The vast majority of incentives programmes and many referral marketing programmes rely upon the delivery of a future reward as a carrot to existing and prospective customers. A need to mitigate fraud and ensure that a programme is driving proven sales necessitates the use of a validation process which in turn forces a lengthening of this timeline. With cooling off periods and returns policies often extending beyond 30 days, it isn’t uncommon for some eTailers and service providers to cite 3 months before a reward can be fulfilled to the valued customer in question.

Whereas an investigation into the need for such validation processes always makes sense, the end result is unlikely to be different. But this doesn’t negate the fact that participating in a referral programme or purchasing with a promised incentive in mind may leave the customer feeling a little uninspired. One potential option for clients in this situation is to consider whether some form of ‘instant gratification’ can be achieved? Rather than looking upon the ‘word of mouth’ or incentivised purchase user journey as a functional process, maybe there is value in thinking of it as an interactive experience – is it a grey corridor or a waterslide?

A potential suggestion to deal with this dilemma is to consider offering your engaged customers a token gesture for their interaction – not claiming it to be significant but recognising their effort on the path to the larger potential reward. Additionally, perhaps this could be complimented with some form of in-site game or more simplistically a prize draw. In this vein, it may make sense to consider keeping this aspect of your programme flexible – don’t make it core to the solution but something that can be bolted on as and when appropriate. Trying out different mixes would in turn increase the chances of your proposition being discussed virally – especially if you provide the mechanism to do so. Indeed, it seems clear that the element of surprise is rapidly becoming a prerequisite with the constantly challenging digital audience.