Supporting your reward and subscription programs with a gift card strategy is a great way to achieve real engagement from your participants. Whether the program is designed for customers, employers, or other stakeholders, people love receiving gift cards — especially cards from big-name brands they already know and love. Gift card management, however, requires some planning.

Successful gift card management and engagement for all participants requires the right gift card aggregator platform. But what sites are best for gift cards, and how do you ensure you are making the right choice?

If you’re wondering how to aggregate gift cards with the best platform, we've compiled this guide to help you choose one and push your gift card strategy to the next level. You'll be able to see what you need to look out for and understand how to pick a gift card aggregator platform that meets your requirements. 

A strong track record of client success

At first sight, a gift card aggregator looks pretty simple. It's just a collection of digital gift cards you can use to energize and engage your program participants, but this is barely even scratching the surface. In fact, the platform has to do much more than this.

Users must be able to benefit from a range of gift card management features and integrations if they are to deploy gift cards successfully. This means the aggregator platform must be driven by client success, providing everything the clients need to do the job. Look for past reviews and user testimonies to discover the platform’s reputation.

A keen focus on customer service

Everything about your chosen aggregator platform must be backed up with strong customer service. While the platform will use API technology to achieve direct integration with your website management software and other solutions, the process is not fully automated. Human input is still required.

This is why the best aggregator platforms will be supported by a customer-focused team. Dedicated to their users, this team will be on hand to offer support and assistance whenever required, solving user issues as they arise.

Up-to-the-minute deals and trends

It's not just about aggregating cards — how you aggregate these gift cards is important too. Aggregator platforms need to give their users the latest deals, offering gift cards that meet the current expectations and needs of customers in the market. As exciting new market players emerge, they must be represented by the array of cards available on the platform.

Platforms like Runa utilize automated features and API integration to ensure that the trending gift cards are available on the platform. This is important to our users and is highly effective in driving customer engagement and interest.

High levels of security

Security needs to be fundamental. In the digital marketplace, security is a rapidly evolving concern, with new threats and deception methods emerging regularly. Many money and personal data are also tied up in these digital platforms, which must be protected. This means security must be the top priority for your chosen gift card aggregator platform.

Data encryption, secure protocols, and multi-factor authentication can help keep the site secure and keep users safe from harm. Check your chosen aggregator platform to ensure it offers reliable security.

Robust anti-fraud 

Fraud is a serious concern when it comes to gift cards. For example, criminals can create fake gift cards to cheat businesses out of goods and services or simply cheat customers who purchase these cards. Criminal organizations may also use gift cards to launder money or to make it more difficult for the authorities to trace purchases.

With this in mind, your chosen gift card aggregator platform must have robust anti-fraud measures in place. This helps ensure the ongoing safety and regulatory compliance of the platform, so you can build a long-term partnership with the provider.

Reliable delivery and order fulfillment

When considering what sites are best for gift cards, think about delivery and fulfillment. You need to work with a partner that is up to the task — someone who can deliver the cards you need when you need them. If there are shortfalls or other delivery holdups, this will harm your strategy's success.

Previous user testimonies and reviews can be useful here as well. Users are likely to leave a bad review if they have not received the right cards at the right time, which will indicate any potential issues with order fulfillment.

Promotions and marketing expertise

The gift card management and aggregator platform is your gateway to stronger promotional and lead engagement strategies. This means the platform's support team must have expertise in this area so that they can provide the assistance you need to get the best out of these strategies.

Choose a platform that offers this kind of support. Work with teams with a background in promotions and marketing so you know where to turn when you need guidance on marketing initiatives. Make it your priority to ask about the competencies and specific areas of expertise of the candidates you consider so you can make the right selection.

Support with point-of-sale optimization

Achieving success with your gift card program means optimizing your front end. Customers need to know how they can benefit from your gift card strategy and how the program works, so the point of sale needs to be structured in the right way.

The right gift card management platform will have features that assist with this optimization. These features will be backed up by a knowledgeable support team that is on hand to provide additional guidance and advice when required. This may include technical guidance, helping you get the best from these features, but it may also cover broader support and consultation about optimizing your promotions. 

A huge range of gift cards ready for deployment 

How do you separate a good aggregator platform for gift cards from the rockstar platforms? The best gift card aggregator platforms will have a huge range of gift cards that are ready for use. This means you have a diverse range of options at your disposal, and you are ready to support a wide range of customer tastes and needs.

Here at Runa, we provide gift cards for over 1,300 brands. We are proud to provide the biggest gift card range on the planet, ensuring our users have everything they need to entice their customers, employees, and other rewards program participants. Choose Runa for gift card management, and draw upon a vast resource of cards from a range of sectors.

International reach and a broad scope

In the digital age, achieving a truly global reach is possible. Even small businesses can connect with customers worldwide, developing strategies that cross international borders and drawing revenue from far-flung markets. Your chosen gift card platform has to support this, offering the kind of international reach and broad scope your strategy needs.

Runa fits the bill perfectly. Our gift cards span 30 countries and are available in 64 languages. These cards also support 18 currencies, so you can always cater to a global audience — wherever that audience may be.

Reliable integrations with existing solutions

How do you achieve success from aggregator platforms for gift cards? You need these platforms to integrate with your existing solutions. This means integrating directly with eCommerce solutions, as well as customer relationship management platforms and loyalty program software. Without these integrations, achieving the kind of data-focused gift card management your strategy needs to succeed becomes difficult.

Runa uses API technology to make these integrations happen. The result is a smooth and streamlined implementation process and a reliable set of strategies you can use as you distribute gift cards to your participants.

Choose Runa for your gift card strategy

How can your business benefit from an aggregator platform for gift cards? You just have to pick the right platform. We are proud to say that Runa may just be the platform you need.

With Runa, you can send eGift cards straight to your customer or employee rewards scheme participants. Access the world's most extensive gift card resource, covering over 1,300 brands across 30 countries worldwide.

With support for 18 currencies and 16 languages, you can rest assured that Runa provides the cards your audience members crave. Thanks to API technology, all this is designed to integrate seamlessly with your existing solutions. 

Get started today. Reach out to our team to learn more, or use our demo for touring our platform demo for touring our platform.