It’s worth asking yourself how you keep your customers coming back for more. The goal is to use rebate marketing to get repeat purchases and build strong customer loyalty.
With the right rebate marketing strategy, you can help grow your sales and organize valuable customer data for future campaigns. You just have to customize your strategy to achieve the best and maximum returns. It’s always a good time to increase your sales!
Are you ready to jump in? Let’s get started!
#1: Volume Incentive Rebates
It’s good to remember that volume incentive rebates help you get more purchases! These are great since they work by rewarding you for buying in bigger amounts and giving you a better deal.
Use this rebate to shoot for certain volume goals and save money. Remember, the more you buy, the better the rebate per unit. Picture earning $5 per unit for buying ten units. You could grab $7 per unit if you go for 20 units. The customer may have never intended to buy 20 units, but now they’re placing a bigger order and finally spending more money because they’re getting a great deal. That’s the idea!
So, how does this make a difference for you? You get real cost savings. As your order size goes up, your per-unit cost goes down, which can help your financial health. For businesses, volume incentive rebates lead to bigger and more predictable orders. That improves your sales and helps manage inventory and cash flow better, too.
If you are wondering about the types of volume incentive rebates, you usually see three kinds: value-based, growth-based, and volume-based. Value-based rebates give you rewards for the total worth of what you buy. Growth-based rebates kick in when you increase your buy volume from a previous period, rewarding you for your growth. Lastly, volume-based rebates focus purely on how many products you buy.
When you think about the different forms these rebates can take, you might see tiered rebates, where the rebate rate goes up with the number of units bought. Think about getting a flat $100 rebate for 10 units. Then, jump to $250 if you buy 20. You can also enjoy percentage discounts on the total price once you reach certain volumes. Just to give you an example – getting a 10% discount for 10 units and a 20% discount for 20 units.
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You should know to use this strategy as a supplier. Get ready for more competition among buyers trying to hit targets and save up. Volume incentive rebates also build customer loyalty – and regular buys lead to regular savings. I believe this rebate strategy helps you manage and predict cash flow better, which creates more financial stability.
But remember, handling these rebates can get difficult and mistake-prone if done by hand. Make sure transactions and account reconciliation are tracked accurately with automation software. This makes your operations smoother and error-free.
#2: Value Incentive Rebates
Think about the benefit of value incentive rebates, as well as your total spending – not just how many items you buy. These kinds of rebates reward you based on how much you spend and encourage you to spend more and reach specific spending levels to get a discount.
Just to give you an example, if you spend $7,500, you get a 4.0% rebate. That’s $300 back! Unlike volume-based rebates that pay attention to how many products you buy, these incentives push you to spend more overall with the business.
Why do you think businesses love value incentive rebates? Well, they push you to spend more to get that rebate. What does this mean for you? These strategies make you more loyal to the business by giving you real rewards based on how much you spend, which makes you want to come back and spend even more in the future.
You might think about value incentive rebates in different tiers. Just to give you an idea, a business might offer a few rebate percentages at different spending levels. Think about spending between $5,000 and $10,000 to earn a 3% rebate. Then, spend between $10,001 and $15,000 to get a 5% rebate. This tiered system leads to you spending more to reach the next rebate level.
So, what do businesses get out of this? Apart from improving sales, these rebates help with inventory management. They sell high-value items that might not move otherwise and match their sales strategy with their inventory needs. Also, unlike volume-based rebates, they keep profit margins by staying away from deep price cuts on lots of low-margin items.
In the long run, value incentive rebates help with customer engagement. Tying rebates to what you spend and not how much you buy feels fairer to you. This fairness makes you feel valued and builds stronger, trust-based relationships with the retailer. You’re less likely to be swayed by competitors’ discounts alone. I believe this strategy creates a loyal customer base that sees real value in sticking with the business.
#3: Growth Incentive Rebates
You might want to use Growth Incentive Rebates to get your customers to spend more with your business over time. Think about awarding these rebates when they reach certain growth targets based on their spending from the previous year. Show them a real reward for spending more, which helps them cut costs and makes them want to spend more.
Think about this: Your customer spent $100,000 with you last year. So, set a growth target where they need to spend 15% more this year. They must spend $115,000 to qualify for the rebate. Meet this target, and they get a rebate – say 5% back on the extra $15,000. This means they get $750 back for hitting the growth target.
You might want to know how this changes customer behavior. When your customers know they’ll get a rebate for spending more, they plan their purchases better. They’re more likely to focus their spending on your business instead of spreading it out. This creates long-term loyalty and steady growth. Customers will probably keep increasing their spending year after year.
Are you wondering if these rebates are manageable for your business? I recommend targeting high-value items and setting targets that are tough but fair. Too high, and you might scare customers away; and too low, and you won’t see the help within sales you want. You need to find the right balance to fit into your growth strategy.
You could ask where Growth Incentive Rebates fit into your rebate marketing plan. Use them alongside other rebates like volume-based and loyalty rebates. This creates a complete program that rewards your customers in all kinds of ways.
Keep doing growth-focused incentives strategically. You’ll build a successful situation between you and your customers.
#4: Product Mix Incentive Rebates
It’s important to picture ways to get your customers to buy quite a bit of product mix incentive rebates. To explain further, you should think about when you give a rebate to someone who buys both car tires and motorcycle tires. You encourage them to try new things and buy more, right? They came in only needing car tires, but since they get a better deal if they bundle a pair of motorcycle tires, they choose to get both.
If you’re wondering how these rebates might help your business, you should think about improving your cross-selling work, as this strategy can lure customers away from competitors. Selling more products in different categories also improves your total sales. This then improves your business’s financial health.
From your customer’s viewpoint, these rebates are a win. Remember, they get more for their money and try out products they wouldn’t have thought about before, as this new experience can help with how they feel about shopping with you (which is huge)! That makes them more loyal to your brand.
To make sure of this, why not find which product lines to pay attention to with these rebates? Just to give you an example, if someone frequently buys car tires, offer them a rebate for adding motorcycle tires. You change their buying habits, and both you and the customer gain.
Picture how this strategy ties into keeping customers over the long term. Since you help with their loyalty, they feel valued and rewarded for expanding their purchases with you.
Customization and Targeting
It’s helpful to know that customization and targeting play a big role in your helpful rebate marketing. How can you make your rebates attractive to your crowd?
A good starting point is to think about who your buyers are. What’s their age group and income level, and where do they live? An easy way to do this is to match your rebates to these groups to make them more tempting for them. Just to give you an example, high-value customers might like special rebate deals – younger buyers may want discounts on popular tech devices.
It can be helpful to offer product-specific rebates to help with your engagement. Do certain products sell better at different times of the year? Maybe customize your rebate programs to fit these patterns. Since it creates urgency, you can use holiday-themed rebates to get more participation. Have you tried timing your promos with events like Black Friday or back-to-school season?
Remember to use customer data to see the right groups to target. It’s helpful to talk about data analytics to see what buying patterns and likes show up. CRM systems can show which customer segments are the most valuable or likely to respond to you (maybe even quickly). Can you group your audience based on their shopping habits from last year’s holiday season?
Remember to think about giving cashback or discounts to people who buy within a set time frame or spend over a certain amount. Part of this will need helping with sales during slow times and rewarding your loyal customers – strengthening your relationships with them.
How to Launch a New Program
It’s important to start by figuring out what you want to get from your rebate program. Do you want to get more sales, keep customers coming back, clear out old stock, or push certain products or services? This helps match the program to your business needs.
Make sure to pick the right rebate type that fits your goals. Want to get bigger buys? Go with volume rebates for the amount bought. For worth, value rebates might be better. Reward customers who buy more over time with growth rebates. Product mix rebates work best to push a mix of products. You want to push those, right?
After setting your goals and picking a rebate type, it’s important to make sure everyone understands the rebate terms. Spell out who qualifies, how rebates are calculated, how to submit and claim them, and the deadlines. Clear terms avoid confusion for customers and build trust.
You’ll benefit from not dealing with complicated rebate spreadsheets. Use a rebate management platform instead. These platforms let you track in real-time, share data, collaborate, automate calculations, and create reports. They cut down on manual work, reduce mistakes, and help quite a bit with cash flow. Do you have it?
It’s a good idea to keep an eye on things once your program is running. Track earnings and incentives with your platform, look at performance data, and change the program as needed. Regular watching keeps you flexible and helpful.
It’s valuable to talk openly with your trading partners. Share data and plans to build trust and match everyone with the program’s goals. Why bother? It will make sure you have transparency and shared insight, which are important parts of a good program.
Plan to usually review and fine-tune your program. At the end of each period, see what worked and where you can help. Use these plans to better your rebates and get ready for future ones.
You’ll always need to ensure compliance by keeping a clear audit trail that records all important info for watching and auditing. Smooth along processes by automating data handling and rebate claims and customer feedback and data to help with future marketing work. They can help quite a bit with customer engagement.
Use Helpful Tools and Organize the Data
Isn’t it exciting how rebates can change both customer engagement and what you get for business outcomes? Think about it. Every time you give a rebate, you gain some valuable information about your customers. Their buying habits, preferences, and their contact info become clear. There are endless ways for personalized marketing. You see so many benefits in this data for targeted campaigns! How would you use this info to match what you do to your advantage?
You know, the power of online tools in this mix is huge. With today’s tech, online platforms smooth out everything for you. Customers can easily claim rebates online, and you can manage and track these programs. It’s all stress-free. Rebate management software or apps can help turn the process around – like having a smooth-running machine that also improves the overall customer experience. How do you see online solutions fitting into your marketing strategy?
To help with your marketing work, online channels are important for promotion and data collection. Every interaction, from online ads to emails, can be used to organize helpful data. This, as you can guess, helps with customer segmentation and lets you create more precise messages. You can even send a special offer to a customer who just claimed a rebate on a similar product. Custom incentives and smart segmentation might be what your business needs to help with engagement and loyalty.
At Level 6, we make sure to pay attention to lifting your business through different kinds of incentive programs. Want to help with your sales team’s performance or help with employee morale? We have you covered. Our solutions cover branded debit cards, employee rewards and recognition programs, and customized sales incentive plans. These are all customized to your business needs. We want to create powerful, custom programs that give you real results.
Get in touch with us today for a free demo to see how we help high-performance businesses maximize ROI and sales performance. Are you ready to take your business to the next level?
Claudine is the Chief Relationship Officer at Level 6. She holds a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology. Her experience includes working as a certified conflict mediator for the United States Postal Service, a human performance analyst for Accenture, an Academic Dean, and a College Director. She is currently an adjunct Professor of Psychology at Southern New Hampshire University. With over 20 years of experience, she joined Level 6 to guide clients seeking effective ways to change behavior and, ultimately, their bottom line.
