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.

If possible, get a list of some customers the gift card company has worked with, preferably businesses similar to yours. Either call them or visit their locations and ask questions such as:

• Did the vendor help design a system that worked for you?
• Were they able to offer a solution that fit your budget constraints or system limitations?
• Was the program easy to implement?
• Does the gift card company offer 24 x 7 customer service and technical support?
• How often does the system go down, if at all?
• How responsive is the vendor when you had problems?
• Were the contracts clear and detailed?
• Did the vendors offer a live demonstration of the product before you purchased?
• Was there a particular obstacle you faced in implementing gift cards? How did the vendor help you overcome that?