An Effective Customer Rewards Program Needs the Right Rewards

Whether you’re striving to achieve customer acquisition, loyalty or retention goals, you need to have an effective incentive strategy in place. Offering rewards that customers really want can help ensure the success of your program—but how do you choose just one reward that appeals to everyone?

Fortunately, recent Blackhawk Network research reveals that almost everyone we surveyed—over 90% of men, women, Gen Xers, Boomers, etc.—prefer to receive a Mastercard® or Visa® Reward Card or a merchant gift card as their incentive.¹

When choosing between receiving a plastic reward card or a digital version, two-thirds of people surveyed prefer the physical version; the remaining third prefer receiving their rewards in an electronic format.¹ Depending upon your audience, you might decide to offer the choice between physical and digital delivery so everyone’s delighted.

The Power of Customized Reward Cards

Whether the incentive is in a physical or digital format, a custom Mastercard or Visa Reward Card acts like a “pocket billboard.” Every time your customer opens uses their card, they’ll see your logo as a reminder of who they received this reward from. And our experience shows that they’re more likely to use this card back at your brand, even though these reward cards can be used everywhere the network’s cards are accepted.

Personalization Makes Customers Feel Good

Whether you opt to offer custom Mastercard or Visa Reward Cards or merchant gift cards, be sure to personalize your delivery. Your customer wants to be appreciated as an individual, and including their name and a brief message will remind them that they are one of your most valued patrons.

Let our incentive experts help you put together the best rewards strategy for your customer acquisition, loyalty, retention or referral program.

1. A survey of 1,022 smartphone-owning Americans was completed online between February 10 and 28, 2017. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/– 3.07%, 19 times out of 20.