GiftCard Partners Blog

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?
Click for more blogs on Loyalty Programs

The Citi Thank You Program is revolutionizing the use of rewards points. Imagine being able to share points with your friends to save up for a get-away weekend, or save up points with one friend for another friends' birthday present. Many people pool points for gift cards from retailers who partner with Citi to make their gift cards available through the Citi ThankYou program such as CVS/Pharmacy and Charming Shoppes stores. This allows consumers to use points for gift cards for themselves, or to use as gifts, giving the recipient of the gift a chance to choose their own gift. You could even pool points with friends and family to make a group contribution to a good cause. Well, now you can. The new Citi ThankYou Point Sharing App on Facebook allows groups of friends to pool points in order to redeem the value of the points for a bigger reward. This app is the beginning of a revolution in monetizing social media. This app is allowing users to move assets and share funds through Facebook, a social media platform. This app will soon promote itself, benefiting not just the Citi ThankYou Program, but its users and potential users as well. The more people use the Point Sharing App, the more people will post on Facebook about it, making the App and its use go viral across the platform. A rewards program that rewards itself, an incentive social media innovation.
For more information on the Citi ThankYou Points Sharing App check out the pymnts.com article.

The second and third quarters of 2012 included GCP’s visits to several meetings, conferences and events, including The Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) Conference, The Motivation Show, and the Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress. Each meting contributed to our holistic and evolved strategy for how to approach our clients’ gift card programs in order to attract and market to incentive customers. What were some key findings, insights and trends from these forums?
The IRF and the IGC commissioned Aspect Market Research Group to size the B2B gift card marketplace (U.S. incentive/loyalty). The study included 369 surveys, compiled from company executives who manage incentive and loyalty programs that include gift cards, and it sought to answer the question: “What do U.S. businesses spend on gift cards every year?” They quantified the market as $2.7 billion which does not include Scrip and Third Party. We will share the entire study with you once it becomes available. Here are are a few highlights: