Delivering ‘trophy value’ to the digital gift card experience

Over recent years, there has been a shift in demand from physical to digital gift card products both within B2C and B2B, and the past year has seen this accelerate even further.

Physical gift cards are starting to decline

Paper gift cards and vouchers have been in decline for some time, with physical cards (largely plastic) previously remaining strong.  However, according to the latest gift card industry report compiled by the GCVA.  “Physical options are now also in decline as digital offerings have begun to really take off. Digital’s market share almost doubled between H2 2019 and H1 2020, reaching 30% during the half year. This is a trend that looks set to continue, particularly in retail”. 

Trend is based on more than the pandemic

It would be easy to pin this change in demand on the pandemic following the temporary closure of many stores, with consumers adapting their shopping behaviours to online, and large swathes of the workforce working remotely.  However there are a number of other factors at play including “convenience; range of options; improved digital user experience; and environmental considerations”. (GCVA 2020 H1 Full Data Report).

So, that’s the statistics out of the way, the question is, with this move towards more digitally focused products, how can retailers replace the “trophy value” that is easier to achieve with a physical product?

Trophy value with physical

For a consumer, purchasing a physical product means that there is something to actually ‘gift’.  A physical gift card can be placed in a greeting card, or even packaged and wrapped.  This is what we mean by the ‘trophy value’.  The same applies in the B2B space.  For businesses and agencies using gift cards as rewards and incentives, a physical product can be handed over with more impact than a straight forward digital product.

Personalisation is key with digital gift cards

With the move to digital, how can retailers replace this trophy value for consumers and gift card recipients?  The answer is personalisation!  Adding personalisation to the customer purchase journey is key in making a digital gift card feel more engaging and appealing for both the buyer and the recipient.  Plus, an enhanced customer experience will attract more sales and increase customer loyalty.

More than just a personal message

Adding personalisation to digital gift cards is more than just a personal message.  Consumers can upload a photo or video, and also select the exact date and time of delivery to ensure that the gift card lands with the recipient at the optimum time.  These extra elements bring more emotion and sentimental value to a gift that could otherwise feel quite transactional.  The same applies when sending digital gift cards to customers, employees or members in the B2B space.  Adding personalisation will increase the emotional value.

Brand message and endorsements

Personalisation can also leverage the brand messaging of retail, leisure and hospitality clients, as an alternative or additional feature.  Brands can include their own messaging to digital gift cards, perhaps even incorporating messages from brand ambassadors or influencers.  This will also act as another revenue stream with consumers choosing to add messages on to digital gift card purchases.

Personalisation from Diggecard

If you are interested to find out more about digital gift card personalisation, take a look at the video below to show how Diggecard’s modular technology can deliver this to your gift card programme.  We are already working with large retail brands to add this to their customer experience including The Body Shop.  For more information, please contact the Diggecard team.