Driving positive habits with rewards: how brands can influence consumer behaviour

Want to influence your customers to perform specific actions or activities? Turn to rewards. 
 

Rewards motivate customers to engage with brands in exchange for something they want.
 

Almost every brand wants its customers to engage in specific activities. But how is this achieved? What kind of rewards actually work? And how do you use incentives effectively?


Let's take a look at how brands can drive positive customer behaviours, on a mass scale, with rewards programs.

How brands influence customer activity with reward mechanics

Rewards can be given when a customer performs a specific activity when interacting with a brand. For example, if a customer purchases from a brand’s mobile app, they could earn points towards their next purchase. Or, if a customer subscribes to a newsletter or follows a company's social media page, they might receive a discount code for free shipping. 

Put simply, rewards programs incentivise customers. Most loyalty programs motivate customers to make more purchases. 
 

But what if your rewards program could do more? 
 

What if you could use rewards to encourage customers to make better choices? 

Through a combination of rewards and challenges, lifestyle loyalty programs help customers stick to good habits. These can be as simple as completing health and well-being tasks, or earning rewards for making sustainable choices. In either case, brands can use rewards to encourage customers to work towards larger goals and campaigns. 

This is particularly important now during the cost of living crisis. Driving positive behaviour is easier than driving purchases at this time, as consumers have less disposable income. 

Driving positive habits with Biscuit Pet Care

One example of using rewards to incentivise specific behaviours comes from our great client Biscuit, a pet wellbeing rewards app. 
 

Biscuit rewards users who complete pet well-being tasks like dog-walking. Users can earn ‘biscuits’ (points) that can be redeemed for rewards. 
 

The user can also earn Biscuits by uploading information about their dogs flea and worm treatments. Biscuit wants owners to give their pets the best possible care - while gaining more value in the process.
 

Why does this work?

This approach is effective at building relationships with users because it gives people something extra - the promise of getting more value in return for what pet owners usually do anyway. 
 

How is this achieved?

Biscuit has used our event-based technology to drive the above positive behaviours. 

We model interactions between your business and your customers as a stream of events (e.g. making a purchase, providing feedback, entering a geofence, or simply interacting with your content), allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of your customers.
 

With our flexible rule engine, you can assign any type of reaction to these events. From awarding points to a customer when they hit a health goal, to sending a personalised gift when they make a sustainable choice. 
 

Go beyond transactions, and make any customer action rewardable.

How to reward loyal customers for positive habits

A good rewards program uses incentives relevant to the target audience.
 

The key is finding the right rewards for your customers. There are lots of different types of rewards out there - from simple discounts to special offers to third-party gifts. 
 

Each reward has its own benefits when used correctly. For example, if you want to gather a customers’ contact information, then consider offering an exclusive discount in exchange for their data. That way, the customer feels like they are getting something in return. 
 

The good news is that rewards don't have to be expensive. Anything from free shipping to extra points in their loyalty app can make customers feel appreciated and incentivised to engage in positive behaviours. 

Check out these ideas for rewards💡

Remember - incentives work best when they’re tied closely to individual preferences. Consider offering personalised rewards if you really want to delight your customers. 

Why are rewards important to drive customer behaviour?

The goal here is not just to get people to buy things, but to get them engaged. If customers feel like they're being rewarded for engaging with you, they’re more likely to become a supporter of your brand.
 

It’s about providing a positive experience for the customer. 

Plus, with a loyalty program you can learn what customers want, and what they value most about your product or service. The more data you have about your customers’ behaviour, the better you’ll be able to design the customer experience around their needs and desires.