GiftCard Partners Blog

GiftCard Partners' Deb Merkin attended the CashStar Digital Gifting roundtable and said it was jammed packed with great market research and the roundtable discussion was invaluable. CashStar’s Retailer Roundtable brings together leading analysts, technologists, thought leaders and a myriad of retailers to discuss the future of digital gifting.
CVS/pharmacy and
Brinker, 2 of our clients will be present and taking part in this roundtable! Digital gifting has altered the way the B2B gift card market progresses, with efficiencies for the retailer, buyer and the end consumer, while directly tying in with mobile and
social media initiatives… We look forward to seeing the results of this meeting in the coming weeks. PORTLAND, Maine, Jul 14, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CashStar, the digital gifting and incentives company, today announced that it has brought together the industry's top influencers and retailers for the world's first event exclusively focused on the e-gifting industry. Taking place today in CashStar's headquarter city of Portland, Maine, the CashStar Retailer Roundtable has brought thought leaders together to brainstorm the future of digital gifting with a focus on mobile and social channels.
Click to read more about this landmark digital gifting event.

You are likely either a marketer or involved with the prepaid & gift card industry OR BOTH (like me). We love this video and we love how the Prepaid Expo is looking beyond traditional information sources and prepaid to bring us their take on the next generation of prepaid.
 

The GCP staff is excited for all the insights, collaboration and networking to be had at the upcoming 12^th annual IMA Executive Summit 2011, August 7-9. The theme: Learn, Connect, Benchmark and Deb Merkin, Ed Shulkin, Melina Balboni and Diane Freeland will be on-hand at the event.

GCP’s
Vice President of  Sales,
Diane Freeland,
is back from Loyalty 360’s annual Loyalty Expo & shares the top discussions that caught her attention.
Social media and customer care: Social media has altered the role of customer service in an organization, from primarily a support function to an extension of marketing. Brands can listen to what customers are saying, they can be proactive and more widely solicit product or service feedback, offer incentives like gift cards or points for sharing product information. Many of GCP’s clients are taking social media seriously,
1-800-Flowers was one of the first retailers to use Facebook's platform. For more details on social media & customer care, check out:
How to Integrate Customer Service Into Social Media Marketing. It also includes 12 Ways Social Media Enhances Customer Service and 5 Ways to Measure Social Media Customer Service.
What’s next for loyalty programs? Are traditional points based loyalty programs dead?  The consensus was NO. However, significantly different redemption options need to be brought into the mix with gift cards, merchandise, and travel rewards (e.g intrinsic rewards like virtual game currency). We heard some interesting discussion around personalizing loyalty rewards for individual participants. Traditional loyalty programs offer everyone the same reward options; when rewards are personalized it starts a dialogue and treats the customer to rewards they’ve selected versus what is offered across the program. What if customers can select or “favorite” categories of rewards like gift cards for children’s clothes, brands of merchandise like “Apple”, and travel customized to “Inns on the east coast”? The learnings from programs like this could go a long way for the development of loyalty programs that listen!
Mobile Segmentation Marketing: Another interesting way to listen and respond to loyal customers; shaping customer personas based on their mobile usage. This allows thoughtful marketers to send the right kinds of messages to the right users and reward for loyalty via the right technology. The goal is to better increase the value of customer relationships based on how customers use their mobile phones, like m-certs (mobile gift cards). Carlson Marketing gave some great examples of how they are engaging in this strategy for the Hallmark Crown Rewards loyalty program; "Interactions turned into transactions". For more insights to mobile technology and gift cards, read GCP's article:
Why Mobile & Virtual Gift Cards are Becoming a Way of Life GCP will be launching our new website in the coming week, keep a look out:
www.giftcardpartners.com Follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/GiftCardPartner

"The Commonwealth of Virginia has started using prepaid cards to help get money into the hands of the people of who needed them. One reason was cost savings, savings of up to .60 cents an item, a typical direct expense on payment mechanisms." Gift cards can help single parent families, the unemployed, the homeless and needy. The panel discussion was today @ the Prepaid Expo in Orlando. Visit
Live from the Prepaid Expo - Government Update to read the overview and learn about the challenges, the benefits to cardholders, how prepaid cards improve peoples' lives, and more.