Chapter two of Rajat Paharia’s book “Loyalty 3.0: How to Revolutionize Customer and Employee Engagement” focuses on motivation as a driving factor in Loyalty 3.0 and why it works so well. There are two main factors that drive the success, being big data and human motivation. This human motivation can be intrinsic, personal satisfaction or motivation, or extrinsic, which is external rewards or praise. Motivation is a huge part of customers purchasing or returning to a company, and same with employees enjoying their jobs. Motivation keeps people coming back and wanting more, whether or not it is intrinsic or extrinsic motivators at play.
“Internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject, and to exert persistent effort in attaining a goal” (Paharia, 2013, p. 23). When I consider my past roles, I can easily separate the jobs I enjoyed and had more motivation to continue to do well in versus jobs that did not make me feel like I had a purpose. I am more of an intrinsic person when it comes to jobs. While I love praise and rewards, I feel my best when I feel like I am making an impact. In a few of my past roles, there have been times where I do not receive either praise or rewards, nor do I feel like I am of any use. It is quite difficult to put in effort when neither of these are at play.
On the other hand, as a customer, I am more of an extrinsic person. I enjoy a good reward. I love shopping at places where I know I can rack up points, level up to new statuses or even gain monetary rewards. Aerie (and American Eagle) are the first companies that come to mind when I consider a strong rewards system. It is easy to rack up points to turn into money off of a purchase.
Within intrinsic motivations, there are five key intrinsic motivators. These five motivators include autonomy (urge to control), mastery (desire to improve), purpose (feel like you’re making a difference), progress (moving towards a goal) and social interaction (connection with others). Something that I found interesting within the chapter is that “Most theories of motivation state that intrinsic motivators are more powerful than extrinsic motivators” (Paharia, 2013, p. 25). I understand how this is possible, because external rewards and praise can be very surface level when it comes to ultimate satisfaction with a role or company.
Extrinsic motivation is often tapped into when it comes to mobile apps or companies that want to gain repeat customers. Ultimately, motivation is fundamental to the success of Loyalty 3.0, and will continue to be so for a long time. As long as people are motivated, there is always something to achieve or improve upon. I consider my relationship with Jesus an intrinsic motivation. I want to grow in my faith and continue to learn more about my Savior for myself. A life without Christ is nothing, so I strive to do everything for His glory.
Paharia, R. (2013). Loyalty 3.0: How to revolutionize customer and employee engagement with big data and gamification(p. 23). McGraw-Hill. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C5R7G4G