Manufacturer: Accelerating ROI

An award-winning program uses A/B testing to increase sales

The Client and Their Past State

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The Client

A leading automotive aftermarket transmission and driveline-related manufacturer.

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The Audience

Transmission and Auto Shop Owners

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The Objective

To increase sales and customer loyalty amongst harsh competition while successfully pushing product upsell.

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The Challenge

Being new to incentive programs, the client wanted to know first if an incentive program would drive behavior and then whether a product-focused strategy or overall incremental growth strategy would work best when motivating their target audience.

The Client’s Current State and Key Results

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Enrolled and Engaged

56% of eligible participants were actively engaged in the program.

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Achieving Goals

47% of enrolled accounts hit their 6 month goal.

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Rewarding Results

Pilot A, which rewarded for specific product purchases, saw a 3.5% increase YOY. Pilot B, which rewarded for incremental purchases, saw a 4.1% increase YOY.

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A Clear Difference

Pilot C, which did not use incentives, saw a 9% decline YOY.

Wide Growth

Accounts that hit their goal grew by 37% on average

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Steps to Success

Overall, the client saw a 584% ROI inthe program

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Award-Winning

This program won three different IMA Excellence Awards in one year in three different categories

“Customer engagement was much greater than we anticipated. In a market that was declining… the results of these programs were very positive…The ROI on the program was better than predicted [and] customers were thrilled to be rewarded for their purchases.”

Client feedback

How They Got Here

Program Design

HMI designed and managed two solutions with differing earning structures to test which one would work best for the audience. Personalized 6-month purchase goals were crafted based on a percentage of growth from the prior year’s purchases for all customers. Customers had to reach their purchase goal before they could redeem points.

The pilot program ran for 6 months and provided a core offering to dealer/distributor customers of 2 points earned per dollar for each $1 spent. Customized leaderboards provided sales teams with progress updates and competitive comparisons with other sales teams, creating a friendly but competitive culture and encouraging dealer sales reps to get participants engaged more often and hitting goals.

Strategy & Implementation

Pilot A targeted a population of 988 customer accounts. In addition to points earned from purchases, customers also earned 1,500 points for each strategic product purchased.

Pilot B targeted a population of 1,172 customer accounts. Instead of points earned for strategic product purchases, customers earned 6 points for each $1 purchased after meeting their goal.

Pilot C, the control group, was made up of customers who were not offered the test program. These customers were not rewarded for any purchase behavior.

Program Structure

Online reward platform
Personalized goal tracking across multi-rule structure
Dedicated incentive program management team
Custom-designed sales leaderboards
Weekly progress-tracking and strategic monitoring
Online catalog with order tracking

In-Depth Results Analysis

A/B Testing was used to eliminate extenuating circumstances, such as co-occurring promotions, from the incentive program results and unique ROI and helped to determine the best earning structure.

Interested in running a program like this one? Talk to an incentive expert today!

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