Digital Thoughts: What’s Your Incentive?
by Sam Harrelson
The word “incentive” has gone from a positive
term to a negative one, back to a positive. At the heart of
its meaning, incentive can summarize direct marketing; it is
the carrot on the stick that the consumer is rewarded with
after participating in a campaign. However, this simple
definition has given rise to many variants, and the world of
incentives, both online and offline, is a literal jungle of
promises made, promises kept and promises broken.
Incentives are wonderful ideas when the
delivery is followed through. In our day-to-day business,
we all employ the incentive model to grease the wheels of a
deal going through such as promising a few extra cents on a
CPA bounty or throwing in a return drop for a campaign
executed. Since Adam and Eve were promised knowledge of
good and evil if they took a bite of the fruit, the
incentive has been a powerful motivator and usually works.
However, like Adam and Eve, the actual incentive gained can
be something different than what a consumer bargained for.
In many ways, both online and offline, the incentive model
acts as a long term deterrent to consumers because of the
action of companies giving away shiny apples.
Recently, I was contacted by a major credit
card company with an intriguing pitch for singing up. No
spending limits, immediate activation and a prestigious
looking piece of plastic. Who could resist? Being the
consumer I am, I signed up and took the offer. I received
my card and started using it quickly. However, things
started not going through and I was forced to call up the
major credit card company to see what was going on. Even
though no spending limit was promised on top of other
incentives, the representative said I needed to send in my
life story, my complete financial history and a blood sample
in order to get the limit above a certain level. It was
more than frustrating.
Now that the card is paid off and I’ve
cancelled the account, I’ve learned many things. Incentives
are not just online. They are offline in a major way. From
CD and DVD clubs promising 12 free CD’s just for signing up
to the car salesman who pitches the free two tone paint
scheme if I purchase the car off their lot today, incentives
are all around. Is it no surprise that they have made their
way into the online world in full force through the short
form ppl model?
Being that this is the online sector, we have
to do a better job at keeping tabs on incentives and
fulfillment than the offline world. When the major credit
card company essentially tricked me into using their card
for a month, I essentially had no one to complain to.
However, the online direct marketing world is under a
constant microscope and built on a transparency that is
absent in offline marketing. There is a way for consumers
to easily complain and react negatively against brands or
offers that don’t follow up on incentives. Most
importantly, there is an intense pressure to perform in the
online world. This performance is measured in seconds
rather than overnight or days. This drive to perform means
that companies online must be able to incent consumers to
the point of making a purchase or committing to a lead with
the ability to follow up on the incentive and commit to an
overall positive consumer experience. Otherwise, the
campaign becomes very short sighted and lacks long term
stability.
Sam Harrelson
is the Co-Editor of the Digital Moses Confidential. Send comments and questions
to sam@digitalmoses.com
