Gift cards have become an effective way to increase profits and, in times like these, are a nearly essential option for businesses to offer. During this shelter-in-place, most businesses are relying on new ways to bring in income while adhering to the new guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
This is why virtually any point of sale company either offers gift card functionality or integrates seamlessly with a gift card company. It is a low-cost (or sometimes no-cost) way for businesses to bump sales, increase brand awareness, and encourage repeat business.
If you’re a small business owner who’s already putting in 80 hours a week just trying to keep your head above water (like me), the thought of adding gift card functionality might seem complicated or time-consuming. In this post, we’ll try and address some of those fears and explain the different types of gift cards available and how you might go about offering that feature to your customers.
The Benefits Of Offering Gift Cards
These are some of the ways adding an option to purchase a gift card online can benefit your business now, and in the future when things get back to normal.
Branding: In this day and age, anything that gets your name or your logo out to the public is a plus for your business.
Spending Boosts: Studies have shown that the majority of gift cards users spend more than the total on their card.
Repeat Business: Once you’ve set up gift cards, it makes it easy to run marketing or promotions to attract new customers or garner repeat business.
Ease: Setting up or purchasing gift cards is generally a straightforward process whether you’re going directly through your POS system or a processing company.
Save Time Using An eGift Card App
A digital gift card option can be an easier, greener way that your business offers gift cards, without spending too much. With some eGift card services, you simply sell eGift cards online, download an app to your mobile device, and use your mobile device or a scanner to scan the customer’s QR code from their phone or print-out. Or the gift card may be emailed to the recipient. Some eGift card programs generate codes that you can key into your terminal and process as a regular Mastercard transaction, for example, eliminating the need to integrate your POS with gift card software.
Most web-based gift card apps allow you to sell eGift cards online, including on social media and your company website. However, many eGift cards can be redeemed both online and in your store. Companies that sell eGift cards may or may not charge a small monthly fee or charge a percentage-based fee for each gift card sold.
Yiftee and Square are some examples of eGift card companies/apps for SMB.
How To Get Started
1. Select partner
Browse the partners below and select the one you’d like to set up your gift card with. Select ‘Set Up Gift Card’ under the partner you choose.
Square gift cards:
https://squareup.com/us/en/gift-cards
https://youtu.be/Fzeh0GUWps0
Yiftee gift cards:
https://yiftee.com/
https://c.yiftee.com/merchant-signup#/gift_card
2. Set up gift card
Follow the instructions to set up a gift card on the partner site. You’ll need to sign up for an account with the partner if you don’t already have one.
Get even more eyes on your gift card
Share a post
Post about your gift card so people know about it. You can get the link to your gift card on your partner site.
Create a story
Create a story about your gift card to generate even more awareness.
Try going live
Call out how to buy your gift card in a Live session to your followers.
Marina Chamber of Commerce Gift Cards for Good
Register to participate in our Gift Card for Good campaign to get additional promotion and visibility.
Additional Covid-19 Local Business Resources
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