September 19, 2016 – Fishkill, NY – Virtual Incentives has released the first round of data from a new research study on consumer perceptions and preferences surrounding incentives. The study, formally called “Incentive Research Paper” also explored how the incentive itself impacts brand perceptions, while studying influencers like gender, age, income levels and political affiliation. Alter Agents designed the study and provided analysis; Voxpopme provided video answers technology to video capture and analytics technology; and MindField Online supplied programming and sample for the research project. Jonathan Price, CEO of Virtual Incentives, said, “The information we gathered for this study is vital in helping brands make informed decisions when it comes to incentivizing their target audiences. After all, we want the reward or incentive moment to truly resonate and create an engaging moment with the recipient – that means we need to be educated on what different consumer groups are really looking for when it comes to incentives.” Data surrounding reward personalization revealed insights in to just how accustomed and willing consumers are in having personal information used in conjunction with incentive delivery:
- Receipt of personalized reward: Only two out of every five respondents have received a personalized incentive and, of those, just over half said it increased their consideration of the brand.
- Brand perception, general: Fifty-six percent said that receiving a personalized incentive would improve their consideration of the brand
- Brand perception, specific: While the vast majority indicated that use of personalization made a brand seem smart, unique and caring, a meaningful minority of 16 percent find it “creepy”
- Trust: Most respondents felt that a personalized incentive made them feel respected as a customer, while 1 in 4 feel it is a violation of their privacy.
- Type of personalization: Sixty-three percent prefer a reward based on purchase history, rather than the less popular reference to a purchase location (24 percent) or use of name (23 percent)
In addition to personalization factors, the study found that more education and higher incomes drive interest in incentives programs. In fact, the more educated and higher income level the consumer, the higher participation across the board – for all incentive types. More importantly, incentives programs lead to more expensive purchases, larger quantities, and shifts in retailer choice for these higher-status customers. For example, 20 percent more of those with an income over 50K would purchase a more expensive item based on receiving an incentive. One thing that stood out was that, no matter the income or education level, one-third of respondents agreed on preferred reward: a virtual gift card that could be used anywhere they chose, such as Visa® or MasterCard®. As data from the study is further analyzed, more trends will be released including political affiliation influence on reward preference, just in time for the elections. A paper summarizing the findings of the study will be available in early October. About Virtual Incentives Virtual Incentives (VI) provides incentive solutions proven to increase engagement, strengthen brand awareness and maintain customer loyalty. The company’s proprietary digital platform provides a comprehensive reward experience for both the client and the end-user, providing an integrated API, simple ordering and instant delivery, state-of-the-art security, advanced personalization and an innovative user interface. Founded in 2008, VI partners with industry leading businesses, including more than 40 Fortune 100 companies. VI is the leading provider of Visa rewards and Visa® virtual accounts and offers Virtual MasterCard® accounts as well as eGiftCards from more than 600 merchants around the world. https://www.virtualincentives.com @VirtualRewards About Alter Agents A full service market research and brand consultancy, the Alter Agents team of senior level consultants helps brands navigate the new age of the promiscuous shopper. Alter Agents’ seasoned founders include Rebecca Brooks, Angela Woo, and Phil Dance. Their experience includes working with brand giants such as eBay, Google, Hyundai, Yahoo, Viking River Cruises, and many more. More at www.alteragents.com. #MRX #AlterAgents #shopperinsights About Voxpopme Voxpopme was founded three years ago in Birmingham, England in order to create a platform that would allow consumers to voice their opinion while giving brands a way to connect better with their customers. The solution was combining mobile and video technology in order to provide a level of insight and feedback far greater than alternative methods. The Voxpopme platform has been has been capturing 15-60 second videos for some of the world’s largest brands with hundreds of thousands of videos processed. Their technology allows videos to be accurately transcribed and sentiment scored within minutes, and the web-based portal gives clients access to search, filter and build show reels of key content. www.voxpopme.com About MindField Online, a McMillion company Founded 35 years ago, McMillion Research is now grouped among the industry leaders in market research data collection. With a commitment to technology and innovation, the company remains on the leading edge in the research and data collection communities. Senior management boasts an impressive 18 years or more of market research and data collection experience. Working primarily for supplier and end-user partners, McMillion Research has been recognized as the trusted source for online and traditional market research data collection for thirty years. www.mcmillionresearch.com