Gift vouchers (or gift cards) should be a natural component of your business and revenue strategy. When guests purchase gift vouchers for others, it can be an excellent way to introduce new guests to your venue or for a family member to make an existing fan excited about their next visit. The benefits to the business are also significant, including the ability to generate revenue before a guest even plans to visit and creating a new fan from a first-time visitor.
When looking at how your gift vouchers integrate with your ticketing system consider these five features.
Segmentation
Dividing your guests into segments based on characteristics helps you better market to them in the future, due to the ability to create multiple campaigns geared toward each demographic. When you tie this into your gift voucher system you can leverage the power of segmentation even further. For instance, if someone is buying a gift voucher for a child celebrating a birthday, inputting their birthday into the transaction details lets you know that this time next year, they might be planning a party. Why not send an email to the parents 10 months from now to get them thinking about having the event at your venue?
Incentives and Rewards
What’s the best way to increase survey responses, show appreciation for your guests, and boost revenue in the process? You guessed it. Gift vouchers. By tying in an incentive for a survey, such as the Guest Experience Score, you will attract more guests who will share their feedback, and then begin planning their next visit.
Side note: if you decide to tie in a reward to your feedback collection, make sure it applies to all guests, not just those who rank you favorably. Your survey results must be a true reflection of the actual experience; therefore, you must also take your dissatisfied guests into consideration if implementing a gift voucher incentive.
Digitization
While the concept of gift vouchers has existed for some time, the process of purchasing and using cards has (thankfully) evolved substantially. In the not-too-distant past, one would be required to visit the venue directly and purchase a gift voucher in the form of a certificate for a specific dollar amount, which would then be gifted to the recipient, who hopefully would put it in a safe place. Fast forward to the present day, and the voucher still can (and should) be purchased onsite, but now in the form of a card that fits securely in a wallet, or the transaction can be fully digital. This enables you to sell vouchers on your website, alleviating a friction point from a well-intentioned gift-giver, and can then either be converted to a physical card, or remain fully digital. When the process is fully digital, it makes it easier to buy, and for the recipient, easier to use due to being able to access it online.
Personalization
It’s exciting enough to open an envelope and find a gift voucher inside. Same thing with a pleasantly surprising email. But what if, in that email, there is a personalized video from a friend or family member telling you how excited they are to give you this gift? Now THAT is cool. If the gift voucher delivery process matches the excitement of visiting your venue in person, then the recipient will be even more excited to come. When you personalize the experience, you create a stronger connection between the guest and the business because they no longer feel like they are just another customer coming through your doors.
Reporting
Tracking and reporting on gift voucher usage can be cumbersome if you don’t have the right tools in place. With accounting reports that are automated and fully integrated into your point of sale system, you can gain a better understanding of gift vouchers that have been redeemed as well as liabilities that represent revenue that is still outstanding. This is a substantial burden that is lifted off the shoulder of your accounting team, as it takes less time to reconcile gift voucher fulfillment, and does so with greater accuracy.
Read this next: Making Sense of Point of Sale (POS) Reports
With a gift voucher management system that integrates with your point of sale, you can leverage each of these features, and more, that will result in guest satisfaction, more revenue, and easier accounting.
