Transitioning to a Gift Card Reward Program

When a major retail warehouse club needed to transform the redemption portion of their rewards program, the membership warehouse chain turned to CPS Cards to help them with the transition.

The warehouse club’s popular rewards program offered a refund, in the form of a check, that was a percentage of the member’s purchases made in-store and online. The company wanted to modernize the program so that customers would be able to use their reward instantly at one of their locations.

The warehouse club decided to transition from a check-based reward to a gift card reward program that would allow them to gain additional information about the program and their customers. In order to migrate to this type of program, the retailer had to be assured that CPS Cards could:

• Maintain data integrity
• Meet tight production and mailing timelines
• Handle the intricate transfer of information to and from the card processor

The complete solution would include a gift card and carrier, fulfillment, and ongoing mailing to members every month throughout the year.

The CPS Cards Solution

The retailer contacted CPS Cards for assistance with their new gift card reward program. A recognized leader in the field with more than 16 years of experience helping clients successfully complete challenging card projects, CPS began the process by examining the company’s requirements, which included the following:

• A complete IT audit, done prior to commencement, to ensure program continuity throughout the process
• Card and carrier imaging, match affix to carrier, folded and inserted, all done inline and in one pass to ensure accuracy on final product
• Carrier imaged with all the information the customers would need to enjoy their rewards
• A large monthly mailing guaranteed to be delivered to the USPS on the same day each month
• Verification that every single piece has been accounted for from the supplier’s data file, produced and mailed

The Results

The retailer, with help from CPS Cards, successfully launched the new rewards card program from concept through execution within eight weeks. Since they converted the program from check-based to card-based, the program has been a resounding success. Since the inception of this new program, CPS has successfully mailed the reward card packages on time and on budget, for more than 36 months.