Marketers: Think beyond Amazon gift cards for rewards and incentives
By Kate Monica●3 min. read●Jun 13, 2025
“Take a demo and receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card.”
It’s likely you either have this offer sitting in your inbox right now, or you’re enticing prospects with this promotion yourself.
But while Amazon gift cards are one of the most popular incentives for companies to offer right now, they’re not everyone’s favorite to receive. We conducted an experiment to determine which incentives and rewards recipients actually want, and we found most people want the gift of choice.
Alternatives to Amazon such as a money transfer, Visa prepaid card, and gift card of the recipient’s choice were each ranked as more valuable by recipients we surveyed.
Why businesses default to sending Amazon gift cards
There are some benefits to sending rewards and incentives through Amazon:
Amazon gift cards have no added fees if you buy them in bulk directly from the brand.
Amazon offers recipients a wide range of items to choose from.
Amazon is available in multiple countries around the world, which makes it an obvious incentive choice for international recipients.
But there are even simpler (and more enticing) alternatives to Amazon your business can offer without any added fees.
If you’re looking to get more responses to your current promotional offers, it might be time to think beyond Amazon.
Give recipients the freedom of choice
Amazon isn’t a great fit for recipients who would rather use their reward to offset the cost of their weekly grocery trip, get some guilt-free takeout, or use the money at a physical store.
Even if recipients like shopping at Amazon, people generally prefer having options for what kind of incentive they get.
We partnered with The Decision Lab to conduct conjoint analysis on over 3,000 data points to figure out which specific incentives recipients prefer. The results put money at the top of the list:
Money transfer: The most valuable incentive is a cash transfer. This can be sent through PayPal, Venmo, or as an ACH transfer (direct deposit).
Visa prepaid card: The second-most valuable incentive is a Visa prepaid card (either digital or physical). Since most retailers accept these cards (including Amazon), recipients see them as the option closest to cash.
Gift card of the recipients’ choice: Recipients consider this option only slightly less valuable than a Visa prepaid card. Recipients don’t mind being restricted to only one retailer, as long as they can choose which one.
Amazon gift card: Amazon still has its place as a preferred recipient reward option. The “everything store” ranked fourth on the list.
Mailed check: Recipients value this option the least, and for good reason. Checks arrive by (and occasionally get lost in) snail mail, and cashing them adds an extra step.
Recipient preferences may vary from person to person, but overall, they want whichever incentive gives them the most freedom to choose.
Using a platform like Tremendous to send rewards and incentives ensures customers and prospects can choose whichever incentive they prefer, whether that’s a Venmo payout, a DoorDash gift card, or yes, an Amazon gift card.
Expand your promotion internationally
Relying solely on Amazon gift cards to send incentives across borders is a recipe for a major headache.
Amazon has different websites for various countries it operates in, and there are currency restrictions between them. For example, if you purchase Amazon gift cards from the U.S. site, your Canadian customers can’t redeem them on amazon.ca.
If you want to extend your promotional offer to include Amazon gift cards for Canadian prospects, you’d need to separately log into the Canadian Amazon site and place an order there. You’d also need to pay in Canadian dollars, and your credit card might charge a foreign transaction fee.
Spending extra time logging into and out of different websites and accounts can be a pain, but failing to offer a marketing promotion anywhere outside the U.S. can also needlessly hamper sales.
Don’t risk frustrating participants who can’t use a U.S.-bought Amazon card. Instead, consider using a tool that allows you to send rewards to prospects and customers in many different countries.
Offer a better recipient experience
Whether you’re offering customers and prospects an incentive to take a demo, show up to your event, or refer a friend, the specific reward is only one small part of the individual’s experience with your brand.
After they take the demo or get home from the conference, do they have an easy time redeeming their reward? If they run into issues, do they have to deal with a frustrating customer service queue? Every step of the redemption process will reflect back on your brand.
If you opt to order Amazon gift cards directly from the company, any customers and prospects who encounter problems will have to deal with Amazon’s complicated support network where it’s hard to reach a real human.
Conversely, if you use a rewards platform like Tremendous to issue marketing incentives, your customers and prospects will benefit from stellar customer service.
It’s a smoother, faster, and more human customer service experience. And your customers and prospects will notice.
Key takeaways
There’s no doubt that many people appreciate Amazon gift cards as an incentive to take a meeting, buy a product, or refer a friend. But there are thousands of alternatives to Amazon that people may prefer instead.
Letting customers and prospects pick their own incentive with a platform like Tremendous is much more scalable for your business — and much more appealing for recipients. You can instantly send incentives and rewards that recipients can redeem however they want, wherever they are in over 200 countries.
