1
Creating experiences that resonate
Buyers aren't jumping at every deal they find -- they shop intelligently. The digital world is a vast place, and better prices are often just a click away for the savvy shopper. The pressure is on brands to create more relevant incentives and a user experience that makes it easy for consumers to achieve their spending goals.
A badly managed digital rebate program puts you on the back foot. Perception of your brand goes down and consumers are put off by the hoops they have to jump through – the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. And in a busy marketplace, it’s not enough to grab attention, you need to follow through.
This means delivering on the process, redemption methods, and feedback mechanisms as well as the creative and the reward.
27%
of all US consumers say they would like to pay with their smartphones all the time.
How to deliver
One of the greatest competitive advantages that any brand has in the anytime, anywhere, always-on world of digitally-enabled smart shoppers is its understanding of its customers. Digital receipt validation allows brands to learn much more about consumer purchasing patterns, including:
- Purchase location
- Retailer preferences
- Demographic details
- Preferred payment methods
- Time and date of purchase
- Basket contents
For brands that historically have a hard time connecting directly with their actual end users, the first party data from rebate programs is a goldmine. It allows them to craft personalized brand experiences that make them stand out.
Hassle-free money back (and the sense of reciprocity that comes with it) makes consumers loyal and want to become brand advocates. Long term brand relationships are built on emotion, and on the overall experience. Each step in the rebate process: the offer, the reward, the submission, and the after-sale support, must work together, powered by data, to build brand love.
For example, if you know your consumers pay by PayPal for your product, offer a rebate directly into their PayPal wallet.
2
Delivering those experiences at scale
One of the keys to a satisfying rebate experience is speed. From the moment a consumer submits a rebate claim, it’s a race against time and patience to deliver the redemption. So, while your digital rebate redemption is weeks faster than the mail-in option, that’s not what consumers are timing you against. Digital rebates are going to be compared to web-page loading speed.
71%
of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions.
How to scale
Digital rebate programs need to run on powerful and robust platforms to meet the demands of today’s consumers. And while automation plays a key role in the redemption process, it’s important to consider your martech administrators, as well as your end consumers, when choosing the right solution.
Marketers want tools that fit easily into their current stack and are simple to use. This is highlighted most vividly in a recent study from Ascend2. They found that ease of use, integration, and customization came out ahead of improved customer experience, automation, and data management.
Great contest and reward marketing solutions enable experiences that consumers love, while giving brands the means to take full advantage of digital rebates. This means they have:
- Transaction & engagement processing to activate and validate customers in any channel
- Data granularity for deep drill segmentation
- Value-exchange engines to enhance customer engagement with preferred reward systems
- Flexibility for seamless tech integrations
- Personalization to deliver great experiences at every stage of the customer journey
3
Managing fraud
Digital rebates might be more secure for brands, but for consumers, they’re like any other digital experience. So as well as delighting consumers, brands need to reassure them.Rebate submission fraud can negatively impact your brand's rebate program. Managing those who take advantage of rebates by “double dipping” or submitting false details can become costly and time consuming at scale.
56%
of consumers wish they had more control over their data.
How to scale
Features to protect brands from rebate submission fraud are well-established. Fraud detection and protection is often built-into technology platforms like our own SnippCheck, which processes and validates receipts for rebate promotions, and can manage entry loads that run into millions.
Digital redemption processes also enable the tracking of unique digital footprints such as IP addresses (for online), and unique smartphone identifiers. In this way, brands can protect themselves from a phone being used to submit more/erroneous claims.
To ensure data privacy, brands need to build data transparency into their marketing message to ease customer concerns. Using their own websites and apps rather than third-party solutions can better ensure data governance and accountability. However, working with an expert and trusted partner that shares your privacy values can be just as effective.
