Points Programs

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Behavioral-Based Employee Incentive Programs and the Power of Persuasion

Starting a behavioral-based incentive program can be a tricky endeavor as you ask people to listen, understand and persuade them to change everyday behaviors. You also have to demonstrate to people that what you are asking people to do is worth their while. PsyBlog published an article titled Twenty Simple Steps to the Perfect Persuasive Message. Here are some of the tips from this post and how they can be used to help make your behavioral-based incentive program a success:

Relevance: Persuasive messages should be personally relevant to the audience. If not, they will switch off and fail to process it.

In order to make any reward program relevant to any audience, you must demonstrate the WIIFM concept. Communicate what participants will get out of the employee incentive or safety award program by showing them what they have to do to earn rewards.

Attractiveness: The physical attractiveness of the source is only important if it is relevant (e.g. when selling beauty products).

The most attractive part of an incentive program is the merchandise rewards that people earn. When Awards Network designs posters, flyers and employee account statements/emails for clients, we can include pictures of the most popular items in our award catalog. This usually includes electronics, outdoor gear, cookware sets, jewelry, tool sets and exercise equipment. These items are usually things that people want but wouldn’t normally permit themselves to purchase. The message is that you can earn these attractive rewards and indulge yourself while benefiting the company.

Match message and medium: One useful rule of thumb is, if the message is difficult to understand, write it; if it's easy, put it in a video.

This is such a good point to make in regards to behavioral-based employee incentive programs. If the goals of your reward program are dependent on each other, then you may want to write out the program goals and post them throughout the workplace. Make sure when holding meetings, you provide everyone with the written goals of the program too as a reference. If your reward program is straightforward, then talking about the program should be sufficient to get the point across.

Avoid forewarning: Don't open up saying "I will try and persuade you that..." If you do, people start generating counter-arguments and are less likely to be persuaded.

Instead of telling incentive program participants, “We are trying to persuade you to work safely,” go for the alternative and show people the WIIFM (what's in it for me) concept. “If you work safely, you will be recognized and rewarded each month,” sounds a lot more enticing to your audience.

Repetition: Whether or not a statement is true, repeating it a few times gives the all-important illusion of truth. The illusion of truth leads to the reality of persuasion.

Repetition should be apparent in both communication efforts and messaging. One of our clients in the environmental services industry uses the safety slogan, “Think Safety, Work Safely”. This catchy phrase is put on all safety incentive program communications. Participants of this safety incentive program receive quarterly account emails, see flyers in common areas, run into posters in break rooms and can browse the award catalog 24/7. This repetition is necessary to keep safety a top priority for workers.

Social proof: You've heard it before and you'll hear it again—despite all their protestations of individuality, people tend to love conformity. So tell them which way the flock is going.

Once your incentive program has taken off and people begin to place orders for the rewards they have earned, you should highlight the program’s popularity. Leader boards can be set up to show the top participants, creating social reinforcement and friendly competition.

Persuading participants to conform to your behavioral guidelines is a complicated task and by taking these tips into consideration and showing people what’s in it for them, you can make the incentive program a success.  

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