How Do Businesses Use Bulk Gift Cards for Sales Promotions?

How to use bulk gift cards in sales promotions

Promotions featuring brand rewards and gift cards offer an easy, efficient, and flexible way to drive sales and build your brand without discounting your product or service. 

In many instances, using bulk gift cards is the simplest and most cost-effective way to build a prize pool to excite your target and incentivize purchase, participation, or whatever behavior you want to achieve.

Here are a few strategies to help you think through the opportunities bulk gift cards offer for promotions.

What kinds of promotions use bulk gift cards?

Many different types of promotions leverage bulk gift cards because they offer flexibility and provide consumers with something they really want—especially when you build a prize pool with a lot of choices. Some of the most common promotions that effectively use bulk gift cards are sweepstakes, games, instant wins, rebates, incentives, and buy X get Y promotions.

Why would I use bulk rewards in a sweepstakes?

There are a lot of reasons to use bulk rewards in just about any sweepstakes promotion. You can use them to build excitement around a large, aspirational grand prize while providing many smaller prizes to increase the chances of your target audience actually winning something.

In many instances, the promotion can also be themed around your grand prize. This makes choosing the appropriate brand or brands you offer very important from a messaging standpoint. And that should drive the rest of your prize pool.

With bulk rewards, creating a prize pool with hundreds, thousands, or even millions of prizes available is easy. This makes more people feel good about participating and expands the demographic reach of your promotion, depending on the partners you choose. It depends on your budget, but offering prizes in the $1-$5 range is typically less expensive than you might imagine.

Sweepstakes are also popular with consumers because there is a very low barrier to entry. In many cases, they are automatically entered to win as soon as they purchase the key item of the promotion. No forms to fill out or receipts to send in. It’s simple for them—and you. Even redemption is easy since the prizes can be delivered digitally.

What is the benefit of using bulk rewards in games or instant win promotions?

The benefits of using bulk rewards in games or instant win promotions are fairly obvious when you think about the world we live in—people like games. And people love instant gratification. This is particularly true of young adult consumers but pretty much everyone expects whatever they want to show up now.

When you use bulk gift cards that can be redeemed digitally, not only will consumers know that they won, but they’ll be able to have their prize in their hands almost immediately. This is a huge benefit all around. For the consumers, they get their prize. And for you or your partners, the prize can be redeemed right away, driving immediate sales.

While it’s possible to have a game-based promotion or an instant win promotion, many times the two tactics work together. Think about the classic Monopoly® at McDonald’s promotion. There was an overall grand prize, a game board and pieces to collect, which drove repeat purchase. At the same time, many of the pieces also added an instant win which was typically a free food item available right in-store.

How exactly you structure your game or instant win promotion should be determined by what you and your partners are trying to accomplish.

Why would I use bulk gift cards as rebates or incentives in promotions?

The main reason to use bulk gift cards for rebates and other incentives is they essentially let you add value to your product or service without actually discounting it. And to be sure, once you start discounting your offering, it’s a slippery slope into the bargain bin and very difficult to rebuild that value in either price or brand equity.

One of the best types of bulk gift cards for rebates and incentives is prepaid cards. Essentially, they function as dollars off and give consumers the flexibility to spend it however they’d like. Of course, you can deliver messaging or structure your promotion to encourage consumers to spend that prepaid card with you—in-store or online.

These types of promotions are popular with many electronics manufacturers, wireless carriers, big box stores, and even national restaurant chains. Here is an interesting case study if you’d like to see how one mobile phone company executed its promotion.

Are bulk gift cards effective for buy/get promotions?

Bulk gift rewards can be very effective in a number of buy X get Y promotions, but you definitely need to understand your audience. The reason for this is buy/get tend to be more specific offerings than many of the other promotions we’ve discussed here.

As the name says, the name pretty much indicates why: if you buy this, you get that. In some ways, this could seem limiting. But it also gives you the opportunity to really hone in on a message and an offer you think will drive a very targeted audience to respond positively. It all comes down to the size of the prize, who it’s from, and the required purchase.

Of course, one popular way to keep the basic mechanics and strategies in place while providing more choice to the consumer is to offer prepaid cards again with a significant value.

How can NeoCurrency help you drive sales and build your brand?

One of the benefits of working with NeoCurrency to help develop an effective promotion leveraging digital bulk gift cards is we’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting for you already. Our catalog has rewards available from thousands of brands worldwide, from the big ones you’d expect to some very targeted ones unique to us.

1. Rewards planning

Many brands don’t get involved with promotions that offer bulk gift cards or virtual rewards simply because it seems difficult. People think it’s expensive, the process has too many layers to work through, and so on. It can be all those things, but that’s why we’re here.

We like to say that we’re marketers that just happen to provide rewards and prizes. With our long history of strategic rewards and prize pool planning, we can secure partnerships that normally take months to get approved much faster.

We simplify the entire process. We’ve negotiated everything—even creative challenges.

2. Prize pools

We have many different ways to help you develop a prize pool featuring bulk gift cards.   We can help you create something strategically focused on one brand or many, with as many prize tiers that fit your strategy.

Our experts are here to help you create an appropriate prize pool, regardless of whether your promotion is a local, regional, or global effort.

3. Fast and simple bulk gift cards

NeoCurrency’s wholesale pricing is fixed with no hidden fees. You can manage everything from our intuitive reward dashboard or simply integrate it with our single gift card API.

Partner with NeoCurrency for your next promotion

NeoCurrency’s global catalog of digital rewards for over 2000 brands provides plenty of opportunities for you to run a successful promotion, regardless of the kind of program you want to run. We’ve been doing this for a long time and would love to put our experience to work for you.

Request a demo to get all the details about how we’ll help you develop and execute your next promotion featuring bulk gift cards by leveraging an extensive variety of brand rewards.

Recommended articles (Helpful links)

Best Practices for Leveraging Brand Rewards in Promotions

While there are a lot of ways to run a promotion, utilizing brand rewards offers an easy, efficient, and flexible option that drives sales and builds your brand while making your customers feel special and appreciated.

Plus, utilizing brand rewards in promotions doesn’t require a discount on your product or service. You’re adding value for the consumer without cheapening your brand. It’s truly a win-win.

Consider the following when choosing a partner for brand rewards.

What are the best criteria for choosing a reward or gift card?

Whether you call it a brand reward, gift card, electronic reward, or corporate gift card, we must consider five critical elements when creating a prize or prize pool: the purpose of the promotion, accessibility, target relevance, brand association, and brand recognition.

Why are you doing a promotion?

While developing a promotion to drive sales and build your brand is the main priority, it’s wise to think about overarching objectives.

Are you introducing something new? A new service? A new product? A new attitude? Whatever the reason, it should be the first thing on your list to figure out before you just go and pick a brand or brand to include. If you’ve been operating in the US but are expanding globally and want to make some noise—what brands would help?

Perhaps you’re changing lanes. Maybe you need to rebuild your reputation. Or you’re proud of who you are and how far you’ve come and want to promote it because you’re awesome. Whatever the goal, you should look at the brands that can help you accomplish it in the mind of your target audience.

Why is target relevance so critical to success?

Brand selection is key because the brands you partner with reflect on your company.

For example, brands like Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo have obvious similarities—but they create an opportunity for a brand like Axe body spray to play a role since it’s relatable to the target. You might even choose to include all of them to maximize the reach of your promotion while making it unique.

You know your audience. With all the data at our fingertips today, you know exactly how to reach them. But, for whatever reason, some companies come up with offers that make no sense and sometimes fly in the face of what they are trying to do. 

It’s crucial to think about your target, brand, and goals to ensure the reward pool you offer makes sense in the big picture. This consideration is one of the reasons NeoCurrency’s catalog has thousands of brands to choose from, from the big ones you’d expect to some very targeted ones unique to us.

How important is brand association in a promotion?

Brand association is an essential element in developing a promotion.

If your company is about simplicity, the brands you partner with in your promotion must reflect this. If they don’t, you run the risk of confusing or even alienating your audience. Plus, explaining why you associate with a particular brand can make messaging difficult.

Choosing a brand because it’s cool, popular, or something else doesn’t make sense if it doesn’t match your company’s DNA (unless you are looking to change your DNA or the perception of your brand).

Picking brands that don’t fit may work against you and could have the opposite effect on your goal.

Is it better to partner with well-recognized brands?

Partnering with well-recognized brands can offer some significant benefits, but there can also be some drawbacks.

The more well-known a brand is, the more likely people are to want to get a reward or gift card from it. However, it can be costly to work with. It comes with a long list of mandates that can be challenging to navigate, especially regarding logo usage, creative guidelines, and approval processes.

On the other hand, lesser-known brands typically offer better savings or some other incentive to entice you to partner with them. If no one’s heard of them, their brand may not help drive the sales you’re targeting.

Yet, there may still be benefits. If a brand aims to use your name to its advantage, it’s valuable to consider what you can gain from the negotiation, especially in terms of who covers the costs.

Is accessibility important when choosing a promotional partner?

Accessibility to easily redeem a prize is vital when using brand rewards as a promotional incentive. After all, the biggest reason gift cards and digital rewards work is because they’re so easy to use by the people who receive them.

NeoCurrency’s vast selection of brand rewards is overflowing with companies that are easily accessible online or in-store, making it easier for everyone to redeem their prize rather than let it waste away on a nightstand.

Best Practices for Promotional Rewards

How can NeoCurrency help you drive sales and build your brand?

One of the benefits of working with NeoCurrency to help develop your next promotion is we’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting for you already.

Rewards planning

Many brands don’t get involved with promotions that offer corporate gift cards or virtual rewards simply because it seems difficult. People think it’s expensive, there are too many layers to work through, and so on. It can be all those things, but that’s why we’re here; we simplify the entire reward process. We’ve negotiated everything—even creative challenges.

Prize pools

We have many different ways to run a promotion with brand rewards. You may want to create something strategically focused on one brand. So, you can offer various levels of rewards for that brand. Or, you could create a broader prize pool, which our experts can help you develop based on your goals and objectives, whether it’s a local, regional, or global effort.

Marketing strategy

There are also different ways to motivate customers. You might want to leverage an instant win element to build your promotion. We help with this! Or, maybe you want to keep them engaged for longer by developing a sweepstakes option where they can enter numerous times. We help with this, too!

Fast and simple bulk gift cards

Our wholesale pricing is fixed with no hidden fees. You can manage everything from our reward dashboard, which makes everything straightforward and intuitive, or you can simply integrate it with our single gift card API.

Partner with NeoCurrency on your next promotion.

NeoCurrency’s global catalog of over 2000 brands provides plenty of opportunities for you to run a successful promotion, regardless of your goals. We’ve been doing this for a long time and would love to put our experience to work for you.

Request a demo to get all the details about how we’ll help you develop and execute your next promotion by leveraging an extensive variety of brand rewards.

Recommended articles (helpful links)