Steal These 3 Incentive Strategies From Consumer Brands

“What are best practices for well-being incentive program design?”

This is without a doubt one of the most common questions we get.

Conventional strategies might try to assign a value that gets people to engage (our experience shows roughly $300+ moves the needle). They may also give you pointers on the activities included in the program.

We think we can do better.

Instead of looking at industry trends today, we’re going to steal some strategies from consumer brands by exploring how they get us to use their products.

These brands have become masters of motivation, tapping into deep psychological truths that affect us all.

Strategy 1: The New Account Offer

From food delivery services to banking, you’ve undoubtably been exposed to new account offers.

• DoorDash gives new accounts a $0 delivery fee on their first order when they sign up.

• AT&T offers new customers a new Samsung Galaxy phone when they switch to their service.

• Capital One gives new clients a $325 bonus when they set up a checking account with a direct deposit.

These are nothing new, but they continue to motivate us to sign up for new services. The incentive is timed to drive the state of no action (no account) to action (setting up an account). While most businesses don’t make money right from the point you set up an account, they know that once you are moved to action, you are easier to activate in the future.

Implication for well-being: incentivizing the entry point gets people to move from no action to action.

Strategy 2: Refer a Friend

Once you have an account, you’re primed to take action. But the consumer brands want more from you. They paid to reach you, but they want to take a shortcut to acquire new business. Brands know that referrals are some of the least expensive yet ultrapowerful motivators for behavior.

• Discover offers a referral bonus in the form of a statement credit when you refer a friend and they make a purchase. Each of you gets a statement credit.

• AirBNB provides a referral bonus in the form of a coupon for the new customer and an account credit for the existing customer.

• Dropbox offers up to 16GB of extra storage space for you and a friend when you refer them.

In fact, data shows that customers who were referred have a 37% increase in retention and spend 5x more when compared to baseline customers. Their behavior is more engaged, just by receiving a referral.

Implication for well-being: referral bonuses for both the party who is referring and the new participant can increase engagement and long-term retention.

Strategy 3: Pay for User Generated Content

Social media platforms are full of user generated content. But how to companies capture that authenticity and demonstrate their product or service has visible momentum within the community?

Many prominent brands pay for people to submit this content.

• GoPro maintains an ongoing "Awards" platform where users submit raw footage. Selected creators receive cash payouts (often $500–$1,000 for photos or videos), and some have their footage featured in global TV commercials.

• Starbucks has historically run contests where customers decorate their red cups around the holiday season and share photos. Winners have received gift cards valued at up to $500.

• Aerie asked customers to share unretouched photos of themselves wearing Aerie swimsuits, promising to donate $1 to the National Eating Disorders Association for every picture shared.

You’ll notice that these campaigns often didn’t immediately reward submissions, but instead ran contests or raffles. At Propel, we’ve seen this strategy work extremely well with our “Healthy Selfie” challenges we run for clients.

Implication for well-being: user generated content gets people engaged and also demonstrates visual social proof, something newly engaged employees need to keep them engaged.

If these strategies sound difficult to actually put into practice with your current technology (or the bandwidth of your team), Propel can help. Schedule a strategy session with us to learn how we bring these strategies to life within well-being.

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