How It Works
In Nectar users and/or managers are given a monthly allowance of points to give out to other users. These points do not rollover and are refreshed every month. Earned points do rollover and can be spent on gift cards or on a variety of Amazon items. Points have an exchange rate of 10 points = $1.
Pricing
Subscription Fees
Nectar uses a freemium pricing model. So, you can access a basic set of Nectar's features, such as their main peer-to-peer recognition program, for free. However, to unlock more features and integrations, you can upgrade to one of Nectar's paid-for plans:
Standard: $2.50 per user per month if paid annually; $2.75 per user per month if paid monthly. Gives you access to non-monetary recognition, top-down recognition, custom rewards, automated birthday and anniversary awards, analytics, and chat tool integrations.
Plus: $3.75 per user per month if paid annually; $4.25 per user per month if paid monthly. Gives you access to the Amazon rewards catalog, integrations with human resource platforms (HRIS/HRM), single sign on integrations, company branded swag store integration, and challenges that can be claimed by users for points.
Point/Reward Budget
When users exchange their earned points for a reward, you must pay for that reward. Your rewards fees cover these costs at an exchange rate of 10 points = $1.
You can setup pre-pay or post-pay for rewards funding. Prepay has you pay a certain amount in advance, which gets refilled automatically when you fall below a certain amount. With post pay your payment method in Nectar will be charged on the 1st of each month for all rewards redeemed in the prior month. Post pay requires reaching out to your account manager and paying a security deposit.
Getting Started
It’s very simple to signup and get going with Nectar’s free plan. New accounts have a setup guide that does a good job of taking you through all of the basics needed set Nectar up for your company.
Larger accounts and those on the Plus plan can benefit from more hands-on implementation and a dedicated account manager to help configure Nectar and roll it out to their organization. However, Nectar minimizes complexity with limited configuration options, so the setup guide is likely sufficient for most in getting started.
Ease of Use
Nectar has a clean, modern look with a very intuitive interface. Navigation is smooth and it’s never a hassle to find what you’re looking for.
The average user will have no problem interacting with recognition, giving recognition, redeeming rewards, or updating their profile.
Admin users have access to twice as many menu options, but partly thanks to the limited amount of configuration needed/possible, this still never feels overwhelming. You can usually intuitively figure out where you need to go and get there in one or two clicks.
Reward Catalog
Nectar’s standard rewards catalog consists of 120+ gift cards. However, they also have a partnership with Amazon Business which allows users to spend their points on millions of Amazon items, giving a big boost to the size of their rewards catalog.
However, Amazon rewards are not available outside of the US. This combined with their small gift card catalog with limited international availability means there aren’t a lot of reward options for some international users.
While you can’t remove specific items from the reward catalog you can add to it with custom rewards, though these must be fulfilled by the company itself instead of Nectar handling fulfillment.
Integrations
HRIS
HRIS integrations allow you to sync your Nectar user list with your Human Resources Information System, so that any changes made in the HRIS are reflected in Nectar. Nectar also offers a custom SFTP sync. This lets your HRIS regularly transfer a file containing all your user info. You'll usually need to coordinate with your HRIS account manager to get this connection in place, though with some HRIS you'll be able to set this up with little input from either.
SSO
Nectar has several Single Sign On (SSO) integrations that will allow users to sign into Nectar using the same credentials they use to access other business apps. There is also the option for custom SSO setup via SAML for providers that Nectar doesn't already support.
Common Tool Integrations
As far as other business software Nectar integrates with, there is just a Slack integration and Microsoft Teams integration.
Additional Integrations
Nectar offers integration with the swag management platform AXOMO. This allows you to setup a company store with company-branded merchandise that users can purchase with their points.
Nectar also provides a digital signage URL, which lets you to display recognition in real time on any screen that supports a browser. This allows for integration with various digital signage platforms.
Analytics & Reporting
There are some basic analytics covering key areas of interest in the account, such as participation and trends in recognition, but Nectar lacks a diverse range of metrics, stats, and filters to drill into. Data export options are also limited, so you can’t run your own data analysis using the raw data.
Support
Nectar’s primary mode of support is through chat, which is available during standard business hours. Support is also available via email and accounts with dedicated account managers will have access to phone support.
Nectar’s help center covers the basics and most of what you’d need to know to use Nectar, though there are some gaps in the help center’s coverage. Most articles are conveniently accompanied by a video demonstration, though some articles consist only of a video.
Additional Features
Mobile Apps
Nectar offers a mobile app available on Android and Apple devices. With the mobile app you can perform a majority of the same actions as the standard web app, including viewing and interacting with the feed, giving recognition, and redeeming rewards.
Corporate Discounts
As a perk that’s separate from rewards, Nectar gives US users access to a variety of corporate discounts. Most of these discounts are for major, national brands, though you may also find some localized deals. Some of these deals may be no better than you can find by searching around on your own, but Nectar provides a convenient way to immediate access many discounts in one place.
Additional Notes
- Admins can create “challenges” that users can claim for points, such as a challenge to complete some kind of training certification.
- Powerful bulk upload utility lets you upload/update multiple users via CSV file while being able to do custom header mappings and view problematic rows before uploading.
- Users can exchange their own earned points for more points to give away.
- Can put “guardrails” in place to prevent users from giving more than a certain percentage of their allowance balance to a single user.
The Bottom Line
As easy to use as it is to get started, Nectar offers a simple way to incorporate employee recognition software into your business, though this simplicity comes at the cost of customization and flexibility.
