Rewards serve as an incentive for people to take action, provide a sense of achievement, and tap into their competitive nature. This is the reason why so many people work hard at their jobs, education, and fitness — to achieve a certain end goal or “reward.”
But did you know that you can use rewards as a tool to grow your business? 💡 You can do this by giving away experiential rewards!
In this article, you will learn more about experiential rewards — their meaning, examples, and case studies where UpViral users have offered them.
What Are Experiential Rewards?
Experiential rewards are unique and memorable experiences (rather than money or physical gifts) that people receive. As opposed to normal rewards, experiential rewards provide recipients the opportunity to experience once-in-a-lifetime events, participate in fun and meaningful activities, learn something new, or create lasting memories. ♥️
Some examples of experiential rewards are travel experiences, exclusive events, educational workshops, and other fun activities. 🤟
There is actually a psychological explanation for why many people love receiving experiential rewards. Experiences are more emotionally memorable compared to material possessions. Moreover, these rewards give recipients memories they can treasure for years, so they are more likely to associate positive emotions with the giver.
Not to mention, the sense of anticipation that comes with receiving an experiential reward. People who receive them are more likely to feel a sense of reciprocity and give back.😉
Reasons Experiential Rewards Are More Powerful Than "Normal" Rewards
You might be asking yourself: What are the benefits of experiential rewards? 🤔 Here are reasons why people are more motivated by these compared to “normal” rewards:
They leave a lasting emotional connection
Emotional connection can be beneficial in any type of business. Customers who feel emotionally attached to a brand are more likely to advocate for them and stay loyal. That’s why businesses that prioritize emotional connection are better positioned for long-term success! 🙌🏻
Here’s how experiential rewards work: They help create positive feelings and experiences for the recipient, which builds a positive association with the giver and the reward. After all, experiences are more memorable than cash incentives and physical possessions.
Additionally, experiential rewards also give the recipients a feeling of reciprocity, which may make them more willing to reciprocate the generosity to the giver — further strengthening the emotional connection!
Here’s a guide that explains the concept of reciprocity and examples in marketing.
They make your brand stand out from the crowd
Nowadays, it’s hard to stand out in a crowded marketplace. The growth of social media, online marketplaces, and e-commerce has also led to increasing competition over the years. This is why, if you have a business, you need to be able to differentiate yourself from competitors to be recognized, to attract more customers, and to build a strong reputation.
Experiential rewards are unique and novel compared to traditional rewards. For many people, these experiences offer something different from their routine of daily life.
Experiences provide people with compelling stories to share
Word of mouth is powerful given that consumers are more likely to trust the recommendations of their friends, family, and peers than messages from ads.
The good thing is that word of mouth has staying power because positive recommendations can continue to influence other people’s decisions long after they’ve been initially shared!
As we’ve talked about before, experiential rewards give people a chance to experience something new, such as exclusive access to events or opportunities they’ve never experienced before. These memorable adventures can be the basis of interesting stories that they can share with other people. 🔥
They're effective in increasing customer loyalty
When your audience is loyal to you, they make repeat purchases and are less likely to be swayed by the competition. Even better, they become brand advocates who can refer family, friends, and peers to your business. This goes without saying that they’re a key part of your business’s success and long-term growth! 📈
Experiential rewards boost customer loyalty by building long-lasting emotional connections and positive memories with the recipient. Aside from that, receiving these rewards provides a sense of exclusivity to the recipient, which can make them feel special and appreciated. All of these can help increase customer loyalty long-term.
Read this guide on creating a loyalty program.
They can be customized to your customer's interests and preferences
Last but not least, experiential rewards can be personalized depending on your customer’s interests and preferences, which can motivate them to take action! You can tailor it to their age, hobbies, product preferences, preferred activities, and dream experiences.
Why not make them select from a menu of options so they can personalize their rewards? 😉
Pro Tip: Before your next giveaway, do a survey email where you ask your subscribers which experiential reward they would love to receive! Better yet, download our free survey templates to learn which incentives motivate your audience to refer their friends!
Top Examples of Experiential Rewards
Now that you know the benefits of offering experiential rewards, you might be wondering how you can use them in your business. 🤔
To give you an idea, here are some real-life success stories from UpViral users. Learn from some of the best experiential rewards examples below:
Travel Experiences
Travel experiences are a good reward option especially if your brand’s primary audience is travel enthusiasts. Corey Richard demonstrated this when he got 520 signups in just 5 days through UpViral!
Corey manages Travel Secrets VIPs, which is a private Facebook group for travel enthusiasts who want to travel more for less money. He put together a giveaway campaign using UpViral to grow his email list from 2,000 subscribers.
To entice people to sign up, he chose to give one lucky winner a free 5-night stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, which is a 4-star hotel! 🤑
People who wanted to join only needed to enter their name and email address, and sharing the giveaway even increased their odds!
Joining the Facebook group is also required to win the giveaway prize. Not only did he get people to sign up for his email list, but also motivated more people to join his FB group using UpViral’s Custom Actions feature. 👏
💡Tip: Choose rewards based on your audience’s wants and desires. In Corey’s case, he knew that his audience was travel enthusiasts, so he picked the right prize!
Wellness and Relaxation
A wellness and relaxation package is a highly sought-after reward and can appeal to a broader audience, especially because we’re living in a fast-paced world where most people are looking for ways to destress and relax! 💆
This is the case for Eline van Maanen’s “holiday with your dog” UpViral giveaway which generated a whopping 64,748 total leads!
Eline runs a business with her husband called van Maanen Vakantiehuizen (van Maanen Holiday Homes). It’s a holiday resort geared towards dog owners and their dogs. 🐾 To get more people to know about their business, Eline ran an UpViral campaign where winners can get a complimentary weekend stay with their dog/s at her holiday resort.
If a dog owner was interested, all they needed to do was to refer a minimum of 5 dog owners, and they could join the exclusive list for a test sleep weekend.
Being part of this list means that they get the opportunity to win a free stay when a new chalet is built in the holiday resort.
This strategy was so effective because Eline’s target audience, which is dog owners, would be interested in a holiday with their pets.
At the end of the winner’s stay, she also gets to receive valuable feedback from people who are essentially her target market! 🐕 The campaign was so successful because it was run continuously and Eline also received valuable feedback that was turned into free advertising! 📣
Personalized Experiences
Personalized experiences are tailored rewards that match the preferences and interests of the recipient. This is what Gabe Schillinger did, so his UpViral campaign resulted in more than 41,000 leads and earned $200,000 in sales! 🔥
Gabe is the founder and CEO of a music production company called Legion Beats, which is based in California. He usually runs an UpViral campaign once a year. One time, he got more than 41,000 leads and earned $200,000! He launched an UpViral contest giving away this grand prize: ⬇️
The grand prize is an awesome experience where the winner would get flown to California to have their song recorded, mastered, edited, and promoted!
Apart from this grand prize, Gabe also motivated his followers to refer more people to join by offering 10 free beats for 3 referrals. This means that even if they didn’t win, they still got something valuable.
Why was this campaign so successful? In Gabe’s case, he didn’t focus on targeting everyone, but only his ideal audience — singers and rappers who are dreaming of releasing high-quality songs and music videos! 🎙️🎵
Special Events and Celebrations
Experiential rewards can also be invitations to certain events and activities. In Brett Whipp’s case, it’s giving away a golden ticket with lots of freebies to the Kurnell Christmas Market at Cambridge Markets Sydney. This UpViral campaign resulted in more than 800 email leads, over 700 social media shares, and 20,000 attendees to the event!
Brett owns a social media agency called Shire Talk, where he helps build brand awareness for local businesses. In this case, he worked with the Cambridge Markets Sydney to promote their special event, which is the Kurnell Christmas Market.
He did an UpViral campaign where he gave away Golden Tickets valued at $500 to 2 winners:
One reason why this campaign was so successful is because Brett chose a prize that his target audience would be interested in. These are people who were interested in going to the Kurnell Christmas Market for a day of shopping. 🎄🛍️
Experiential Rewards Are a Valuable and Effective Strategy for Any Business
Experiential rewards offer recipients unique, positive, and memorable experiences that can help differentiate your brand from others! These experiences can turn into word-of-mouth marketing that can create awareness for your brand and also build customer loyalty down the road. 🔥
Take advantage of these benefits by using UpViral to entice your audience with experiential rewards in your contests and giveaways. If you’re interested in how UpViral works, you can click here to learn more.
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