Top Five Best Practices for Building Effective Incentive Programs

Incentive programs have long been a staple in the insurance industry thanks to their effectiveness. However, whether it's driving sales for a specific product, increasing profitability, or attracting and retaining agents, simply offering the incentive is not enough to move the needle. Success starts with strategy. 

Creative Group works with insurance carriers across the U.S. to design, implement, and evaluate incentive programs to ensure both the carrier and the agent reap the rewards. In this three-part series, we’re going to take a look at top recommendations for incentive programs, measuring ROI, and when to evaluate your existing incentive program. 

Whether you’re looking to optimize or launch an incentive program, these five best practices will set your program up for success:

1. Define specific goals. When rolling out a program, start with clear, behavior-based goals. Successful programs go beyond rewarding top-line sales. Insurance carriers should identify and reinforce behaviors that make agents and even non-sales team members more effective. This could include completing training modules, entering data into a CRM tool, or mentoring agents. These activities contribute to policy sales and strengthen the organization overall. 
2. Communicate often. Incentive programs should not be launched and then ignored. Without consistent messaging, even the best-designed programs will struggle to obtain results. Not only do you need multi-touch communication in the form of email, newsletters, in-platform alerts, and visual branding, but you should make sure there is ample support to achieve goals. If training is a key component of your program, rolling out regular modules will retain interest from agents. 
3. Structure for accessibility. Incentive programs need to feel attainable, not exclusive. The insurance industry is subject to regions, market size, agent experience, and agent type.  Goals and opportunities will vary across each of these areas. By incorporating things like competition groups or smaller sprint incentives, agents and support staff will be more likely to engage.   
4. Choose non-cash rewards for maximum impact. When polled, employees will often list cash as a preferred reward. However, it has been proven that cash is the least successful incentive reward. Non-monetary rewards like incentive travel, curated merchandise, or recognition are associated with higher job satisfaction and leave a lasting impression. They also offer flexibility for insurance carriers to offer variety that can flex with the marketplace. Read more about the strengths of non-cash rewards. 
5. Leverage intrinsic motivation. Insurance agents are characteristically intrinsically motivated. They want to do right by their clients and their carriers. External rewards like incentive programs are an added bonus—not the end goal. Carriers should use this quality to create incentives that are unique and meaningful with a powerful wow factor. Having agents organically talking about the reward is the best marketing for an incentive program and encourages more people to take part and succeed. 

Effective incentive programs are more than perks—they’re business tools. When a carrier is ready to get started or take a second look at their incentive program, they should start with research and dig into the data. Working with an experienced partner can be beneficial to understand the industry dynamics, leverage our buying power, and lean on our cross-industry view of incentives. By aligning structure, communication, and rewards with strategic goals, insurance companies can drive meaningful performance and deepen loyalty among their agent base.

Stay tuned for our next installment focused on measuring the ROI of incentive programs.  

About the authors:

Scott Tarnoff, Vice President, Business Development, brings to Creative Group over 20 years of experience as a sales leader and individual contributor. His passion for helping clients maximize the performance of their employees and partners has led to long term partnerships within multiple verticals for some of the world’s largest global brands. Scott holds a B.A. from the University of Iowa and is an outdoor enthusiast who loves to travel the globe. 

Jamie Schwartz, Senior Director of Marketing and Product, has been in the performance management industry for over 28 years designing and implementing incentive, recognition, and loyalty strategies that drive revenue, profitability and growth. She previously held leadership roles in marketing and product management for other incentive and travel companies as well as for foodservice and manufacturing companies. Active in the St. Louis area, Jamie is the Founder, President and on the Board of Directors for the St. Louis Women’s Circle.