GiftCard Partners Blog

As we move into 2024, the importance of health and wellness incentives in the workplace has never been more critical. This article highlights how creative and engaging approaches to employee wellness can lead to a healthier and more productive workforce.

As organizations look toward 2026, one theme is cutting through the noise of compensation, hybrid schedules, and employee benefits: purpose. A new Gallup and Stand Together study, The Power of Purpose, shows that purpose at work is not a soft concept; it’s a measurable, high-impact driver of engagement, energy, and retention.

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:

Even when budgets are tight, appreciation doesn’t have to be. In fact, during periods of change or economic pressure, thoughtful recognition becomes even more essential to maintaining morale, trust, and team cohesion.

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?