Those of you who have read this blog with any regularity may remember my post entitled Website Demolition and Incentive Program Design. In that post, I reference a great article about web site design and compare it to incentive program development.
Well, I’ve now found a companion piece to that article – This is not for you, by Steven Dennis. Once you read that particular blog post, you’ll definitely get the fact that I enjoy sarcasm! And while the tone of This is not for you is sarcastic, its message is clear. And that message is that the best marketing plans are those that speak directly and specifically to a target audience. If one tries to reach all audiences with the same message, the result is dilution and ineffectiveness.
The same holds true for recognition and incentive program design. In order to be effective, these programs must identify the specific audience (i.e., participants) whose behaviors can actually impact the desired business result. Then the key performance indicators and award rules must be developed in such a way that they are relevant (or meaningful) to that audience.
And here’s where the link to my prior post comes in. In that post, I suggest that “. . . for a program to be successful, the sponsor should remember that it cannot just provide a solution to a particular business challenge or opportunity. It must also fully meet the participants’ interests, needs and desires.” That recommendation should be kept top of mind when developing KPIs and award rules that will be relevant to the targeted audience.
So, in summary, the lessons to be learned from these articles are really pretty simple.
1 – Make sure that the program participants you select (or target) are those that can really impact your business objectives.
2 – Make sure that the KPIs and award rules you develop are relevant to those participants.
Your program will be much more likely to succeed if you satisfy these important conditions. Other best practices are available here, and as always, we invite you to contact us for assistance – or to learn more.
