Corporate gifting is a common practice that involves disseminating tokens of gratitude to employees, clients, and agents. Some big corporate houses also incentivise their survey participants to encourage public contribution to their market research. Apart from conventional office gifting choices, gift cards have gained immense popularity in the corporate world. They are simple yet professional means of rewarding staff that trigger employee satisfaction and promote the brand at the same time. Nowadays, the bulk gift card is purchased by companies for their employee reward programs.
Pros of Employee Rewarding through Bulk Gift Cards
Several gift card companies take orders in bulk for customising and delivering open-loop or closed-loop gift cards. Gift cards offer the issuer and the recipient the following benefits.
Increase Brand Awareness
Gift cards act as brand identities for corporate big fishes. They are professional, aesthetic, and executive in outlook and promote the brand to the cardholders’ peers, relatives, and families. Their designs can also be customised to represent the brand logo and theme that develops brand recognition among the users and their acquaintances.
Act as Trophies
Cash rewards have monetary values that cease to act when the amount is spent. On the contrary, gift cards trigger a sense of pride and develop a cherished memory in the minds of the recipients. They feel the worth of their achievement, a happiness that can be shared with others without money-flaunting.
Encourage Employee Loyalty
Open-loop gift cards allow employees to redeem the pre-loaded amount at their liberty. They are functional almost across all offline and online stores and support products from multiple brands. This freedom of employees to purchase rewards according to their discretion results in job satisfaction and encourages loyalty to the company.
Monitor Cash Bonuses and Giveaways
In many cases, companies reward their employees with referrals and new sign-ups. They also giveaway incentives for meeting sales targets and contributing to company turnover. Such intermittent cash bonuses can be easily monitored with rechargeable gift cards that relieve the company of the hassle of manual rewards.
Things to Address Before Buying Gift Cards
Technical Glitches
Especially for the virtual bulk gift card, compatibility with the store’s system can be the rate-limiting factor in redeeming and utilising the loaded amount. Suppose the online or offline store system doesn’t possess a professionally written, well-tested code. In that case, there are chances of delays, bugs, and technical glitches during card redemption. Before buying gift cards, ensure your system is compatible and your code runs smoothly.
Beware of Fraud
Virtual cash loading, cashback, and giveaways are soft targets of scammers, hackers, and fraudsters. Businesses may become vulnerable to cyber attacks that hamper customer and brand reputation. Buy gift cards only from legitimate websites with clear information and policies.
Store With Care
Cards are inconspicuous belongings that may get lost or stolen. Not all card vendors provide the facility of card registration to block card access and replenish the available amount to the holder’s account. In such cases, it leads to the loss of digital assets with limited or no chance of data recovery. Advise your employees to store their cards safely before handing them out.
Note the Expiry Date
Gift vouchers come with predetermined expiration dates. Card users often forget to redeem the amount within the deadline and don’t even get notified about card expiry. Notify your employees about this important fact so they don’t defer their purchases until it’s too late.
Final Thoughts
Gift cards, if used wisely, are a convenient gifting option that gives companies and employees the freedom to promote branding and purchase products of their choice.
