The average channel seller’s attention is divided among 8.9 programs at once. They need compelling reasons to choose your program over others – and simplicity is at the top of their list.
Partners avoid programs with confusing or complicated requirements and instead choose those that provide motivating incentives AND transparent earning pathways. The more intuitive your program rules, the higher the participation rates. As Maritz behavioral strategists have highlighted in the 4 Foundations of Channel Growth, programs that embrace a loyalty-driven approach see much stronger engagement.
Success Snapshot: Maritz research shows that 91% of respondents say incentives have a “high” or “very high” impact on their motivation to sell, and 92% of sellers agree that participating in incentive programs contributes positively to their business success.
If rules feel unclear or effort outweighs reward, your program won’t be a priority. Partners need to be able to see a clear route to rewards with a direct impact on their revenue and time-to-value.
So, what makes program rules valuable to channel partners? We asked them directly.
What Do Participants Expect from Channel Program Rules?
Our research found that 31% of program participants report disengaging from a program because the rules were too confusing. This is based on our 2025 Channel Incentive Insights Report and other recent Maritz research, where we surveyed hundreds of channel partners about their preferred program rule structures.
The reality is – even the most exclusive, personally valuable incentives lose their motivational power when partners can’t see a clear path to earn them. Cool rewards can get partners’ attention, but straightforward earning rules drive action.
But what exactly makes rules and goals work well in the best channel incentive programs? Here’s what partners say great rules should accomplish:
"Clear Rules" – To Make Earning Opportunities Actionable
Partners said they want simple and easy-to-understand rules (a.k.a., clear routes for earning rewards). Partners need direction to understand how to progress the goals that lead to their gains.
How to create clear rules:
- Start by defining the key behaviors you want to drive – whether that’s increasing deal registrations, boosting upsell revenue, or driving training completion.
- Tie these behaviors directly to specific reward opportunities with transparent point values or achievement levels.
- Then, outline measurable progress markers, such as sales thresholds, training completions or pipeline acceleration targets. This will give partners specific goalposts to shoot for and continued visibility of their progress.
Technology Tip: Choose a program platform that offers real-time progress dashboards and personalized achievement tracking. Modern channel incentive platforms like Maritz’s Partner Engagement Platform provide automated progress updates and customizable data views that keep partners engaged.
Speaking of progress – tracking it is essential for a clear and transparent partner journey. Be sure your program technology is user-friendly and equipped to provide partners with real-time progress updates. Bonus points if their portal includes personalized data views. Also, make a point to keep partners informed about their goal advancement and distance to rewards through relevant messages and communications.
"Fair Earnings" – To Create Reliable Value
If the game isn’t fair or the rules keep changing, people lose motivation. That’s why applying your rules consistently is important for partners to have a positive experience in your program. It promotes trust in your opportunities and boosts the reliability of your brand.
While there is a time for flexibility (like delivering surprise rewards for hidden milestones), most often, providing regular and repeatable incentive experiences across all your partner groups is ideal. This approach can even foster what we call Cult Loyalty – a community of partners deeply aligned with your brand.
Equal experiences don’t mean identical rewards either. It means structuring incentives to match different partner roles. For instance:
- A partner selling multi-year SaaS contracts has different sales cycles and behaviors than a reseller moving one-off hardware purchases.
- In manufacturing, a dealer selling high-end HVAC systems in large projects operates differently than a distributor pushing high volume products.
To effectively personalize your program for these different partner types, consider implementing targeted personalization strategies that create a true VIP experience.
Programs that acknowledge these differences and adjust earning rules accordingly drive stronger engagement across partner types.
"Relevant and Reachable Goals" – To Make Winning Realistic
A program’s earning rules tell partners if their effort will be worth the outcome. Even the most desirable rewards won’t register to partners as a real option until the rules prove they can achieve it. Realistic goals are the only kind worth chasing. One respondent from the Maritz survey put it simply: their ideal incentive program has “very simple sales goals.”
Defining simple and attainable goals does two things: it keeps all of your teams and partner groups aligned, and it helps you develop your program’s ideal rule structures. Once you know your big-picture objectives, you can:
- Break them down into more manageable milestones.
- Identify which specific behaviors will advance progress.
- Offer incentives that effectively motivate these targeted actions.
Success should feel accessible so that partners have a reason to participate. By creating frequent, bite-sized milestones along their journey, you provide regular doses of personal accomplishment that sustain their motivation over time. These small victories create momentum where each achievement fuels confidence and excitement about the next step. Effective channel program rules best practices always account for the psychological impact of attainable success.
On the other hand, if your goals seem impossible to reach, your rewards – no matter who intentional or valuable – will feel just as unattainable.
Quick Program Rules Status Check:
✓ Clarity:
Can participants understand how to earn rewards within 1-3 minutes?
✓ Fairness:
Are rules applied consistently but adaptable to different partner types?
✓ Achievability:
Do a majority of participants achieve some level or success?
✓ Measurability:
Are all behaviors and results tracked automatically?
✓ Communication:
Are rules and progress updates readily available?
Do More with Rewarding Rules
You want channel partners to focus on their customers and growing sales, not on translating cryptic rules about how they’ll participate and get rewarded in your program. Your goals don’t have to be too easy to reach. They just need to be easy to understand. Applying channel program rules best practices means finding the sweet spot between challenging and achievable.
Clarity and consistency about how to be successful in your program are a must if you want partners to put it first. Reliable rules make your program more rewarding for partners, their business’s performance and yours too.
Ready to Optimize Your Program Rules?
Want to make sure your program rules are driving the action and enthusiasm you need from partners? Let our channel incentive experts evaluate your current program structure and identify opportunities for improvement. Our team specializes in channel program rules best practices that transform average programs into exceptional ones.
Once your rules are optimized, you’ll need to measure their impact. Traditional ROI calculations often fall short for channel programs. Check out our tow-part series on The ROI Myth: Measuring Channel Program Success and Metrics That Matter to help identify the right metrics for evaluating your success.
Looking for more channel engagement insights? Check out some of these related resources to learn even more about how top-performing programs are designed.
