How to make discount cards?

Discount cards are a great way to entice new customers and retain existing customers. Although creating a discount card might sound difficult, they’re incredibly easy to obtain in a few simple steps.

At Plastic Resource, we offer you a four-step method for creating discount cards for your business.

1. Plan your discount: You’ll need to decide what your discount is, what should go on your discount card and if you want to integrate your card with your POS system. Not sure about integration? Give us a call and we can help.
2. Design your card: Designing your card is simple with our available design options. You can choose an existing design, allow us to design your card on your behalf or you can supply your own design. Our options are explained in detail on our design options page.
3. Proof and then pay: Before you pay for your discount cards, we’ll ensure we’ve got everything right by sending you a proof. Once approved, you may then submit your payment. The proof and pay process happens on our secure Proof & Pay page on our website.
4. Start reaping the benefits: You’ll receive your discount cards in the mail in as little as four days after approving the proof.

To help you get started, let’s discuss each step in more detail.

4-Step Process for Making Your Own Discount Cards

At Plastic Resource, we give you the opportunity to make discount cards for your business using just a few simple steps.

1. Plan Your Discount

Planning your discount consists of three different parts: choosing your discount, deciding what should be on your card and whether or not you want to integrate your card with your POS system.

What Is the Discount?

Your discount is a marketing campaign, so start by determining what you want to promote. For example, do you want to sell more of a specific product or maybe encourage business on certain days when business is slow?

Most coupon cards are for a specific percentage off, fixed amount off or a BOGO (buy one, get one free) offer. You may choose to offer a percentage off of that product you want to promote. Or, you might offer a certain amount off of a purchase when your customer visits on that slow day.

What Needs to Go On Your Card?

When you decide on the discount you want to offer, it’s time to understand what you should place on your card.

• A summary of the discount: On your card, you’ll need to include a summary of the discount you offer. For example, “$10 off”.
• Desired restrictions: You’ll need to include any expiration dates, product or category restrictions, days of the week the discount will be valid, etc.
• Optional promotional code: Will your customer be able to use the card online and in-store? You’ll need to add a promotional code your customer can use during checkout online.

Do You Want to Integrate With Your POS?

Most discount cards are kept simple, with every card having the same content printed on every card. We do offer the option of encoding unique data through barcodes, mag stripes or printed variable numbers on each card.

Unique data that’s printed or encoded on the card allows you to enforce the number of times the discount is used. There is a bit of complexity when generating the encoding information, however. If you’re interested, contact us and our experts will walk you through the encoding options.

2. Design Your Card

Now that you’ve chosen the perfect discount for your card, it’s time to choose a perfect design to go along with it. The design you choose should be relevant to your business and help communicate what it is you offer. At Plastic Resource, we offer three different design options to fit your unique needs.

• Choose an existing design: If you’re ready to jumpstart the discount card creation process, you can use one of our existing designs. We offer over 75+ to choose from.
• Allow us to design your card for you: If you want a card that is tailored to your business, we offer free and low-cost custom design options. You can customize your card’s shape, color scheme, logo and more.
• Supply your own design: If you’re knowledgeable in Photoshop or Illustrator and want to upload your own design, we have templates of each of our cards available online.

To receive a quote for our custom design services or to use your own artwork, you’ll simply upload all of your information to our contact form. The more information you give, the easier it will be to give you an accurate quote.

When creating your own artwork, be sure to follow our guidelines listed here. Your card will need to be a certain DPI, with a specific bleed, trim line and live area.

3. Proof and Pay

When you place your order, you’ll need to proof your discount card’s design and pay. We want to make sure the card we create for you is finished exactly how you want it to be. We ask you to proof your card by looking over the design and information on your card. If you find information that is incorrect, or if you need to make changes to the design, let us know using the Proof & Pay section on our website.

You’ll receive the first revision of your discount card for free. After the initial revision, a $25 fee will be applied for a second revision. It’s critical to ensure your card is correct before you submit. After proofing your card, you can pay using a credit card. You won’t be charged until your order is shipped to you.

If you need to pay via another method other than a credit card, you’ll need to give us a call at 833-290-5684.

4. Start Reaping the Benefits

You’ll receive your cards by mail within four days after approving your proof. Once received, it’s time to start promoting your discount card to reap the benefits. Here are some specific ideas to help you promote your new promotional discount cards.

• Hand your cards out to customers who make a purchase
• Give them away at public events such as concerts, expos, etc.
• Promote your discount card on your website
• Send a discount card to your online customers inside of their package
• Give them out as part of another promotion - for example, give a discount card as a bonus for purchasing a gift card

Get Started on Your Discount Card Today

You can get started on your discount card project today. Contact Plastic Resource or get an instant quote to get going. Have questions? We’re always here to give you the answers you need for a smooth, card creation process.