Experiential Incentives: Are They Right for You?

By Enrique Burgos

A new type of rewards for incentive and relationship marketing plans is invading Europe--all kinds of rewards related to personal or group experiences are increasing day by day.

In the incentive scheme, 80 percent of rewards (merchandise) are the same from one program to another. You can see some differences depending on the target and creativity of the agency. From the beginning of the 21st century, the usage of gift cards/certificates as a reward has increased to 50 percent of usage (besides merchandise) in dealer incentives.

From the classic incentive travel reward, customers now demand unique experiences, from the most expensive--participating in Formula 1 racing day, getting flying lessons and having a personal shopper day--to cheaper ones like spa sessions, golf lessons and--one of my favorites—wine experiences.

Recently this new category of rewards, experiences, has been fully developed. This new kind of leisure reward links the company emotionally with the customer. You can reach every company wish, including creating loyal customers, through these unforgettable experiences.

The main difference between merchandise rewards and experience ones is the risk factor of the experiences. You must be sure about your provider to accomplish a totally safe and expected experience. No surprises.

I really find this kind of incentives irresistable because you make the customer feel special. This is the objective of incentives--reward someone for their work, sales, capacity and prescription in terms of creating an inclination in his behaviour. And you can be sure that introducing these marketing experiences will help you to achieve this.

I have used this kind of incentive for customers and distributors several times in Spain and always was a huge success.

As I mentioned, wine experiences are one of my favorites. It's simple, and universal. It doesn’t matter if you have this experience in Ribera del Duero (Spain), Napa Valley (California) or Bordeux (France)--wine culture applied to marketing activities has a lot of benefits. First of all, wine has elitist connotations and can offer unique experiences--tasting, visiting  vineyards, wine-hotels, winemaking, wine and food pairing...

My last experience was in the gold mileage of vineyards in Spain, Ribera del Duero, where one of the best wines rest in barrels, like Vega Sicilia and Durius Magister.

I spent one weekend with my family in a wonderful six-room luxury all-inclusive wine hotel with exclusive special treatment. The conclusion is obvious: I’m absolutely loyal to them. I had a familiar experience in a wonderful environment--better than receiving only a wine assortment, like many companies gave me in the past.

Just one piece of advice: Each incentive has its target. Be careful who are you rewarding. Don’t waste your money--invest it.

Enrique Burgos is the relationship marketing manager of SEUR, a logistics company in Spain. Visit his blog at www.incentivesandrelationshipmarketing.blogspot.com.

Comments

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[Enrique Burgos]

Edgar,
All these warnings are absolutely necesary to control, sometimes for legal, or just for company rules. I had a special case with a car dealer corporation: employees wanted to be incentived with a wine testing and several wine bottles, but just for the classic "dont drive if you drink" was impossible to afford the requirements of these people. Finally we developed a racing school experience with "formula1" cars. At the end, we have always to consider the enviroment where the company moves.

[Edgar Valdmanis]

Enrique,
I think these ideas are fabolous, with only one word of warning - check your audience or target group. Some experiential incentives do include outdoors activities like mountainclimbing, river-rafting or similar and there are numerous people who are afraid of thes types of activities. Even worse, they are often being laughed at for being afraid of heights or whatever it is. The other one is winetasting. Personally I would have loved to join you for that trip to Spain, but there are people around who do not drink alcohol for personal reasons. The list could probably go on, but the point is - check your audience. Otherwise I'm sure experiential incentives beat 'things' any day.
Edgar Valdmanis, MBA