The vast, vast majority of us have experienced receiving a gift voucher for a birthday, Christmas, or another special occasion. In fact, almost 55% of UK adults received at least one gift card in 2022.
The UK’s gift card industry is pretty buoyant – valued at £32.5bn in 2023 and expected to rise to £80bn by 2032 – and it’s easy to see why.
For people purchasing gifts for friends and family, the appeal is pretty straightforward. It enables the gift-buyer to give the recipient something special without making a definitive decision on what that ‘something special’ actually is.
Whether it’s a monetary voucher, a voucher for an experience or something else altogether, the attraction is clear.
For the recipient, it can introduce them to new brands and experiences which they may not have considered themselves, while for the retailer the purchase of the gift voucher often leads to more revenue – with 90% of recipients spending more than the gift voucher’s value upon redemption, and 33% spending double the card’s amount.
And the benefits extend beyond the uplift in income – they can help you grow your customer base, too.
Personalising gift vouchers
The shift from physical to digital gift vouchers has seen digital gift voucher sales almost doubling year-on-year.
And, within that digital gift voucher process, there’s significantly more opportunities to personalise the experience for the recipient.
As well as incorporating specifics such as names and pictures, people buying gift vouchers can today include customised video messages, making that experience extra special for the recipient – and extra memorable for the brand.
And for brands selling gift vouchers, it also provides a significant opportunity to increase lead generation.
By encouraging customers to purchase gift vouchers for friends and family you can extend your database in a low cost way, delivering more value to your customers, and bringing new potential customers into the fold at the same time.
And, you can incentivise your current customers to purchase gift vouchers too – store credit, a discount, a free product or an invite-only store event can help create an incentive, and an even greater bond and sense of belonging, which they’ll be increasingly willing to share.
Give more, learn more
Of course, gift vouchers aren’t just a low-cost way of providing gift ideas for current customers to reach new ones – they’re an exceptionally effective way of engaging your customers, and encouraging spend, too.
Good businesses have strong tech foundations, and the greater the picture you have of each individual customer in your CRM, the greater the ability you have to deliver personalised and tailored offers to them.
Sending a personalised gift voucher to your customers on their birthday, for example, is an easy win, particularly if it’s linked to a minimum spend.
However, the more you find out about each customer, the more personalised you can make each offer – and the more personalised it is, the more likely it will be that they’ll take advantage of it.
By understanding customer purchase behaviour, items they’ve been looking at online, gift purchases and other factors that are individual to you and your customers, you can create incredible relevance with every voucher you decide to send out.
Monitor redemption and consequential sales, and get ever more granular on the information your customer is naturally providing – because the potential to increase the customer lifetime value is significant.
