Gift cards present one of the most overlooked revenue opportunities at today’s salons and spas. Stacked at the front desk or lying in a drawer, they tend to languish at businesses hustling to serve guests and manage their day. If this sounds like your front desk, you're missing out on a key revenue driver.

Digital payment and gift card usage is on the rise. Since the pandemic began, 43% of consumers started using or increased their use of digital gift cards. American consumers would rather receive gift cards than clothing, books or media, and even electronics as gifts. High-performing salons and spas take advantage of this trend, earning gift card revenue year-round – not just during the December holidays.

Start making gift cards a regular revenue driver

These tips can help you begin integrating gift cards into your regular product and service offerings. With even a simple gift card strategy, you can capture more revenue 24x7, 365 days a year.

Seasonal pushes

Beauty and wellness businesses see a considerable gift card boost three times during the year: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day / Father's Day, and the December holidays. Promote your gift card offerings around these times to help customers shower their loved ones with treatments and pampering. It makes gifting effortless for guests and lucrative for you.

New guest acquisition

An often-missed benefit of a strong gift card program is the opportunity to bring in new guests. By suggesting gift cards to satisfied customers, you’re turning those happy guests into brand advocates. Giving the gift of your business is the ultimate referral gesture, and gift cards help you expand your customer base with zero marketing costs.

When new visitors redeem gift cards, your business has fresh opportunities to make a great first impression and encourage repeat visits. Cultivate these guests to convert them from one-and-done gift card users to long-term customers in order to boost their lifetime value (LTV) to your business. Give them a VIP experience during that first visit to keep them coming back. That experience includes easy redemption and use of the gift card along with exceptional service from your business.

Referral conversion and brand loyalty

Cash in on the fact that 59% of gift cards are bought for giving to others, according to Blackhawk Network. Think of gift cards as referrals that will almost always convert into a customer visit. The odds that a $100 salon gift card will go unused? Slim to none.

The same study found that 37% of consumers buy gift cards to receive a discount or get a better deal. Cater to these value seekers with promotions like a free service with a gift card. This is a great way to keep guests loyal to your brand and even help them venture beyond their usual treatments. Say Judy comes in for a monthly cut and color. A free express manicure with purchase of a $150 gift card will mean Judy can spend the gift card on her usual hair services and get her nails looking flawless for free. Judy gets a good deal, with the salon encouraging trial of a different service and repeat visits.

Gamify the guest experience by awarding loyalty points for gift card purchases. The thrill of racking up points leads to the payoff for your guests: a free product or service discount. Again, gift cards serve as your tool to boost brand loyalty as accruing points takes repeat visits.

How to go the extra mile? Connect with guests using gift cards to provide VIP treatment throughout their visit: a warm welcome, a high level of service, and thoughtful product suggestions can lead to greater guest satisfaction, higher ticket sizes, and increased rebooking.

How to get gift cards up and running

It takes little effort to set up, run, and manage gift card programs in Zenoti, with features designed to wow guests and make your life easier.

‍Make it easy for guests to purchase gift cards

‍Begin by offering gift cards across as many of your sales channels as possible. With Zenoti, that means sales opportunities in person, from your website, and from your mobile app. Then, ensure that customers can get as specific as they’d like when buying a gift card: they can personalize the gift, purchase a specific service or bundle, and even include a tip.  

With Zenoti, your customers can also specify a delivery date and time to have their gift arrive at the perfect moment. Gift card recipients can redeem their gift at any location without additional work for your staff. They can also check balances and expiration dates online or in the mobile app, saving front-desk staff from having to look up information.

The more options you offer gift purchasers, the better the chance they will find something that suits them. Here's an example of three types of gift card offerings:

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“With Zenoti gift cards, guests can purchase 24 hours per day from anywhere in the world. It’s super easy for my team to manage, with the added advantage that it has reduced the number of physical cards we need to send by around 75%.”

- Ian Egerton, Owner, The Stress Exchange

Use automation to boost guest retention

With automated reminders prompting guests to redeem unused gift card balances, you'll drive additional visits and more revenue for your business – and they'll love your brand for helping them remember the "free" money they haven't yet spent.

“We're so thrilled that we were able to launch a gift card campaign... Even though our salons were closed, we were able to capture future sales and numerous new customers while also rewarding return customers for their purchase and ongoing loyalty. Setting up online gift cards with Zenoti could not have been easier and the campaign was a huge success!”

- Dominic Blake, Managing Director, Blushes Hair & Beauty

Centralize administration and reporting to track gift card programs

‍Managing gift card redemptions across locations can be a bit of an administrative hassle. To remove that problem, Zenoti unifies the entire operation for your brand. A gift card bought in Phoenix is easily redeemed in Philadelphia, leading to less work for the front desk.

Tracking gift card programs helps businesses spot trends across locations and measure metrics like year-over-year revenue growth, but doing it manually is time consuming and error-prone. Zenoti dashboards take the hassle out of tracking gift card data.

Digital gift cards, a game changer for salons and spas

Zenoti helps beauty and wellness businesses launch gift card programs that are easy for staff to manage and effortless for guests to use. Ready-made design templates for a variety of gifting occasions or your own branded graphics get you up and running quickly. Back-end changes are a snap, so you can tailor the program to your business and give guests the flexible options they expect.  

Start your gift card program and take advantage of an always-on revenue stream that helps you add clientele without marketing spend. Then track program performance with Zenoti dashboards to adjust your gift card strategy and maximize revenue from this stream.