GiftCard Partners Blog

Retailers' preparation for the holiday shopping season is now in full swing, and as retailers look for last minute ways to boost their year end revenue; gift marketing becomes a very effective option.  Gift marketing uses gift cards as a device for loyalty and rewards. Giving bonus gift cards to shoppers for spending a certain amount turns a gift card from a one-transaction device into a revenue boosting loyalty device that keeps shoppers coming back. It shows appreciation and gives the essential value-added incentive that shoppers look for as they shell out their holiday gift spending.

Although our industry trend reports are typically focused on B2B gift card topics and industry events; we thought that “Turning Negativity into Engagement" is a particularly important topic as our clients and customers enter into an uncertain holiday season. At this year’s MoShow we were reminded of some valuable lessons in listening and reacting. We’re happy to share with you a presentation around embracing technology to
listen to your customers, to bring your brand and brand programs closer to enlightenment. Are you willing to accept social media and online networks as listening tools, to assess your customers’ opinions and react? Many believe that adopting these technologies could back-fire on a brand in an all-too-public forum. But consider that negative conversations about your brand are happening online, whether you are present or not…how you listen and address them could be the difference between a proactive leader and a tarnished reputation. Some really great advice and answers to these nagging concerns come to us in a presentation given at the MoShow’s Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC) meeting. This presentation, by Mike McDonnell, Vice President, Product Management & Client Solutions at
Affinion Loyalty Group, offers fresh perspectives and real-world examples of how to turn negativity into opportunities for engagement in
The Bright Side of Negative Engagement. This presentation will help you determine a critical response to a negative customer experience and help you answer the important question,”What’s Your White Chocolate Mickey?”
Click here to read the rest of GCP’s Industry Trend Report  

Since employers typically renew health benefits in January, employees receive their health benefits options for 2012 around now, giving employees plenty of time to think about what they want in their health benefits plan for the coming year.  As expected employees will be facing changes, most of which include paying more and receiving less coverage.  While employers engage employees in healthy practices with rewards for healthy behaviors through health and wellness programs, health coverage still comes at a high cost, and is often an easily downsized benefit. Here are 9 tips from
GoLocal Prov in Providence, Rhode Island on how to make smart choices when choosing health benefits.

A new MarketWatch survey release this week indicates that employees don't need much to feel rewarded during this holiday season.

Schools are now incentivizing students for higher test scores, college admittance, after school study programs, and even good attendance.  But some parents are now wondering what incentives take it too far. Some schools have fun, experiential incentives, such as a teacher dunk-tank, or a friday afternoon carnival, to acknowledge students' hard work, and incent them to continue the good behavior. Other schools are using cash incentives or expensive material incentives (such as a laptop, or iPad) to reinforce good behavior. Some parents feel that these lavish incentive gifts are going too far.  Do you think kids can handle the same level of incentives offered to their parents? What happened to offering kids a gift card to their favorite lunch spot, or a class breakfast for good behavior. Is this the way we want to teach our kids to learn, or is it okay as long as it raises test scores and ensures entrance to college? Can we incent our kids like adults, or is it teaching them the wrong lessons? Should we stick to small denominations of gift cards, or are the bigger better rewards really the right way? Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment.  
To find out more about parental concerns regarding student rewards click here.