If you work in B2B marketing or sales, you’ve probably seen the pitch: “Send thoughtful gifts, get more meetings.” It’s tempting, especially when you’re tired of cold emails going nowhere. Alyce promises to take the pain out of corporate gifting, letting you send personalized presents to prospects, customers, or employees—all from one dashboard. But does it actually move the needle, or is it just a shiny new way to waste your budget?
This review is for anyone considering Alyce for their go-to-market (GTM) playbook in 2024. Whether you’re in demand gen, field marketing, sales ops, or just the unlucky person tasked with “making gifting work,” here’s what you need to know—no fluff.
What Is Alyce, Really?
First, let’s get clear about what Alyce does. It's a software platform that helps companies send gifts—physical products, gift cards, donations, experiences—to people they want to impress or engage. The big sell is personalization at scale. You upload your contacts, Alyce helps you pick relevant gifts, and you send them out with a trackable, branded experience. There’s a marketplace of gifts, integrations with Salesforce and marketing automation, and some automation to make gifting less of a hassle.
The main use cases: - Booking meetings with prospects (“Hey, have coffee on us!”) - Thanking customers or partners - Employee recognition (though this is less common) - Event follow-up or ABM campaigns
Is it magic? No. Is it a slick way to cut through inbox noise? Sometimes.
How Alyce Works Day-to-Day
Let’s walk through what it’s actually like to use Alyce in a normal B2B setting—say, a 10-person SDR team trying to drive meetings.
- Upload Your Target List
- Alyce wants your contacts—either by CSV, via CRM integration (Salesforce is best-supported), or manually.
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It’ll try to enrich contacts with LinkedIn data for better gift recommendations, but results can vary. Sometimes it’s spooky-accurate, sometimes it’s “I see you like pets” for everyone.
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Choose (or Let Alyce Suggest) Gifts
- Alyce’s shtick is “AI-powered personalization,” but it’s really just a combo of profile data and a big marketplace.
- You can let Alyce pick for you, or set rules (“Only send gifts under $50, no alcohol, focus on coffee stuff”).
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Recipients can swap the suggested gift for something else or donate the value to charity—nice touch, avoids awkwardness.
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Send Gift Invitations
- You send an email (from you, or from Alyce) with a link to claim the gift—no address needed upfront.
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You can personalize the message. Templates help, but all too often, people just use the default.
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Track Engagement
- The dashboard shows who opened, claimed, swapped, or ignored the gift. You get alerts when someone accepts—good for pouncing with a follow-up.
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You can sync this data back to your CRM to see what’s working.
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Follow Up (and Repeat)
- The real work starts after the gift lands. Alyce won't book a meeting for you—it just gives you a warmer reason to reach out.
- You’ll need a process for following up with “giftees,” and for deciding when to stop sending gifts to unresponsive folks.
Pro tip: Don’t treat Alyce as a silver bullet. If your outreach is already generic or your list is garbage, gifting won’t save you.
What Alyce Gets Right
Alyce does a few things well, and that’s why it’s caught on (especially with mid-sized and larger B2B teams):
- Saves a Ton of Admin Time
- No more buying Starbucks gift cards, stuffing envelopes, or tracking shipments in a spreadsheet.
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The dashboard is clean. The integrations (especially Salesforce and HubSpot) save a lot of copy-paste.
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Personalization Without the Creep Factor
- The gift options are usually safe bets—coffee, snacks, books, branded swag, etc.—and the recipient can always swap.
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The “donate to charity” option is smart for folks who hate gifts or work at companies with strict rules.
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Decent Reporting
- You’ll see who’s engaging, who isn’t, and which gifts get the best response rates.
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Helps justify the spend to your CMO.
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Global Delivery
- Not every gifting platform can handle international recipients without customs nightmares. Alyce does a reasonable job here, though sometimes with limited gift choices outside North America.
Where Alyce Falls Short
No tool is perfect, and Alyce has its rough edges:
- Pricing Is… Not Cheap
- You’re paying for software seats and gift costs. There are minimums, and the per-user fees add up fast.
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If you want to do a small pilot, the cost may not make sense. There’s no real “self-serve” option for tiny teams.
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The “AI” Isn’t Magic
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Don’t expect deep insight or jaw-dropping personalization. Gift recommendations are solid, but sometimes generic. You’ll still want to sanity-check them.
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Gift Inventory Can Be Hit or Miss
- Some categories (food, coffee, gadgets) are packed. Others (local experiences, niche interests) are thin.
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International gifts are limited compared to US options.
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Not a Replacement for Real Relationship Building
- This is a tool, not a shortcut. If your sales team sends a bunch of gifts and never follows up, you’ll get crickets.
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Recipients see through “spray and pray” gifting.
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Can Feel Impersonal If Overused
- If everyone in your industry starts using Alyce, the novelty wears off. Recipients get wise to the trick.
Tips for Getting Value Out of Alyce
If you’re going to shell out for Alyce, here’s how to avoid rookie mistakes:
- Get Alignment on Why You’re Gifting
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Is this for cold outreach, customer retention, event follow-up? Don’t try to do it all at once.
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Clean Your Contact List First
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Sending gifts to dead emails or uninterested prospects is a waste. Scrub your list.
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Personalize the Message, Not Just the Gift
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The template messages are generic. Take the time to write something that references your recipient’s context or company.
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Don’t Rely on Automation Alone
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Set up reminders for your reps to follow up after a gift is claimed. That’s when the real conversation starts.
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Track ROI
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Use CRM integration to see if gifting actually leads to meetings or deals, not just clicks.
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Test and Iterate
- Run a small campaign, see what sticks, and tweak your approach before you expand.
Who Should—and Shouldn’t—Buy Alyce
Good Fit: - Mid-sized to large B2B sales and marketing teams (20+ reps) - Companies with high customer lifetime value (so gifting ROI makes sense) - Teams that already have basic outreach and follow-up nailed, and want to add another touchpoint
Not Great For: - Small teams with tight budgets - Businesses selling low-value products (the gift cost will swamp your margins) - Anyone looking for a “set it and forget it” solution
If you just want to send a few Starbucks cards to clients, Alyce is overkill. If you want to scale up gifting without losing your mind, it’s worth a look—just go in with your eyes open.
Final Thoughts
Alyce won’t magically fix your sales pipeline, but it can help you cut through the noise—if you use it thoughtfully. Don’t expect AI to do your job for you, and don’t assume that a gift alone will win over a cold prospect.
Keep it simple: start small, see what works, and don’t be afraid to tweak or pull the plug if it’s not moving the needle. Gifting is just one tool in your GTM stack—use it wisely, and don’t let the software run the show.