Sending digital rewards to employees or customers works for a variety of use cases, like lowering customer acquisition costs or attrition. Gift cards and prepaid cards are easy to work with and allow recipients to receive their incentives quickly.
That said, manually sending and tracking and managing a gift card program by hand can be incredibly time consuming. That's why most companies use a gift card distributor to simplify and improve the process.
Meanwhile, companies that want to integrate Visa and other rewards directly into their existing platform or app need to find a distributor that also offers a straightforward API.
If your company is considering offering Visa prepaid cards and similar rewards, here's what you (or your developer) need to know about Visa prepaid card and gift card API.
'Gift cards' vs 'prepaid cards': what type of Visa API do you need?
Before exploring how to use gift card API, let's cover the basics of what gift cards and prepaid cards actually are. While consumers may use the terms interchangeably, they're not actually the same thing. Understanding this difference can help you make better choices for your rewards and incentives programs.
A gift card is a one-time load card that can be used by one store. Some of the most popular gift cards are to stores like Starbucks and Amazon. When someone gets said Starbucks gift card, they can only use it at Starbucks.
But if you want to leverage the brand power of global financial companies like Visa or Mastercard®, then you will need to offer your recipients prepaid cards.
A prepaid card is preloaded with an available balance that acts as a spending limit. It's assigned an account number to process transactions against the balance. Your recipients can use them to make purchases anywhere in-person or online that the prepaid card is accepted. Prepaid cards are typically very popular with recipients, because they don't actually affect their credit (among many other benefits).
In short, you might think you're looking for a 'Visa gift card API.' But in reality, you need a 'Visa prepaid card API' for your business and research use cases.
Visa prepaid card API: what it is
Application programming interfaces (APIs) are software intermediaries that allow two computer programs to communicate with each other. Using an API like Giftbit's RESTful API will connect your company's app or platform with our complete digital rewards platform and robust (and global) rewards catalog.
Simply put, your developer will use the Giftbit API so that you can use Visa prepaid cards and every other gift card in our catalog—directly through your company's own software.
And because the Giftbit API is so straightforward, your developer should have one, seamless reward and payout workflow up and running in no time.
In short, if your company wants to integrate a gift card program into your processes, then you will need either an external or internal developer to connect it via API.
When your developer assesses which gift and prepaid card API they'll need to use, they'll typically be looking for one that is:
Tldr: Only your developer needs to know how to use an API. You just need to know when and why to use one.
Prepaid card API: why you need it
The right API streamlines all of these processes:
- Employee rewards: Call upon Visa prepaid card API to send gift card links to employees for things like birthdays and employment milestones
- Customer engagement: Engage and reward loyal customers with prepaid cards for giveaways, loyalty programs, referrals, and more
- Sales incentives: Instantly reward reps when they meet sales goals. Giftbit's Visa gift card API can trigger real-time delivery of sales incentives, creating a clear link between performance and reward
Using Giftbit's API for Visa and other brands
Perhaps you know that your company only wants to use Visa prepaid cards for your rewards, incentives, and payouts. In which case, great! The Giftbit API will let you do just that.
But remember that the same Giftbit API you use for Visa will also give you immediate access to every brand in our catalog.
So anytime now or in the future, you can choose to give your recipients a broader selection of gift cards to choose from. Indeed, many Giftbit clients give their recipients full choice of the entire catalog.
Meanwhile, using a clear gift card API like Giftbit's will let you automate a variety of processes for your incentive programs.
Creating and managing rewards
Use the Giftbit API to generate and send new Visa prepaid cards within your digital interface. Check the balances of cards you have previously delivered, deactivate cards that are empty or that no user has redeemed, and complete other actions to manage your rewards process.
Processing payouts
You can also use the Giftbit API to process transactions that use Visa prepaid cards for payouts. This technology can help with making purchases, handling refunds, and transferring funds between cards.
API integration and features
The process of integrating APIs into your workflow varies depending on the API you're using.
Giftbit's REST API integration process features in-depth documentation, along with a Sandbox testing environment, that can help you facilitate the process.
Whichever API your developer chooses, they'll generally follow this process to integrate it with Visa and the other brands in our catalog:
- Review the API documentation from the provider
- Set up a Sandbox testing environment
- Gain access to the Testbed API and begin testing the integration
- Move from the Testbed to the Production API to officially roll out the API
Choosing the right API for Visa
The API you choose can significantly affect your features, benefits, and integration process. Your developer will want to find a straightforward option with good onboarding support, and as well as detailed API documentation for easy-to-follow guidance.
APIs don't have to be overwhelming. Contact Sales to see if the Giftbit API is right for your workflow.
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