Parago Releases Research on Reward Programs and the 'New Consumer'

LEWISVILLE, Texas, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Parago (www.parago.com), the leader in rewards-based incentive solutions, released a suite of research about new consumer preferences, attitudes and behaviors with respect to reward-based promotions. The report is a culmination of several consumer surveys conducted by Parago between December 2009 and March 2010.

Parago conducted three surveys of consumers polling them on their spending habits in today's economy. Specifically the research asked questions related to changes in purchasing habits and attitudes in the last year, where and how consumers shop and their expectations and preferences with respect to promotions, discounts and rewards.

A picture of a "new consumer" emerged from the research. Consumers are changing in terms of how they shop, where they shop and their expectations of the experience. Specifically they demand:

Value - 83% are proactively seeking out rebates, 79% have changed their shopping habits due to budget constraints and 60% always look for the best price.

Convenience - 58% prefer online submissions for rewards and 48% of consumers would choose an offer with an online submission over a mail-in.

Choice - 84% prefer the ability to choose their reward and a majority of respondents value a choice in reward across categories such as merchant or group gift cards, Visa or MasterCard prepaid cards, merchandise, PayPal or direct deposit.

"This suite of research should be a wake-up call to anyone that markets to consumers – expectations have increased. No longer is it simply enough to hit one of the elements of value, choice or convenience – consumers now demand you hit on all three to gain a relationship with them," said Juli Spottiswood, Parago CEO.  "Technology has made it simpler and more affordable to meet consumer expectations across these platforms and smart consumer promotions are an excellent way to develop that long term loyalty everyone is looking to generate."

While value and convenience have long been studied with respect to consumer behavior, choice is a relatively new development growing in popularity over the past few years. Parago's research shows how the intersection of choice provides new avenues for customer engagement and satisfaction and strong opportunities for profitable and growth oriented programs. Choice is desired by consumers, and executed intelligently, provides immense opportunities for marketers as well: the ability to cross-promote, create a better customer experience and deliver on brand promise give ample opportunities for better strategic marketing.

Parago supports an extensive range of consumer incentives for companies, delivering billions of dollars of rewards and incentives annually. Parago's accomplishments are benchmarked not only by their innovation and effectiveness, but their industry-best client retention rate (98%) and consistently strong growth.

About Parago

Parago is the innovative provider of rewards-based incentive solutions that deploy technology to drive better results from consumers, employees and sales channels. Parago provides a full range of corporate and consumer incentive programs to Fortune 500 companies. Its offerings include incentive solutions targeted at customer acquisition and retention, employee performance improvement and recognition programs and sales and channel incentives solutions. Parago has distinguished itself in the rewards-based incentives field for more than ten years by consistent reinvention of legacy approaches, introducing 27 industry firsts and receiving three patents. For more information visit www.parago.com.

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Juli Spottiswood

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SOURCE Parago