Discount Gift Card Printing Basics At-A-Glance

Information | Instant Quote | Templates | Samples | Printing | Material | Options | Size

Discount Gift Card Printing [top]

Attention-grabbing design and well chosen features are the benchmark for successful discount gift card printing.  

The best discount gift card printing designs combine full color artwork with appropriate choices in card shape, size and material.  My1Stop.com® uses high quality printing to provide crisp and accurate printing of your design - on every card. The success of your program can depend upon adding features to your cards that make your program easy for patrons to use and for you and merchants to manage.  

For the best value in discount gift card printing, we recommend printing full color graphics onto a white background. Combining high quality graphics like photos or logos with multiple color lines of text makes your cards - and your program - appealing to patrons. Here's a little known secret about full color digital printing on white cards. While it's true that digital printing tends to cost slightly more than one color printing, the lower cost of the white cards tends to off-set the more expensive colored cards used in one color printing. Know that little secret and you can order full color gift card printing at nearly one color pricing.

Get an instant discount gift card printing price!

Discount Gift Card Printing - Sizes [top]

3 3/8" x 2 1/8" is our standard discount gift card printing size. This standard size is the same as most traditional credit cards so it fits neatly into wallets and purses. The smaller 1 1/6" x 2 7/8" key card or key fob card size is increasingly popular for discount gift card programs. This is the same size used by many grocery stores and retailers for their VIP or frequent buyer cards. Custom sizes - and shapes can also be ordered but plan on longer turnaround times and higher costs if you opt to go custom.

What's the right size for your discount gift cards?
Choosing the best size for your discount gift card printing project requires you to think about your card design - and your merchant’s requirements. Using the smaller key cards could be the perfect solution to cutting costs and providing patrons with a more visible, easier to store card - but - you need to be certain that the smaller card allows room for your logo, branding and messaging. Also, not every merchant is equipped to scan the smaller cards. This might not be important if your merchant simply require the patron to show their discount gift card. But, if your cards will be scanned, the smaller card size might not be right for you.
 

We recommend the traditional 3 3/8" x 2 1/8" size for most discount gift card printing applications. The standard size gives you plenty of design space for your logo and messaging as well. You should then be able to include your tag line. The larger 3 3/8" x 2 1/8" cards also offer familiarity to your patrons and merchants alike. The standard size cards fit nicely into stock sized card carriers, too. Choose the standard discount gift card size as an economical, useful and familiar alternative to smaller or custom sizes and shapes.

Get an instant discount gift card printing price!

Discount Gift Card Printing - Material [top]

The most economical choice of materials for discount gift card printing is white 30 mil or credit card size thick cards. White 20 and 15 mil cards are readily available but they are not always less expensive over time - nor do they wear as well as the thicker, standard 30 mil material. Custom discount gift card printing materials are available from My1Stop.com, as well. Consider custom materials only if your budget and time frame will fir the additional costs and turnaround times.

Get an instant discount gift card printing price!

Discount Gift Card Printing - Options [top]

Magnetic stripes, signature panels and barcodes are the options most often used in discount gift card printing.

Encoded with the unique number, magnetic stripes (or mag stripes) are used to track values and information within the gift card processing system. Mag stripes can also be used to track customer purchases, frequency of use and other valuable marketing information. Not all merchants will be able to process discount gift cards with magnetic stripes. Please make sure to consider this important fact before opting to add a magnetic stripe to your cards.

Signature panels are the simplest and best solution to verify that the patron presenting the loyalty card actually is the card holder. Design your cards with the signature panel printed on the front or the back of the fundraiser gif card. Signature panels are usually printed in white matte ink that accepts signatures from ink pens or markers.

Consider barcodes for distribution and tracking of your discount gift cards. Barcodes can help you keep tabs on inventories and where each card was allocated. As with mag stripes, we do not recommend that you use barcodes for merchant purposes. Most merchants will not have systems compatible with your needs. Add barcodes only to save you time in distribution and tracking of your cards.