How to Use Third-Party Vouchers as Rewards for Customer Content

Most content collection guides assume you'll reward customers with a discount on your own products or services. That works well for ecommerce brands and hospitality businesses. But it doesn't work for everyone.

Maybe you're a B2B company and your product costs thousands. A 10% discount doesn't make sense. Maybe you're a charity collecting stories from supporters. Maybe you sell something people only buy once. Maybe you just don't want to train your customers to expect discounts every time they interact with you.

Third-party vouchers solve all of these problems. Instead of offering your own discount, you reward customers with a voucher they can spend somewhere else - Amazon, Chipotle, Sephora, DoorDash, Uber Eats, or whatever fits your audience.

The customer gets something they'll actually use.
You get the content. And your own pricing stays untouched.

Why third-party vouchers work

The psychology is simple: people value choice and universality. A 10% discount at your shop is only useful if they were planning to buy from you again soon. A five dollar Amazon voucher is useful to everyone, immediately.

This is particularly effective when:

• Your product has a long purchase cycle (furniture, electronics, professional services)

• Your customers are diverse and a single reward type won't suit everyone

• You want to reward without discounting your own brand

• You're collecting content from people who aren't direct customers (event attendees, community members, partners)

• You need a reward that feels generous but has a fixed, predictable cost

Third-party vouchers also make budgeting straightforward. Each reward costs exactly what you paid for the voucher. No variable discount redemption rates. No margin erosion on high-value orders. You know exactly what your content collection programme costs per submission.

How to set it up in 82DASH

Here's the process, step by step.

Step 1: Buy your vouchers in bulk

Purchase digital vouchers from your chosen provider. Most major retailers sell digital gift cards in bulk - Amazon, DoorDash, Chipotle, Sephora, Uber Eats, Nike, and dozens of others.

You'll typically buy them through the retailer's corporate gift card programme or through a bulk voucher platform. The vouchers are delivered as a list of unique codes - one code per voucher.

A few things to keep in mind when buying:

Choose the right denomination. For photo content, three to five pounds is usually enough. For video testimonials, five to ten pounds feels fair. Don't overspend - the gesture matters as much as the amount.

Match the voucher to your audience. If your customers are young professionals, an Amazon or Deliveroo voucher hits. If they're parents, M&S or Tesco works. If they're coffee lovers, Costa or Starbucks is perfect. Think about what your specific customers would actually want.

Buy digital, not physical. You need codes that can be delivered digitally. Physical gift cards posted in the mail won't work here.

Step 2: Prepare your CSV

Once you have your voucher codes, organise them into a CSV file. This is a simple spreadsheet with your voucher codes listed - one per row.

You'll upload this CSV to 82DASH so that when you select a winning submission, a unique voucher code from your list is assigned to that customer automatically. No duplicates, no manual allocation.

Step 3: Set up Reward by Selection in 82DASH

When creating your content request in 82DASH, choose Reward by Selection as your reward type. This is the mode where you review submissions and select which ones earn the reward - rather than rewarding every submission automatically.

Upload your CSV of voucher codes. Set the reward description so customers know what's on offer - "Five pound Amazon gift card" or "Free Costa coffee voucher" or whatever you've chosen.

Here's how the flow works from the customer's perspective: they submit their content (photo, video, or form) and immediately receive a contact card - your brand saved to their Apple or Google Wallet. They know their submission is in, and they're waiting to see if they're selected. When you review submissions and select the best ones, the voucher code is delivered to the winning customers.

Step 4: Launch your content request

Everything else works exactly the same as any other 82DASH content request. Set up your landing page, write your content brief, configure your collection page, and distribute it via QR codes, email, SMS, or push notifications.

The key is to communicate clearly in your brief how Reward by Selection works. Something like: "Submit your best photo of [product] for a chance to win a five pound Amazon voucher. We'll select our favourites each week." Customers need to understand the mechanic upfront so they know what to expect.

When third-party vouchers make more sense than your own discounts

There are specific scenarios where this approach is clearly the better option.

B2B and high-ticket products

If you sell enterprise software, professional services, or products that cost hundreds or thousands of pounds, offering "10% off your next purchase" is either meaninglessly small or prohibitively expensive. A twenty pound Amazon voucher is a genuine thank-you that doesn't distort your pricing.

One-time purchases

If your customers typically buy once - a wedding venue, a moving company, a car - a repeat-purchase discount has no value. A third-party voucher rewards them for content regardless of whether they'll ever buy from you again.

Charities and nonprofits

Asking supporters to share their stories is powerful. But a charity can't offer a discount code. A small voucher as a thank-you feels appropriate and respectful of their time without undermining the organisation's mission.

Events and conferences

Event attendees might not have any reason to engage with your brand again after the event. A Costa or Amazon voucher rewards them for sharing photos or feedback without requiring future interaction with you.

When you want to protect your margins

Every discount code you issue is a potential hit to your margin. If a customer uses a 15% off code on a high-value order, that's real money. Third-party vouchers cost a fixed amount - you control the budget entirely.

Running different campaigns for different goals

You can run multiple content requests at the same time - each with a different reward mechanic.

For example, you might run an ongoing Instant Reward campaign that gives every customer a 10% discount for submitting a photo (volume, always-on). Alongside that, you run a monthly "best photo" competition using Reward by Selection with a twenty pound Amazon voucher as the prize (quality, curated).

The Instant Reward campaign builds your content library and wallet pass base. The Reward by Selection campaign surfaces your absolute best content and generates excitement. They complement each other.

Tips for getting the most out of voucher rewards

Keep the denomination reasonable. Three to five pounds for a photo, five to ten for a video, ten to fifteen for a detailed testimonial. You're saying thank you, not paying a salary.

Monitor your stock. When your CSV runs out of codes, you can't select any more winners. Keep an eye on your remaining voucher codes in 82DASH and top up before you run dry.

Use expiry dates wisely. Some vouchers have expiry dates. Make sure they're long enough that customers don't feel rushed, but short enough that you're not carrying unused stock for years.

Tell customers what they're getting. Be specific in your content request: "Submit your best photo for a chance to win a five pound Amazon gift card." The more concrete the reward, the higher the response rate. Be clear about the Reward by Selection mechanic so there are no surprises.

The wallet pass still works

Here's the important bit: every customer who submits - whether they're ultimately selected for the voucher or not - gets a contact card saved to their Apple or Google Wallet the moment they submit. Your brand is on their phone. You have a push notification channel. Every single submission builds your wallet pass base.

That means even the customers who don't win still have your card on their phone. You can reach them later with a new competition, a different campaign, or an Instant Reward request where everyone gets something. The Reward by Selection campaign with third-party vouchers is the hook. The wallet pass is the long-term asset.

Six months from now, you can send a push notification to every person who's ever submitted: "New competition - best photo wins a twenty pound Amazon voucher." Your audience is already built. The channel is already open.

The customer intelligence angle

Don't forget that every content request can include form fields. Adding two or three quick questions alongside the photo or video gives you customer insight - about your product, their experience, what they'd change - at the same time as you're collecting content.

You're rewarding them with a voucher, collecting their content, getting their feedback, and building a push notification channel. All from one interaction. That's a lot of value from a three pound Costa voucher.

Get started

Buy a batch of digital vouchers that suit your audience. Organise the codes into a CSV. Create a content request in 82DASH with Reward by Selection. Upload the CSV. Share the request with your customers.

The whole setup takes less than an hour. After that, every submission gives you rights-cleared content and a new wallet pass holder. Every selection delivers a voucher to your best contributor. And every participant - selected or not - is now reachable via push notification for your next campaign.

Not a bad return on a gift card.