GIFT CARDS

Marketing benefits disappear

In addition to the effect of the gift, everything else that makes the gift card such an effective marketing tool disappears. No more advertising for your brand, raving about a beautifully crafted and designed card, recommending your business, etc.

Like business cards, gift cards make a great first impression. That way, they remain engraved somewhere in the subconscious of consumers, so your brand is easier to remember. Unfortunately, this is not the case when the card is issued in electronic form.

No more impulsive gift card purchases

If you did everything right, the gift cards should be somewhere near the cash registers. In this way, customers who came without any idea about buying a gift card, may decide to buy it. A well-made and well-positioned gift card in your store can easily attract the customer's attention. Maybe at that moment he remembers that it's someone's birthday, or there's a holiday coming up, or he simply wants to brighten someone's day, and decides to take your gift card.

There is no such thing when it comes to an online gift card. In order to buy it, the consumer must plan to come to your website and buy a gift card. On that occasion, he probably has to register, if he doesn't have an account, or log in if he has one. After that, he has to leave his data, his payment card data and only then complete the order. On the other hand, he simply takes the plastic gift card, pays and leaves the store.

Packaging

Let's build on the gift effect. Packaging is a very important part of the act of giving. Your gift cards can be beautifully packaged and decorated. That packaging can also be branded and designed for maximum impact. In addition, your customer is free to wrap the plastic gift card however they want. Can buy decorative paper, put a bow, put in a decorative bag or box, etc. In this way, the gift card really gives the feeling of a gift. Online gift cards do not have this option. Therefore, they cannot be personal and interesting enough.

For whom online gift cards are a good choice

If your business is conducted exclusively online, consider introducing online gift cards. This means that if you have, for example, an online shop, and the products are exclusively delivered online, then it is only logical that you also have online gift cards. However, if you have a physical point of sale, you should definitely have plastic gift cards. You can always consider introducing both variants. Especially if your sales mostly take place online, but you have a physical space from which you also sell products.

However, plastic gift cards are still dominant in the market. The world has not gone so far technologically, that objects in their physical form would be completely replaced by their alter egos in the electronic sense. If your question and doubt is whether to switch to the online gift program or stick to the old plastic gift card program, our answer is to stick to the old, proven system. However, this does not mean that you should not introduce online gift cards. You can always try it, monitor the effects and see if it's worth it or not.