How effective are gift cards in improving channel sales incentive programs participation? Gift card incentives are staples of incentive marketplaces and are highly recommended by channel partner incentive vendors. The Incentive Research Foundation’s quarterly academic review from fall 2019 reviewed the effectiveness of gift cards in incentive programs and found that Gift cards are one of the best non-cash incentive rewards offerings to use when creating an incentive program.
The IRF quarterly academic review found that people tend to mentally think of gift cards as a windfall, rather than money that has to be spent on responsibilities like bills, or groceries. This makes them an incredibly appealing option for incentive program participants as they will use them to get a treat for themselves.
Gift cards have all of the benefits usually associated with cash incentives. High-quality sales incentive plans will prioritize offering incentive gift cards or prepaid cards, such as a VISA virtual card, in their sales incentive offerings selection. Good channel partner incentive suppliers will offer and potentially recommend gift cards along with bulk visa prepaid cards and other cash-based incentives.
Gift card incentives can encourage better workplace outcomes and positive behaviors among participants. When looking at sales incentive program ideas, gift cards should always be listed as a recommendation for your reward selections. Gift cards are a fantastic choice for almost any channel partner incentive program.
When reward management applications provide the right gift cards for an incentive program, it makes participants feel like the sponsoring company or organization really understands their wants and needs. The program feels tailored to them, which increases the participants’ perceived value of the incentive program and the rewards offered. Sometimes this involves picking the right brands, other times spa, dining gift cards, and others can be chosen to encourage memorable experiences. This will cause participants to associate the sponsoring company with happy memories, not just cash.
It is essential that gift cards are set at price points that will keep the participant from having to spend their own hard-earned cash to complete their purchases of whatever item the gift card is for. A good example of this is that a participant is more likely to value a gift card of $30 for a restaurant where the average spend is $20, which would allow them to have a full meal without having to spend any of their own money, rather than a $50 gift card for a restaurant where the average spend is $70, thus requiring them to spend at least $20 of their own cash.
Expert gift card rewards provider and incentive program management companies, such as All Digital Rewards, will be able to offer you a wide selection of top branded gift cards, both physical and virtual rewards, reward management applications, and technology, and provide expert advice. We are proud to offer an extensive rewards catalog, including merchandise and gift cards, as well as other types of rewards. Our channel sales incentive experts can help tailor your reward choices specifically to your participants’ needs and desires, along with allowing for custom branding for your organization. If you’d like to learn more, call us today at 866-415-7703, or click on the button below to schedule a demo.
