GiftCard Partners Blog

This is an incentive and gift card blog, but at the heart of our industry is full of interesting stories about businesses, how they start, and what makes them keep on ticking. Check out Anthony Tjan’s post on
Harvard Business Review:
Great Businesses Don’t Start with a Plan to learn how GiftCard Partners was started and what makes it tick. Ed Shulkin’s post (Eshukin on the blog) is a great reminder of why we are all in business. Enjoy!

As the economy continues to improve, I for one am thinking about how and where to vacation this summer. On a personal level, I know I will grab up deals with extra gift card dollars wherever I can find them. And with professional interest, Harris Interactive’s recent survey (on behalf of Choice Hotels) seems like really great timing for the loyalty rewards market. The survey reports that out of  the 2,100 U.S adults that were surveyed, over 87% of Americans plan to travel for leisure this summer, and they report that if they had an extra $50 to spend on their vacation, they'd be most likely to spend it on:

GCP has a standing presence in the corporate gift card buyer, loyalty rewards, Scrip, and retailer/merchant communities, and now we are expanding into a little less corporate attitude with our
Facebook page. Our new GiftCard Partners Facebook page offers non-corporate entities similar BULK gift card discounts that corporations have known about, and saved with, for years. Check out our Facebook post: The perfect gift for Teachers, PTAs, and PTOs … and it's no apple! Teachers, PTAs, and PTOs will love this for Teacher Appreciation Week and End of Year THANK-YOU’s. Check
GCP's Facebook page for ideas you can use to reward with gift cards, in bulk.

We’ve been writing a lot about how gamification is taking employee motivation and engagement programs by storm, but does the same People + Participation = Productivity[1] theory apply to customer loyalty and incentive programs? Destination CRM.com says YES: “The things that make games so compelling can equally make employees, partners, [and] customers addicted to your B2B or B2C offering.” And we at GCP are compelled to say YES as well with case studies like this: Samsung saw impressive boosts in their customer loyalty program via their social loyalty program, Samsung Nation. With the Badgeville gaming platform, they grew their user generated content and website traffic, but more importantly; they achieved financial results as well! “Samsung, in return, saw 66 % more users submitting 447 % more product answers on its global Web site. Even more impressive, the user-generated content prompted 34 % of users to put 224 % more items in shopping carts”, states CRM.com’s article Game On. The reward is an important aspect of any motivation and incentive program, and since these games can be played online and anywhere in the world, the rewards should also offer international value. Gift cards are a common customer loyalty reward, but onthe international front; GCP offers maxchoice international vouchers. They act like gift cards, but with even more flexibility for international customers. Check out more information on
maxchoice premium international vouchers. For more in-depth information and case studies, check out
Game On: Gamification Strategies Motivate Customer and Employee Behaviors [1]
Engagement Strategies Magazine Game Theory: People + Participation = Productivity

GCP’s April eNews is here! What you will find: