A recent study found that half of all consumers said that getting a virtual gift card from their favorite retailer made them more likely to go into the store. Clearly, virtual gift cards are an enormous boon for retail business, and you can be sure that if you’re offering them at all your stores, that you are missing out on many potential customers and sales. In fact, studies show that most consumers say that buying a virtual card for themselves or a friend can improve the way that they interact with the company in general. This is because they get to choose exactly what they want to spend their money on. So, here are some tips for running an effective universal gift card activation program:

Virtual gift cards make it easy for retailers to do things differently than traditional cards. For instance, some retailers give customers an option of spending their points on different goods and services within a certain shopping category. This way, consumers can tailor the experience to their specific needs. Here are some other tips for running an effective virtual gift card program at your retail store:

Most people enjoy using their smartphones and handheld devices to buy things like food, gas, toiletries and others. For this reason, virtual gift cards via text messaging make a lot more sense for most consumers. Also, consider providing incentives for frequent users by offering them special offers and rebates whenever they send and receive their messages from their retailers. Another idea is to allow customers to use their phones as virtual credit card machines.

One thing that a lot of people find awkward about sending or receiving emails is having to actually write a thoughtful message. Luckily, there are several companies now that offer businesses the opportunity to send and receive thoughtful messages directly to their customer’s cell phone. This is useful for both the business and the recipient. Businesses can use the virtual text gift cards as a tool to engage with their consumers more intimately, while the recipients can use the messages as a prompt to keep in touch with family and friends.

Not everybody is familiar with this technology. Simply put, virtual gift cards work on a very basic premise: you purchase a certain virtual gift card from your merchant and then send the card to your recipient through any means that are available. Some of these means might include chat programs, text messaging, emails, and even physical mail. The important thing to remember is that the virtual card has no value whatsoever – it exists only as a virtual object that your recipient can trade or sell. However, the fact that it can be traded makes it a particularly thoughtful gift.