Will all future incentive programs have online elements?

By Kenneth Hein
(Featured in Incentive Magazine September 1997)

According to Arnold Light, President, Light Group Inc., New York, YES, It’s inevitable. Technology is moving extremely fast. You have to be on top of the game. There’s a number of reasons why using the online element is so valuable. For one, it cuts across the communications line. There are no ifs, ands or buts – if you send it, they get it. This is extremely valuable with a point program, whether it be a merchandise or travel incentive.

When participants are online they always have access to their standings. When you send them promotional pieces through E-mail, you can update the standings regularly, you can send them information about new products, and you can give them tests-there are so many different applications.

And the best thing about going online is that it’s very personal and very direct. You’re communicating with the participants’ one on one. There’s no chance for it to get lost in the fax or get held up in the company mailroom. It’s immediate and personal.

On the supply side, it’s also instant communication for me, the incentive house. You can check room availability, arrivals, departures and the food and beverage order. It’s all immediate and direct to the person. If I’m dealing with a foreign country, I can send out a request on my way out of the office. While I’m in bed, the recipient in Japan get it and when I enter the office in the morning, the response is there waiting for me.

It’s for all of these reasons that online communications are the way of the future, whether you’re communicating with participants or suppliers. Participants don’t even have to personally be online to have access. They just need and E-mail address, and they can check it at someone else’s terminal. It’s still fast, accurate and personal.

The use of online communications in incentive programs is growing at an extraordinarily fast pace. There’s no limit as to what can be done. There’s not a major incentive company that’s not in on it one way or the other. And the clients are going to demand it.

I wish it weren’t happening this way because small companies like mine have to get up to speed and that’s a cost factor. Overall, it’s new, wonderful and challenging. Those who don’t meet this challenge will be left in the dust.