Going digital with your rewards and incentives will make the entire process hassle-free—whether you're trying to improve employee performance at work, encourage consumers to complete a survey, or incentivize customers for business growth.
Just as important, digital rewards improve user engagement and experience, too. For example, users can access digital gift cards instantly through text or email, then use their cards to make either online or in-person purchases—their choice.
If you're looking to improve your rewards and incentives program, switching from physical gift cards and incentives to digital rewards is almost always a smart move. In this article, we’ll explore digital rewards: what they are, why they're great, and, most important, how to use them (hint: it’s easier than you think!).
Digital rewards are just what they sound like—rewards or incentives that you deliver digitally rather than through physical means.
The most popular types of digital rewards are digital gift cards. Recipients can redeem them online and then use either at an in-person store or restaurant or on the brand's website. Similarly, virtual prepaid cards (like Visa and MastercardⓇ) offer even more flexibility, since users aren’t limited to one store.
Other non-physical/online incentives include options like charitable donations, virtual concert or event tickets, digital coupons, digital media downloads, promo codes, exclusive access, virtual badges, and digital content like eBooks and premium articles.
All of these rewards have one thing in common: you don't have to physically deliver them to recipients. Instead, you can send them through email, text message, or direct message (SMS). Alternatively, users can redeem digital rewards by clicking a link on your website or within your company's portal.
Again, digital gift cards are by far the most popular type of digital rewards, thanks to their versatility. People love getting the chance to make their own purchases at Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Target, Wayfair, and hundreds of other stores and online brands and restaurants.
Pro-tip: Digital Amazon gift cards are always a popular choice.
Meanwhile, you can also opt for virtual prepaid cards which give the recipient much more choice over where they spend it.
Integrating digital rewards into your existing programs and workflows can be a simple process when you choose the right provider. Good digital gift card software can make sending, tracking, and monitoring digital rewards easy.
For example, you can sign up for a free Giftbit account to start sending rewards right away. And you might be eligible for volume discounts and revenue sharing—chat with our Sales Team to learn more.
You can customize your gift cards with your brand's logo and your own messaging, letting you take control of the reward offers you send. Then choose exactly what you want to send. For some use cases, you might want to send specific gift cards to specific stores or restaurants.
Or, you might want to offer complete recipient choice, so that people can choose what digital reward they want.
Note that prepaid cards and charitable donations are also available.
You can also choose how you want to deliver your rewards, whether that’s via email, SMS, social DM, embedded in a survey or social media message. You might take advantage of our lightweight gift card API to integrate rewards directly into your own app or portal. Or you can use use a Zapier integration to automate reward fulfillment and link your rewards program to your existing workflows and CRM.
Finally, you’ll get customized reports and data to help you understand your redemption rates and user trends, allowing you to shape your program to increase engagement.
Choosing the right digital incentives often comes down to your use case. Remember that when you use Giftbit to send digital rewards to employees, customers, or survey participants, you’ll have full control over the gift card brands available to them. Our rewards catalog has over 300 of the most highly-sought stores and restaurants (and it’s always growing).
Sometimes, allowing your recipients to choose from the whole catalog or from a selected few options is the right choice.
That said, sometimes companies will opt to go with specific brands, often tied to a specific campaign or event. For example, some companies send UberEats cards and other food delivery options to reward their employees with a team lunch.
Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts cards are great incentives to get people to join demos (tell participants to ‘enjoy a coffee on us!’).
Or a transportation company might choose to send Esso cards so their drivers can use them to buy gas.
Of course, through the Giftbit digital rewards app, you can choose gift cards from a catalog of hundreds of popular brands, including specialty brands and customer favorites like Apple, Google Play, and Xbox.
Specifically, you’ll find great options in the following categories:
Deciding whether to offer specific brands or complete recipient choice will depend on a variety of factors.
That said, the following are some of the most popular brands among both Giftbit clients and recipients.
As you probably know, Amazon is the leading e-commerce company worldwide. So it’s probably a safe bet that your employees, customers, or survey participants are already shopping on Amazon—and that they’ll appreciate an Amazon digital gift card.
You can use Giftbit to give your recipients Amazon e-rewards in denominations as low as $1 in Canada, and $2 in the United States.
That said, sticking to the 10 or 15-dollar range will let users purchase about one item. And if you want to be sure that users won't need to pay shipping and taxes on their transactions, you might want to consider bumping that up to at least $35.
For coffee and tea lovers, a Starbucks gift card feels like a reward or gift rather than just a payment in exchange for services.
Starbucks has over 32,000 stores worldwide, meaning there is a good chance your recipients will have at least one Starbucks location in your area. Sending employees or customers Starbucks gift cards gives them an excuse to treat themselves to something many people would consider a splurge or unnecessary purchase.