If you are thinking of running a corporate gift card program to motivate your staff, incentivise customers or stimulate your channel partners, asking these 10 questions could be the difference between a branding disaster or smashing your campaign KPIs. When executed correctly, corporate gift cards can showcase your brand, help modify behaviour and create a feel good factor between recipients and your brand.

1. What are the branding options for corporate gift cards?

Allow yourself the freedom of choice and select a vendor that offers different branding options that will suit your budget. Your options should include generic, co-branded or fully customised corporate gift cards. Good vendors will also offer customised carrier  options and personalised letters.

 2. Do you provide timely reporting?

Inventory, order status and billing reports help to keep your card program running like a well-oiled machine.

3. Can you encrypt our sensitive customer data in order to prevent theft?

Data security is on the top of everyone’s minds these days. A good card vendor will protect your data as if it was their own. Full point-to-point encryption/decryption is a must, along with the secure handling of key information, multiple firewalls and a properly configured SMTP.

4. Do you have multiple production facilities as a backup?

The apocalypse could really put a dampener on the production of your corporate gift cards, so your vendor should have multiple production floors in case of such emergency. Make sure your vendor can back up your data and make it available for processing at a secondary location if the need should arise.

5. Do you provide mailing services? And if so, what types of postal discounts do you provide?

Not all vendors provide mailing services, so one cannot assume this is part of the deal. A good vendor will offer multiple distribution options for your corporate gift cards including direct mail, bulk deliveries and on-demand fulfilment. You’ll also want to know what types of bulk mail discounts are provided and if there are minimums to receive discounted rates.

6. Do you have a multi-layered quality assurance program?

If you want your corporate gift cards done right the first time, your vendor should have a reliable quality assurance system in place. Electronic verification at multiple points during the production process are essential to ensure accuracy and on-time delivery.

7. What is your capacity for large re-issue orders?

You need 800,000 corporate gift cards in one month, but your vendor is booked. Now what? Find out ahead of time if your vendor has the production capacity to handle large jobs, whether or not they have seasonal highs and lows and if your job(s) will be a priority (see, Question 8).

8. Are we one of your most important customers?

Are you a little fish in a big pond or a big fish in a little pond? Either way, your program should be a priority, especially if it is complex. If your company (or card program) is small, you may want to align yourself with a vendor that works with similar sized companies and is able to provide you the guidance and hands-on service that you require.

9. Do you have a company-wide green initiative?

Do you want to contribute to the overall health of our planet? Hopefully, the answer is yes. Unfortunately, due to resources, time-constraints and other obstacles, not all vendors consider implementing environmental programs or procedures into their business model. Ensure you are working with an eco-friendly vendor by asking about recycling, plant efficiencies, social responsibility, and what they do to keep our planet healthy.

10. Are you giving us the best price possible?

Who doesn’t want a great deal, but good quality comes at a price. Avoid inferior-quality products by selecting a vendor that offers reasonably priced, superior quality products.
Selecting the right vendor for corporate gift cards can be challenging, but if you begin to ask the questions that are most important to you and your company, you’ll easily uncover the best vendor for your needs.
To learn about the features available with Rewards Come True corporate gift cards, please send us an enquiry or call us at at 1 800 446 347.