Get In The Game is a weekly column by Dan Yarrington, managing partner of Myriad Games in Manchester & Salem, New Hampshire, Treasurer of the Professional Game Store Association, and Editor-in-Chief of GameSalute.com.  This week, Yarrington talks about in-store reward programs.

Welcome back to Get In The Game, a column that explores proactive ways we can improve the games industry.  This week, we discuss how publishers and stores should reward their customers for good behavior.

The Challenge
The tabletop games industry has a bit of a conundrum we're constantly wrestling with: How do we successfully reward players and purchasers?  How do you control the costs of reward programs and how do we make sure they're achieving our goals.  It seems simple, right?  Just give them cool stuff and they will love you and buy more stuff.  In reality, it's much more complicated--more than it needs to be.

Yawnworthy Reward Programs
The typical reward system for customers is pretty basic perspective.  You see these all the time.  Buy $10 or more and get a punch in your rewards card.  Once you get 10 punches, you get $10 off your next purchase.  Buy 5, get 1 free.  Simple, straightforward, and it doesn't break the bank.  These sorts of programs are also boring and completely lack engagement with the customer.  It's a simple mechanical interaction that emphasizes one attribute of your relationship--the exchange of money for goods and services.

Oooh, Shiny!
The other frequently used reward is the promo item.  Whether it's a shiny foil card used for tournament prizes, a special patch for a league, or a digital achievement for posting a certain number of times on a message board, these rewards actually get the customer something special and visible that they can show off as an expression of their achievement.  These are good if they have value to the recipient, but how many times have you seen someone leave an unexciting promo card on the table.  Too often in my opinion.  Shiny loses its luster quickly and we can spend an awful lot of time and energy making what end up being unexciting promos.

Sincerely Grateful
Sometimes the simplest things make a huge difference and a kind word or simple thank you can be the most powerful tool in your arsenal of rewards.  For this to be effective, it has to be personal and sincere.  No false praise, no automated responses, and no mixed messages ("thanks for doing this... hey could do this too?"). The expression of your gratitude should come across as special--every time--and should be a part of establishing or reinforcing your rapport with the customer.

Why Are You Rewarding Them?
Why bother giving out rewards?  You think they're necessary.  Are they?  Do the rewards you're giving out excite the customer?  Do they encourage them to perform a specific activity (whether a purchase, a referral, attending an event, donating to a charity, etc)?  Are they successful in achieving that result?  If not, stop giving them away.  Change them up.  Make them meaningful.  Provide serious support for behavior you want to encourage.  Don't just give out rewards for the sake of giving stuff away.  Rewards are as much about recognition as anything, so be sure you know what you're recognizing and why.

Real Rewards
We can go so far beyond these simple rewards however and give out truly awesome bonuses based on positive performance.  Choose what you want your end result to be and then build up an achievement path that leads customers toward that goal.  Do you want folks to run or attend a lot of events?  Make your system drive toward that.  Do you want customers to bring new customers in?  Make a reward for that.  And make the steps and little tchotchkes lead to a real, serious reward. Something big and memorable.

You Thought I Was Just Talking To Stores, Didn't You?
Publishers take note: all of these suggestions and admonitions apply to you as well.  In many ways, even the largest publishers have their priorities mixed without clear intent.  Is your new league kit intended to drive sales, increase play, or both?  What's the obvious link?  Is there a purchase required by the customer or linked to the specific event?  If not, the system doesn't drive revenue.  It may have an ancillary effect on sales, but don't confuse trying to get people to play games with trying to get people to purchase games.  If you want stores to engage with your games, give them a reason to--don't just give them games and posters and fliers and videos.  Give them a reason to care and a reward to work toward.  Recognize greatness and endorse the best ideas for promoting, selling, and supporting your products.

Make It Fun!
The most important part of any rewards program is that it's fun!  So many times we forget this essential element while we're doing the math to calculate the cost and benefit of a multi-tiered, fully-integrated, technologically-savvy program.  We ascribe too much value to hard benefits and too little to soft benefits.  We give away too much money instead of building in fun little experiences.  Find what makes your customers feel cool and then harness that desire as you continue to find ways to enhance your customer support through rewards.

Talk Back!
What have been the most successful ways you've had of engaging your customers through reward and support programs?  Talk Back today!

What are you waiting for?  Get In The Game!

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.