Money talks, but it doesn’t need to come in the form of cash or checks to be heard. Sometimes, those traditional delivery methods are necessary, but for businesses, they can come with a lot of hassle, extra cost, and risk. It may be time to consider a worthy alternative: the digital prepaid card.
No matter how you’re using financial rewards or compensation, digital prepaid cards like Mastercard and Visa are a more streamlined, cost-effective way to manage and distribute it. Here are 10 situations where you may be sending cash but a cash-equivalent card would be a better solution.
READ MORE: What You Need to Know About Prepaid Virtual Visa and Mastercard Rewards
1. Incentivizing survey responses. Since the vast majority of surveys are now done online, it’s less likely that you can just hand over a few bills to your respondents. A digital prepaid card can be delivered instantly for free, and an integrated tool can even let you automate the process.
2. Compensating participants in qualitative research and clinical studies. Many qualitative research methods moved online during the pandemic and have remained there since, eliminating the possibility of handing out cash in person to participants. Sending checks is time-consuming and costly, not to mention the risk of losing them in the mail and the complication of collecting delivery information in anonymous clinical research. By using a digital prepaid card, you can deliver the incentive securely while masking recipients’ identifying data.
3. Attracting qualified traffic to your trade show booth. Handing out $10 bills to attendees walking the floor at a trade show would get a lot of people stopping by your booth, but it wouldn’t do much good in regard to collecting qualified leads. Since a digital prepaid card requires an email address for delivery, that at least means anyone who wants the incentive has to have a conversation with you and offer up their contact information. You’ll leave with a list of email addresses to use for follow-up marketing.
4. Incentivizing brand advocacy. Switching from cash to a digital gift card as a reward to loyal customers who participate in case studies, submit referrals, and spread the word online may not change the rules about disclosing compensation, but it does make the process easier. Sending and approving rewards can be done with just a few clicks, and tracking the ROI on those programs becomes more streamlined.
5. Appeasing a customer after a bad experience. Our research shows that 56% of U.S. consumers say a prepaid reward is a good option as an apology for a problem or issue. For customer appeasement, a virtual prepaid card sends a better message than a discount, plus it’s more applicable for companies selling products or services that won’t need to be purchased again for a long time, like an appliance or an annual software subscription.
6. Recognizing your employees. According to our Employee Incentives Report from NAPCO Research, employees prefer to receive gift cards or prepaid cards from their employer over bonuses (90% vs. 72%). Plus, unlike a cash bonus, a digital prepaid card can be meaningful even at smaller values and arrives right away, instead of on the next paycheck.
7. Fueling sales teams with extra incentives. Sales reps who work on commission already expect that the amount of their paycheck depends on their performance. Consider using a digital prepaid card for other sales incentives, such as sales blitz standouts and contest winners. It will help differentiate those rewards from the normal commission structure and therefore make them more meaningful for employee engagement.
8. Sending a gift to … well … anyone. For the first time in 2023, general-purpose gift cards overtook cash as recipients’ most preferred gift, according to Javelin’s holiday research. Retailer-specific gift cards were third, followed by physical gifts and experiences. Checks were the least requested. The immediacy and flexibility of a digital prepaid card make it an ideal pick for anyone on your list, including customers and employees.
Ready to switch from using cash rewards to more streamlined, secure digital prepaid cards? Request a demo to see how BHN Rewards makes it easy!
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
