eGifter: Tracey Klein on the Evolving Role of Gift Cards in Incentives, Rewards, Recognition, Loyalty, and B2B Gifting Programs
Another in an ongoing series of profiles on suppliers in the incentive, rewards, recognition and loyalty space sharing their visions, effective practices, and solutions. Key Trends Shaping Gift Card–Based Incentives and Rewards
Building eGifter to Support Modern Gift Card Programs
Services and Capabilities
Who Uses eGifter for Gift Card Incentives
Disruption, Challenges, and Opportunity
Modernizing How Gift Cards Are Delivered
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Gift cards have become one of the most widely used tools in modern incentives, rewards, recognition, loyalty, and corporate gifting programs—but according to Tracey Klein, Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development at eGifter, many organizations still approach them with outdated assumptions and legacy infrastructure.
“Gift cards are no longer just a consumer convenience or a last-minute reward option,” Klein says. “They are a strategic instrument for driving engagement across employee recognition, customer loyalty, research participation, safety programs, and performance incentives—if they’re delivered through the right platform.”
Klein explains that as the use of gift cards has expanded across enterprise incentive and recognition programs, expectations have changed dramatically. Organizations now require the same speed, security, and integration from gift card–based rewards that they expect from any core business system. At the same time, they want more choice, branding, and personalization than cash or ACH payments typically provide.
“Gift cards sit at the intersection of flexibility and emotional impact,” Klein notes. “The challenge is delivering them in a way that scales globally, integrates seamlessly, and meets enterprise standards for fraud prevention, compliance, and user experience.”
Key Trends Shaping Gift Card–Based Incentives and Rewards 
According to Klein, several major trends are redefining how gift cards are used in B2B incentive, reward, recognition, and loyalty programs. Security and continuity have become table stakes. As stored value becomes a more frequent target for organized fraud, organizations increasingly demand platforms that support PCI and SOC compliance, encryption, multi-factor authentication, and advanced fraud prevention capabilities.
At the same time, Klein points to widespread modernization efforts as companies move away from rigid, legacy rewards systems. “Buyers want platforms that adapt quickly as programs change,” she says. “That means configurations, not customizations.”
Another accelerating trend is the rise of embedded rewards. Rather than operating standalone incentive tools, organizations want gift card rewards delivered directly within the systems they already use—HR platforms, research tools, loyalty engines, safety systems, and SaaS applications—via APIs and reporting portals.
Global readiness is also critical. As incentive and recognition programs expand internationally, organizations require multi-language and multi-currency support, along with the ability to adapt to evolving privacy and compliance standards across regions.
Finally, Klein notes rising expectations around user experience and intelligent automation. Mobile-first design, accessibility compliance, and AI-driven improvements in personalization, approvals, fraud detection, and reporting are no longer optional—they are baseline requirements.
Building eGifter to Support Modern Gift Card Programs 
Founded in 2011, eGifter initially launched as a consumer digital gifting company, powering secure gift card delivery for individuals and merchants. As businesses increasingly adopted gift cards for incentives, recognition, loyalty, and promotions, eGifter expanded its technology to support enterprise-scale use cases.“That shift came directly from what we were hearing from customers,” Klein explains. “Organizations wanted better controls, deeper reporting, and the ability to integrate gift card rewards into their workflows.”
This evolution, she says, led to the development of eGifter Rewards™, a full-featured enterprise platform for gift card–based rewards and incentives, and Rewards Express™, a self-serve solution designed for small businesses, pilot programs, and on-the-spot recognition. Today, Klein says eGifter Rewards supports everything from bulk gift card distribution to fully embedded incentive programs, while aggressively incorporating AI to enhance fraud prevention, personalization, program efficiency, and analytics. “Our goal is to help organizations start small, prove impact, and then scale without friction,” she says.
Services and Capabilities
According to Klein, eGifter operates a connected ecosystem of gift card and rewards solutions that serve nonprofits, small businesses, global enterprises, and Fortune 500 organizations. Core capabilities, she says, include:
- Bulk gift card rewards ordering with centralized tracking, budgeting, and reporting
- The Real-time Rewards API™, enabling embedded gift card incentives within HR, research, loyalty, safety, and SaaS platforms
- Rewards Choice Card™ options that allow recipients to choose from hundreds of leading global and local brands
- Fully branded rewards marketplaces that keep the sender’s brand front and center
- Rewards Express™, a self-serve solution for SMBs and instant recognition
- No fees, no long-term contracts, and no minimum purchase requirements
- Advanced fraud prevention, compliance, identity verification, and enterprise reporting
- Global gift card delivery with international and localized merchant catalogs
Who Uses eGifter for Gift Card Incentives
Klein says eGifter’s B2B customer base falls into three primary groups.
- Corporate buyers using gift cards at scale for employee recognition, customer incentives, research participation, sales spiffs, safety programs, and promotions
- Platforms and channel partners that embed gift card rewards via API into their own SaaS, HR, loyalty, and compliance solutions.
- Program managers and marketing teams seeking turnkey, choice-based gift card experiences through branded marketplaces.
Disruption, Challenges, and Opportunity
When asked about disruption in the B2B gift card market, Klein points to shifting expectations rather than a single catalyst. One example is the growing use of cash and ACH payouts. “Cash is simple, but it often lacks the personalization and emotional impact that gift cards bring to recognition and loyalty programs,” she explains. As a result, Klein says modern platforms are evolving to combine the speed and control of ACH with the flexibility, branding, and engagement of gift card rewards—while embedding more deeply into enterprise workflows.
The biggest challenge, she notes, is balancing speed and flexibility with fraud prevention, compliance, and budget oversight as programs become more dynamic. “That’s also where the opportunity lies,” Klein says. “Organizations want modern, API-driven gift card platforms that scale without reintroducing friction.”
Modernizing How Gift Cards Are Delivered
One misconception Klein frequently encounters is that gift cards are inherently risky or non-compliant. “Some organizations even discontinue programs based on misapplied interpretations of regulations,” she says, “while other teams are still manually buying gift cards at retail stores.”
She concludes, “The reality is that purpose-built gift card platforms make incentives far safer, more compliant, and easier to manage than most people realize,” Klein explains. “With the right controls in place, organizations can reduce risk, improve oversight, and deliver rewards instantly.”
For eGifter, the opportunity is clear: help organizations modernize not just what they reward, but how they deliver gift cards—bringing speed, choice, trust, and scalability together in one platform.
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