Gift cards are a popular way to promote many small businesses, and in particular, may be a wise marketing strategy for your medical spa. By adding gift cards to your strategic marketing plan, you are able to engage customers and hopefully encourage them to return to your business.
Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that due to the higher price point and the fact that many Medspas are more clinical in nature, gift card sales will never be as high as is typical in a day or resort spa. However, they are a great source of upfront revenue (you get paid in advance of any services you will provide in the future), and brand recognition (card-sized promotional pieces for your practice).
Without further ado, here are my “Top 5 Rules” when selling gift cards at your Medspa:
1. Always sell services, series of services, or packages, not dollar amounts. This provides much greater up-selling opportunities.
2. Always recommend that a 15% gratuity be included. Here is my standard script, “For the convenience of the recipient would you care to include the gratuity?”
3. Have a gift guide setup in dollar ranges that lists services, series, and packages available for the clients to peruse at point of sale.
4. Provide your team a gift card sales goal with incentive. Typically the incentive could be anywhere from 1 – 5% of the gift cards sales split pro-rata among the front desk team. Keep it fun and track the goal daily.
5. Don’t be too aggressive on your promotion. People buy gift cards for convenience, reputation, and credibility; not because it’s cheap. I like the give and you shall receive approach. An example would be that for every $100 in gift cards purchased, the client receives $15 of gift cards for themselves.
Hopefully you will be able to implement a gift card program at your practice if you are not currently doing this. Best wishes with this marketing strategy, and keep me posted how you do!
FXA