Named “Guardians of the Year” by Time magazine, frontline healthcare workers are at the top of the list of those shouldering the physical, mental, and emotional toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. A prominent Toronto hospital, wanting to learn more about the stress this population is experiencing, decided to establish a long-term study of its employees. Natalie Heeney, the Research Coordinator for the study, said that the study team hoped to survey “anyone with a badge,” aiming for approximately 1,000 participants working in patient care, support services, and retail.
Over the course of two years, the study will be asking questions about participants’ mental and emotional health through a 20-minute research survey offered every three to four months. The survey will glean insights into employee’s levels of burnout, distress, and the impact COVID-19 is having on these outcomes over time. Understanding the connection between mental health and the pandemic will help inform best practices and interventions used to reduce burnout among their staff. Calling this a “big ask” of their staff, the study team wanted to compensate employees for their time and participation in the form of a $15 gift card for each completed questionnaire.
The team also recognized that tracking changes and deriving meaningful data requires consistent engagement in multiple surveys. Rewarding survey participants doesn’t just thank them for their time, it helps retain them over the long haul.
There was only one challenge: issuing potentially 7,000-8,000 gift cards over the course of the study is a huge undertaking for one person. Natalie needed a digital rewards solution that was easy to manage.
Natalie’s quest for the perfect digital rewards partner began as many searches do, with Google. Because safety and privacy is especially critical in healthcare, it was important that she find a rewards delivery platform that was both secure and established. After reading reviews, conducting online research, and interviewing both Rybbon and a competitor, Rybbon became the “obvious choice.”
And Rybbon’s integration with the study’s chosen survey software platform, Alchemer , meant that once Natalie specified the reward it would be automatically sent to their survey respondents. (No tedious copying and pasting hundreds of email addresses to issue digital gift cards because who has time for that?)
Rybbon’s long list of brand partners means that rewards can be redeemed for a variety of products and services (many contactless) including retailers, restaurants, airlines, dinner delivery services, and many other options.
One differentiator with Rybbon is the ability to donate digital rewards to charitable organizations, like the American Red Cross and Clean Water Fund. Natalie says, “This was a big bonus for us and one of the reasons we really wanted to go with Rybbon,” because people who work in healthcare tend to be more altruistic.
Like many organizations, the hospital has experienced an uptick in spam during the pandemic. Having rewards delivered in a way that they are clearly identifiable is key so they aren’t lost or ignored. Rybbon’s customization means that reward emails are branded with the survey’s campaign banner and logo so employees know they’re legit. (And if any rewards are still unclaimed, Rybbon issues a 100% refund for the gift value and credits the funds to your account so that you can easily apply them towards another campaign.)
Navigating technology across international lines can present additional hurdles, especially when it comes to regulation. When the hospital needed a piece of technology recoded to ensure compliance on Canadian servers, the tech gurus at Rybbon immediately identified a solution to address their specific needs.
With several months of using Rybbon to manage and deliver digital rewards under her belt, Natalie calls our customer service team “through the roof,” “unreal,” and “amazing.”
Whether your research is a marathon or a sprint, digital rewards are an awesome way to thank participants and keep them coming back. Rybbon takes the pain and costs out of managing digital rewards and incentives with the only all-in-one solution for sending, tracking and managing your rewards programs.
And with integrations with the top marketing, research, and survey platforms you can easily link digital incentives to the tools you’re already using to collect your data.
What are you waiting for? It’s free to set up an account, or you can request a demo to see just how easy it is to harness the power of digital rewards for your marketing and research.
Kristy is a digital marketing professional who specializes in innovative marketing solutions for the technology space
Kristy is a digital marketing professional who specializes in innovative marketing solutions for the technology space
