some time into just 3 areas of your program to drive greater overall program performance and a much better ROI.

Just 3.

It’s all it takes. Are you too busy to do that? Are you too busy to wake your kids up gently or do you blow taps at 6:00 am like my dad did?

Just 3.

Go do that.