GiftCard Partners Blog

Employees' satisfaction with their recognition is not truly measured by the company, but by the employee.  And, although it is easy for companies to simply give employees recognition by giving a raise, employees are not satisfied with this outcome.  Employees want more; they want to feel as though their employer cares about what they want for their efforts, not what the company is willing to give.  The top five reward satisfaction points based on a recent poll were:

WELLESLEY, Mass., Aug. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Today GiftCard Partners' (GCP) Ed Shulkin and Deb Merkin announced 10 years of vision coming to fruition as their virtual workforce now stretches across all regions of the country. Massachusetts, New York, California, Florida, andOregon are just a few of the company's remote workplace "home" offices.

The "Kicks for Guns" program in Central Florida, will be held from this weekend in order to get illegal and unwanted guns off the streets of the greater Orlando area.  No questions will be asked of anyone turning in a gun, and people who turn in guns will be rewarded with gift card options from select local retailers.  These types of buy-back programs are common in communities when local law enforcement is trying to rid the community of certain dangerous materials.  Another common buy back program is for old prescriptions.  Often in communities local law-enforcement will reward community members with a relevant gift card in exchange for their old prescriptions. This is a way for the community to come together to promote safety and unity, and indulge in the offered rewards. For more information on the
gun buy back in Orlando click here.  Have you seen any other buy-back programs? Where and what was the reward? Let us know by leaving a comment.

We have been talking quite a bit about e-certs; how they are used, who buys them, and why the technology is changing the gift card industry.  Here are some helpful hints from our friends at CashStar about how to best market your e-cert programs.
Highlight eCerts on the Home Page “Brands promoting eGift Cards on the website homepage during the week of Christmas realized over four times as many sales per day (339% lift) when compared to the priort wo weeks.”
Integrate eGifting on all Relevant Pages Use page headers and highlights to bring attention to your e-Certs.  Some examples of where to mention e-Certs are: Gift Card Page Gift Center Page Consistent header and footer navigation Customer Favorites Page.  These are pages and areas where there is a high turnaround between seeing a purchasing option and actually making the purchase.  If your consumers see that you offer e-Certs, they are more inclined to purchase them.
Consider the impact of eMail campaigns during the Holidays E-Cert email campaigns provide lift for brands.  There was a 289% lift for brands with no previous e-Cert marketing activity. Specifically there was a 10 fold increase in sales in 48 hours for CVS after using blogging and e-Cert promotion tactics during the holiday season. E-Certs are a powerful part of the gift card market. GiftCard Partners is planning to promote eCerts to our B2B customers who purchase direct during the holidays, based on the clear value of this type of program. How does your company market this technology? Let us know by leaving a comment!

We know digital gift cards and incentives are popular, based on their ease of delivery and eco-friendly nature, while still providing the same flexibility of a tangible gift card.  But what we want to know is who is most likely to buy this new technology? Research conducted by Urban Wallace Associates and sponsored by CashStar provided the GCP team with some insight. In this eGift Card Buyer Study, they interviewed over 6,000 eCert users across a national sample. Here are some key findings: There are 3 different demographic shoppers: 1. Generous Gifter- This is primarily a mom who is responsible for all the family gifting. She works,is part of a two-income household, has children and is very busy. She is looking for an easy way to shop with a personal touch. Giving a gift card or eCert is easy. She spends approximately $35per gift. 2. Metro-Digital Shopper- A young urban professional who is busy, looking for instant gratification, and only shops on-line, via smart-phone or ipad, often on the go. The Metro-Digital Shopper is highly educated, tends to spend over $75 per gift card/eCert and purchases during peak times like lunch time and in the evening. 3. The Grateful Boss- ( This is the segment GCP was most excited about, as we had a little potential for B2B information!) This is typically a front-line manager who wants to provide instant gratification for a job well done. He/She is highly educated, makes over $100K a year, and 98% are married. They tend to purchase gift cards/ecerts an average of 5-7 times a year with an average value of $150- $200! They usually purchase during lunch time between 11 AM and 12PM. The Grateful Boss may have a secret budget for this program, purchase it out of his personal funds, or through a formal motivation program. But in any of these cases it is important to provide quick gratification for the employee and reinforce successful behaviors. The research also discussed that 85% of digital gift cards and incentives are incremental sales over plastic! Which begs the obvious question, why aren’t more retailers using eCerts? Let us know what you think about this by leaving us a comment!