Q: How can I motivate, recognize, and reward customers and employees to boost loyalty, engagement, and performance? A: Try prepaid debit cards as an incentive for customer and employee recognition programs, and for marketing promotions too, to boost brand recognition.

1. Why prepaid cards
could be the
answer to your
incentive questions.
Q & A

2. More and more, companies are turning to Prepaid Award Cards to help motivate, reward
and recognize their employees and customers. One reason is the variety of ways this product
can be used to build employee and customer loyalty, but also the overall convenience
Prepaid Card programs offer for your business and your card recipients. In this Q & A, we’ve
taken a look at some of the most common questions companies have regarding Prepaid Card
programs to help identify how Prepaid Cards can help you achieve your business goals.
Q. How can Prepaid Award Cards improve my employee incentive program?
A. No matter what size organization, Prepaid Award Cards can be an easy and cost-
effective way to build appreciation and loyalty with employees. A Prepaid Card solution is
perfect when recognizing employees for milestone awards such as:
• Years in Service
• Certification Completion
• Safety and Performance
• Sales Incentives
• Spot Awards
Instead of handing out cash, checks, or vouchers, you can order any quantity of Prepaid
Award Cards and select the value of each card, which not only helps with budgeting, but
also guarantees you’ll have what you need on hand, when you need it. And, when you have
customizable options like using your logo or unique card image, you can increase your brand
awareness and employee loyalty with every use.
Example: Joe R. is the CEO of his own heating and plumbing company, he has 20 employees
and has been using cash to recognize team members when they outperform the competition
in sales. Every once in a while, budgeting for awards would slip his mind, so Joe didn’t have
the petty cash to hand out an award when he wanted to. This left his employees with an
unclear view of what performance based incentives really meant for them, and who would be
rewarded. Now, Joe orders Prepaid Award Cards every six months and keeps them on hand
for performance awards. The result is that top performers get rewarded on a consistent basis
and everyone appreciates the incentive program. Performance has gone up and Joe hears
positive feedback about the program.
Q. How do Prepaid Award Cards help build employee loyalty for my business?
A. The fact is, an appreciated employee is a motivated employee. And when an employee
is rewarded with something seen as valuable, job satisfaction increases.1
It doesn’t matter if
it’s a holiday gift, an anniversary milestone, or a performance-based award — employees value
being recognized as long as the reward has perceived worth. That’s where a Prepaid Award
Card program can help.
1

3. But how can employee satisfaction benefit the company? In fact, more than 50% of
employees surveyed in 2010 said they would leave a job and go to another company if it
included more opportunities for recognition.2
Now, give an employee an award that has
value, flexibility, security, convenience, branding, and some excitement when received (like a
smartOne Prepaid Award Card), and you have one happy employee! And a happy employee
is a productive employee.
Q. Can Prepaid Cards work for my customers too?
A. There are many opportunities to use Prepaid Award Cards for your customers. If you
had the opportunity to thank your customers and create repeat business, would you do it?
If you could create more brand interaction, would you? With a Prepaid Award Card, you’re
able to do that every time they pull that card out of their wallet.
Customer appreciation and recognition is an important factor in building customer loyalty.
And making the effort now to keep those customers happy could pay dividends for years
to come. Since it is less expensive to keep current customers than it is to find new ones,
companies should consider establishing a Prepaid Award program as part of their customer
loyalty program.
• Reward customers when they refer a friend.
• Recognize loyal customers for milestones, like subscription anniversaries,
special purchases or purchase thresholds.
• Thank customers with a purchase rebate when signing up for or purchasing
specific items.
Example: A year later, Joe R. decided that he wanted to expand his recognition program to
include something for customers, as well. He consulted with his Prepaid Award Card vendor
and developed a customer rebate program; for every new customer who purchased a
heating and cooling system, he provided a $100 rebate. To offer convenience and flexibility
to his customers, the rebate was issued as a Prepaid Visa Card and was customized with
his company’s logo and unique brand images, a continuing reminder of Joe’s brand to the
customer every time they used the rebate card. Joe also saved time and money and was
able to have the rebate cards mailed directly to the individual customers instead of having to
process and mail them all himself.
Q. I give cash or gift cards that I pick up at the local drug store. How is a Prepaid Card
more convenient?
A. Prepaid cards offer many advantages for your business and your card recipients. In fact,
according to the Incentive Research Foundation, when all factors are considered, including
2

4. costs, impact on recipients and outcomes, incentive planners overwhelmingly say Prepaid
Cards are the most effective employee rewards they have.3
The benefits of a Prepaid Card program over cash and gift cards include:
Safety and security: Prepaid Visa® Debit Card and Prepaid Debit MasterCard® are backed
by Zero Liability Policies, protecting against fraudulent use if lost or stolen.
Universal appeal: You can use Prepaid Award Cards anywhere Visa Debit cards and Debit
MasterCard are accepted, whereas gift cards are usually limited to one retailer.
Branding and Marketing: Every time the cardholder uses the Prepaid Award Card for
a purchase, he/she is reminded of who gave it to him/her and the recognition he/she
received for the card. An extra marketing opportunity would be to brand your cards with
your company logo or image, making the Prepaid Award Card an extra way to market your
company — while saying Congratulations or Thank You, all at the same time.
Convenience: Order your Prepaid Award Cards online and have them delivered to your
business (or even directly to the individual recipients), rather than having to run out every
time you need to replenish your supply. Plus, you won’t be limited to the selection the
drugstore has on hand, or the predetermined denominations.
Q. How much does a typical Prepaid Award Card program cost?
A. There are many options to choose from when setting up a Prepaid Award Card
program, and you should keep price, flexibility, customer service, and customization in mind
for your program. smartOne Prepaid Award Cards offer top-tier competitive pricing, have no
set-up fees and no cardholder fees, which many other providers do charge. With smartOne’s
no cardholder fees, the total value of the card is completely for the recipient for the life of the
card. And smartOne offers the most customizable card in the industry — you can put a unique
image and message on every card you purchase! Plus you’ll have a dedicated customer
service representative to manage the entire process.
If you have questions about starting your own Prepaid Award Card program, visit our website
at www.smartoneprepaid.com or call 1-800-391-9503 to begin building loyalty and
engagement today.
1 Source: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/causes-job-satisfaction-23514.html
2 Source: Winning with a Culture of Recognition 2010
3 Source: “State of Gift Card Use in the U.S.” Incentive Research Foundation
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