Javelin Strategy & Research has presented findings urging gift-card teams to connect redemption with customer behaviour and programme governance, rather than evaluate their business mainly through unspent balances. Jordan Hirschfield’s presentation took place October 5 at the Retail Gift Card Association Forum in Denver. [S01] [S02]
The official agenda framed gift cards as financial instruments involving finance, operations, marketing, technology, legal and risk. Its proposed response to fragmented oversight was clearer ownership and accountability across those functions. [S02]
Analytics support and proof of return are separate questions
An October 8 PaymentsJournal attendee report says Hirschfield drew on proprietary prepaid research and interviews with 15 programme representatives. It reports that 60% of surveyed gift-card organisations had analytics teams or at least some analytics support, while 31% said they could not demonstrate programme return on investment. These are answers to different questions, not mutually exclusive shares. [S01]
Two reported findings on programme measurement
Survey findings attributed to Javelin’s presentation in the October 8 PaymentsJournal attendee report.
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Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Different questions. Survey denominators, fieldwork, recruitment and weighting are undisclosed. The 15 interviews are not established as the percentage sample. No cross-tab or representative industry estimate is implied.
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| Category | Reported share of surveyed organisations |
|---|---|
| Have analytics teams or support | 60% |
| Cannot demonstrate programme ROI | 31% |
The public account does not disclose the denominator for either percentage, recruitment, fieldwork dates or weighting. It does not establish that the 15 interviews form their sample, or provide linked answers showing which organisations fall into both categories. The figures can be reported as findings from the presentation, but cannot support a population estimate or a claim that analytics access itself caused better or worse returns.
The measurement problem described in the session goes beyond having a team or a dashboard. The report discusses consistent transaction records, connecting redemption with later customer activity and giving relevant evidence to internal decision-makers. These are proposed practices for explaining gift-card value; the report supplies no measured uplift attributable to adopting them. [S01]
The official RGCA agenda and Javelin’s event page confirm that the session concerned governance and cross-functional accountability. They do not add a survey-method appendix or a before-and-after performance series. The numerical findings therefore remain qualified by the information available in the original attendee account. [S02] [S03]
For a programme team, the useful distinction is between recording a prepaid transaction and demonstrating what happens after redemption. Repeat visits, additional spending and acquisition would require defined customer-level comparisons. The presentation offers a framework for asking those questions, rather than an observed return for every programme adopting it.
October 5 dates the presentation, not the unknown first release of every underlying research result. Anonymous contributors remain anonymous; the published record does not justify assigning their statements to particular companies.
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Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed covers industry acquisitions, investment and market research for Gift Card News.