For the Salons, Spas and MedSpa’s always looking for that financial boost, gift cards can be a sure-fire way to intensify your revenue. It was reported that last year, customers spent a whopping $23.6 billion (that’s billion…with a “B”) on gift cards during the holiday season alone, the general average was $40 spent per card. So, if you are not offering this service in your salon, or if you aren’t heavily promoting this option to your clients, you are not maximizing your bottom line! Thankfully ENVISION is here to help! Here are some tips to help you capture more gift card sales, not only for the holidays, but for ANY occasion, all YEAR round.
The beauty of gift certificates is that they bring in a lot of cash for a very small investment up front, it doesn’t cost much to get customized “barcoded” or “Magnetically Striped” cards. As a matter of fact, Envision has directed our clients to www.plasticprinters.com for a long time to assist in that process. The most successful salons offer either plastic gift cards or effortless paper gift certificates in order to gather more money during the year specifically and un-surprisingly during the major gift-giving seasons such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s Day but if you can maximize the reasons besides the holidays to sell the cards you will be able to flourish year round.
One of the undeniable reasons most salons struggle to sell the gift cards adequately is because most customers won't think of you as a place to buy gift cards unless you put that information out there. Marketing is the ONLY way to create awareness that they are readily available and are a benefit to them. One of the easiest ways to let customers know that you offer gift cards is by simply adding a small “pop-up” sign at the register. The sign could be simple it doesn’t have to say a lot to be effective "Give the gift of luxury buy a salon gift card today." Don't shy away from opportunities to let customers know about the gift cards, make sure you educate your front desk operators to offer them as well!!
Aside from putting signs by your register, making use of paint easels and “sandwich boards” with your graphics can easily help direct people to your salon whom may have never even been in before, and/or the clueless (sorry gentleman) husbands/boyfriends who don’t know what to get his significant other. If you're in fortunate place that has a lot of foot traffic, the signage outside your shop that gives people a reason to stop in is an un-tapped resource, even if the traffic doesn’t immediately come in to buy, the impression alone is enough to increase awareness for the FUTURE!.
Another quick idea, that literally costs you nothing, is to mention it on your receipts. Envision allows you to customize the bottom of a receipt so you can promote Gift Cards there as well!
The biggest and most obvious place to expand the sales of gift cards is the good ol’ WWW (world wide web) or as we all know it now, the internet. No campaign can succeed these days without being exploited everywhere you can online via your website, email marketing, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other social media places you are a part of. When clients or future clients click over to your websites, gift card offer should be the first thing they see! DID YOU KNOW? Envision itself offers you the ability to “ADD-ON” gift card sales onto your website, so that it automatically gets sold and recorded in Envision to make life easier and your bank account grow.
In Conclusion I guess the major point I am trying to make this month, is YOU HAVE TO MARKET YOUR GIFT CARDS! Focus on convenience! Envision has all the tools to help you track, report, promote, and SELL your gift cards, so if it isn’t already a feature you offer or want to know more about how to do it, contact an Envision support specialist or sales rep. today!
