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Permalink Reply by Teresa Escoffery on November 19, 2014 at 9:03am

It really depends on what your objective is and think long and hard about buying behavior

When you say Sales, is that service or products? What is your current mix?

Attracting new customers with a GC promotion -- rewarding new customers with a GC for future use or trying to get new customers by discounting a GC for future use?

Think about the latter -- how many people are saying to someone who might buy them a gift of the cost of one of your services "There is a new esthetician in town...I'd like to try her out some day (hint, hint)"

Those we do sell as gifts for "aspirational customers" -- people who aspire to come to our spa but don't do so on their own before getting a gift -- are very unlikely to turn into regular customers. What was stopping them from coming in before getting the gift -- cost?  Then this is a treat and they will only come in if someone treats them.  Lifestyle?  They feel guilty if they indulge themselves, but will do so if someone prompts them with a gift. Again, not a repeat customer. You want to sell a GC to these gift givers, but there is no advantage in having these GCs ever redeemed.

Getting more frequent visits and referrals from y our existing customers will probably yield better results.

Give your regulars $25 of GC for every $100 they spend on services and products.  But the catch is, they have to make out the GC to someone else so you are giving them a gift to give to a friend or family member -- ie creating a referral.  That way they dont just spend it on themselves, which is just another way of discounting.

You can send a direct mail to your client's "Santa".  We offered 20% off GC purchases but the postcard was addressed to the clients "Santa family".  We also listed other gift ideas based on the client's purchase history (mail merge and a laser printer can do amazing things)

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