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:

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?

As we enter the new year everyone is trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle, or shed those holiday pounds. Employees returning to work in the new year find their employer's health and wellness program to be beneficial, these programs work because they hold employees accountable for their behavior. Based on a new industry study 78% of employers offering wellness programs are using metrics, such as biometric testing or health risk assessments to make employees aware of their health status. This testing is meant as a tool to reward employees who improve their health, and penalize employees who consistently make bad health choices. Gift cards are a great way to reward employees for healthy choices. Retail outlets such as CVS/Pharmacy, which can help employees along their road to wellness, further encourage the desired behavior. These employee decisions affect the employers health care costs and so to ring in the new year employees are going to be increasingly held accountable for their health and wellness choices.  
To read more about trends in employee responsibility in health and wellness programs check out the Columbus Dispatch story.

Incentives within workplace safety programs have long been central to engaging employees in achieving and promoting an optimally safe work environment. However, learnings over time have led to debate about HOW to incent properly, whether it be with gift cards, merchandise or travel. Promoting not only safe behaviors, but also creating a safe environment to report unsafe behaviors, is critical to the long term success of a safe workplace. Some look to incentive companies like TharpeRobbins to create their workplace safety programs. These companies help define ideal, safe working environments and behaviors and they roll out programs like “Safe Work and Safe Driver Programs”. These programs promote and work towards accident-free workplaces through recognition and rewards via point systems. A recent
Incentive Magazine article, noted that “During the announcement of the new programs, TharpeRobbins put the reality of workplace safety into context with some financial statistics from the National Safety Council 1: *         There are 3.8 million workplace injuries in the US each year *         90,000 of those injuries cause permanent disabilities *         The average cost per injury: $28,000, adding up to $130 billion for the country overall So, there is a lot of cash at risk for companies to get their safety programs “right” and to do it right, it means creating an incentive program for the long term. Organizations like The National Safety Council support the use of incentives to promote a safer workplace, as long as the program goes “beyond the gift cards and improved performance indicators” to ensure that unreported injuries aren’t on the rise. They say, “Incentive programs can enhance established occupational safety programs but should not be considered an easy fix to underlying safety problems”. 2 OSHA also stands strong on the incentive debate, challenging companies to not just institute a safety rewards program, but be sure they aren’t based primarily on injury and illness numbers. Successful programs  weigh heavily on promoting proper reporting of injuries, without the risk of retribution or loss of incentives. Some food for thought for your creating or improving your workplace safety incentive program for 2012. Sources: 1.      
Incentive Magazine: TharpeRobbins Rolls Out Safety Incentive Programs 2.     
National Safety Council: What's your reward? The debate over incentive programs