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Paper Gift Certificates

Some customers prefer the classic look and feel of paper.
This gift certificate tears off, 3 fit in a letter size page, a tab is kept by the owner in a 3 ring binder.
This gift certificate is a practical solution to your everyday needs!

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With TV and radio advertising rates sky high and Internet advertising reaching only a percentage of customers, companies are turning to more focused and targeted marketing programs. Gift cards can be an inexpensive way to generate guaranteed sales, increase foot traffic, and raise brand awareness.

For about one dollar per card, you can set up a gift card system to handle gift certificates, loyalty programs, and even credit for merchandise returns. Customers can determine how much the gift cards are worth and can recharge it when needed. And since most gift cards are shaped like credit cards and feature your company logo, they fit easily in customers' wallets or purses, which keeps your company's name fresh in their minds.

Gift cards are becoming a significant part of some businesses' bottom lines, particularly during the holiday season when millions of consumers buy some form of gift card. These days, it's hard to find any consumer-focused industry that doesn't offer gift cards. They've become a staple for coffeehouses, retail outlets, auto body shops, and hardware stores as gift card system vendors try to grab a piece of this $45 billion a year industry.

A typical gift card system includes a supply of cards, software, and a display for your cards at the point of sale. These systems can include optional gift card software to track issued gift cards that is installed remotely on your existing credit card terminal, POS system, or desktop PC.

Once a customer selects a gift card with a fixed dollar value or decides how much the card will be worth at the time of purchase, you activate the card by swiping it through a credit card terminal or PC. The card recipient can then return to the store at any time to use the value on the card with the buyer’s purchases tracked by a central database. In addition to paying for the card itself, you pay the gift card vendor a small fee each time you activate a new account, and in some cases whenever a customer uses it.

Reporting is an optional but valuable component of any gift card system. With it, you can find out exactly who your customers are and what they are buying. The gift card software generates monthly reports detailing buyer demographics, purchasing statistics, shopping patterns, and total transactions for all your active cards. Armed with this information, you can gauge consumer interest in certain products and measure the success of your gift card program.

The most common use of gift card is also the most simple — providing a fixed or customer-determined dollar value on an electronic card. You can implement a number of different programs for your gift card system depending on what you want to offer.

Loyalty cards are one of the more prominent alternative uses of gift cards. They reward both frequent and occasional shoppers with a "points for dollars" system. Once customers complete a membership form, every purchase they make earns credits that can be used towards future purchases. Membership cards, a variation of loyalty cards, reward customers with exclusive discounts and special offers just for doing their regular shopping.

Each time a card is scanned for a loyalty program, the database tracks the items customers buy. Businesses use this information to create detailed demographic analyses to market more efficiently to customers, and to help determine how to stock their shelves.

You can also use gift cards to issue merchandise credit. Not only do you keep the value of returned items funds in-house, but you also distribute marketing material to your customers.

Some businesses incorporate gift cards into larger marketing efforts. They create thousands of gift cards with small dollar amounts on them — usually $1 to $3 each — and then send them to customers via direct mail or hand them out in store. Studies indicate that these cards are redeemed at a higher rate than similar printed coupons and they help promote your business.

Multiple programs, same card
Gift cards can also manage multiple programs at once: for example, a monetary gift card can also be programmed to work as a loyalty card. With different programs on the same card, the customer has a reason to keep the card instead of throwing it away once the funds are depleted. Setting up multiple programs on a single card also saves you money since you only need to pay a single transaction fee to activate the card.

In addition to the different types of programs, there are other points to keep in mind when developing a gift card system.

Gift card design
Most gift cards are the size of a credit card. This allows customers to easily carry it with them wherever they go and also keeps your corporate image fresh in their minds. You can customize the design of your gift cards, or select from a template. You'll want your gift cards and their holders to be attractive, but you should avoid overly elaborate patterns and busy color schemes that detract from your company's logo or message.

Gift card technology
Magnetic stripe cards, or mag stripes, are the most common type of gift card. Mag stripes work with most credit card terminals and can be used with a PC by adding a card swiper. Keep in mind that you are limited to keeping the card design to a certain size — usually the length of a credit card — so it can be swiped through a terminal for activation.

A bar coded gift card allows you to experiment with any size card that can hold a full bar code. A common example is plastic tags that fit on a keychain. However, barcode cards require you to use a scanner or reader to activate them. If you don’t already own one, you’d need to purchase one to use bar coded gift cards.

For franchise businesses with multiple locations, you can use smart card technology that stores the account information into an embedded computer chip instead of a central database. Smart cards require special card readers that are quite expensive. The lack of current standards and supporting infrastructure make smart cards a less than ideal option for most gift card systems.

Gift card activation
If you want to activate gift cards quickly and conveniently, credit card terminals work best. Most businesses already have terminals and they're the least expensive option for getting started with a gift card system. However, you'll have to pay fees each time you activate a gift card or when a customer redeems one.

If you choose to use a PC-based system, you avoid transaction fees and gain control of all your data, but will pay several hundred dollars more up front. In addition to software, you may also need additional computer devices such as a special attachment for a keyboard or monitor for swiping the gift cards. PC-based systems also require staff to manage the software and run reports. Costs continue post-purchase, too; some vendors may require additional fees for software upgrades when they are released and for an additional supply of cards.

You do have a third option: ASP activation. When you need to activate a gift card, you access a web site, enter the number on the back of the card and the value to be added, and hand it to the customer. The advantage is that the provider does all of the management. However, most businesses opt for a terminal or POS solution because of the familiarity with their existing processing equipment. They also don't want to compromise sales and transactions if their Internet connection goes down.

Online registration
Gift cards are bearer instruments — if people find a lost or stolen card, they can use the value. One way to protect your customers' security is to suggest that they register their gift cards so they can retrieve remaining balances and request replacement cards. You can either do it for them at the point of sale or direct them to your company web site or 800 number to do it from home. It's an additional measure of security and protection and lets customers feel that they are still using a safer alternative to cash.

Operating a successful gift card program

Although a gift card program may seem like easy money, it isn't right for everyone. Here are some additional considerations to ensure your program will deliver the results you want.

Even before you implement a gift card program, do the math and check that you will get a return on investment. Remember to factor in the various costs for cards, transactions, startup and monthly fees and weigh that against the additional business you get from a gift card system. In particular, if you are offering a loyalty program, carefully determine how much you can offer as an incentive while still realizing good ROI.

To ensure speedy adoption, your gift card program should also be easy for customers to understand. Don’t make them jump through hoops to collect rewards. Give them all the details on how your gift card program works either through a printed brochure or a link on your website. If you need to make adjustments to your gift card policies, or cancel the program altogether, give your customers plenty of time — at least a few months — to let them redeem earned points.

Once you make sure the numbers work and you've crafted an enticing program, it’s time to let your customers know about your gift card program. Effective promotion is absolutely critical to your success. First, understand that "eye level is buy level". Always display gift card systems at highly visible locations, particularly near checkout lines to encourage impulse buying. In fact, since the cards don’t have value until you activate them and they are almost impossible to counterfeit, you can feel free to distribute your cards throughout your location without supervision.

Remember that every unit sold from a gift card program represents two customers for your business: the card buyer and the card recipient. While you can only track results from gift card use, the person purchasing the card may buy something in addition to the card. Even if they don't, they still see what you have to offer and may keep you in mind for future purchases.

Choosing a gift card company

A gift card company can set up a robust system tailored to your business in a surprisingly short time. They can provide a system that can process hundreds of thousands of gift card transactions per second for a 100-location restaurant franchise, or create an affordable solution for a mom & pop store. The gift card company you work with should offer a solid mix of experience, customer service, and industry knowledge to help you develop a program that works best for you.

Before you work with any gift card company, find out how long they have been doing business. You want to work with a reputable vendor that has been around a long time and has a good track record. You don’t know what kind of quality a smaller, less experienced gift card company can offer, and a poorly produced and amateurish-looking card could adversely affect sales.

Experienced gift card companies will also exhibit fair business practices. You shouldn't do business with a gift card company that offers programs that only work with their payment processing equipment. If you do, switching to a new payment processor later can cause problems for your existing customer accounts. You may even have to start a new gift card program from scratch. Look for a gift card system and payment processing equipment that is compatible with multiple vendors.

If you don't have the time or patience to manage your program, a gift card company can set you up with a third-party database management company. This way, you can concentrate on building your business, while an outside vendor manages the cards, the outstanding balances, and any customer service issues. However, many gift card systems are fairly easy to manage yourself.

Gift card system tips

Keep designs basic. Novelty gift cards can certainly turn a few heads and look great on display. You can order cards with die-cut shapes and sizes and even battery-operated versions that play music and display flashing lights. However, they can also be difficult to carry around in one’s pocket or wallet. It’s best to offer a colorful, eye-catching design that can still be implemented as a standard sized card.

Branch out. You're not limited to selling gift cards at the point of sale or even in your own stores. You can offer commissions to outside businesses to display and sell your gift cards in their locations. While you pay a bit more out of pocket to give them the ability to activate your gift cards, you can increase your presence without having to buy additional retail space to do so.

No expiration date. While it may cause accounting headaches, resist placing expiration dates on your gift cards. Not only will some customers hesitate to pay for value on a card that can be taken away, this practice is also illegal in many states.

Virtual cards. Online retailers can still offer gift cards. Rather than a physical card, you sell "online certificates" which can be redeemed for goods and services. However, it’s to your advantage to develop actual gift cards to mail customers after the sale. It’s a strong branding and marketing tool to remind customers to do future business with you.

Remember the faithful. One benefit to a loyalty program is to find ways to reward existing customers while recruiting new ones. If you have dedicated customers, they are going to shop with you no matter what. But you can't slight them in favor of winning new business. By rewarding incremental behavior, you can thank your loyal regulars for their continued patronage while offering incentives to new clients to keep coming back.

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