Using gift cards
Using Gift Cards To Grow Your Business
Everyone is familiar with and comfortable using Giftcards nowadays. Every store we visit offers gift cards for their business, and many companies even offer gift cards for other companies.
We are used to giving gift cards for birthdays, holidays, and other celebrations such as graduations. Believe it or not, gift cards are the most requested gift, according to the National Retail Federation. Gift Card Sales are projected to reach $149 billion in 2021.
Whether you have our Big Value store or our business line of stores powered by Magento, all eMerchantClub websites accept gift cards and offer a simple, effective way to help grow your business. As a business owner with eMerchantClub you can choose to provide giftcards to your customers as well. Below are a few ideas that we have found from our customers that you can quickly implement!
Did you know?
A study by First Data shows that customers using a gift card on a purchase spent on average of $30 more than the original amount of the card. This overspending on orders means more money in your pocket as a business owner.
Gift Cards Encourage Spending
A great way to help increase order size is to offer a free giftcard when customers reach a certain spending amount. This is a practice we have seen in advertising for years. A customer goes to your website to buy a specific item, however when they see they only need to spend a little more to get a reward many customers take advantage of your offer.
Not only is this a great way to increase an immediate order, you are also encouraging customers to come back and place an additional order using the gift card they received from you.
We have seen our members offering a free $10 Gift Card with a $50 purchase and $25 card with a $100 purchase or more! When your customer receives their order, they are now enticed to come back and place a second order.
You can even set an expiration for the giftcard to ensure they come back right away. There is no doubt its proven customers are more likely to grab a few extra items to meet that threshold and get the free promo
Marketing Emails
Do your customers know that you offer gift cards? Why not? A simple email campaign every few months letting your customers know you offer gift cards can help get a few orders plus lets your customers know that you are a reputable online store. This is a great email offering especially around the holiday. You can then either fulfill the gift card with a physical or online card!
Offer Gift Cards for Referrals
A word-of-mouth endorsement is one of the best ways to get new clients. Encourage this type of behavior by offering people a small gift card when they refer new people is a great way to not only reward friends and family members who refer customers to your store and also encourages them to do so!
Leverage Social Media
Social media creates so many opportunities for free advertisements, and we encourage you to think of ways outside of our recommendations. The sky is the limit with social media!
You should be adding a post about gift cards at least once every 6 weeks on all of your channels. Those offers could be advertising free with purchase, free for liking our page and so much more. Here are a few thoughts
Offer a $10 gift card just for liking your page –Yes, give it away for free! Keep in mind most customers spend $30 or more extra when they use a gift card! Plus, once the customer likes your page, every time you post a promotion or special offer, that offer will show up in their feeds over and over again!
Give a $10 gift card to customers just for sharing your page – An average Facebook user has over 338 friends, which means every time your page is shared, you have a possibility for over 300 other people to come check out your website! You also might consider running boosted ads to make sure these posts get more eyeballs.
Sell Gift Cards – Selling gift cards can be an easy way to get orders from customers thinking of purchasing on your website. You can sell at face value, or you can offer them at a discount. With your wholesale pricing, selling the giftcard at 50% off, the customer is still paying your portion of the wholesale price. Meaning that order essentially cost you nothing extra. And because your customer will most likely spend more than the gift card, you are making extra money on top of that!
Selling on eBay, Amazon, and Facebook
With the online marketplaces booming, this is a great way to get your customers who make a purchase you sell on these larger sites to come back and place orders directly on your website. A simple thank you letter after a purchase with a $10 gift card included to use on their next order could get the same customer coming back over and over.
People are hungry for gift cards – so all you need to do is market them. Utilize these strategies to get your gift cards on your customer’s shopping radars.
