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January 2009 | Issue 4

Bonus Card Newsletter

How were your company's gift cards sales during the just-past holiday shopping season? Did you use bonus cards to give gift card buyers an incentive to choose your company over your competition? With the current economic situation tightening the budgets of more and more Americans this past gift giving season, many of Optimum's client base found that bonus card offerings were the key factor to this year's gift card sales increases.

Bonus cards can be offered in numerous ways to fit your company's structure (i.e. $5 Bonus Card with the purchase of $20 of gift cards, $20 Bonus with $100 purchase). Because they are not gift cards, use restrictions (like limiting one card per visit or attaching a minimum purchase amount) and assigning a deadline can be placed on their use, helping drive traffic into your locations during periods that may not have seen a lot of volume in the past.

Although there aren't any statistics that readily quantify bonus card success, anecdotally we know that companies that offered bonus programs in the past, but opted not to do so for the 2008 holiday season seem to regret their decision, and are planning to offer bonus card promotions in 2009 at least for the holiday season, if not other seasons as well. And companies that used bonus cards for the first time last year, all showed increased gift card sales year over year. It's hard not to attribute 2008's sales successes to bonus card incentives.

For 2009, organizations should be looking into how a bonus card could help drive traffic during slow parts of the year. Instead of offering a bonus card for Christmas only, can other holidays or seasons be utilized in your program to incorporate a bonus card? Spring Bonus, Mother's Day Bonus, Father's Day Bonus, Back to School Bonus, etc.

Benefits of the Bonus Card:

*     Incentive for consumers to buy your gift card

*     Drives traffic during the time period that you choose

*     Less expensive to produce than a gift card

*     Additional branding

*     Infrastructure for gift cards is already in place/easy to start bonus program

Please call Optimum Card Solutions (630-458-0077) to talk with one of our sales staff members to discuss starting or expanding your bonus card program.