Could Your Consumer Promotions Use a Prepaid Upgrade?
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“Buy 3 Items, Get a $5 Rebate Card.”
“Test Drive Our Newest Model for a $25 Gift Card.”
“Transfer Your Prescription for a $15 Store Gift Card.”
As consumers, we’re very familiar with businesses that promote products and services with prepaid cards. Prepaid cards lure us to try new services, to buy more items, to switch our loyalty from one to another. For businesses, prepaid cards are an effective, convenient way to attract and retain customers. But could you be doing more? Several recent enhancements to prepaid cards could help your next consumer promotion work even harder.
Activation: With new technology, cards don’t have to be immediately active or funded. Instead, they may require some form of activation code to be “turned on.” This allows for better convenience and control over the cards used in the promotion and another opportunity to engage with your customers. For example, you can send inactive cards to prospective customers. Once a customer completes a quick online survey, gets a quote, or completes some other activity, the card is activated. Different values can be added to the card based on which activities the customer completes. A car dealership can promote test drives in general and offer a higher reward for a test drive for a specific model.
Consumer Insights: Want to learn more about your consumers? Consider adding several questions at the point of activation. For example, prepaid cards are a popular way to distribute rebates. By adding an activation code, you add the opportunity to insert a short, three-question survey about the product the consumer purchased. The results of the survey can be put to use for product enhancements, promotion improvements, or in other capacities that benefit both the business and the consumers.
Virtual Cards: Now more than ever, consumers are shopping online. Physical cards are no longer a necessary part of process. Virtual cards can be distributed instantly for online shopping. Consumers who prefer plastic cards or prefer shopping in brick-and-mortar stores may still have the option to have a physical card shipped. Consumers who don’t want to wait, however, no longer need to.
The best consumer promotions appeal to customers and businesses alike. With the latest enhancements to prepaid cards, the best just got better. How will you upgrade your next promotion?
