Gift Card Features: Loyalty Maximizing The 80/20 Rule Customer

Gift and Loyalty Cards: Maximizing “The 80/20 Rule”Customer

In business, we’ve all heard of the “80/20 Rule” (also known as thee Pareto Principle) – 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers.  Now that may not be a hard fast rule in terms of numbers, but the principle rings true – your “regulars” (or return customers, or accounts) in any business are what keep you in business.

Our Gift and Customer Loyalty card programs are designed to maximize this axiom, by creating incentives for one time customers to become “regulars”, and to create new customers through gift card cards.(Credit Card Processing)

As well, you have the ability to use a same card as both a gift card and customer loyalty card!  You can therefore keep one card in your customer’s wallet as they go from a gift card recipient to a new loyal customer, and at the same time avoid redundant cards and programs which add cost and confusion for your business.

And with our LOW MINIMUMS (starting at just 100 cards), our program is suitable for ANY sized business!

Gift Cards:

• Attract new customers - the most basic goal of any gift card program is to attract new customers. Simply put, a gift card is pre-paid and highly targeted recommendation by a friend for your product or service.  After all, a friend wouldn’t give another friend a gift card for something they wouldn’t already know them to be interested in.  They say word of mouth is the best business, but when that word of mouth is accompanied by a pre-paid license to shop, you can’t lose!

• Get paid NOW for products you won’t sell until months from now! – Gift cards are an EXCELLENT cash flow tool!  For example, if someone decides to give a gift card for a holiday gift, they are likely to purchase in November, give the gift in December, and the gift card is not likely to be redeemed until January at the earliest.  This means: 1 – a 3 month advance on cash flow, 2 – by the time they utilize it, they are often buying items that would otherwise be on clearance and 3 – of course, you’ve generated the chance to add a new regular customer.  As well, the recipient is often likely to spend in excess of the card value, resulting in additional profit at the time of the sale.

• Unredeemed gift cards: Did you know an average of 8-10% of gift cards go unredeemed*?  This means for every $1000 of gift cards you issue, you’ll see an average of $80-$100 of PURE PROFIT.  You are basically collecting payment and only providing your customer a few cents worth of plastic in this case.  The profit made off unredeemed gift cards typically more the offsets the entire program cost.  *(­Nolan, Kelly. “Old Gift Cards Are in Season.” The Wall Street Journal. Oct. 22, 2008.)

• Under-redeemed gift cards: In addition to unredeemed gift cards, there is also the potential for under-redeemed gift cards.  Our gift card program works on a magnetic strip cards, so any unused balance stays on the card.  It’s typical for the last $5 or $10 on a card to simply just go to waste and never be redeemed.   Think about it – you’ve done the same!

More Gift Card Facts:

Customer Loyalty Cards:

• Customize or Template design – Choose from a number of template designs, including different colors, one or two sided print, etc from our catalog of card templates.  Or, design your own, fully customized design to suit your business.  Finally, if you have a concept and need design help, we can assist there as well.(Internet Merchant Account)

• Customize programs to your business: Rewards can be issued in a variety of ways to suit your business, such as:
  • On a “points” system – IE after 100 points, you earn a $10 store credit
  • Total dollars spent – IE after $100, you receive an $10 store credit
  • Number of units purchased – IE after purchase of 10 coffees, 11^th is free
  • For purchase of specific items only – IE reward points valid only with purchase an appetizer
  • Special promotions – IE “double points Tuesday’s”, etc

Terminal Compatibility – gift cards are compatible with many of the most popular make and model terminals, and simply require a download to work.   Contact us for more information on terminal compatibility.   (NOTE: with a new merchant account, we can often provide a compatible terminal at no charge).

More Loyalty Card facts and statistics

Put stored value to work…(a few ideas to get your gift / loyalty card program off and running)