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In recent years, virtually every aspect of operating a business has been transformed by technology making things faster and easier. In some instances, it has revolutionized the traditional business models of large-scale industries such as transportation (Uber) and temporary rentals (Airbnb). The digital marketing industry is no different. The way businesses incentivize clients for acquisition, retention and incentives programs is going through some exciting changes that are increasing the value of these experiences for businesses, customers and retail brands alike. As a result, customers have access to a vast array of options, and that freedom of choice raises expectations. This means that businesses have to aim even higher if they want the experiences they provide to delight the customers they target. As an end-to-end solution for digital incentives, Runa has been contributing to meeting customer expectations, and people are noticing.
In November Runa received yet another stamp of approval for its efforts in the incentives industry, the 2019 award for best prepaid card solution in the 7th Annual Payments Awards. Runa’s gratitude for receiving this award is twofold. As a concrete sign of respect, peer recognition is always an honour. More importantly, being chosen for this award at this particular moment in time shows that Runa’s clients are making the right choice as they look to streamline the way they acquire, retain and delight their customers. In choosing Runa, leading consumer businesses are obtaining attractive incentives solutions that customers can easily redeem. On the operational back-end, Runa unifies processes in a revolutionary way that saves precious resources and makes marketing campaigns faster to set up, more agile to manage and trace.
Digital rewards are an attractive incentive for customers
A recent UK Gift Card Association study showed that almost 75% of consumers see digital gift cards as an attractive incentive. Businesses are catching on to this and as a result the gift card market is exploding.
Gift cards are arguably the perfect gift. They make the recipient the end gifter, which means that the choice is always the right one. On top of that, users often see gift cards as a chance to indulge. Digital incentives allow users to purchase items that they may not have purchased otherwise. This concept is reinforced by data. Statistics show that the value of purchases made with digital incentives often surpasses the value of the incentive itself. In other words, customers use the incentive to go the extra mile for themselves. Data also shows that younger generations (generation Z, millennials) are particularly fond of gift cards.
A flexible choice that enhances the value of products and services
On the other end of the spectrum, digital incentives are a valuable and attractive solution for businesses who want to enhance the perceived value that customers have of their products and services. These incentives can help to increase customer acquisition, activation, retention and referral campaigns.
Digital incentives are a powerful tool for businesses to leverage the instant gratification of e-gifts while generating loyalty and increasing their customer base. So why wasn’t this model more widely adopted before? Mostly because it used to be complex and timely to put this kind of model in place. That is no longer a problem.
The unbearable complexity of incentive campaigns, no more
More often than not, actors in commoditized industries have few options for differentiating what they offer from what the competition offers (think telecommunications and banking). What’s more, lowering prices diminishes their overall value. As such, digital rewards for incentive campaigns can be a highly effective solution for attracting new customers and retaining loyal ones without compromising brand equity.
Until recently, the main drawback to this solution has been the complexity and cost involved in putting such incentives campaigns in place. For example, compliance can be difficult and the need to involve bank accounts has been a deterrent. The time it takes to pull all of the pieces together added to the overall complexity.
Runa eliminates these barriers for large-scale business by providing a platform of 550 global brands incentives accessible immediately through an API. In fact, Runa can quickly deploy incentive campaigns to hundreds of thousands of customers in less than an hour.
In addition to giving more meaningful incentives, businesses can save by choosing digital incentives.
Instantaneity – the real revolution
Runa’s robust technology makes it powerful and easy to use. It is an end-to-end solution that saves time and money since everything can happen in-house. This significantly reduces set up time and the resources a business needs for each campaign. This revolutionizes the processes for building campaigns from business concept to customer cash-in.
Runa harnesses data, providing tracking and analytics for businesses of all sizes, so that both small and big businesses can keep track of who redeemed what and where. Thanks to this tracking technology, Runa is able to reimburse businesses for unredeemed incentives, effectively making the incentive model measurable, more efficient and equitable.
Summary
Runa has been recognized by its peers for making it much easier for large scale businesses to instantly incentivize customers in digital environments. Its revolutionary digital platform and API centralize all tasks related to incentives, dramatically reducing costs for businesses and increasing customer delight.
