Several sites are offering free gift cards primarily to boost sales or for promotion purposes. Most of these would require some activity from the consumers. If there’s anybody offering free gift cards without anything done from your end, then most probably, that is a scam.

You may have received emails or have visited sites and blogs stating that you have the chance to win or avail of a free $10, $50 or $100 gift card just by signing up, performing and action or buying a certain product. Those that require you to register would need you to provide some information to complete an entry for a raffle or anything similar. Some simple actions required include subscribing to their blogs or placing a comment. Others would require difficult tasks like successfully referring some friends or effectively driving a sale. These activities will provide you an chance to win a free gift card. So if you’re concern is lesser or no participation at all, then carefully choose something that would require simple action but with a nice gift card reward.

The closest promo for free gift cards with no participation required are perhaps those offering it as part of a sale. You are not required to participate in any activity and have an entry for a sweepstakes. Instead, you will have a guaranteed reward for products that you will purchase. In this case, gift cards are used to entice consumers to buy an item and most people consider the gift card as a discount. This is being done by major retail stores such as Walmart, Amazon and Best Buy. They would offer deals like items sold at $200 with a free gift card worth $50. That’s equivalent to a 25% discount.

Always take note that prior to joining any promo, sweepstakes or anything similar, you need to perform due diligence. If it’s officially offered by a known company, then chances are these promotions for free gift cards are valid and legitimate. Otherwise, you have to be extra careful especially if they would require you to provide some personal information such as name, email address, let alone, credit card information. A subscription to their blog or simple requirements such as posting comments is fine, but providing sensitive information is certainly not an option.

Again, don’t be easily lured into such offerings, but don’t be too scared either. Just be very observant, do enough research and use your wise judgment before engaging in any activity. This way, you will get yourself protected and rewarded at the same time.

More and more businesses are engaging in different ways to increase the number of their customers and boost their volume of sales. One of the ways that marketing and advertising teams look into is using different gift card programs or other related schemes using gift cards.

A reason for this is that the gift card industry is steadily increasing and is becoming a multi-billion business. This is because gift cards are widely accepted by consumers in different locations. Given the popularity of gift cards and the steady demand of shoppers, different gift card programs are initiated by numerous businesses.

Purpose of a Gift Card Program

Each type of business my have their own reason for engaging in a gift card program. However, there are two general reasons why establishments elect to use gift card programs.

Increase Sales
Perhaps this is the main reason why businesses think of unique ways of marketing and advertising. A gift card program is only one way of promotion among thousands of programs that are designed for the same goal.

Maintain Customer Loyalty
Customers usually come back to an establishment for a number of reasons which include good service, quality items and convenient and clean establishment. Couple their reason with proper promotional scheme, then the chances of increasing and maintaining customer loyalty is greatly enhanced.

Promotional Marketing
Businesses can partner with retail outlets to have a promo. A common one is to attach a gift card as a reward or incentive if a shopper purchases an ample quantity of a specific product or service.

Methods Used for Gift Card Program

Several methods are used to support a gift card program. Generally speaking, several methods can be used for a certain gift card program, but they are carefully designed to support the purpose. Some of the methods used are as follows:

Free Gift Cards as Rewards or Incentives
This is probably the most common method used for any gift card program. The idea is to lure consumers into doing something in exchange for a free gift card. Such actions that’s required from the consumer include buying certain amount of products, registering or signing up to a website, providing several referrals and more.

This method is popular both in store and online. For online promotions, many bloggers offer gift card freebies if you sign-up for a certain service. Other than that, free gift cards are bundled to a product set for marketing.

Earn a Gift Card – Point System
Another method used that’s directly related to customer loyalty is the point system. This system is popularized by credit card companies. This is usually done by allocating a specific point for every purchase of goods or services. Once the accumulated point reaches are certain value, this can be exchanged for a gift card. T

Win Gift Cards
The gift card sweepstakes is also a popular method used. Unlike the point system that provides a point for every purchase, this gift card program method entitles a customer an entry for a chance to win a gift card. Again, this is attracting the attention of both in-store and online shoppers.

Gift Card Discount
This method doesn’t warrant a free gift card, but allows customers to purchase it at a discounted price. This is attractive for gift card buyers if the gift card available is of high value and usage and if the discount percentage is acceptable.

There are several sites offering free gift cards. You might have received an email or two saying that you can receive free $50, $75 or $100 gift cards by responding to the email or clicking on a link. Some will let you register for different free services or products. You will be required to provide information, select options or perks that suits your interests, and then go through the same process. Sometimes, you will be required to provide referrals by giving email addresses of somebody you know. Most of the sites that function in this typical setup are bogus.

Such email will contain subject or text saying something like:

• free gift cards no participation required
• free wal mart gift cards
• free 50 gift cards
• free kmart gift cards
• free itunes gift cards
• free clothing gift cards
• free printable gift cards
• free restaurant gift cards
• free visa gift card

Generally speaking, when an something presents itself as a high prize in exchange for an easy task, then chances are, that thing is fraud. There really is no such thing as easy money in this world.

While a lot of the gift cards offered are hoax (especially through unsolicited email), there are still those who offer legitimate gift cards. Why is it free? It’s because people use it for marketing purposes. Of course it’s totally not free since you will be required to do something like post a comment, link to an article, or sign-up to a membership site.

Most of those who provide free gift cards are bloggers, who in one way or another, takes advantage of the free gift card to attract as many customers as possible in exchange for higher returns. Most of the bloggers or webmasters who does this, offers a free gift card in exchange for small tasks. In this case, the value of the gift cards ranges from $5 to at most $25 or $50. Other bloggers who offer free gift cards at $50 or $100 and up usually does it through a lottery or a draw. This means that they let everyone do one specific thing – probably sign-up or subscribe to a certain website or purchase a certain product then provide a proof of purchase or transaction. All those who joined or availed will then be included in the raffle.

Other bigger companies offer legitimate free gift cards. One good example is the Coles Giant Gift Card Giveaway promo. In this promo, to earn a Coles Gift Card of any denomination from $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and more, you need to accumulate points. These points are earned every time you spend $30 or more in one transaction or through buying specially marked products. Many businesses engage in such promos to attract more and more customers. The more popular it is the better. This is specially true during holiday season or any sale period.

The point is to make sure that if ever you’re interested in free gift cards offered by a website, you need to be very careful before totally trusting it because any action done will be at your own risk.