In a landslide win, UK consumers are six times more likely to want a gift card than a discount as a reward for customer loyalty.
In a survey of 10,000 people, 76% of respondents said their preferred gift for staying loyal to a company would be a gift card.
Gift cards left other gifts, like discounts or VIP experiences, in the dust in a poll run by reward and incentive supplier Love2shop.
The survey results
Question: If a company offered you a gift for being a loyal customer, which would you prefer?
| Answer | Total answers | Percentage of answers |
| A discount on your next purchase | 1,413 | 13.1 |
| A gift card (your choice of retailer) | 8,254 | 76.6 |
| A VIP experience | 509 | 4.7 |
| Upgraded membership | 144 | 1.3 |
| Merchandise | 461 | 4.3 |
The respondents’ answers show just how much UK consumers treasure gift cards over other loyalty reward options. And when the answers are so overwhelmingly clear for one product, businesses that reward loyalty can start to wonder what they mean for their own customer retention campaigns.
Huge sums are spent every year offering customers discounts and VIP experiences to secure their loyalty. This data, from more than 10,000 UK consumers, may form the basis for re-evaluation of whether businesses could enjoy better customer loyalty, and happier customers, with a more popular gift.
While the figures show that consumers are clearly interested in gift cards, Frank Creighton, Director of Business Development at Love2shop, believes there’s more to it: “It would be tempting to focus just on the gift card being such a popular loyalty reward, but we should also be sure to note the poll was offering users the chance to pick their own retailer.
“It’s not just getting the gift card that’s so attractive, but that the customer can choose where their gift card is spent. With that choice available, a customer can always enjoy a loyalty reward that resonates with them as an individual. That choice is exactly what we’ve built our Love2shop Gift Cards and e-Gift Cards on.”
