Merchants love being a part of local gift certificate programs. Many of them know the work behind offering a gift card program and are unable to invest the time to research setting one up for their own business. If your chamber, or local business association, offers one that’s something members can’t get elsewhere.
Added value they can’t get elsewhere is key to increasing renewals but there’s also another hidden opportunity for businesses when they become part of a local gift certificate program.
The Power of Positive Association
Many large companies that present employees with awards use local gift certificates. They’re a way to invest in the community and if your local chamber or business association offers an online program, they’re simple to purchase and print.
With Conpoto’s online gift certificate program, supporting merchants are listed on the certificate making it very easy for the recipient to know where the cards can be redeemed. But this business listing has a much larger benefit.
For an employee who’s receiving an accommodation from his/her employer, there’s a lot of positive emotion involved in that experience. They are being recognized for a job well done. The award is associated with positive feelings and the merchant’s name (which is prominently displayed on the gift certificate), is also associated with this happy experience.
Positive associations such as these continue after the award, even if you’re not aware of them, just like remembering an event can bring about the emotions associated with it.
It is very difficult for a local business owner to achieve this sort of exposure, at the time of great positive emotion, in any other way. Chambers and business associations are able to offer this opportunity to the merchant for the benefit of all involved.
With the advent of social media, chambers have been struggling to find something they offer that members can’t get from other networking groups. Learning opportunities are a nice value but very labor intensive in creating the curriculum and/or finding the right instructors. Providing opportunities for large companies to reward their employees with the gift of local, and helping smaller merchants get associated with those positive feeling are invaluable and a reason to renew membership, with very little administrative processing time required on behalf of the chamber.
