GiftCard Partners Blog

In a continually changing business economy, finding the right mix of salary, benefits and incentives can be a daunting challenge to get right. There are categories of folks to consider in order to continually attract and recruit top performers, motivate all employees, and retain them. Of course that mix of benefits must help the company achieve its goals, so differentiating levels of performance with varying levels of incentives can help your company not “over-reward”. Gift cards have become the go-to option for incentives for many reasons, but their appeal is super-high when differentiating levels of performance since they can be given in so many denominations and the recipient can make their own decisions about what to purchase from the retailer or merchant. Have you created differing levels of achievement with goal specific incentives to match? Check out Business Finance Magazine’s
Compensation Challenges in 2012: Finding the Right Mix to learn more about differentiation and how to shuck and jive with change in your organization with regard to compensation and incentive budgets.

Think of these 5 tips as your new year's resolutions as an employer. As 2012 goes into full swing and the economy and job market continues to struggle and maintain instability it is important for the success of your business and your employees that you keep employees motivated this year. 1. Act as a role model to employees, this will help inspire them and help employees realize their work passions. 2. Clearly define the organizational vision, mission and strategy as well as employee goals and objectives. This helps keep motivation specific and focused. 3. Delegate challenging and meaningful work. Minimizing busy work, and maximizing meaningful projects helps employees see their direct impact on the company. 4. Create individualized personal development plans with employees. This shows employer dedication and commitment to employees. 5. Monitor employees progress toward goals and reward good behavior. Rewards do not need to be big, a small denomination gift card can be just enough to reinforce the good behavior without costing the company too much.  
For more on how to motivate employees check out the Forbes.com article.

Customer loyalty is key in the market companies currently compete in. Not only is the economy still recovering from a major recession, but the pace of media messaging causes consumer fragmentation that has never been seen before. Maintaining customer loyalty can make or break companies and their bottom lines. Here are three ways companies often get customer loyalty and brand loyalty programs wrong:

At GCP, we typically blog about how gift cards are being used to incent and motivate employees, customers, or partners, as well as trends around incentives. However, this article by Roy Saunderson of the
Recognition Management Institute  has motivated me to highlight the importance of not just recognizing and rewarding your employees, but… inspiring them. “How do we get them to commit their hearts and spirits to the mission of the company?” Roy asks…we love his answers and we hope they inspire you to truly influence the workplace in a meaningful way all year long. Click here to read:
Incentive Magazine’s, 10 Ways to Inspire Employees at Year End

The growing demand for receiving gift cards doesn’t stop at holiday wish lists and workplace incentives. The simplicity of gift self-selection and using gift cards to stock the household with needed items, are highly redeeming factors for giving or offering gift cards in today’s difficult economy. Loyalty rewards programs are looking at this demand seriously and we’re starting to see gift cards infusing points redemption programs for credit card rewards, airline miles and consumer loyalty programs. The reason for this is simple;
gift cards offer flexibility and help people pay for everyday items….why wouldn’t loyalty rewards programs offer them to engage customers? For the same reasons, cash back programs are on the most wanted list for rewards program participants. But people are also redeeming in droves for gift cards, above more traditional rewards like travel and merchandise. Each rewards points system offers varying redemption options, but offering gift cards should be considered a priority in a world where consumers demand choice and often thriftiness.
NerdWallet takes a look at  American Express’s rewards program and rates gift cards as the top popular choice, above travel rewards and all other options (listing many as “Bad Redemption Options”). Of course, this isn’t the only perspective for why you should offer gift cards as a redemption option in your program…but as the 22nd most valuable brand in the world, American Express’s rewards program is also one of the most successful rewards programs in the world. What’s in YOUR rewards program?