Everyone likes to get free stuff. There are several online sites that offer free merchandise and sample products to people in exchange for filling out a short form. There are also a lot of sites that claim to offer free stuff if you complete a number of certain offers they have available from their sponsor sites. Most of these offer gift cards to places like Walmart and Target in amounts ranging from one hundred to five hundred dollars. It is possible to get free gift cards without completing offers that ask you to buy or sign up for certain items.

You can join any number of valid points giving websites that give you points for playing games or reading e-mail ads. When you accumulate a certain number of points you can cash them in to receive a real card to a merchant of your choosing. Many of these are well known merchants and restaurants, which are located all across the country. You can also receive these free cards as promotional items from certain online merchants looking to generate more business by offering these items as incentives to get people to make purchases.

The offers that require you to participate in lengthy surveys or complete offers where you have to purchase merchandise are not really free because they require you to do something you wouldn’t ordinarily have done. The sites that have games to play or ads to click on do not require you to sign up for anything other than their membership. The cards available are not usually in the hundred dollar range but even the ten and twenty-five dollar amounts can add up when you get them on a regular basis. Getting stuff for free is great, but remembers it is not really free if you need to purchase something in order to get it.

The Ellen Degeneres Show is offering free $100 JC Penney gift card for lucky participants. Each day, they will randomly choose lucky viewers to win the gift. For anyone to be eligible, all they have to do is to fill-out the online form. Note that you can only enter your name once a day.

What you need to do:

1. Go to the official site for more information: http://ellen.warnerbros.com/giveaways/
2. Fill out the form with your name, email address, phone number, address, city, state, zip code and country.
3. Confirm on the other items posted at the bottom of the page. This includes your confirmation that you’re of legal age, that you agree to send your information to their selected partners, and more, and others.
4. Lastly, you need to click on the ‘submit’ button.

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.