Thoughtful Corporate Gifting: Increasing ROI with Gift Cards

As the holiday season gets into full swing, corporate gifting is top of mind for executives, HR teams, and client facing teams alike. When done well, corporate gifting can boost employee loyalty and engagement. It can also strengthen relationships with clients and partners.  

When employers plan their corporate gifts, they should think about whether the business will benefit from this investment. Read on to learn how to implement flexible gifts, like gift cards, to drive measurable ROI on corporate gifting this holiday season.   

The Business Value of Corporate Gifting  

Corporate gifting has gone beyond the traditional boxes of fruit and candy at the end of the year. It is now a strategic part of cultivating relationships with employees, clients, and partners, and should be planned and measured as closely as any other strategic program. 

Driving Employee Engagement and Retention  

Corporate gifting can drive employee engagement and retention that lasts far beyond the holiday season and throughout the year. Employees who feel recognized for their efforts are less likely to look for a new job. According to a longitudinal study conducted by Gallup from 2022 to 2024, employees who receive meaningful recognition are 45% less likely to have left the company after two years.   

Building Client Loyalty  

For go-to-market teams, corporate gifting can greatly help with client retention and loyalty. This is important at different stages of the sales funnel. Flexible gifts, like gift cards, can fit any corporate gifting budget and provide a meaningful way to show appreciation to clients, enhancing loyalty and creating repeat business opportunities. 

Data shows that 82% of corporate gift recipients form a positive perception about that business after receiving their gift. Whether you send a gift to a prospective customer before they sign with your business, or provide a gift to a longtime client, strategic corporate gifting can provide ROI and can positively affect your company’s bottom line.  

Why Gift Cards Are an Ideal Corporate Gift  

When planning corporate gifting programs, especially during the holidays, choose gifts that provide ROI for your organization. These gifts should also strengthen your relationships with employees, clients, and partners. Gift cards are an ideal corporate gift for a number of reasons, including their scalability, flexibility, and sustainability.  

Flexibility and Customization  

Gift cards are very customizable and flexible. They allow the giver to adjust gift amounts based on different factors. This can include how long an employee has worked or the size of a client relationship. Gift cards provide a balance between flexibility for the gifter and personalized impact for the recipient.  

A solution like the Engage2Reward™ Gift Card Ordering Platform allows you to manage varied use cases from employees to clients all from one central platform. The Engage2Reward Platform makes it easy for any team to customize gift messages or select between physical or digital delivery. It also helps track budgets for both bulk and one-time orders.   

Gift cards remain cost-effective because they provide flexibility to scale gift values based on the depth and importance of employee and client relationships. Not all gifts should be equal, and gift cards allow discreet flexibility to gift appropriately in each situation.   

Simplicity and Speed  

When thinking about gifts, especially at the end of the year, companies often face order deadlines. They usually need to send gifts to many employees and clients at once. Gift cards can help by offering speed and simplicity. As an alternative to handing out physical gift cards, businesses can opt for e-gift cards, which can be ordered and delivered instantly. This works no matter where the recipient is or how far they are from the gifting organization. 

Using a centralized platform like Engage2Reward gives corporate gifters the ability to manage individual gifting campaigns to make sure they stay on budget and that gifts are tracked and delivered to the appropriate recipients in a timely manner.  

Sustainability  

Corporations are increasingly looking for eco-friendly company gifting options. Recent data shows that 69% of employees consider sustainability practices an important factor when choosing a new employer and 66% consider it important when choosing to remain with a current employer. With digital delivery available for many brands, e-gift cards are a naturally eco-friendly option, cutting out the carbon footprint of shipping a physical gift.  

Digital gift cards also save the organization money on shipping and handling. When you send many gifts, these savings add up. This can greatly affect the cost and return on investment of a corporate gifting program.  

With over 250 digital gift cards from leading brands, the Engage2Reward Platform offers the right solution to any corporate holiday gifting campaign. Categories like grocery, entertainment, dining, and prepaid open loop reward cards ensure that there's a meaningful gift for all recipients on your gift list. 

Corporate gifting is a key part of relationships between companies and their two greatest assets: their employees and their customers. Attaining and measuring the ROI on a strategic corporate gifting program is critical to making it repeatable and scalable year after year. Gift cards offer flexibility to meet any budget and provide a personalized, meaningful experience that will positively impact the retention and loyalty of the recipients. And with the powerful reporting capabilities of the Engage2Reward Platform, tracking and proving ROI of gifting programs has never been easier. 

Book a demo or register today to explore the Engage2Reward Gift Card Ordering Platform and start planning your strategic and measurable corporate gifting program.