Great pay, amazing benefits, ample home time...  the core incentives we see on every driver recruitment ad. If you can’t offer these, you won’t meet the standard of what drivers demand from their carriers.

Therefore, an ad’s real power to stand out falls to niche incentives, specific perks capable of automatically raising the interest of drivers whose needs match exactly what you have to offer.

This series of posts will examine such incentives. Some may not apply to your model. The ones that do, however, could make all the difference in the world to the right driver.

Obtainable Bonuses

As the competition for new drivers heats up, carriers have been forced to get creative when it comes to incentives. You can raise pay, sure, but everyone is already doing that. Benefits are a great approach as well, but again, it’s difficult to find a job description that doesn’t already include at least some form of health insurance or a retirement plan.

So companies also rely on bonuses, promises of extra money for this or that specific achievement. They can be a great boon to landing pages as they provide more opportunities to include dollar signs in a sea of words.

But improperly utilized, they can also become useless. Simply stating that a bonus exists is not enough. Drivers - especially veteran drivers who have been around the bonus block a few times - can tell the difference between a legitimate opportunity and an empty promise.

Luckily, it only takes one extra step to make a bonus sing…

Spell. It. Out.

For a bonus to entice drivers, it needs to be obtainable. And the only way to make that clear is to include specifics. What does each bonus require? Does it pay all at once, or according to a set schedule? If you’re not including a dollar amount at all, you’re already way off the winning path.

Let’s look at some common bonuses and anticipate what questions about them will need answered in your ad copy:

Safe Driving Bonus

Is this for a certain timespan of incident-free driving? A number of miles? Or perhaps it is for passing DOT inspections? What money can the driver expect and at what schedule?

Fuel Saving Bonus

What MPG must be achieved? And for how long?

Referral Bonus

We’ve already covered how to make this a simpler process that helps the driver achieve the bonus. But at what schedule does the bonus pay out? How long does a new driver have to remain at the company for the bonus to kick in?

Sign-On Bonus

Probably the most common of these bonuses, but rarely do they include a breakdown of when payments arrive. Often this bonus is incremental. Is it broken into chunks? What are the milestones that must be reached?

Longevity Bonus

Again, it’s all about the schedule. When does this kick in? Is it a rate increase or a one-time payment? Will it lead to further bonuses down the road or just the initial offering?

Performance Bonus

Stay away from using this one. Instead, identify what the performance bonuses are and list them individually, with as many specifics as you can provide.