Loyalty program? Incentive program? How do I know what I need?

One way of looking at it is this: a loyalty program is designed to drive long-term customer activity and performance, through a reduction in customer churn, through an increase in your share of the customer’s spending, or both.

An incentive program, on the other hand, is meant to improve your results over the shorter term – a year or less, and sometimes just a matter of weeks.

Incentive programs take many forms, and chances are, Kobie has experience in implementing each and every one. On the B2C side of the business, incentive programs are often referred to as promotions. Here, the goal may be to:

• Encourage product trial
• Stimulate repeat purchasing
• Gather customer data
• Support new product launches
• Drive traffic to your store, Web site, or brand

In the B2B arena, incentive programs are typically focused on the sales force, and are used to:

• Achieve specific sales goals
• Drive customer trial of new products
• Encourage top performers to improve their results
• Stimulate lower performers to move up the ladder

Lately, we’re seeing a blending of loyalty and incentive programs taking place in the B2B arena in particular. For example, a long-term points-based buyer incentive program may be implemented to encourage loyalty, activity, and greater share of spending. You can trust Kobie to stay on top of the latest trends and innovations in incentive marketing while providing our clients with a full array of services:

• Program development and implementation
• Reward sourcing and fulfillment
• Targeted communications
• Reporting and analysis
• Web site development and hosting
• Database management

If you’re ready to start talking about your next sales incentive effort, we’re ready for the challenge. And since we’re not as well-known as the biggest names in the business, we figure we have to be better: more creative, more flexible, faster to respond, and a better value. Or maybe we’re just driven to excel. Call one of the experts at Kobie Marketing today at 800-821-7892 or send us an e-mail and let’s start a dialogue.