Top 5 Reasons for a Consumer Rebate Program (2024)

Posted April 25, 2022

In a world of competitive business operations, you need to set your company apart from the competition. But when your products and price points are similar, what can you do to ensure customers return to you instead of drifting off to another provider? Set up a consumer rebate program. What is the consumer rebate program for your business, and why should you consider it? Here are five reasons your business should incorporate consumer rebates in your marketing strategy.

1. Maintain Brand Loyalty

In modern business, you no longer have to compete with service providers in the same city. You are now competing against service providers often in the region, if not worldwide. This makes it that much more difficult for you to retain brand loyalty.

There will always be consumers who return to your business for one reason or another. Perhaps they want to support a local business, or they, like you, are a small, independent operation. They would rather buy from you than a larger, multi-billion dollar corporation. All of that is fine and good, but a large percentage of your customer base wants the best bang for their buck, and if they can’t get it from you, they will get it from another source.

• Sales vs. Rebate

With a consumer rebate program, you incentivize their purchases. You provide them a reward for making a set number of purchases. This is different from a sale where the consumer will be buying your products for full price upfront, yet a sale only works as long as the sale goes on. Once a sale ends, your customer’s buying eyes might wander to the competition. With a rebate program, the consumer knows they need to make a set number of purchases to realize the rebate, which will keep them in the fold longer. All of this adds up to boosting brand loyalty.

2. Increase Spending

Rebate programs have a way of boosting sales numbers. Consumers are more likely to make an additional purchase if it means qualifying for a consumer rebate. You can think of it in your own life. If you receive a rebate that kicks in when you’ve spent $50, but the products in your shopping cart only add up to $45? You add the five bucks worth of products to your shopping cart and check out. That is extra money you’re spending to qualify for the rebate.

The same is true across the board, regardless of the kind of products you sell or the quantity you deal with. Consumers will increase their spending practices if it means qualifying for the rebate. With a rebate program, you might not offer out the incentive until ten purchases down the road, which gives the consumer ten opportunities to spend more than they normally would. A recent study by the industry analyst and research Ardeen Group shows that a consumer rebate program can boost profits by six percent. What are you waiting for? Contact us to jumpstart your rebate program.

3. Email Marketing Data

Data is king in the world of business. With consumer data, you can more easily advertise directly to them. Having an email address is a powerful marketing tool. Even with all the various forms of advertising, email marketing is one of the more lucrative advertising forms. It has a low-cost threshold, yet it is profitable even if it delivers one or two sales.

By simply having the consumer’s email address, you can monitor the kinds of products each consumer makes. This allows you to tweak your marketing and offer additional incentives and deals based specifically on what they buy. Data is a powerful tool, and a consumer rebate program generates some of the best data you can obtain.

4. Improve Immediate Cash Flow

The problem with a traditional sale is while it might increase sales numbers, it doesn’t necessarily increase immediate cash flow. If you offer a 25 percent off sale, you may need to potentially increase the number of sales you make by 25 percent just to break even. Perhaps you generate more cash, but it isn’t promised. With a consumer rebate program, your purchasers pay the full price upfront and submit the rebate after the purchase is made. This can help keep the cash flow coming in and help eliminate the deficiency in immediate profits a “sale” can bring.

5. Delivered Digitally

Mailers are often not great ways to offer a coupon, and even discount codes aren’t great because other consumers that have never purchased from you can obtain and share these codes. Once the code is offered, it will end up online for anyone and everyone to use. A consumer rebate program is a great tool that can help enable digital engagement with your brand, your website, your content, and the digital customer experience.

Help With Building and Monitoring Your Consumer Rebate Program

There are several marketing and consumer outreach programs your business needs to take advantage of. A consumer rebate program can help separate your business from the pack by giving customers another reason to buy from you and remain loyal. However, setting up and executing your consumer rebate program can prove somewhat challenging, so partnering with a service provider such as Incentive Insights is valuable. We’ll help craft a rebate program that optimally takes advantage of crucial data points to ensure you and your customers are both awarded. We’ll also help monitor consumer progress so you don’t have to.

Suppose you’re interested in more information about consumer rebate programs or want to learn about the other services, such as Rebate Fulfillment, provided by Incentive Insights. In that case, all you need to do is give us a call. We’re here to help take your marketing and incentive programs to the next level. So contact us today.