Why would you even want to go through the hassle of starting a Gift Card Program in the first place? Good Question.
Here are the top reasons why:
- To attract and bring in new customers
- They help bring current customers back into your store
- Gift Cards are an easy way to up sell at your registers (selling more is always good, right?!?)
- They add value to your business
- Gift Cards are a great referral source
Launching a new gift card program can be overwhelming if you have never done one before. Take a deep breath, relax and lets get you started right now.
Step 1: Identify
What type of gift card do you want to offer? There are two main gift card types:
- Face Value Gift Cards: one time use, a designated value is shown on the card directly like $10 Value or $25 Gift Card.
- Reloadable Gift Cards: the client determines at the register how much money they would like to place on the card. In the event all of the money is spent/used up, your customer could add more money onto the card at any time.
Step 2: Define
This is the fun part! You get to consider colors, what shape you want your gift cards to be, images you want to include or even incorporate your logo. You may have an in house graphic designer, or maybe you don't even have a logo yet. That is ok, depending on the company you hire they should be able to help you and may even include design work free of charge.
Step 3: Decide
Where do you want to have these made? The company you select to make your gift card matters.
What company you choose could impact the following:
- Cost - Make sure you get the cost of not just the product (your cards), but also design, shipping and encoding (if you don't know what encoding is, check out our blog post about it here).
- Delivery - The time frames in getting your card may effect your business. There are a lot of companies here in the US that resell cards from oversea producers, often times the quickest they will get them to you is 2-4 weeks. Is this soon enough, only you know?
- Usability - The ability to use them in your business successfully is essential. Don't be afraid to shop around, but as they say "you get what you pay for". A company who knows what they are doing will ask you questions about your POS system, how you plan on tracking the use of your gift cards- if the company is NOT asking these questions you need to look else where. If you have never heard of "POS", "encoding" or other gift card jargon before, your head may begin to spin about now. Don't worry we have you covered in Step 4.
- Quality - If you are unsure, request samples. This should relieve any doubts as to the type of quality you can expect. Often time overseas producers/resellers will list their products as "plastic" when in fact it is simply a laminated paper material. If you are investing in Reloadable Gift Cards, then quality does matter as you will want something strong and durable that lasts.
Step 4: Tracking
Before you get gift cards printed, we need to help you figure this step out. Right now, when you take a purchase from a customer - how do you currently track your sales?
Usually this system is called a Point of Sales (POS) system. If you have a POS system it is a great way to track your gift cards too, and it will help the company making your new gift cards produce them correctly (either by incorporating a barcode, magnetic stripe, QR Code, or other method). All you should need is the name of your POS system and the printing company should be able to help you figure out the rest, aka how to encode the cards for you. If you do not have a POS system, no big deal - there are free programs online you can use and hook up a barcode scanner to devices you are using like your IPAD or desktop and BAM! instant tracking capabilities.
Still confused? We are happy to help. Call us at # 800-808-7472 and our friendly staff will walk you through this very important step. If this step is not done correctly, you may receive your gift cards and they won't work. :(
Step 5: Implement
Once you have paid for your cards, then all you need to do is wait for them to arrive. You should be ready to GO! The only thing left to do is display them in a way people can see them and understand that they are available to buy. Simple acrylic display stands are a common way to get them at your registers, for your customers impulse buy and gift needs. If you use Reloadable Gift Cards, don't worry if people steal them it is ok - you have to activate them at your register in order for money to be put on them to use. However, if you are using Face Value cards you may want to display a sign or put them in a case as the Value is something you may not need to activate depending on how they were set up.
A gift card program is painless, and a great way to generate revenue and sales for your business. It also works as a great referral program, when people give the card to customers who have never heard of or been to your business before.
WE at PlasticPrinters.com are here to help answer any question you may have and to make the experience of creating your Gift Card Program simple and fun. :)
