Posted by Email marketing is equally loved by its customers (91 percent of Americans are open to receiving these messages) and by marketers. More than 4.147 billion people are using the platform, and it provides the most ROI, which is $44 for each dollar spent.
The result is that marketers are sending more than 319.6 billion messages each day, which translates to 121 email messages for every user. So, I’d like to keep your clients interested in a challenge.
An effective way to increase your campaign’s performance and maintain engagement levels is to send gifts to your customers. Everyone loves receiving surprises from their favorite people, do they not?
5 Ways Gift Cards Help Small Business
We at MyEmailVerifiers, are deep into the world of email marketing. Being the best email validator service globally, we have a client base consisting of all-size businesses.
Also, we believe in supporting small businesses with email marketing tips, and we keep on researching for the same. This time, the “gift card trick” has attracted our attention.
In the beginning, let’s talk about the advantages of adding gift cards to your company.
Branding
Branding in this age, anything that helps get your name and image out to the world, is advantageous for your company. You can market your product and deliver customers to their doors with customized shopping bags as well as your gift card can achieve the same effect.
Spending boosts
Research has found that most people who use gift cards spend more than they spend on their cards. Based on The 18th Annual Prepaid Card Insights Study, US customers who purchase gift cards make an average of $59 higher than what they paid for the gift card.
The security of knowing that, at a minimum, their purchase is covered could cause consumers to purchase more than they originally planned. Additionally, the gift cards have been bought, so you’ll still receive the profit when they are not used or if there’s a little balance remaining on the credit card.
Improved Cash Flow
Many companies have been severely hit in terms of financial loss due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Doors were shut as new safety regulations were put in place, which led to an increase in sales.
One way some businesses managed to stay afloat was through the sale of gift cards. Customers can use cards online to make purchases or save them for later usage, whether physical or digital. Whatever the method or time cards were used, cash used to buy the cards was immediately transferred to the vendor and opened up a brand new source of revenue and increased cash flow.
Today’s present gift card system could allow your business to take advantage of the same opportunity when sales are slowing or if there’s an emergency.
Repeat Business
After you’ve established gift cards, it’s easy to organize marketing promotions to bring in new customers or gain returning customers. A person who buys a gift card and presents it to a relative or friend who might not be a previous customer to go to your shop is a huge benefit.
You can include promotions in your offer that include, for instance, giving the buyer the gift card in small amounts in exchange for the gift card in the specified amount. Also, you can offer another credit for the customer’s next purchase after they’ve used the gift card.
Easy of Use
Making arrangements or purchasing gift cards is usually easy, whether through a POS system or a processing company. It’s as simple and simple as hitting several buttons to activate your electronic gift cards. Alternatively, you can also purchase physical cards with the design of your choice and your company name.
If you’re not yet equipped with gift card capabilities, the chances that customers have inquired about it in the past. It’s great to have this option with a minimum of time and effort.
Utilize the following Gift Card Emails tricks to increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign
Your Customers Are Waiting To Receive Gift Cards In-Mail
An HTML email developer or email marketer can inform you that promotional emails get the highest engagement rates, and gift cards only serve to increase it. An analysis shows that over 60% of users possess gift cards in their list of things to buy, and sending them one could dramatically increase their interest in your company’s image.
Your emails will excite many of your clients. You could also offer gifts to customers since finding the perfect present for celebrations and personal events like birthdays can be an arduous job.
This is because it is difficult to pick the right gift for someone, so purchasing a gift card may be a better option for most people.
It is unnecessary to worry about what to give because the gift card will permit the receiver to purchase whatever they like in the stores. It’s also a secure method of giving it compared to giving cash and is a more elegant approach than just transferring funds into someone else’s account.
Sending Gift Cards Improves Brand Loyalty And Engagement Rates
Emails with promotions are one of the most effective ways to boost sales and increase engagement; however, including gift cards in your emails is a clever way to help build brand loyalty in the process.
You can offer cascading deals that allow customers to avail offers value when they spend a certain amount. This triggers an immediate purchase, and the idea of offering such deals in the holiday season and during festive times can increase your brand’s popularity since customers begin to associate them with good occasions.
It is also possible to increase your customers’ engagement during the sales season since your customers will have come to expect to receive your messages out of the blue. Take a look at an example of this strategy below:
Gift Cards Can Increase Brand Awareness
Brand recognition is among the greatest benefits of gift cards, apart from sales. When customers purchase it from you and then send it to family members or friends, they’ll probably be the first to purchase it from you. This lets them explore your brand and begin their journey as a buyer.
It also lets them look at your complete range of products and your branding elements such as logos, colors, color palettes, website images, and copies.
Digital gift cards are significantly better than physical ones, as they can promote your brand to nearly every part of the world without limitations on time. Furthermore, you can transform this business into an established business by using emails as well as other methods of outreach. For example, Dunkin Donuts used this idea to create positive brand recognition in the month of Mother’s Day.
Gift Cards Are Great At Reactivation
You can use Gift Cards to help re-engage customers and generate leads. For example, if a client is unhappy with your goods because they were damaged or improperly handled deliveries, you could give the customer gift cards to calm down the issue.
They feel good and valued, which saves the possibility of losing a loyal client. In contrast, the average churn percentage for an email list is around 25-30%. Therefore, it is possible to try reactivating inactive leads before they decide to quit your subscriber list.
You can expect these clients to take out their pockets and pay an extra few dollars over the amount on the voucher-like other people, since they’ll look through the entire list of things listed.
You Can Earn Referral Clients Using Gift Cards
It is possible to create an opt-in requirement to activate the gift cards. In this manner, you’ll be able to add more members to your list of subscribers. Similar to restaurants, it has been noted that people tend to shop at places where their family and friends are already shopping. So, you’ll be able to create your referral client base by providing gift cards.
After you have enrolled these new prospects, you can gradually increase the frequency of your mailings and add them to your client base.
Strategies and examples for different stages
Here are some useful suggestions if you’re beginning with the gift card program or already have one in place but would like to improve it.
If you’re beginning to learn about gift cards:
In a year like 2020 (oh gosh); in which social distancing was the norm, many did not get to share birthdays, holidays, or other important life events with their families like they usually would. This was a primary reason why gift cards did quite well during the year, and you can leverage this purchasing intention to promote your business.
For example, you could give a bonus incentive to your gift cards by offering an incentive such as a “pay $100, get $110” promotional offer. This will encourage clients to buy gifts not only to give gifts to other people as a present but also to them.
You can also conduct a buy one, get one (BOGO) gift card promotion. By using these promotions; you’ll be able to keep your customers and provide them with the incentive to buy at your shop again.
If you’re eager to expand your gift card collection, you should consider boosting it.
The growth of e-commerce was evident in the past year. Since consumers began making the bulk of their purchases on the internet during the outbreak.
However, with the ease of product delivery to your doorstep; and the option to quickly return them, many companies could see an increase in the number of returns and refunds they need to offer once the Christmas gifting season ends.
To keep customers who might be unable to find the ideal gift; you can include the gift card reimbursement in your returns policy. This will let returners get a gift card that they can use at any time. This can help you lower the cost of refunds.
In essence, Refunds for store credit aren’t just effective in reducing operational costs. They are also a fantastic method to build the brand’s loyalty. When you issue a credit to stores, you offer an important reason for customers to return to your store to give you another chance.
If you’re looking to move your gift card business to the next level, you’re right.
Today, consumers are looking to feel connected to the brands they purchase from. When you’ve established a bond with your customers and feel connected, they’ll continue to shop with your brand.
Setting up your brand-name currency allows your customers to use it as real money; it also helps you build an emotionally strong connection with your customers. Include your currency in every transaction’s price, reward your customers for it, and make it a feature via your website.
Vici Dolls, Another clothing store for women, saw a decline in sales on weekends. So they launched the Vici Bucks program that included a flash sale every weekend. This allowed customers to earn store credits they could apply the next time they shop.
It also helped Vici kill two birds with one stone:
- Increase sales during the weekend
- Increase customer loyalty to repurchase in the future with a reward for every purchase made over the weekend.
Vici Dolls was able to alter the behavior of their customers to increase sales during weekends and create a strong relationship with their customers. They also had a 62 percent redemption rate for the rewards.
Conclusion
There are many factors involved in managing successful campaigns for email marketing; you must provide different types of messages to ensure that your performance metrics are healthy.
What is especially effective for present cards is the excitement of being a recipient of a gift and the possibility of purchasing whatever is included. So, gift cards are a great way to improve your email marketing campaign; and overall marketing effectiveness by constantly engaging with current and potential leads.
But make sure you send gift card emails only to the real recipients, as low deliverability never helps out anyone. Check MyEmailVerifier to verify your email lists today, and attain perfection!