Personalizing key program touchpoints creates a VIP effect for channel partners. It reminds them that they’re valuable to your business and that you have something valuable to offer them in return.
The trick is tailoring aspects of your channel program for dozens, hundreds or thousands of channel partners at once. And it’s more than using email templates that start with “Dear [partner name].”
But how do you use personalization to make your program more compelling?
Let’s explore the six steps you can take to roll out the red carpet for your channel partners, starting with a few personal touches.
1. Create Partner Groups
Partner engagement data is your best friend. It can help you learn a lot about your channel participants and how they’re interacting with your program, from their portal activity to sales numbers to email opens and more.
The best part of gaining activity insights is discovering how partners’ different characteristics influence activity and performance. From here, you can create partner personas and groups to tailor your outreach, enablement, incentive types and more to their unique interests and motivators.
2. Use a Mix of Rewards
Offering a diverse incentives portfolio that speaks to your partners’ unique interests is a three-in-one initiative: You gain their attention with exciting offerings (engagement), you present something compelling (motivation), and you reinforce your brand’s value to them (loyalty).
Monetary rewards are a common reward option for programs but thinking beyond what every other program offers can help yours stand out. A wide range of incentive options gives you more ways to motivate your diverse partner types, and it builds more sentiment around your brand with memorable and longer-lasting gains.
Consider broadening your incentives portfolio with a strategic mix of:
- Experiential Rewards: Individual or group incentive trips, local events, sporting events, and other adventures have a more significant emotional impact than spending cash. Allow partners to work toward exciting experiences to create positive memories and associations with your brand.
- Access-Based Rewards: Earned resources and program privileges, like product samples, marketing displays or advanced training, give partners a sense of personal achievement in your program and enable them to continue growing their earning potential.
- Tangible Rewards: Points redemption catalogs offer a wide assortment of items – from camping equipment to luxury goods and clothing. Partners can hand-select the items they’re personally motivated to work toward, making them more likely to stay engaged and follow through.
- Symbolic Rewards: Certifications, titles, status and recognition make partners feel like your program’s elites. Prestigious rewards show them you value their growth, not only as program participants but also as sales professionals.
3. Design Flexible Incentive Rules
Your program incentive rules need to be crystal clear for partners to know what actions you’re incentivizing – a.k.a. what they will need to contribute to reach their ideal rewards. The beauty of flexible rules is that they can adapt to your short- or long-term objectives and you can tailor them to the partner groups you’re aiming to motivate at a specific time.
Another underrated perk of a flexible program design is the opportunities you gain to surprise and delight your partners. See how your connections grow when you take them pleasantly off guard with unexpected rewards for meeting hidden milestones.
4. Use Personal Progress Trackers
If you want partners to be motivated in your program, inform them of their proximity to rewards. The Goal Gradient Theory backs this up, suggesting that the closer individuals are to reaching a goal, the more motivated they are to achieve it.
This is where personal progress trackers shine, and there’s no better place to add them than directly within your partner portal. When partners have access to their individual data, they gain a comprehensive and customized view of their progress, contributions and wins in your program.
5. Launch Surveys and Feedback
Nothing feels more personal than asking for advice. Requesting feedback from partners to improve your program experiences sends a message that you care about their input and want to create mutual value.
Plus, the more you know how partners perceive your program and communications, the more you can fine-tune your key interactions and equip partners with what they need to get better results for your business.
6. Gather Participant & Stakeholder Research
Conducting qualitative interviews and creating focus groups allows you to understand your program on a deeper level and optimize the best possible solutions.
This research is also handy for creating your partner personas and groups (like those we mentioned earlier). By analyzing demographics like industry, age, and interests, you can forecast how partners will interact with your program. You can also uncover hacks to make your technology, support, enablement resources, incentive types, and other features more engaging.
Get Personal
If you want to make your program meaningful, make it relevant. When you tailor your channel interactions and experiences, partners listen and engage because they can see their role clearly: They’re not just another worker bee in your hive – they’re an asset.
Look for ways you can make every touchpoint in your program feel personal. Any program can speak to the masses, but yours can communicate value to each participant.
If you want to make your program meaningful, make it relevant. When you tailor your channel interactions and experiences, partners listen and engage because they can see their role clearly: They’re not just another worker bee in your hive – they’re an asset.
Ready to deliver one-of-a-kind program experiences? Maritz doesn’t just help with personalization for your channel partners. We also create dedicated strategies and tailor engagement solutions that truly motivate your channels. Contact us to learn more about how you can maximize your business results with us.