Many salon owners think about gift cards only during the holidays. But gift-card sales bring benefits all the time, not just during the holidays — making an excellent case for salon owners to emphasize selling them year round.
Gift cards can bring in new clients; motivate existing clients to try new products and services; and stimulate the sales of either high-ticket or slow-moving retail and services — whatever is needed more.
Here are some best practices for selling gift cards to incorporate now. Not only will these boost your holiday revenue, but they make a good jumping-off point for a larger focus on selling gift cards all year.
1. Optimize Your Website
If your salon website doesn’t have a click-to-buy option for gift cards, talk to your IT manager about adding it. Also have them create a dedicated page for gift cards that you can update throughout the year to match ongoing promotions.
Add a BUY GIFT CARDS promo button to appear on major pages of your website.
2. Create Gift-Card Promotions
These don’t have to be specific to holidays; some owners like to keep their client base engaged with monthly promotions for gift cards they can keep or give away. Remember to make them redeemable after typically busy periods in the salon, so you don't cut into those profits.
Ideas include:
- Get a $100 gift card for $80.
- With every $100 retail purchase, get an entry to win a $100 gift card.
- Get a bonus $25 gift card with every $150 gift-card purchase.
- Get a full-size product with every $100 gift-card purchase.
- Get two travel-sized products with every $75 gift-card purchase.
- Include gift cards as a prize in raffle baskets.
- Get a free mini or express service with every $100 gift-card purchase.
- Buy one gift card, get a second at 50% off.
What works for some salon client bases might flop with others. Get creative, try different promotions, and always review their results to gauge which ones really hit the sweet spot with your clients.
3. Make Them Attractive
If you’re still in the “gift certificate” era with paper vouchers, or are using digital e-cards only, it's time to upgrade to a physical card that's designed with your salon branding, along with coordinating presentation shells, sleeves, or envelopes.
These look and feel more valuable than the low-budget alternatives, and thus have higher gifting appeal — a major factor in consumer buying decisions.
If you love the way your gift cards and holders look, pop them in a clear photo frame to display at the front desk.
4. Create Team Incentives
Rewarding gift-card sales among your front line is a tried-and-true way to move them into clients’ hands.
Make gift-card sales part of an ongoing bonus program for your front-desk team, with incentives for hitting monthly regular and stretch goals.
At strategic times — the holiday season, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day — reward BIG.
5. Reward VIP Clients
Gift cards for specific services, retail products, or in designated amounts are a wildly effective way to show your most valuable clients you appreciate their business.
They can be given to your top spending clients for the holidays or their birthdays, or to clients that reach a milestone in your business, such as “100th Color Service” or “3 Years of Extensions.”
Though these are technically giveaways and not sold — they are worth far more than their actual value when it comes to solidifying loyalty in high-spending clients.
When gauging the success of your gift-card sales, remember you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Make sure your salon software is recording all gift-card transactions — including identifying new clients that used a gift card for their first visit, and monitoring how much they spend at subsequent appointments.
Once you see how much follow-up revenue that gift cards can generate for a salon, you’ll have even more motivation to work them into your sales strategy all year long.
Related Articles:
How Not to Sell Salon Gift Cards
5 Strategies for a Successful Salon Promo
Tips to Fire Up Your Salon’s Holiday Sales
5 Ways to Boost Salon Sales Tickets Over the Holidays