How to Sell More Gift Vouchers This Christmas

Gift vouchers are the quiet hero of a salon's Christmas. The money comes in during November and December, and the visits come in January and February — exactly when the calendar would otherwise be empty. Many of the people who redeem a voucher have never been to your salon before.

Here's how to sell more of them this year, and the Australian rules to get right before you do.

Start selling in early November

Most voucher shoppers are organised people buying for family, staff or friends. They start in November. If your vouchers only appear in mid-December, you've missed the planners and you're left with the last-minute buyers.

Make them easy to buy without coming in

A large share of vouchers are bought on a phone at night. If the only way to buy one is to visit the counter, you lose those sales. Sell vouchers online and send them straight to the buyer by email, ready to forward or print. Keep a supply at the counter too, for clients who want to give something in an envelope.

Offer a few clear amounts

Three or four options are enough — for example $50, $100 and $150 — plus one or two popular services as fixed vouchers, like a gel manicure or a pedicure. Too many choices slow people down.

Consider a small bonus, carefully

A bonus voucher ("buy $100, get a $20 bonus voucher for yourself") is a common way to lift sales in December. If you do one, keep the terms simple and clear on the voucher, and make sure the bonus is something you can afford when it's redeemed in a quiet month.

Put vouchers everywhere clients already look

  • On your booking page and in your Instagram bio.
  • At the counter, next to the EFTPOS terminal.
  • In a short message to your regulars in November and again in early December.
  • In your Google Business Profile updates.

Know the Australian gift card rules

Since 1 November 2019, most gift cards and vouchers sold to consumers in Australia must:

  • be valid for at least three years from the day they're sold;
  • show the expiry date clearly (or the issue date and the period it's valid for);
  • not have fees added after they're sold, such as activation or balance-check fees.

There are some exceptions, such as promotional vouchers given away for free. Check the details on the ACCC's gift cards page before you print or sell anything.

Track every voucher until it's used

Paper vouchers written by hand are where money goes missing: the same voucher used twice, a balance nobody recorded, a code nobody can find. Every voucher — paper or digital — should have a unique code, a recorded value and a balance that goes down as it's used.

Gift vouchers in Ukilu

Ukilu sells vouchers online and at the counter. Digital vouchers arrive by email with a QR code, and each one is checked and reduced at checkout when it's redeemed. Vouchers you've already sold on paper can be added with their own codes, so old and new vouchers live in one list. Set each voucher's validity to at least three years for vouchers you sell to clients.

Gift vouchers for a nail salon in Ukilu POS on iPad

Planning the rest of the season? Our Christmas marketing ideas for nail salons cover bookings, social media and January. To see current deals for Australian salons, visit the offers page.