Incentive Travel Increases Loyalty

If you’re hoping that your incentive travel programs will make earners feel appreciated and increase their loyalty to the company, there’s good news in the latest release of data from “Incentive Travel: The Participant’s Viewpoint,” a study conducted by the Site International Foundation and the Incentive Travel Council of the Incentive Marketing Association.

9 in 10 feel appreciated

Nearly 9 in 10 incentive attendees reported that earning a travel award made them feel appreciated, while 73 percent said they have an increased feeling of loyalty to the company sponsoring the award. These results were released in part three of the study, focused on attendees’ emotional responses to and the intensity of their memories about various aspects of the incentive travel experience. (Of the 1,003 respondents, 83 percent are male and 17 percent are female; the median age at the time of the survey was 44 years old.) The least-intense memories were around corporate social responsibility activities, with less than half of respondents reporting these memories as having average or above-average intensity. Digging deeper, though, when the study asked if a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity should be included in an incentive travel program, 46 percent of respondents said yes, while only 22 percent said no. When considering the importance of CSR, Inconnection Managing Director Nick Hamilton commented: “if this feature is important to your business, then you may want to review the type of Corporate Social Responsibility activity you are including in an effort to improve its effectiveness.”

Incentive destination has positive impact

Participants were asked about the emotional impact of their experiences. Out in front again is the destination, with 73 percent of respondents rating the impact “positive” or “very positive.” The next highest element is camaraderie with other participants, which 64 percent of respondents said had a “positive” or “very positive” emotional impact. More than half (53 percent) said connecting with senior management was “positive” or “very positive”; less than half (46 percent) felt team building had a “positive” or “very positive” emotional impact; and, finally, 36 percent reported the memory of a CSR component to have a “positive” or “very positive” emotional impact. The survey was designed with assistance from practicing incentive managers and other incentive industry professionals, and then assembled by the marketing research firm Research Now. There were 1,003 valid responses from individuals who had been eligible to receive incentive travel. Respondents' companies break down as follows: technology/telecom (19 percent), financial services (15 percent), healthcare (10 percent), automotive (4 percent), and other (52 percent). Focusing on what is important to your business will ensure that your incentive travel event will have the maximum impact. The incentive programme should be built around your specific objectives in order to achieve the best ROI from the event. At Inconnection we do just that. We listen to what you want to achieve, understand your business objectives then create a memorable event that will achieve your business objectives.