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.