GiftCard Partners Blog

This blog is in no way meant to be alarmist. I grew up on the coast of RI; I know how ocean-side communities fear hurricanes. This blog is meant to highlight a use of gift cards that we’ve seen repeated in several places, including our recent Summer 2011 Gift Card Usage Survey (results to come) and this story, from Naples FL. Blood drives are so important to maintaining the critical and highly perishable supply of blood that is needed to support the victims of natural disasters, in addition to the normal supply required. A recent NY participant in GiftCard Partners’ survey shared that they use gift cards to keep their most loyal donors and supporters engaged with them and to positively impact their blood giving experience, frequency and long term supporter status. In my opinion; this is how to rally help for friends and neighbors... from
www.naplesnews.com: “The blood center will offer $10 gas cards and the chance to meet former Miami Dolphins defensive star, Kim Bokamper. Successful donors will also receive a $5 Patric’s Restaurant gift card and gift cards from Sylvan Learning Center, Sugar Palm Café Bakery & Sports Clips while supplies last. Event participants will have the opportunity to win the following grand prize drawings: one of two pairs of Tampa Bay Rays game tickets, one of three pairs of Fort Myers Miracle Baseball tickets, a 10-passenger sightseeing cruise from Cruise Naples and one of 3 three $50 gift cards courtesy of Lu Lu Belle Children’s Boutique. Plus, visitors can enter to win the blood center’s summer grand prize drawing of 4 adult two-day Busch Gardens admission passes and lodging from Wingate by Windham. Visit
www.givebloodcbc.org or call 239-436-5455 for more information.” Gift cards are a great way to inspire and incent people to take part in such a critical campaign.
Read the full report and blood donor offer here.      

What’s the high level? The
2011 Gift Card IQ Survey reveals good news for retailers when it comes to “bigger” incentive gift card budgets. The five largest budget categories (all above $75,000) all increased. For example: -    Budgets “more than $100,000 nearly doubled to 15 percent this year, compared with 7.8 percent in 2010.”

Telecommuting; the term was coined in back in 1973, but it took recent cloud computing technologies for many employers to jump on board telecommuting wagon.
GiftCard Partners (GCP) has an entirely remote workforce, so we understand the benefits to our employer, to ourselves as the employees and the Earth. Companies like
GCP are making a difference in society with a very small carbon footprint and in work life balance by offering telecommuting as an option. But with a remote workforce, how can you be sure that recognition and motivation for your telecommuting workforce isn’t lost?

Don’t dismiss those hard earned reward points, pass them on!

Readers of this blog are likely power-users of their own loyalty programs. We work in the incentive, loyalty, or gift card industries; so we know how they work and we know how valuable these points are.. But did you know that they are valuable enough to pass along in your will? Although rules vary from program to program, many major airline rewards programs allow loyalty program participants to share their accrued points with fellow program members. That’s what is in it for YOU; what’s in it for YOUR Company’s loyalty program? “The biggest incentive is continued customer loyalty. By allowing these types of transfers, companies would either (1) gain new customers to make up for those they have lost or (2) cement customer loyalty to their programs by showing customers just how much they care about their continued business.” says
Payments.com in their article
Card and Airline Rewards: ‘Till Death Do Us Part (Or Not).
Check out the article for a list of airline and credit card programs that participate in passing along of rewards when you pass-on. If you are a loyalty program power user or you are administering a loyalty program, you’ll likely be interested in Gerry Beyer’s (Texas Tech University School of Law) insights from the new report,
“Rewards from the Grave,” which he co-authored with Mikela Bryant of the "Estate Planning and Community Property Law Journal."    

Paybefore Update, Vol. 5, Issue 10