What’s the buzz with AI? How to intersect AI with HI (human intelligence) for business success
5 reasons your sales incentive program isn’t working (and how to fix it) What makes (or breaks) the best customer loyalty programs?
6 expert tips for a compelling event strategy
How to develop a connected culture to attract and retain talent
In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, connections remain at the heart of success. Whether it’s forging relationships with clients, building trust within teams or leveraging technology to enhance partnerships, meaningful connections are what drive progress and innovation.
We’ve seen a lot of brands innovate with technology to overcome market challenges. To us, effective innovation is about pairing cutting-edge technology with the irreplaceable value of human intelligence. While technology can analyze data, it’s human insight that turns numbers into meaningful decisions. Having the right expertise and experience remains a key component of successful decision-making.
In this issue, you’ll read how our teams are driving innovations and leading change. First, we explore how human intelligence is critical to the effective use of AI.
FROM THE DESK OF
BRENT VANDER WAAL
President & CEO, ITA Group
We share our industry-specific research results that show what sales reps need from incentive programs and what brands need to achieve business success. We highlight key takeaways from our research where customers offer loyalty program do’s and don’ts. We feature our event experts as they reveal strategies for crafting unforgettable events. And last, we offer guidance on fostering a culture that attracts and retains top talent—a critical component of building a connected, inclusive workplace.
We give you inside access to the tools, research and strategies to help you drive innovation and achieve business outcomes. As you read, think about how these stories and strategies might apply to your own work. And remember: Innovation is rarely a solo endeavor; it’s the result of shared ideas, bold experiments and a willingness to embrace the unknown.
Here’s to innovation, connection and making the most of what’s next.
WHAT’S INSIDE
What’s the buzz with AI?
How to intersect AI with HI (human intelligence) for business success 04
10
16
5 reasons your sales incentive program isn’t working (and how to fix it)
What makes (or breaks) the best customer loyalty programs?
6 expert tips for a compelling event strategy 22
How to develop a connected culture to attract and retain talent 28
What’s the buzz with AI?
How to intersect AI with HI (human intelligence) for business success
How do we use the power of AI to get better insights without sacrificing the strategic value that only human intelligence can provide? A blend of artificial and human intelligence empowers brands to make confident business decisions that drive real change.
The promise of AI is enticing
Faster insights, more efficient processes and the ability to synthesize data quickly.
Yet, as budgets tighten and expectations soar, many are left wondering: Is speed and efficiency enough? When we prioritize speed over quality of insights, we may find ourselves missing opportunities or making sub-optimal decisions.
When we rush to the easy answer vs. the right answer, we risk losing something invaluable— the human touch that turns unique insights into actionable strategies.
One thing is clear: The future of market research will be shaped by those who can effectively blend the best of both worlds, using artificial intelligence and human insight to deliver better insights that shape unique and differentiated offerings.
AI+HI™
The right integration strategy requires AI+HI ™
All of us have likely experienced both the brilliance you can get from prompting GenAI to summarize a document as well as the frustration from prompting results that look great on the surface but aren’t remotely accurate.
To get great results from AI, it takes human intelligence to validate the models, tools and processes to ensure you are getting the best possible results.
When looking specifically at market research, there are five key areas we see as promising to both drive efficiencies and improve quality of results.
RESEARCH DESIGN
AI+HI™ offers opportunities beyond surveys and focus groups
Imagine having an AI-moderated video chat with an avatar. Some of the questions are exactly how you’ve written them, and others are prompted by training the AI on where you’d like to probe. This approach can expand your budget and reach many more research participants. You can improve the results by iteratively training the chatbot after test interviews or by starting with human interviews to guide the AI training.
1. Question mix
Try a survey that feels more like a text exchange with a friendly chatbot. This approach mixes open-ended questions and follow-ups with structured choices. Human expertise to optimize the survey flow and train the AI follow-up questions is critical to maximize the value of this approach.
2. Open-ended questions
One simple way to get started is to add AI-prompted open-ends into traditional surveys. This step has increased the length of responses, increased the number of responses that can be coded, and identified more themes out of your responses.
DATA ANALYSIS
AI+HI™ data analysis lets you scale up open-ended feedback
AI+HI™ theme and emotion analysis can be a much faster and more accurate way to analyze results from open-ended responses in surveys or video interviews, as well as many other sources of unstructured data like social media posts. While the models extract initial themes, results need to be checked and iterated on to avoid irrelevant themes and identify sub-context not captured by the AI.
AI+HI™ fraud detection can help identify both bots and people who try to take surveys that they don’t qualify for or that they try to take more than once.
Especially when incentives are involved, all it takes is one bad actor to ruin your entire data file.
> Some bad actors can be caught before the person even enters the survey by examining data trails that indicate bad behavior.
> Another big portion comes from special questions and data analysis that root out inattentiveness or inaccurate responses.
> A final portion is AI looking at openended responses for context and quality, and flagging any that seem off for human analysis and review.
The challenge
AARP sought to deliver better tech-enabled travel experiences for adults age 50+, aiming to boost engagement with digital travel services, and enhance their travel experience through more tailored digital solutions.
The solution
A combination of human-moderated and AI-driven interviews were used to gain a deep understanding of travelers’ experiences, preferences and challenges with travel technology.
This hybrid approach allowed us to obtain many more interviews for the budget. The team ensured a balance between AI efficiency and the nuanced depth provided by human expertise. This research informed a comprehensive follow-up survey to test key takeaways and refine recommendations.
The results
The research directly informed the development of educational content, digital tools and services to improve AARP members’ travel experiences. Travelers received a better experience by understanding more about how to use AI for trip planning, cost-saving strategies, route suggestions, and personalized travel recommendations, ultimately driving greater engagement with AARP and its digital offerings.
3 steps to embrace AI+HI™
Are you interested in leveraging AI+HI™ to drive better insights for your business? Here are three ways to get started.
Find a partner to help guide your journey and ensure quality insights
Make sure the partner has clear guidelines on how they vet and validate AI technology for accurate and safe research.
Identify a pilot study
Find a critical business problem and look for ways to apply AI+HI™ on a small scale. Bring your decisionmakers along and iterate as you learn.
Identify ways to validate your research and prove ROI of your approach
This helps decisionmakers understand how you’re increasing quality and impact of research rather than simply delivering low-quality data.
Navigating the current AI landscape
Autonomous vehicles, virtual assistances, cloud computing and tablets. Our latest research taps into the current AI landscape—and the emotions it evokes among consumers—to help businesses navigate the future with confidence. Watch the webinar recording
Monika Rogers is a strategic growth leader with experience building brands and leading sales and marketing teams. As the Vice President of Growth Strategy, she oversees business development and marketing in close partnership with Account Executives, product development and innovation, client services and others. In addition to driving the sales of our products and services, Monika is an integral part of transforming how business feels across ITA Group. info.itagroup.com/AIwebinar
About the author: Monika Rogers
If you’ve poured a lot of resources into your sales incentive program but it’s not delivering the sales rep engagement you expected, you’re not alone. Many marketing teams face the same frustration when their incentives fail to resonate with sales reps.
To find out why some incentive programs fail to meet expectations, we surveyed more than 200 distributor sales representatives (DSRs) and manufacturer sales representatives (MSRs) about what they really want out of programs.
The sales reps identified these top five reasons why they aren’t motivated to participate in programs. Addressing them will make your incentive program stand out from others.
Sales reps feel overwhelmed by competing sales incentive promotions
Challenge: Sales reps constantly manage multiple promotions at once, causing them to disengage.
38% of surveyed sales reps said overlapping promotions make it difficult to prioritize which goals to shoot for.
Sending mixed messages and having vague goals will likely make them pick a competing incentive program over yours.
Solution: To help sales reps focus on your program, streamline promotions and clearly communicate program goals. Focus on a smaller number of high-impact promotions and provide regular updates to help sales reps prioritize your promotion.
Consider sending weekly updates; a feature 40–45% of sales reps said they find helpful for program reminders, award statements, special news and offers, and progress-togoal statements.
Loyalty program engagement drops without progresstracking tools
Challenge: More than a third (35%) of sales reps report that unclear or nonexistent tracking systems make it challenging to monitor their progress toward their goals.
83% of survey respondents cited performance tracking and reporting as crucial.
Sales reps are competitive by nature, and they want to see who they’re competing against—even if it’s themselves. Without knowing their status, sales reps may struggle to stay motivated throughout the promotion.
Solution: To ensure sales reps remain engaged, provide access to clear, role-specific progress tracking.
Instead of static reports, implement real-time dashboards with mobile access so sales reps have instant insight into their status.
Sales reps’ motivation drops when program rules are confusing or hard to navigate
Challenge: Even the most exciting incentive program can turn into a frustrating experience if the rules are too complex.
32% of sales reps admitted they won’t fully participate in sales incentive programs if it takes too long to decipher what they need to do.
Solution: Simplify incentive program structures with user-friendly guides, FAQs and clear eligibility requirements. By making your program easy to understand, you’ll increase sales rep engagement and be able to maintain it.
Clear rules also strengthen sales reps’ relationship with your brand because you’re empowering them to focus their time on selling—which busy reps will thank you for!
Incentive program communications are infrequent or unclear
Challenge: Insufficient communication about promotions, deadlines and progress can be a significant obstacle.
26% of sales reps say it’s an issue. It’s an obvious element of a good program that often doesn’t get prioritized over other elements.
Solution: In a word: overcommunicate. Clear, frequent communication about the incentive program ensures sales reps stay engaged, motivated and aligned with program goals.
To reach reps where they are, consider a multichannel communication strategy, including email and text message updates.
Enabling mobile access to your portal can go a long way in boosting engagement—79% of sales reps say they prefer to access portals via a mobile device to stay updated on program activities.
Inadequate awards fail to inspire sales reps
Challenge: When awards don’t resonate with sales reps, they lose interest in incentive programs.
While 64% of sales reps view incentives as an essential part of their overall compensation package, nearly a third (28%) said that the awards offered aren’t worth their effort to obtain them.
Awards need to have a strong perceived value to keep reps engaged throughout the life of the program.
Solution: Use sales rep feedback and industry expertise to determine which awards sales reps find valuable. While cash is a reliable motivator, personalized options ensure the award is unique, meaningful and motivating.
Include experiential options like trips, exclusive concerts and sporting events, and professional development opportunities because experiential awards are highly valued. More than 40% of sales reps find them to be a top incentive to increase sales performance.
The best incentive program strategies focus on sales rep engagement to grow sales
Your sales incentive program is only as strong as its ability to engage and motivate your sales reps to sell more with your brand.
By addressing these five common sales rep challenges and refreshing your program to meet their preferences, you can drive program participation and achieve measurable results.
Future focused. Human centered.
What makes (or breaks) the best customer loyalty programs?
By: Max Kenkel, Senior Manager, Customer Solutions
Do you know what defines the best loyalty programs? What matters most to your customer loyalty program members? Value.
Specifically, how customers perceive the value they get from engaging with your program. But when it comes to running a high-performing loyalty program, the role of value is often underestimated.
What customers value most in loyalty programs
Many brands assume they know value’s importance, but that’s not what we heard from customers surveyed in our recent study of 50 loyalty programs across nine industries. Take a look at your industry for some key insights, directly from your customers.
RETAIL
There was a distinct difference between aspirational brands (perceived as more valuable and easier to participate in) and tactical brands (perceived as less valuable).
GAS & QUICK-SERVICE RESTAURANT
Loyalty programs have an easy redemption process, but most rewards are for in-store products, so customers aren’t as excited about it.
AUTO & TELECOM
A longer sales cycle and monthly subscriptions not being rewarded caused low scores on the valueto-effort exchanged and frequency of points earned.
GAMING & LODGING
The effort to earn in loyalty programs was a nonstarter for customers because the rewards lacked high-perceived value or took too long to earn anything meaningful.
FINANCE
Loyalty programs typically require the most effort with not as much reward.
GROCERY
Customers’ biggest concern in loyalty programs is how the brand uses personal data, followed by issues around effort and points, and lack of value.
Respondents reported value was three times more important to them than how easy it was to participate in a program. If the value felt worth the effort, they were willing to put up with some clunky program features. When your brand adds more value to its loyalty program offerings, you’ll see an increase in visits, spend and wallet share. It’s a win-win for you and your customers.
How value improves customer engagement and loyalty
The importance of having a loyalty program that creates perceived value can’t be overstated. Not only did the study reveal that value is three times more important than ease, but it also showed every brand’s program—across all industries—has room for improvement.
Customers may willingly submit receipts (i.e., do extra work) if they earn additional points
Customers who automatically receive points from a purchase vs.
Key findings about value in loyalty program strategy
Brands can overcome any effortrelated challenges in their existing program by providing more value. Value can make extra effort worth it.
Clearly communicating and promoting the program’s value (i.e., being descriptive and extensive when describing the benefits) drives more members to engage with it. Remember, when brands get both value and ease right, they’re more likely to inspire members to become brand advocates.
7 key elements that generate value in a customer loyalty program (and 8 that don’t)
Perceived value is subjective to each member, but some program elements are universally loved. Here are seven elements that study respondents repeatedly said mattered the most to them.
On the other hand, certain program elements diminish value. Members were very clear about what they didn’t like.
Remember, improving value does not mean that brands need to instantly jump to making payouts richer. Perceived value is more important than actual value. Members care that the brand cares.
How does a brand begin improving a loyalty program?
Our new research shows how you can start increasing customer visits, spend and market share.
Read the report: info.itagroup.com/customer-loyalty
About the author: Max
Kenkel
As Senior Manager, Customer Solutions, Max ensures all six components of a successful loyalty program deliver for our clients. With more than ten years of experience in strategy across customer, channel and employee loyalty programs, he’s seen a lot. You’ll often hear him talk about how important data is to brands. In his words, “It’s easy to make decisions on intuition, but it’s a lot easier to justify to shareholders when you can back it up with data.” Beyond his professional passions, Max plays bass in a pop punk band, visits as many national parks as he can and is an aspiring poet, publishing his first book in 2023.
EXPERT TIPS FOR A COMPELLING EVENT STRATEGY
Making an event “worth it” should be every event strategist’s top priority. Events ask a lot of participants’ time. But when done well, they have several benefits. Creating a strong event strategy is the best way to ensure attendees arrive excited and leave feeling enriched.
We asked a small fraction of our 100+ events team members around the globe what their key priorities are when collaborating to design a compelling event strategy.
TIP #1
Set an event vision
Event visioning ensures you align every aspect of the experience with your business, brand and audience. Proactively bring together perspectives from sales, marketing, HR—even sponsors.
Once the planning begins, your event vision serves as a North Star, guiding all decisions toward the agreed-upon goals. Because everyone’s been brought into and bought into the process, there’s shared accountability.
Erica Lalk Senior Event Strategy Manager
TIP
#2
Let attendees sway your destination choice
It’s tempting to assume what locations will excite attendees most. But digging deeper into audience preferences helps create a stronger connection. Start your destination selection process by considering your audience and their connection with your brand. Based on what matters most to attendees, invest in areas that make an impact. This might mean opting for a more affordable destination so that a bigger allowance goes toward wraparound excursions and over-the-top off-site opportunities.
Jodi Swailes Event Destination Strategist
Based on what matters most to attendees, invest in areas that will make an impact.
TIP #3
Expand reach through speaker and sponsor promotion
Event speakers and sponsors want to present to a packed audience that’s interested in their message. Use this to your advantage by engaging them as event ambassadors. When they post about your event on their channels, they open new prospect pipelines.
Make co-promotion easy. Give speakers and sponsors unique early-bird promo codes to include in their newsletters, mention on podcasts and post to social. Recognize and reward whoever brings in the most first-time attendees by a certain date.
TIP #4
the event venue
Always consider the location— from the energy of the city to the dynamics of the specific room. Is the space a beautiful historical ballroom or art museum where the architecture can star? Or is it a bland or unattractive space that needs to be decorated or screened?
Today’s technology in LED lighting and video screens allows for fantastic, quick transformations. Think about your audience size and the sightlines you want to create for them.
Mark Fisher Senior Sponsorship Event Manager
Want more tips?
Our event strategy guide shares more tips and practical strategies to design innovative events.
Jayne Samuels Executive Director, Event Production
Get the guide: info.itagroup.com/eventguide
Transform breakouts with interactivity
Once the event ends, your audience should become your organization’s innovators and change-makers. Immersive learning experiences use facilitated activity, learning tech and gamification to drive connection and idea-sharing. They provide critical tools for people to take your event story and turn it into tangible action all year. Transforming breakouts with immersive learning drives natural competition and energizes audiences to deliver an unexpected uptick in performance.
David Colgate Chief Innovation Officer
TIP #6
Tell a strategic ROI story
Reframe event ROI reporting by going beyond what’s collected in event registration systems and RFIDs, online surveys and event apps. Leverage and cross reference performance data to demonstrate impact on the overall bottom line. In addition to the immediate impact post-event, look at benchmarks further out, like six months and nine months after. Whatever intervals you choose, standardize them from event to event. This provides more accurate benchmarks for the future.
Anna Boggs Event Analytics Advisor
Embrace your role as an event strategist
Take time to set event strategy and you won’t have to wonder if your event was “worth it.” You’ll have the attendee feedback on what topics and breakouts resonated most, and hard data that proves bottomline business results.
TIP #5
You’re asked to do a lot with a little. Skip program guesswork and prioritize what’s proven to move your audiences to action.
Engage your employees, channel partners and customers in new ways.
How to develop a connected culture to attract and retain talent
The employee experience is broad, capturing the journey from job seeker to new hire to tenured employee. So it’s up to HR professionals and organizational leaders to make the journey feel driven by corporate goals and personalized to team members.
The transformative power of culture change often flies under the radar. By leaning into a connected culture approach with your employee experience programs, you can create an employee journey that’s more purposeful— and helps employees thrive.
Whether you’re navigating a major transformation or simply refining your current practices, unpack how cultural alignment, employer branding, recognition and leadership development reshape your business success.
Creating the connected culture you need
Most executive teams recognize the impact of change as it affects their business. But the influence of a corporate-wide culture change is often less embraced—leaving better performance and increased profits on the table.
Organizations can’t realize the full potential of business transformation, or new ways of working, without supporting cultural change—seen in practice as organizational behaviors and norms.
According to the Boston Consulting Group, companies focused on culture and providing proper cultural support were 5x more likely to achieve breakthrough results in their transformation initiatives than those that didn’t.
Want to be one of those companies?
Recognize that culture change only happens with dedication. It’s challenging enough to change one’s own habits, let alone thousands of employees’.
Elevating employer branding
Job seekers want to be part of an organization with a great work culture. If you have a solid employer brand, candidates will seek you out. Strong culture and employer branding reduces recruitment costs and leads to more top talent.
Key players that support a successful employer brand
> Human resources: HR professionals are the “face” of employer branding during recruitment and retention.
> C-suite executives: They’re critical supporters and leaders of change, employer branding and talent acquisition.
> Marketing: This team crafts and delivers value messaging that resonates with team members to promote the brand and culture during recruitment.
> Brand advocates: Influential team members share corporate messaging and endorse the culture.
Personalizing employee recognition
Lack of praise is the reason 79% of people quit their jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. But when, why and how people send recognition matters. Are you providing a personalized, intentional message with your recognitions?
Persona research offers an in-depth view of your employees’ day-to-day. What are their stressors? What eases their workload?
The data helps you define specific employee personas based on their work experience (i.e., function, location, motivation and pain points).
Then use the personas to design, communicate and execute a more effective recognition program that feels personal to your employees.
Employees who receive fulfilling, individualized and authentic recognition at work are:
5x as likely to feel connected to their work culture, and …
4x as likely to be engaged —GALLUP
Implementing leadership training
Having strong leaders makes a connected culture a reality.
Organizations with strong “leadership maturity” are more likely to build better, more successful teams. Yet:
> 11% of surveyed organizations report they have a “strong” or “very strong” leadership bench
> 77% of businesses report that leadership is lacking
Invest in improving and strengthening leadership skills to inspire and motivate your workforce.
Leadership development dos
> Treat leadership development as a process
> Incorporate best practices, data and personal stories into leadership learnings
> Connect leadership learnings with on-the-job challenges
Leadership development don’ts
> Consider leadership development as a one-and-done event
> Structure leadership learnings through a single approach
> Launch leadership learnings without previous executive buy-in or input
ADAPTED FROM THE CENTER FOR CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
Reinforcing a connected culture throughout your organization
A connected culture needs to be woven into every employee’s work journey to maximize their value and contribution. ITA Group helps employers keep momentum up with the good culture progress they’ve made.
About the author: Tanya Fish
Tanya is the leader of Employee Experience for ITA Group. She drives the insights, strategy and evolution around employee experience for the organization while offering advisement for client engagement and employee programs. Tanya loves inspiring passion in people, something she believes impacts the individual, the organization and the community. Tanya is energized by achievement, learning and empowerment, and balanced by time with family and friends and being outdoors.
How to develop a connected culture
Get more ideas on how to motivate your people and create the connected culture you want by reading our latest ebook.
