11 Epic Ways To Reward Your Employees

Don’t Break the Bank – Inexpensive Employee Rewards Programs

1. Certificate of achievement: Honor the employee how acquires a unique acknowledgment, give him or her an extraordinary nametag and also a certificate that articulates their achievement.

2. Thank you meeting: A sincere word of thanks costs nothing and is very effective. Saying thanks about something specific may be the ultimate reward. The words “thank you” are powerful. And sometimes all you need to do is to say it sincerely.

3. Wall of Fame:  Create a wall of fame for each recognized employee. Make a point to compose underneath their photo what they did that you’re remembering them for.

4. Company apparel: Offering employees free company apparel and other logo merchandise can be one of the simple employee rewards programs.

5. Recognition in front of peers: Feature your representatives accomplishments by recognizing them in an organization meeting, bulletin or on your organization Intranet site.

6. Department recognition bulletin board: Consistently a designated bulletin board highlights their duties regarding the affiliation, the individual employees, their most noticeable achievements, etc.

7. Secret Santa-style appreciation: Use the “Secret Santa” concept. Have all employees draw a name of another employee. They would then identify an achievement/contribution particular to that person and send an anonymous note of appreciation.

8. Work-from-home day: Remember significant events in your employees’ personal lives, and give them a work-from-home day so they can participate without worrying about coming into the office on time.

9. Sticky Notes:  Post a sticky note on their monitor, expressing profound gratitude and saying why. Simple, yet compelling, when it’s authentic.

10. Standing O: Get all your employees together in the same room. Then welcome the employee you’re recognizing and give him or her an overwhelming applause.

11. The Morphing Trophy: Get a big trophy and give it to the employee you are recognizing for the week. At the end of the week, they must return the trophy but they need to add one thing to it. Then next week give it to the next winner. At the end of the year, you’ll have a trophy with 52 things stuck to it. It looks crazy and has lots of memories. At the end of the year, retire the trophy and put it in your reception area. Do it every year.

So which one are you trying out for your team?

5 Reasons RewardPort Should Be Your Partner for Employee Rewards Programs in 2023

As per a study conducted on 3 million employees, companies that used an effective employee rewards program gained over twice the three-year median return than the ones that did not have any such program. This is evidence that employee rewards and recognition programs play a vital role in the growth and success of an organization. But, planning and implementing a rewards program for your employees is a challenging task as you need to take every small business detail into account and consider a lot of other factors to make it successful. However, there are various employee rewards program companies that you can look up to.

RewardPort is one of the top reward and loyalty solution providers to consider. Here are some most significant reasons why you should partner with RewardPort for your employee rewards program in 2023:

1. Experienced Team

RewardPort has a team of experienced marketing professionals, who have already executed over 11,000 reward programs across different categories. The team manages loyalty programs for several companies not only in India, but across 6 countries, including India, Sri Lanka, UK, Canada, UAE, and Kenya. Trusted by more than 750 clients, RewardPort becomes one of the top options to consider when it comes to choosing the right company for your employee rewards program.

Planning and running an employee rewards program requires good research and understanding of what types of rewards are suitable for a particular company. This is what RewardPort’s marketing team can do for you. With their industry expertise and years of experience, they can come up with the best rewards program for your employees.

2. Multiple Rewards & Redemption Options

With RewardPort, you can run an employee loyalty program using rewards starting from as low as Rs. 10. Being one of the top loyalty solution providers, RewardPort provides you with a host of reward options to choose from. You can always find a suitable option under your budget and start running an employee rewards program. Along with the reward points, your employees also get plenty of exciting redemption options. They can redeem their rewards across over 70,000 products or services across different categories.

To make a rewards program effective, you don’t only need to focus on offering rewards but also on redemption options. If your employees can not find any valuable redemption option, they will not be encouraged to earn reward points that are of no significance. This is why offering multiple redemption options always becomes a necessity to make your rewards program successful. RewardPort’s marketing team keeps this in mind and offers valuable rewards to cater to every employee’s interests.

3. Seamless Execution

Once you partner with RewardPort, you can leave all your employee rewards-related worries behind. From planning the rewards program to executing it with perfection, the team of marketing professionals at RewardPort gives you a seamless experience. You are given a team of experts that analyze all your business details and plan the employee rewards program accordingly. RewardPort majorly focuses on the following key points:

• Culture of Appreciation: Creating the values of appreciation and recognition in your employees.
• Celebrating Milestones: Making employees feel valuable by celebrating their achievements and promotions.
• Targeting Performance: Rewarding employees based on their performance to push them to perform better.
• Imbibing Company Values: Ensuring that a solid foundation of your organization’s culture is imbibed in your employees.
• Employee Retention: By offering continuous rewards and recognition, RewardPort focuses on boosting employee retention rates.

4. Easy-To-Use Reward Programs

One of the most important characteristics of a successful rewards program is its ease of use. An employee rewards program makes sense only if your employees understand it and are interested to earn the rewards. A complicated user interface of the rewards portal or a lengthy reward redemption process can lead to the disinterest of your employees in the program. However, this is not the case with RewardPort.

The rewards programs designed by RewardPort, one of the top employee rewards program companies, are not just easy to use but are also interesting enough to keep your employees engaged. The web interface has been designed keeping all types of employees in mind. They can conveniently earn and redeem reward points against any redemption option of their choice.

5. Customer Services

When partnering with a rewards and loyalty solution provider, it is also important to look for their customer support services. If the customer service is not good, your queries and feedback will not be considered by the rewards company. With RewardPort, you get a dedicated customer care team that is responsible for answering all your queries and handling your feedback. This is another significant reason to choose RewardPort as your employee rewards program partner.

Boost Employee Retention at Your Organization with RewardPort

Almost every organization is now adopting a culture of employee rewards and recognition. However, only a few of them are able to implement these programs effectively. A survey conducted on employees of various companies has shown that over 65% of employees received no recognition for over a year. This is the primary reason why most employees leave their organization even after receiving a decent salary.

Just running an employee rewards program is not enough but you also need to ensure that it encourages every single employee at your company. The team of marketing professionals at RewardPort keeps all these factors in mind and runs a rewards program that effectively rewards every employee while motivating them to perform better.

12 Effective Employee Rewards Programs that Cost Almost Nothing

To make your employees perform to their full potential, it is important to keep them motivated. Employees play a vital role in the success of an organization. The more engaged and motivated your employees are, the higher the chances of your organization’s success. This is the reason why employee rewards programs have become an important part of almost every business. It is not necessary to offer monetary rewards or expensive gifts to your employees, but recognition and appreciation are also equally valuable. Studies have shown that employees who are frequently appreciated are more engaged at work.

If you are planning to implement an effective but inexpensive employee rewards program, here are some best ideas to consider:

1. Celebrating Personal Occassions

Celebrating personal occasions like birthdays and work anniversaries of your employees is one of the best ways to make them feel valued. You don’t need to organize an expensive party, but just send your employees personalized messages, give them a day off on birthdays, send cakes or chocolates, and let them know that you are thrilled to have them at your organization. Similarly, you can organize small work anniversary celebrations in the office, where your employees as well as you can share your experiences of working together.

2. Peer-to-Peer Appreciation

Peer-to-peer appreciation is not so popular strategy but works effectively in making the employees feel motivated at the workplace. By encouraging your employees to appreciate their peers, you can create a healthy work culture at your office. It further increases employee productivity and engagement. Promoting peer-to-peer appreciation is totally free of cost, but is one of the best engagement activities for employees. Encourage your employees to appreciate each other’s work, contribution to a particular project, or any other achievement they have made.

3. Social Media Shoutouts

Social media is a great platform to leverage your reward programs for employees and engagement activities. Many companies that use social media to recognize their employees often observe an increase in the motivation levels of their employees. You can give a social media shoutout to one or a few employees every week for their commendable work. Write a post describing the milestone they have achieved or their great performance and publish it along with their photos on your social media account. Make sure that you recognize every employee at some point in time to keep their engagement levels high.

4. Personalized Thank-You Notes

Personalized thank-you notes can work much more amazingly than you expect. Whenever an employee completes an important project on time, you can thank them for their contribution. Keep a hand-written thank you note on their desk and they will definitely be thrilled after receiving it. Though you have the option to send thank you emails or text messages, hand-written notes are always more effective. Make sure that you don’t miss out on any opportunity to thank your employees and make them feel appreciated.

5. Creative Tailor-made Rewards

Tailor-made rewards that align with the interests of your employees are truly encouraging for them to perform better. Some companies only focus on offering rewards without worrying about the interests of their employees and this is one of the biggest reasons why their corporate employees rewards programs don’t work. By offering creative rewards that add value to your employees, you can motivate them to perform even better in the future to receive higher rewards. Some best examples of creative rewards include an upgrade in the office chair, a personalized office desk, etc.

6. Monetary Incentives

Offering monetary incentives is quite an expensive deal, but it is totally worth it when your employees have performed amazingly on a project. You can offer performance-based incentives to selected employees who have fulfilled their deadlines, excelled in a project, etc. If you want to keep your incentive program less expensive, don’t offer incentives every month, but you can do it once every three-four months. Just make sure that every employee receives monetary incentives at regular intervals so that they continue to give their best at work.

7. Learning & Development Rewards

Monetary benefits or expensive gifts are not the only options to consider when you want to offer some valuable rewards to your employees. You can even boost their engagement by providing learning and development-based rewards. Provide them with access to educational webinars, send them to conferences, and allow them to access online courses of their choice for free. Everyone wants to grow their skills while doing a job. By giving your employees an opportunity to learn and develop their personal skills, you can give them an additional reason to work at your organization and perform their best.

8. Organizing Lunch with Top Performers

Another amazing idea to boost employee engagement is to organize lunch for monthly top performers with the company owners. You can choose one or multiple employees who have performed the best in a month and allow them to have lunch with the leaders of their company. Team lunches are one of the most effective ways to improve team building and work culture. If organizing an outdoor lunch seems challenging, you can just order the favorite snack of your best-performing employees and get it delivered to their desks along with a thank-you note.

9. Include Gamification

Gamification has become a powerful tool that companies are now using to make their corporate employees’ reward programs more interesting and effective. By organizing gamification activities for employees, you can create healthy competition at your workplace and motivate each employee to perform to their full potential. Some best gamification ideas include the employee of the month program, game-based learning or certification programs, achievement badges, etc. You can partner with rewards and loyalty solution companies like RewardPort to gamify your reward program for employees in the best way possible.

10. Monthly Awards and Recognition

Rewards and recognition are effective when offered on a regular basis. Another great way to boost the productivity and motivation levels of your employees is to run monthly awards and recognition programs. At the end of each month, give your employees feedback reports on their performance throughout the month. Make sure to add some positive as well as negative (if any) feedback in this report. Recognize the employees who have shown consistent dedication and hard work throughout the month and award them a certificate of appreciation.

11. Gift of Flexible Timing

Everyone values time and if your can gift some time to your employees, it would be one of the best rewards for them. Whenever an employee completes a project on time or gives an excellent performance, you can allow them to leave a few hours earlier or to come a few hours late on the next day. If this doesn’t sound like a good idea, just allow them to work from home for one day. Flexibility in timings is something that every employee wants and if you can offer this based on their performance, you can motivate them to give their best every single day.

12. Award for Punctuality

There are some employees who are always on or before time. Encouraging them to continue this behavior is important. When you reward punctual employees, it doesn’t only motivate them, but their co-workers are also encouraged to reach the office on time. You can track the timings of your employees and offer rewards or recognition to the ones who have been punctual through the month, quarter, or year.

Build Your Employee Rewards Program With RewardPort

RewardPort is one of the top rewards and loyalty solution providers offering a range of services, including employee rewards and recognition programs. The team of experienced marketing professionals at RewardPort can help you plan and implement an employee rewards program as per your requirements. With rewards starting at as low as Rs. 10, RewardPort is the best company to consider if you wish to have an effective but inexpensive employee rewards program.

11 Employee Loyalty Programs for 360-Degree Employee Engagement

Running employee loyalty programs is an effective way to boost employee engagement and retention in your organization. Research shows that engaged employees are 17% more productive compared to dismissive co-workers. They consider company success their success and work hard to help their organization achieve its business goals faster. Employee engagement is beneficial for an organization in many other ways.

It boosts employee retention rates, lowers employee turnover, and most importantly, encourages employees to be more productive at work. However, studies suggest that only 34% of employees are engaged at work (as of 2022). A low employee engagement rate usually results from a lack of appreciation and motivation at the workplace.

Employers must ensure that they make their workers feel valued, and boost employee engagement. Here are some effective employee loyalty programs and activities to boost employee engagement:

1. Joining Benefits

While hiring valuable resources for your company, understand that they might be considering other job offers from your competitors. Offering a joining bonus is one way to make them choose your organization. You can also use the joining bonus as a bridge between your employee’s expected salary and the salary you are offering.

You can also pay it as compensation against any additional benefits that your employees were getting in their previous company. Generally, a joining bonus is 10% to 20% of the annual CTC of an employee. A joining bonus creates a positive anchor for the journey of your employee.

2. Rewards for Personal Occasions

Recognizing your employees on their special days, like birthdays, work anniversaries, etc., is another great way to boost employee engagement in your organization. You can send them personalized messages, organize a celebration, and ask them to share their experiences at your workplace.

Gift your employees something valuable, such as paid time off, gift cards, discount coupons for restaurants, etc., on special occasions. You can also recognize and award your employees when they achieve a new milestone. No employee likes a workplace without any
emotions. Celebrating their happy days makes them feel valued and encourages them to stay loyal to your organization.

3. Festive Bonuses

Studies have shown that employees’ engagement rises when they have a sense of belongingness to the organization and its leaders. Providing festive bonuses or gifts is a great way to build a strong relationship with your employees. Organizations should try to make employees feel that their organization cares for them and not just about their work.

Offer them a decent bonus or valuable gifts, such as gift cards, as a festive season benefit. When employees feel good about your company, employee engagement rises and increases productivity.

4. Milestone Rewards

A milestone-based rewards program can help you build a healthy competitive environment for your employees. Recognize their accomplishments at work and award them something valuable, such as a certificate of appreciation or a small gift. For example, you can reward your employees for completing a big project successfully.

Another example is rewarding them for completing their tasks within the deadlines. These rewards motivate your employees to perform even better with dedication in future projects. Running continuous employee loyalty programs with different tiers is also a good idea.

5. Performance-Based Incentives

Performance-based incentives are another great motivational driver for employees to work hard. These rewards are reciprocal for both employers and employees. Performance-based reward account for employees’ contributions to the employer’s growth. Most businesses have defined KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for every role in the organization.

Performance-based incentives will often remain linked to these KPIs. Anyone exceeding the KPIs can drive the following actions:

• Renewed or upgraded KPIs
• Surprise rewards or bonus
• Promotions or role upgrades

These incentives can be general or extraordinary financial bonuses that the employees receive with their fixed salary. You can offer these incentives to appreciate employees for working overtime, completing their tasks on time, making more than the expected sales, and being punctual.

6. Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Peer-to-peer recognition refers to the appreciation between co-workers who may not have a direct rapport. Generally, employees expect feedback from the employer. However, getting appreciation from co-workers can be equally amazing.

You can encourage peer-to-peer appreciation in your firm by recognizing your employees publicly and frequently. Organize team meetings to let all your employees know the accomplishments of their co-workers. It improves company culture, strengthens team morale, and boosts employee productivity.

7. Annual Perks and Promotions

Studies suggest that even the most engaged employees often feel demotivated at work. This can happen for several reasons, including if they do not receive appreciation or promotions in due time. Employers must ensure that deserving employees are promoted adequately and within due time.

You can promote them designation-wise, salary-wise, or both. Offering annual bonuses at the end of each financial year is also a great way to motivate your workforce.

8. Referral Incentives

Referral incentives are the monetary or non-monetary benefits employees receive on referring qualified candidates for vacant positions in the company. Your employees may have a good network of qualified candidates, which include their college peers, former co-workers, etc.

Referral incentives can encourage your employees to recommend your company to their connections. This is one of the most cost-effective ways to recruit potential employees. Well-executed referral programs are also effective in increasing employee satisfaction and retention rates.

9. Long Service Rewards

Long service rewards incentivize the service period of the employees at the firm. These can be considered a token of thanks to the employees for their commitment to the organization.
Generally, these rewards are offered on completing 5, 10, 15, and 25 or more years with an organization.

As a long-service reward, you can offer financial bonuses, discounted loans, family vacation packages, home purchase assistance, etc. Synchronizing this incentive with the employee’s ongoing financial or personal needs will ensure that the employee sticks with the firm longer.

10. Sales Incentives

The job of a salesperson is one of the most stressful jobs. It is common for sales executives to feel demotivated at times. Offering sales incentives is one of the best ways to help them deal with this stress and keep them motivated.

Along with their fixed salary, you can offer monetary incentives for completing targets, making more than expected sales, and getting potential clients onboard.

11. Retirement or Exit Rewards

Retirement rewards are the benefits employees will receive on completing their years of service at the firm. It is a great way to thank your employees for their continuous hard work and dedication towards your company.

You can offer monetary benefits or run pension schemes as retirement benefits. Great retirement rewards also encourage other employees to stay loyal and work for your company longer.

Why Choose RewardPort for Employee Loyalty Programs?

RewardPort is one of the top rewards and loyalty solutions providers in India. RewardPort can run loyalty programs that work best for your organization. Some of the features of Employee Loyalty Programs by RewardPort are as follows:

• Culture of appreciation
• Imbibe company values
• Lead to employee retention
• Gamification for a higher engagement

RewardPort offers modern rewards with proven engagement tactics for multiple generations to ensure the effectiveness of employee loyalty programs.

What Are Engagement Activities for Employees?

Engagement activities for employees aim to motivate them and make them feel comfortable in the office environment. Companies that have engaged employees are more likely to succeed compared to businesses with no employee engagement. This is why it becomes necessary for employers to put in every possible effort to boost engagement among their employees.

Employee engagement should not be considered a one-time thing. To keep your staff motivated for a longer period, it is essential to organize employee engagement activities regularly. These activities should align with your overall business strategy to get the best results.

It is essential to understand why you are planning a particular event or activity. Look at the ideas, people, accomplishments, and challenges within your organization. It helps you plan the most suitable activities to boost employee morale and productivity in your company.

Why is Employee Engagement Important?

Engaged Employees are more productive and loyal to the company. They consider company success as their success and work hard to help the business grow. This is why employee engagement matters for every business. There are several benefits of having engaged employees. Some most significant ones are listed below:

• Better attendance
• Increased employee productivity
• Reduced employee turnover
• Fewer workplace stresses
• Improved collaboration among team members

Globally, only 15% of employees are engaged at work as per some studies. It raises employee disengagement as a major issue for companies. Even the most dedicated employees tend to feel demotivated when not appreciated for their hard work. This is where employee engagement activities come into play.

Most Effective Engagement Activities for Employees

Though there are lots of employee engagement activities that you can include in your organization, the following are the most effective ones:

Involve Employees in Your Business Planning

Employees play a vital role in the success of an organization. You should share the most important issues of the company with all your employees. Not every day, but you can keep such team meetings quarterly or half-yearly. Share your company’s success and challenges and discuss what actions you can take to improve.

When making business decisions, try to involve HR managers and other team leaders. It promotes transparency in your organization and builds trust among your employees. When employees are involved in important business decisions, they feel valued and become loyal.

Recognize Your Employees

Studies suggest that the primary reason behind employees leaving their jobs is a lack of appreciation. Businesses must appreciate and recognize their employees. It makes them feel valued and motivates them to perform even better in the future.

Different types of employee recognition programs help you boost employee engagement in your company. The following recognition programs can be very effective:

• The Employee of the Month programs
• Work Anniversary Celebrations
• Weekly social media shoutouts for excellent performance
• Award for achieving any specific milestone

RewardPort can help you build the best recognition programs, making sure that every employee feels appreciated.

Gamify Daily Achievements

Including gamification in your organization promotes healthy competition among your employees. It encourages them to perform their daily tasks better to get incentives. You can offer rewards for reaching the office on time, completing tasks within deadlines, working extra hours, etc. Instead of making task completion a boring task for your workers, try to make it interesting for them.

RewardPort, being a top rewards and loyalty solutions company, can help you include gamification in the best way possible. RewardPort can build employee rewards programs that align with your business goals and help you achieve them faster.

Organize Team-Building Activities

Employees love team-building activities, especially the ones outside the office. You can organize team lunches, office trips, or in-office competitive games. These activities make communication better and easier among the team members. If some or all of your employees work remotely, you can organize virtual activities through Zoom meetings.

Encourage Knowledge Sharing

Employees are often busy with their teams with no idea of what other teams are doing. To avoid this, you can organize meetings for all the employees. Every team can share its projects and accomplishments in such meetings and other teams can relate it to their projects. It helps your employees understand the entire workflow of the organization and they perform better with a larger vision.

You can also create learning programs for your employees. Everyone loves to learn while earning. Build learning platforms where your employees can also check their progress by taking regular tests. Make it interesting by offering some amazing rewards on completion of a learning program.

Build a Mentorship Program

A mentorship program is a must-have in every organization. When new employees join your company, they might need guidance and help with small things. They might feel lost when there is no one to communicate with. So, provide every employee with a mentor. The mentor can be your HR manager, their team leader, or any senior employee.

Many employees leave their jobs due to a lack of guidance. To ensure this doesn’t happen in your company, encourage mentorship programs. You can offer incentives to your experienced employees for volunteering as a mentor and assign a few junior employees to every mentor.

Encourage Employee Feedback

Most companies do give regular feedback to their employees but don’t consider it important to take feedback from them. You can organize one-to-one sessions between the HR managers and all the employees to receive their feedback. Appreciate positive feedback, take the negative ones seriously, and try to improve. When employee feedback is considered, they feel valued and are more likely to stay loyal.

Employee Engagement for Business Growth

An engaged workforce is easier to handle as employees perform their tasks with full dedication. They are more productive and remain loyal to their employer. With so many advantages of employee engagement, it is evident that engaged employees play an important role in business growth.

To ensure maximum employee engagement in an organization, employers need to come up with relevant ideas and engagement activities. RewardPort can help you plan and execute the most suitable employee engagement activities for your company. Gamification is one of the best ways to have highly engaging activities for the workforce.

Gamification brings the element of surprise and makes your activities more effective even on a budget. You can choose from thousands of rewards at RewardPort with a starting price as low as Rs 10. This allows you to do more with less.

9 Effective Employee Rewards Program Which Costs Nothing

Employee rewards programs are an essential component of any successful business. A well-designed rewards program can help boost morale, increase productivity, and improve employee retention rates. While there are many ways to reward employees, not all programs have to come at a high cost.

In this blog, we will discuss eight effective employee rewards programs that cost nothing.

1. Recognition and Appreciation Programs

Employees thrive on recognition and appreciation, and one of the best ways to show appreciation is through a formal recognition program. A recognition program can be as simple as a thank-you note or a shout-out in a team meeting.

Employees who feel valued and appreciated are more likely to be engaged and motivated, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.

2. Professional Development Opportunities

One of the most effective rewards for employees is the opportunity for professional development. By investing in your employees’ growth and development, you not only improve their skills and knowledge but also demonstrate your commitment to their success.

Providing access to training programs, conferences, and online courses can help employees improve their skills and advance in their careers.

3. Flexible Work Arrangements

ork-life balance is crucial for many employees, and offering flexible work arrangements can be a valuable reward. Flexible work arrangements, such as remote work options, flexible schedules, or compressed workweeks, can help employees achieve a better work-life balance and improve their overall well-being.

This reward also has the added benefit of reducing overhead costs for the business.

4. Extra Time Off

Providing employees with extra time off is an effective way to reward them for their hard work. This can come in the form of a bonus day off, an extended holiday break, or a long weekend. Extra time off can help employees recharge, reducing burnout and improving their overall job satisfaction.

5. Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Peer-to-peer recognition is a powerful way to build a positive work culture and boost morale. Allowing employees to recognize each other’s accomplishments can help build stronger relationships between team members and foster a sense of community within the workplace.

This can be done through a formal recognition program or simply encouraging employees to give each other shout-outs in team meetings or a company chat platform.

6. Personalized Rewards

Personalized rewards are an effective way to show employees that you value them as individuals. By tailoring rewards to their interests or preferences, you demonstrate that you know and appreciate them on a personal level.

Personalized rewards can be as simple as a gift card to their favorite coffee shop or restaurant, a book on a topic they enjoy, or a subscription to a service that aligns with their hobbies.

7. Volunteer Opportunities

Many employees are passionate about giving back to their community, and offering volunteer opportunities can be a rewarding experience for both the employee and the company. This can come in the form of company-sponsored volunteer events or simply allowing employees to take time off to volunteer for causes they are passionate about.

Not only does this reward demonstrate your commitment to social responsibility, but it also helps build a positive work culture and improve employee satisfaction.

8. Employee-Led Initiatives

Empowering employees to lead initiatives within the company can be an effective way to reward them for their hard work and dedication. This can come in the form of allowing employees to lead a project, create a new program, or spearhead a new initiative.

By giving employees the autonomy to lead, you demonstrate that you trust and value their contributions to the company.

9. Social Acceptance

Here is another project that is not only free but also successful in this day of selfies and social media.

Promote staff members via social media, in the corporate newsletter, or on the company website when they are performing at the top of their game. The employees will feel much better about their achievements because of the significant difference.

Also, others can aspire to achieve it, which will result in higher performance.

Effective Employee Rewards Programs

Effective employee rewards programs should help you improve employee morale, increase productivity, and have higher retention rates. But employee rewards don’t have to be budgeted for another time.

Whether it’s providing access to professional development opportunities, offering flexible work arrangements, or empowering employees to lead initiatives, these rewards demonstrate your commitment to your employees’ success and well.

All types of employees are taken into consideration when designing the employee incentives and redemption programs at RewardPort, and while they are simple to use, they also provide an engaging model to keep employees interested.

8 Employee Incentive Program for Superb Team Engagement

What is Employee Engagement? Employee engagement in the workplace is the practice of working with dedicated employees who don’t simply do their work because they are paid for it but because they are entirely immersed in it.

Who wouldn’t enjoy working with such individuals? Even while your company could value such dedication and participation, it’s important to consider whether you’re doing enough to encourage them and conduct employee rewards programs.

One of the well-liked methods to raise employee engagement is by appreciating them and sparking dedication by introducing employee rewards programs.

How Hazardous is Disengagement in the Workplace?

The term “disengagement” is blatantly harmful to companies. Even while disengagement can be very subtle and challenging to spot, it can result in glaring issues like low morale, high attrition, and low productivity.

These disengagement figures are important for you to be aware of.

The total cost of employee disengagement to businesses is close to $450 billion annually.

One of the best employee rewards for retaining engagement is a demanding environment. According to a different study, 33% of employees switch jobs in search of more challenging positions.

How therefore may employee engagement be increased? Programs with incentives may be useful.

What are incentive programs for employees, and how can they boost engagement?

We’ve covered enough of employee disengagement and its consequences to return to encouraging engagement.

Employee incentive programs are created to keep the best personnel on board and to keep them engaged in and satisfied with their work. The most well-known and well-liked of these incentive schemes is the employee rewards one. But there are so many more varieties. The best employee incentive programs, which will notably improve levels of engagement as listed below.

Employee incentives and prizes are unquestionably effective motivators for keeping workers interested in their jobs. Rewards are classic motivators, yet they still function well. A well-known survey found that 69% of workers still view rewards as a fantastic motivation to raise engagement levels.

However, by making the appropriate technological and instrument investments, you can increase their effectiveness.

Employee Incentive Programs for Amazing Employee Engagement

1. Rewards and Recognition

Employee incentives and prizes are unquestionably effective motivators for keeping workers interested in their jobs. Rewards are classic motivators, yet they still function well. A survey found that 69% of workers still view employee rewards as a fantastic motivation to raise engagement levels.

However, by making the appropriate technological and instrument investments, you can increase their effectiveness.

2. Learning and Development Programs

L&D programs can be very successful employee incentive programs in addition to being strategies to enhance skills. Employees today are just as interested in financial rewards as they are in their professional development.

Because of this, well-crafted L&D programs may keep their interest and encourage them to remain in their positions for a longer period. Recognize the training and educational needs of your staff and provide them with the same incentives. Your staff will appreciate the effort because such L&D programs can be expensive to afford separately.

3. Workplace Flexibility

Offering flexibility is one of the most successful employee reward programs that are also simple to execute, which may surprise you. The ability to select the ideal tasks and work hours is one example of flexibility. It can also entail removing constraints and allowing workers to work from wherever they like.

Flexibility fosters freedom and innovation, which keep workers motivated.

4. Gifts and Rewards

A fantastic way to keep your employees engaged is to give them enjoyable presents that demonstrate your concern. Nearly every organization has a gift or incentive program in place. It matters how you select these presents and how you distribute them.

Make sure to include enjoyable, personalized presents that you can give out on special occasions like anniversaries and holidays in the list of incentives for employees.

Such presents don’t have to be pricey undertakings. Depending on the circumstance, a gift card, a personal note, and little nibbles are all suitable possibilities.

You can also think of personalized tech accessories, spa days, movie tickets, and another spectrum of rewards which you must avail from a high-quality brand i.e., RewardPort which is India’s leading rewards and solutions company.

5. Strategic Recognition is Must

Maintaining a positive work environment is crucial; organizations that use strategic recognition are more likely to see increased employee engagement levels.

Your staff should constantly update and improve their abilities, and praise and prizes encourage them to do so.

According to studies, workers who are given credit for their accomplishments are more inclined to push themselves and become more productive.

6. Professional Development

Millennials place the highest priority on professional development, with 40% of employees with restricted possibilities leaving after five years. They care when you invest in their careers, and they’ll stay with you for the long run. The fresh insights and experiences that staff members bring to the table are advantageous to your business as well, creating more internal advancement prospects.

Like Facebook, you may also offer a coaching program for new managers. Managers receive one-on-one time with an executive mentor at the program’s conclusion. To make your current courses more interesting, you might even consider gamifying them.

7. Profit Sharing

A defined contribution plan, such as a profit sharing plan, can be used in place of or in addition to more conventional plans like a 401k. Employees who participate in a profit-sharing plan get contributions to their retirement accounts (in the form of cash or shares) as well as direct payouts on occasion. Employers are able to cut these at any moment, allowing them to control costs for a year or two as needed.

Employees that participate in profit sharing begin to see themselves as owners rather than just employees. As a result, employees are encouraged to stay with the company and put in their sweat equity to help it expand.

8. Fun Gifts

Giving gifts to your staff to show appreciation demonstrates your concern. For company-specific holidays like work anniversaries, customer service week, global wellness day, or boss’s day, gifts make excellent incentives. Create enjoyable contests and quizzes to gamify each of these holidays, and reward and honour staff members who participate the most.

Key Takeaways

Without a question, employee incentive programs are essential for controlling employee engagement levels at work. An engaged employee is more autonomous, innovative, and invested, all of which will have an impact on the productivity and expansion of your business.

It’s time to start focusing more on your employee rewards programs if you haven’t already. Lack of involvement may spread like a weed, quickly taking down everything good with it. Therefore, it’s crucial to spot the weed early on and pull it up. Employee incentive schemes can assist in taming negativity and encouraging better employee engagement and experience.

To learn how to modify your current employee incentive programs, contact RewardPort. Our experienced and dedicated team of marketers understands your needs and creates strategies that work like a pro. We have been titled as India’s leading loyalty program  company, and now we aim to make your brand number 1.

Gamifying your workforce: How to make employee engagement fun?

Gamification is a popular method for making the user experience more engaging and enjoyable. Over the past decades, gamification has entered almost every people’s engagement process including the workplace. Managers are realizing that internal gamification can promote employee loyalty, productivity, and engagement.

Businesses have discovered that by incorporating game elements into the standard employee-manager dynamics, employees are more likely to stick around, especially in a remote setting. Here’s how to use gamification to benefit your employees.

What Is Gamification?

Gamification is the process of incorporating game elements into non-game activities such as working or studying. Gamification in the workplace can boost employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. This is particularly crucial for businesses with a remote workforce who want to provide a positive employee experience.

Benefits of Gamification

Gamification has enormous potential benefits for any workplace, particularly when used in workforce training. Gamifying employee onboarding and introductory training can reduce employee turnover and create a more engaged workforce.

Gamification could be especially beneficial for the remote workforce. Gamification can instantly connect the dispersed workforce around a single point of reference everyone can relate to.

1. Makes the learning process enjoyable and engaging

Gamification techniques such as interactive visuals and infographics can help people retain up to three times more information than they would otherwise. Gamification increases a person’s willingness to study and learn more enjoyably and interactively.Getting personally interested in the content is a significant barrier to learning. Pacing is provided by gamification, allowing students to process information comfortably.

2. Reduces employee stress

Gamification, according to employees, makes them happier and more productive at work. Stress contributes to negative work environments, an unhappy workforce, and increased job dissatisfaction.Employee performance improves when employees are less stressed and more relaxed. Gamification in the workplace can significantly improve employee outcomes.

3. Attracts a younger workforce

When it comes to onboarding a digitally native workforce, gamification is especially effective. Younger generations have distinct motivational and behavioural patterns, necessitating a set of techniques that better align their learning and skill development styles with business goals. Gamified onboarding is a natural, enjoyable, and effective solution for a changing workforce.

Where to Use Gamification?

It is always more fruitful to focus on the areas where gamification has a greater effect on the desired outcome. Gamification systems can help an organization in a variety of ways:

1. Development and Learning

Games can help both new and experienced employees learn new skills. Gamification of learning platforms has the potential to improve retention and results.

2. Customer Service

Gamification achievements and rewards can motivate employees to provide better service to customers. They also encourage employees to share new solutions and ideas with their colleagues.

3. Improving Sales

Gamification can boost salespeople’s collaboration. It rewards not only the final sale but also all the steps that lead up to it.

4. Teamwork

Games can help teams share information and learn from one another even if they are in different offices around the world.

5. Marketing

Employers can encourage employees to share company information on social media.

6. Inventory Management

Gamification encourages efficient processing and shipping.

7. Human Capital

HR professionals can use gamification to track performance reviews, develop leadership skills, provide peer appreciation, engage applicants, and increase referrals.

8. Product Development

Games can help employees finish projects on time, collaborate more effectively, and be more efficient.

9. Creativity

Employers can reward employees who come up with novel ideas.

10. Corporate Culture

Gamification can help promote the company’s culture through various projects and programs. It can assist employees in identifying opportunities to participate in shaping the company culture. Furthermore, it can improve access to information about the company and its values.

Why Does Gamification Fail & How to Avoid Failure?

Gamification in the workplace frequently fails due to internal communications’ inability to connect gamification in the workplace to their company’s business objectives. Furthermore, many managers fail to listen to their employees’ unique needs and motivations.

This often results in gamification projects that are not valued by the employees.

Internal communications professionals and business leaders should keep the following tips in mind to ensure their gamification efforts truly create engaged employees:

• Define the goals and objectives you hope to achieve by implementing gamification in the workplace. Do you want to increase employee engagement? Attained specific business objectives?
• Learn to listen to and comprehend your employees’ specific needs. What motivates them? What drives them?
• Create a gamification program that is tailored to your employees’ specific skills and motivations.
• When implementing gamification in the workplace, make sure to communicate the activity’s purpose to your employees.
• Experiment with the gamification process. Analyze what works and what doesn’t and adjust your gamification strategy as needed.

Ensure that all internal communications about the gamification process truly measure and gauge employees’ reactions.

Are they reading the emails you sent about implementing gamification in the workplace?

Are they reacting?

You can determine whether your employees are on board with the idea in the first place by measuring employee communications with email tracking tools.

Things to Keep in Mind

Gamification is effective when used correctly, but it can backfire if used incorrectly. It is critical to foster a healthy sense of competition, but not so much that your employees become demotivated. Sims reminds employers that people learn at different rates and that competition can be discouraging for those who don’t progress as quickly.

Another issue to be aware of is employees becoming complacent with your gamification program and settling into a consistent, comfortable routine.

It is critical to introduce new internal contests and real-world rewards regularly to reignite excitement and boost employee motivation; otherwise, you risk a fall in employee engagement and overall performance.

You should also exercise caution when using external incentives such as gift cards and products. While these things are nice to include as a perk or contest prize on occasion, using them as your sole incentive sends the wrong message about why people should be motivated to do a good job.

Employees aren’t training for a gift certificate; they’re training to add professional skills for long-term advancement. True business gamification emphasizes intrinsic rewards and benefits. It assists employees on their long-term path to greater success.

Draft Expert Gamification Programs

Gamification is a popular approach for a manager with a remote workforce that can make employee engagement fun. Including game elements in routine workplace activities can boost productivity, especially when combined with immediate feedback and the use of public recognition and rewards to further motivate a changing workforce with help of RewardPort programs which will provide you features such as scratch cards, spin the wheels, and slot machine pop-ups.

10 Ways a Travel Incentive Program Boosts Morale Of Employees

Incentives are used by successful organizations to reward and motivate employees, customers, and other stakeholders to engage in certain behaviors and avoid others. Incentive programs boost innovation and revenue while lowering losses and expenses and reinforcing corporate culture.

One study of incentive travel trends discovered a 22% improvement in performance after implementing a new program, increasing to 44-48% for programs in place for more than six months. Another study discovered that companies with effective incentive programs had 31% lower voluntary turnover.

Businesses invest in rewards such as cash, gift cards, trophies, recognition, time off, professional development, trendy merchandise, and the most prestigious award of all, leisure travel, to gain a competitive advantage in their markets.

1. Travel incentive programs have a huge impact

Organizations in the United States spend more than $100 billion per year on incentive rewards. The most common rewards across all programs are gift cards (71% of organizations), merchandise (38%), award points (36%), and travel (30%). Eighty per cent of programs use multiple types.

The top goals for sales programs are to increase overall revenue (80% of programs), boost morale (76%), and improve productivity (58%).

When many participants are earning rewards, cash and gift cards are used to reduce administration. When buzz is more important, trendy merchandise and leisure travel are used.

The ultimate reward is solo travel. Although travel can be difficult to manage, it has a huge impact that no one forgets. Celebrity Cruises offers individual cruise gift cards and certificates to relieve planners of much of the administrative burden.

2. Increase your value through word of mouth

The most powerful advantage of tangible noncash rewards over cash and cards is the recognition value.

Tangible awards are prominently displayed. Everyone knows who and how they got them. They create anticipation before the awarding, social media buzz during the awarding, and an afterglow that lasts long after the awarding.

Winners will extol a luxurious resort or cruise experience they had—and the organization that made it possible—to any willing listener.

Whereas, bragging about a cash prize is less than successful in spreading the word.

3. Increase your motivation by increasing your desire

Tangible rewards, such as those provided by incentive travel programs, take up more mental space than cash and cards, making them feel more desirable despite being of equal value.

The added value of these awards translates into measurable increases in recipients’ effort, perseverance, and performance. More emotional attachment results in greater behavioral change.

Performance in the first round was comparable in one field experiment that followed consecutive sales contests, with one cohort receiving cash and the other receiving prizes. However, in subsequent rounds, the median sales results from prizes rather than cash were significantly better.

In laboratory experiments, participants who received tangible rewards produced higher-quality work with fewer errors than those who received cash.

4. The reciprocity effect boosts productivity and creativity

While cash and credit cards are considered transactional, tangible rewards feel more like gifts and are more social. They lead to more emotional connections.

Noncash rewards, such as cruise vacations, elicit appreciation and a desire to return the favor. Employees seek ways to respond to emotionally impactful rewards by increasing productivity and creativity when they associate them with the organization that provides them.

Such a reciprocity effect lasts far beyond the transaction because recipients remember the gift more frequently and fondly than they would a cash reward, resulting in feelings of greater value by their organizations and more positive workplace behaviors like attendance and engagement.

5. Increase employee retention by expressing gratitude

People frequently put in more effort for no pay (a social market) than for little pay (a monetary market). Simply acknowledging someone’s good work creates a human connection, which can spark a transformation.

Employees who already make a good living are more motivated by managerial praise and one-on-one time with leaders than by cash incentives, stock options, or even pay raises. Those who are most satisfied at work say their managers are excellent at providing feedback and recognition.

In contrast, nearly 80% of employees who quit their jobs cite a lack of appreciation.

According to one large study of customer service employees, fair, consistent, and timely recognition by managers and peers significantly improved employee behavior and customer experience. Employee recognition was found to be the most effective form of reward by a similar study of managers, improving retention, communications, sales, customer satisfaction, and teamwork.

Members of Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For having 50% lower turnover and a 15-25% higher return on investment than other companies in their industries.

6. Employees can be attracted with incentives and recognition

Rewards and recognition have an impact on a company’s ability to attract talent and meet customer goals such as satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability. With unemployment nearing historic lows, the best organizations recognize that competitive rewards and recognition help attract better employees.

Tangible noncash rewards have more value than cash because they have personal meaning. The best travel incentive programs are designed to ensure personalized recognition. The more recipients enjoy and remember incentives such as luxurious vacations, the more they promote their organizations.

7. Use a tiered approach to reward top performers

Top-performing companies leverage their rewards programs more effectively than average-performing companies. Top performers have sales of $100 million or more, revenue or stock growth of at least 5%, excellent customer ratings, and employee satisfaction of 90% or higher.

Over time, incentive program design has shifted from rewarding only truly exceptional employees (exclusivity) to ensuring that many high-performing employees feel appreciated (reach). When designing incentives, top organizations prioritize reach over exclusivity.

Celebrity travel certificates can be tiered to help planners tailor awards, appropriately rewarding different groups of high-performing employees.

8. Attract all types of employees

Incentive programs, particularly travel programs, must cater to the personalities and desires of their intended recipients. In this way, they also instill an organization’s culture, succeeding to the extent that they reflect that culture’s values.

Incentive programs, particularly travel programs, must cater to the personalities and desires of their intended recipients. In this way, they also instill an organization’s culture, succeeding to the extent that they reflect that culture’s values.

There are five broad categories of incentive travelers:

• Culture enthusiasts
• Trendsetters
• Travelers in gold
• Practical vacationers
• Vacationers are valued.

9. Give culture enthusiasts the authentic experiences they seek

These visitors are looking for in-depth experiences. They have intellectual personalities, value new technologies, enjoy fine dining and wine, and have a strong influence on their peers. They can use their travel vouchers to sail along the Arabian coast, visit Angkor Wat, or dive into the Great Barrier Reef.

10. Make the ideal getaway for trend-setters

Your best influencers are self-assured, younger, more affluent, and technologically savvy. They reserve the suite, go to the spa, and work out in the gym. Shore excursions that promise new travel experiences are popular among trendsetters. They can use their travel certificates to explore Alaska’s massive glaciers, Europe’s iconic cities, or the far-flung tip of South America.

Conclusion

While most people equate the advantages of incentive travel with performance before the trip, numerous positive effects occur after the trip. Once the project is completed or the goals have been met, your employees can go on the trip and enjoy a well-deserved break from work while relaxing and having fun with their coworkers in a stress-free environment.

This break will help to put some distance between completed work and upcoming tasks, enabling your employees to return invigorated and ready to come back motivated and prepared.

RewardPort can help your enterprise devise and execute employee rewards and redemption programs. While it is simple to use, it also provides a unique concept to keep them involved with your company.

How Rewards and Recognitions Can Boost Overall Growth of Business?

People frequently discuss the employee-employer relationship and how it affects the job. The less discussed fact, however, is the employee’s relationship with the workplace, with colleagues, with the job itself, and so on. A professional relationship does not end with the employee being paid in monetary terms for the work and contributions they make to help the company achieve its goals. The workplace environment and how employees are treated for their contributions must determine the employee’s future, which directly impacts the company’s future and success.

In short, an employee expects more than just money from their job; they expect to be recognized for their talents and skills as an employee reward. For any employee, salary day is the happiest day of the month. However, the success of a company is dependent on how happy and motivated the employee remains for the rest of the day. A solution would be a systematic approach to this need for employee recognition through a reward-based system, thereby highlighting an employee’s exclusive efforts put in for the organization.

Why start a program of rewards and recognitions?

Implementing a rewards and recognition program increases employee engagement, which leads to numerous benefits for the company, such as increased productivity and retention. According to one survey, the most effective way for a manager or company to motivate employees to produce excellent work is through personal recognition.

Recognition programs are effective because they focus on the positives, sending a clear message to employees that what they do matters. Rewarding excellent performance and success with items that your employees’ desire will keep them focused and motivated to do better. These programs encourage employees to set and achieve goals on a daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual basis.

• Corporate culture

Recognition that is frequent and timely has a significant impact on the company’s culture. A company’s culture is the amalgamation of its vision, goals, and ideologies for the greater good. An appreciative workplace culture fosters trust and respect among employees. Employees are allowed to learn about and praise the strengths and unique qualities of their coworkers.

• Boost employee motivation

Recognizing and rewarding employee performance will increase motivation and help employees stay on track and maintain a positive attitude. These programs promote collaboration and provide employees to strive for. When they are rewarded for doing something right, they are more likely to do it again and again.

• Show your gratitude

Employee satisfaction is impossible to achieve unless you show your teams how much you value what they do. By recognizing victories, you send a clear message that they are important to you and the company. This makes employees feel seen, heard, and valued, all of which are necessary for job satisfaction. Employees who are appreciated are happy employees who want to work hard to help the company grow and succeed.

• Encourage healthy competition

Employees’ feelings of friendly rivalry are aided by reward programs. Workers will begin to compare their performance to that of their coworkers and strive to do better the next time. When they reach the top of the list, they will feel accomplished, and everyone on the team will want to be there as well. Communicating one person’s or team’s success to the entire company raises awareness and encourages employees to give it their all.

• Increase productivity

Employees are more engaged at work when their accomplishments are acknowledged, either verbally or with a monetary reward. Teams of workers who are attempting to achieve goals are more productive because they become more efficient with their efforts and energy to meet those objectives and see actual results.

Employees who are more invested in their work and take pride in it are more likely to take a grip on their tasks and finish them on time. When they are evaluated against other workers or progressing toward a reward, they will ensure that the work is of high quality.

• Increase employee retention

Employees who are happy and engaged are more likely to stay. According to one survey of HR professionals, 68% believe that their recognition programs have a positive impact on employee retention. Employees want to work for companies that value them and demonstrate their appreciation through tangible actions. Incorporating rewards and recognition is the type of action that will keep more employees, contributing to the company’s long-term success and growth.

• Company branding

Strong employee branding has become strategically important in today’s competitive world. Effective employee branding attracts the right candidate while also promoting positivity and employee engagement. Building a strong brand identity requires recognition.

When employees feel valued at work, they become active supporters of the company and its products. They engage in positive word-of-mouth promotion on their own. Because of the massive surge in popularity and engagement on various social media sites, they have now emerged as the primary platform for company recognition and promotion. Recognizing good relationships fosters a positive work environment and, as a result, increases employee advocacy.

Conclusion

To summarize, employee recognition affects the bottom line of any business. It results in higher retention rates, increased productivity, and increased self-esteem. Engaging experts like RewardPort to design and execute rewards programs for your staff can help you with the following benefits:

• Implement a consistent program
• Significantly faster outcomes
• Improved client/customer relationships through improved teamwork

The ongoing effort will soon permeate all aspects of your company. As a result, employees will be happier and more productive. Taking the time to thank your employees will ensure that you reap the benefits in the long run.

What Brand Engagement Would Look Like Post This Pandemic

Let’s just agree to the fact that the road ahead for most of the brands, big or small, is punctuated by the novel Coronavirus. And everybody is hustling to find new ways to engage with their customers during this pandemic and get their businesses back on track. Zara owner closing down on 16% of its global outlets and investing in online platforms is one such example.

One of my favorite quotes is from Abraham Lincoln. He said, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” So my dear marketers, hold on to that perseverance for a little longer, and keep hustling, because perseverance with the right technique will help you reap the benefits.

Here are some simple quick tips about brand engagement that will help you gain just the right velocity for your brand during these tough times:

1. Get your online presence right, if you haven’t already

Online marketing is expected to play a bigger role in the longer run. Pay attention to mobile first approach for your websites and apps, as an average Indian is spending around 4 hours a day on their smartphones. Your customers, in all likelihood, would choose a brand that provides a better user experience.

Inditex, parent company of Zara and Massimo Dutti among other brands, is investing $1billion over the next three years to improve their online presence and an additional $1.7 billion on upgrading its stores to become more integrated with its online platform by deploying advanced technology solutions.

“According to research conducted by Qualtrics, when it comes to brand communications, Indians are more interested in the operational impact of COVID-19 compared to sales and promotional marketing.”

2. Keep your business information up to date

Update your customers about your operating hours. You may also want to update your address on Google. When updating your customers about the measures of cleanliness, sanitization and precautions you are taking, try not to overwhelm them with unnecessary information. They are probably already flooded with a lot of information. Try to provide them with helpful information only.

3. Set clear guidelines as per World Health Organization (WHO) protocol

Make sure that your customers, especially existing ones, know about the safety measures your brand has undertaken so that they don’t shy away from engaging with you. Target new customers with the help of precise targeting techniques. Organize free webinars to solve their queries. Host virtual events with your channel partners.

4. Use multichannel to communicate with them

Now is the time to go that extra mile with the communication strategies. Be creative yet relevant with your message. Use relevant influencers to reach your target audience.

“The top three messages respondents wanted to hear were how the business is responding to the crisis (75 per cent), the impact on the distribution (48 per cent), and information on products and services (48 per cent).”

5. Reward customers who regularly interact with your brand

Regardless of whether the customer  made a purchase or just interacted with your brand, try rewarding them with some bonuses in the form of loyalty points or just a personalized message saying ‘thank you’ and offering them a discount coupon on their next purchase. This will indeed be a delighting experience for them.

6. Be Sensitive

The last thing you want when engaging with your customers is to sound salsey. Nobody is interested to know the reasons to buy your product. But they may be looking for solutions to their problems. Try selling solutions and not products. Provide them with ‘at-home brand user experience’. Try spreading some joy. This will help build a long term relationship with them.

RewardPort specializes in loyalty marketing programs, corporate loyalty card, dealer incentive programs, dealer loyalty, channel incentive, distributor incentive program, B2B loyalty programs, customer loyalty cards & marketing partner programs. Get a free consultation today.

Top Engagement trends in 2018

Businesses try to learn from their past in order to bypass the mistakes made, they look to the future for adapting possibilities that would make the customer happier and improve the overall experience of dealing with the brand.
Customer awareness is ever increasing; make-believe things are quickly Googled to check for its legitimacy. Easy access to information has made the customer search for experiences that are out of the ordinary.

As we look to customer engagement trends coming up in 2018, we need to remember that the customer is a brand in and of themselves. For success, we need to ensure our brands are complimentary to theirs.  

1. Personalisation is key

The need for personalised brand interactions is on the rise. Customers feel more valued if the brand has personally had an interaction with them. This value will be measured in terms of brand success and loyalty over the next year. Customers already expect to be treated as individuals with specific preferences and that trend will become more evident over the next year. The need for the brand to understand and anticipate customer’s needs is going to be ever-increasing. All this seems like a big task for the brands to deal with, however the answer to this question is BIG DATA.

2. Multichannel is to become Omnichannel

Companies have to respond to the ever changing market demands. The current market is dominated by the Millennials, with the future in the hands of Gen-Z.
Both of these generations have grown up on the basis of the internet. Hence, instant gratification is a necessity.
Having an Omnichannel presence will improve the company’s customer engagement as the audience they cater to more ways of accessibility.
“Did you know? According to Marketing Week, 15 years ago the average consumer typically used two touch-points when buying an item and only 7% regularly used more than four. Today consumers use an average of almost six touch points, with 50% regularly using more than four.”“According to PWC, the demand for an omnichannel customer experience will be amplified by the need for nearly perfect execution by 2020”

3. Pro-active Customer Engagement

Debenhams, a large retailer applies a proactive customer engagement approach:
Delivery of in-depth content to inform customers before they decide to make a purchase.
How? They display a vast variety of information on their website that answers frequent questions — from guides on beauty and size guides, as well as home furniture & more.
This doesn’t just help the brand in its SEO strategy, it also helps to trim the overhead costs of returns and support while helping the customer maximizing delight in terms of experience.

4. Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be an integral part of Customer Engagement

“70% of retail decision makers globally are ready to adopt IoT to improve customer experiences”

5. Machine Learning

Machine learning allows computers and devices to learn from experience without any specific programming. Think of it as a seasoned psychology professional that knows your traits. This is done through buying behaviour and browser history.
One example of machine learning is by Netflix. The popular streaming service dishes out movie/show recommendations based on a few titles that you select while signing up. Surprisingly enough these titles are very much what the audience is looking for! How? Machine Learning’s Predictive Functionality. Based on customer feedback, ratings and browsing habits, the algorithm makes a predictive decision. The customer experience is vastly improved by such pro-active efforts which result in the customer being engaged with the brand.

Machine Learning in 2018 is expected to rise on all accounts. An ever-increasing number of companies are adapting this technology to improve customer experience and make machine learning a friend in need in the virtual world.

To Conclude:

Customer experience is to be vastly improved in 2018. Through personalisation and implementation of various advances in technology, companies are trying to win over the customer. It is to be seen how the customers react to these trends and if brand loyalty will gain a stronghold due to improvements in customer experience.