We will discuss the gift card marketing strategy in this article, from conception to execution. We’ll go over how to make the most of gift certificates for you, both as a solo product and in promotions. We will discuss potential applications for gift cards, suggestions for boosting gift card sales, best practises for UX and UI, and examples of successful gift card campaigns.
What are campaigns for gift cards?
Gift card campaigns are ones in which you offer your customers or potential consumers gift cards rather than selling them. As an illustration, you might offer $5 gift cards to all new clients to entice them to make their first purchase from you. To encourage re-engagement, you could also give $10 gift vouchers to inactive clients. On special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries, you can give gift cards to your customers. Gift cards may also be distributed as prizes in giveaways, referral programmes, or loyalty programmes. There are countless alternatives.
The advantages of gift cards
You can gain from giving gift cards to your consumers in a number of ways.
They could aid in improving your cash flow. With a gift card, the cost of the good or service is paid in advance. Until the customer redeems the card, you have the cash. They are a terrific approach to reimburse your customers because they allow you to postpone paying your company’s actual expenses.
Due to the endowment effect and customers wishing to take advantage of the incentives, sales will rise and cash flow will be generated.
Receivers of gift cards claim they are more inclined to purchase full price goods than discounted goods when using a gift card, resulting in higher margin sales.
If given to new consumers or if your existing customers purchase it as a gift for someone else, it will bring in new revenue.
Encourage impulse purchases because customers are more willing to make additional purchases of goods or services when a portion of the cost is covered.
Increase the size of the typical cart, especially if you require a minimum order amount in order to use gift cards.
provide real-time control, tracking, and reporting (if you have a digital promotion management system).
reductions in returns The National Retail Federation estimates that 8.8% of holiday presents will be returned. Gift cards may help to reduce the high expenses of managing returns because recipients can choose their own gifts.
Gift cards can help you reduce fraud since they are personalised, you can keep track of who uses them, and you can restrict redemptions to the gift card holder exclusively, as opposed to publicly accessible incentives.
research case
Timezone is an illustration of a business that employed gift cards effectively in their marketing plan. Established in 1978 and operating in Australia, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam, Timezone is a chain of family entertainment centres in the Asia Pacific region that is a division of TEEG. Family-friendly gaming experiences are offered by Timezone locations, including those including video games, virtual reality, bumper cars, bowling alleys, birthday celebrations, and more. Timezone Singapore was seeking a new software programme for managing promotions. They choose Evolve because it offered a straightforward and secure coupon system that made distributing and redeeming incentives simple for Timezone guests and their venue personnel.
Timezone used gift cards and discount coupons created by Evolve as rewards in their loyalty programme, for instance by providing an annual birthday benefit whose value is based on the membership tier:
Members of the Welcome and Blue Elite programmes are given $10 in in-game credits.
$20 worth of gaming credits are awarded to gold members.
$50 worth of gaming credits are given to platinum members.
Additionally, they have a promotion for gift cards that says, “Buy a $50 gift card, earn a total of $60 credits on it.” They used gift cards as a crucial component of their plan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A complete promotion management system that can be coupled with numerous data sources and distribution channels is necessary for a successful gift card sales or gift card campaign plan. You ought to be able to run gift card campaigns in bulk and monitor the outcomes on both a consumer and campaign level. As long as the gift card code (text, barcode, or QR code) is in the online system, it should be able to manage both online and offline gift cards. You should be able to test it out and rapidly modify the campaign settings.
The foundation for good sales promotion efforts, particularly campaigns involving gift cards, is the promotion management software. Planning your needs, choosing the best tools, starting your gift card campaigns, and then optimising them should be your first steps.