Programme owners feel that while senior leadership, value incentive trips, finance and procurement professionals are seen as much less supportive. Photo Credit: iStock/Nuthawut Somsuk
While most incentive programme owners believe incentive travel is beneficial for sales growth, engagement and retention, few are confident in their ability to demonstrate that success with metrics and key performance indicators, according to the Incentive Research Foundation’s latest study, Measuring Incentive Travel Program Effectiveness.
The study of 114 respondents, including 56 incentive program owners and 58 third-party providers, reveals how incentive professionals measure the effectiveness and business impact of incentive travel programmes, where the biggest gaps exist, and what is needed to strengthen measurement practices across the incentives industry.
“For an industry that has evolved in so many ways, there is still a surprising lack of consistent measurement,” said IRF president Stephanie Harris. “Efforts still tend to focus more on attendee satisfaction and event execution, rather than on business performance or long-term behavioral change… which can leave programs vulnerable to scrutiny from finance and procurement stakeholders.”
Key takeaways
Among the study's findings:
The vast majority (85%) of programme owners polled rated the impact of their incentive travel programmes on business objectives as good or excellent, but only 4% were very confident that their approach accurately isolates the impact of their programmes.
Measurement tends to focus on attendee experience and event design over business impact.
Programme owners feel that their internal stakeholders, especially senior leadership, value their programmes, finance/ procurement professionals are seen as much less supportive.
Fewer than one in four program owners track return on investment or the cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of their programmes.
Nearly half of those surveyed were uncertain how to best measure the outcomes of their incentive travel programmes.
Third parties place a greater emphasis on measurement approaches that justify program investment (71%) and evaluate business impact (60%) than their corporate counterparts do, and they are more likely to measure ROI than programme owners.
More incentive travel trends can be found in the latest Northstar/Cvent Incentive PULSE Survey.
Source: Northstar Meetings Group