Six steps to Measure Motivation
The Force of Motivation
By Ko de Ruyter, Debbie Keeling and David Cox
‘Motivation’ is a complex concept, but it’s what drives loyalty. It determines why your loyalty program participants are willing to increase your share of wallet, or even go the extra mile for your business.
But how can you measure ‘motivation’? Most agencies and pundits will only tell you how to measure ‘loyalty’. Often this is done using the basic method of asking program participants ‘the only question that matters’, aka calculating your Net Promoter Score (NPS). But the science has repeatedly shown that the NPS is at best marginally related to loyalty program success.
Most people classify motivation into two fundamental types: extrinsic motivation which involves doing something because you want to earn a reward; and intrinsic motivation which involves doing something because it’s personally rewarding. Based on this, most B2B loyalty programs offer a mix of hard benefits (tangible financial or material rewards) and soft benefits (such as membership status; value-added services or a shared identity)
But at Motivforce, we are still probing the notion of ‘motivation’ because we believe that, just like our personal relationships with significant others, business relationships are ‘complicated’. And these complications are not accurately captured by the basic distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. This is why, a ‘two-sizes-fits-all’ model to understanding what motivates the loyalty of your program participants will ultimately fail.
Our research shows that motivation can best be approached as a ladder. A stepwise approach takes into account a more fine-grained inventory of people’s needs, including the need to not engage in a longer-term relationship with your company. When we talk motivation, we refer to 6 different steps, with unique aspects and a progressively strong impact on loyalty and ultimately the profitability of your company. They also influence the design of incentives, rewards and comms strategies.
How to measure motivation in six steps:
Amotivation: “It is no longer clear why we should be doing business with you”. These rock-bottom program participants probably haven’t been in touch for a while. So it’s time to design a re-activation or re-engagement initiative to help them step up their motivation.
Extrinsic: “I need that get-away trip”. This is classic frequent flyer style reward-seeking. The old carrot and stick approach. It still works with program participants, but a double-point SPIF by a competitor will quickly erode any sense of loyalty.
Introjected: “I would feel bad if we discontinued selling this product line”. Motivation to remain loyal is only partially internalised. Program participants feel they should remain loyal, to impress others, often driven by avoiding a sense of guilt. Smooth operator comms from the competition is likely to be effective when it emphasises that all will be fine if the participant starts selling their product range instead.
Identified: “This supplier helps us to develop our business in a way that I believe in”. Now we are getting to the hearts and minds section of the ladder. Program participants want to stay loyal because they think it is important to do so.
Integrated: ‘Our relationship with this supplier is part of who we are’. This is beyond important. Program participants with integrated motivation recognise that the association with your business defines what they stand for. Pretty strong base for loyalty, we would say.
Intrinsic: “This program offers interesting opportunities for me to develop professionally”. Nothing beats enabling your program participants to become better at what they do. This is why an increasing number of our clients focus on including training and learning as an integral part of their loyalty strategy.
Taking these insights from the psychological science of the proverbial couch into the practice of B2B loyalty allows us to help clients cater better to the needs of their business partners. We believe in the force of motivation (hence our company’s name) and by probing that elusive notion of ‘motivation’, we can offer actionable advice about using its force to benefit your business.
