Spa Gift Certificates

Of Instant Gift Certificates, that is. But first, let's step back and talk about what happens when you sell an Instant Gift Certificate.

Selling Instant Gift Certificates

Every time you sell an Instant Gift Certificate, you'll receive an email copy of the receipt sent to your client (and a copy of the emailed GC, if your client choose to email it).

1. If you're using automatic credit card processing, then you've already been paid. If you're doing manual processing, then you need to login to your account at SpaBoom and click on the GCs tab; any GCs you need to process have a cute little credit card icon next to them. Just click on it to bring up the credit card information.
2. Process the credit card like you would a phone order. For tracking purposes, enter the approval code and invoice # from the credit card transaction, and then change the status to "Processed". You can make any notes that you'd like to see for future reference.
3. If you're unable to successfully process the credit card, then contact the client for additional information. If you're unable to resolve, then mark the credit card has "All attempts failed", and then click on the GC and Void it.

Redeeming Instant Gift Certificates

Now, let's get to the redemption part. The lucky recipient has arrived on the scene:

1. When the recipient schedules their appointment, go to the GCs tab and search for the GC by the To, From, date or ID.
2. Verify that the GC is valid and check the remaining balance.
3. Depending on your policy, you may still want to collect credit card information to hold the appointment.
4. When the GC is redeemed, bring it back up in GCs. Click on the ID for the GC to see the history of activity.
5. Click Redeem and record the amount of the GC that has been used.
6. You don't need to issue a replacement GC for any unused portion. You can simply track the unused amount in SpaBoom. Some spas note the unused amount on the GC, and hand it back to the client, or use a rubber stamp with a blank to fill in the unused amount.

Posted in Tutorials, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

Gift cards and gift certificates are the new "in" gift, expected to go from 14% of holiday spending last year to 17% this year. But, thanks in large part to onerous fees imposed by banks for Visa and MasterCard gift cards, a backlash is brewing against gift cards with harsh rules and fees. An article over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, The Gift That Keeps On Taking, is a good example of the kind of attention this issue is getting.

The media is teaching consumers to be more careful in their selection of gift cards and gift certificates — creating an opportunity for your spa to stand out from the gift card competition.

A gift certificate from your spa doesn't have those onerous upfront fees or ongoing service fees, not too mention being a very personal and thoughtful gift.

As another example, California no longer allows expiration dates on gift certificates from a single retailer, but does for gift cards like those from banks that can be used at multiple retailers. Since you shouldn't be using an expiration date in California anyway, use it to your advantage! Promote that your gift certificates don't have an expiration date.

Consumer's Union has a nice summary of gift card laws that covers most states. To get the full scoop, you'll need to find the specifics from your state Attorney General's office. Consider getting out in front of consumer protection laws on gift certificates, and turn it into a competitive advantage for your spa.

Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

A strange thing happens when we have too many choices: often we make no decision at all. A growing body of consumer research shows that providing too much choice will reduce sales.

In an often cited example from a psychologist at Columbia University, a display table of jams was setup at a gourmet food shop. On Day 1, six flavors were displayed; on Day 2, 30 different flavors. Although the display of 30 flavors attracted more attention, shoppers were only one-tenth as likely to make a purchase. More choice, less sales.

Your spa menu might be doing the same thing, particularly in the eye of the holiday gift-giver. A large portion of your holiday gift certificate sales are to men, many (most!) unfamiliar with the spa experience, who just want to make their wife, mom or sister happy.

Make their lives easy! Simplify your spa packages to reduce choice, and increase sales. If you just can't part with your extensive spa menu, consider creating a new services category of Holidays Spa Packages. Create three packages designed for gift-giving, and move them to the top of your services menu. When that male buyer goes to Instant Gift Certificates, the first thing they'll see are the perfect gift-giving options.

Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Gift Certificates • 1 Comment »

Problem: Spa packages don’t produce any retail product sales.

Solution: Guarantee it! Create spa packages designed for gift giving that include some home-use products and price it accordingly. Since most spa packages are sold as gifts, they aren’t as price sensitive as other services.

• Your Stress Relief (example name) package can include a facial, massage, pedicure, plus an aromatherapy candle and scented bath gel (or whatever you want to include) that will continue the recipient's enjoyment long after their appointment.
• Average out the price of the certificate to reflect a revolving retail selection you’ll use in the package.
• This ensures retail sales that aren’t subject to sales commissions, and helps you to clear out some slower-moving inventory. You’re a business genius!

Posted in Spa Product Sales, Preston Professionals, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

You may have asked yourself, how could it be a Spa Emergency? Spas are about the experience — relaxation, pampering, health, indulgence. Where's the emergency? Well, trust me, if you're male, you've had more than a few spa emergencies in your life. Imagine just for a moment that you are Brock, a loving boyfriend, but also a little forgetful:

Now that's a Spa Emergency! Guys just wait until the last minute. It's in our genes. And an Instant Gift Certificate from Spa Emergency is the perfect solution. Spa Emergency is all about the Brocks of the world, and saving them at the last minute.

Posted in Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

I know, it's not even close to Thanksgiving yet, but we've got our eyes set on the holidays… what new gift certificate designs would you like to see this year?

By the way, it's easy to select which designs appear in Instant Gift Certificates, and in what order. Just go to Setup, GC Designs. If there is a design you don't like, click on it and hide it. Move the designs up and down using the little green arrows.

You can also pick the Most Popular designs; these are the first designs that appear when you go to Instant Gift Certificates. You can always get to the other designs by choosing a different category.

A design can be always Most Popular, or "for this category only". That means the design shows in Most Popular only when promoting that gift giving occasion. This way, you can pick holidays for Most Popular, but they only show in Most Popular leading up to the holidays.

We have 10 holiday designs now… what kind of new ones would you like to see?

Posted in Spa Gift Certificates • 6 Comments »

It’s too easy! A man buying a spa gift certificate for a woman is like a woman buying a gift certificate for a man in an auto parts store; both have one goal in mind: to escape as quickly as possible! Instead of handing him a service menu he may not understand, offer him your suggestion instead. Here’s the plan:

1. Select the spa package you most want to sell (Wait! Don’t suggest the least expensive one like you usually do!)
2. Ask him if he’d like a suggestion for a great gift that all of your clients love! Of course he would…help set him free!!!
3. Tell him about your wonderful package and how much his recipient will appreciate him for his choice. (Can you hear the Love Boat theme yet?)
4. After he buys the package (and, he will!) reinforce what a great choice he made and what a lucky woman he has. Everyone’s happy!
5. Do the same thing online: create packages just for the male buyer with a focus on the experience and how great she will feel, and then promote them on your home page!

Posted in Preston Professionals, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

Are you working on your marketing for the upcoming holiday gift certificate boon? Here's a great perspective to keep in mind — that of the typical GC purchaser:

• Many are not familiar with spa services or packages, especially men
• Most are not as price sensitive as you believe they are
• Most would prefer your purchase suggestions than to go it alone
• The purchase pay-off for male buyers is a positive emotional reward from the recipient of the gift — and that’s a HIGH VALUE reward to them
• High value rewards make higher priced sales far more likely



Secret Santa office gift = low price
Gift for wife or romantic interest = higher price!

• Always remember: a gift certificate sale is a gift to both the recipient and the purchaser. Base your sales suggestion on the gift he receives — the gift of love, praise and affection!

Posted in Preston Professionals, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

Want to sell more Instant Gift Certificates? Just increase your conversion: get more of the visitors who come to your website to buy. Here's the secret: it's easy to do!

Here's how:

• Make it easy to find links to Instant GCs. Include it in your main navigation and also in the main content of your home page.
• Put your main navigation in the same place on every page.
• Don't hide your Instant GCs link in fancy graphics that people are trained to ignore.
• Link directly to your Instant GCs page. Don't force your visitors through another step, like a "shopping" page.
• Don't open your Instant GCs page in a new window. It's an automatic reaction from webmasters for pages they didn't design (I know, I have to resist it, too).
• Tell your visitors that your gift certificates aren't like what they've seen at other websites. You have Instant Gift Certificates, which you can immediately print or email.
• After your home page, your services menu is the most important content on your website. Describe your services in depth, so that seasoned spa goers know why you're different and spa novices understand what they are.
• Speaking of services, create packages that solve specific gift-giving problems. Right now is a great time to be promoting birthday and anniversary packages with Events.

Posted in Spa Website Design, Spa Gift Certificates • 1 Comment »

Spa directories are a good resource for your spa. Good exposure that brings in new clients. But there are some problems, things that we think can be done better than traditional spa directories.

For example, it's still your marketing that is bringing the recipient of a traditional spa directory gift certificate to your spa. After all, the recipient has simply gotten a generic GC — they still have to choose at which spa to redeem it. Which means that it is still your marketing that is doing all the work to attract that recipient. And for this privilege, you're paying 15%-20% of the face value of the GC.

What about the purchaser of a traditional spa directory gift certificate? You don't even know who they are. They aren't your customer. They haven't bought anything from you. If they're happy with the experience, if their recipient enjoyed the gift, they'll just go back to the spa directory the next time they need another gift certificate. Not to your spa.

When you redeem a traditional spa directory GC, you're providing the service upfront. And then waiting to be reimbursed later. And, of course, you never see any benefit of unredeemed GCs.

We saw this, and decided there had to be a better way. It's why we created Spa Emergency.

Not just to bring the immediate gratification of Instant Gift Certificates to a spa directory, but improve the whole process for the benefit of your spa. When a gift giver purchases an Instant Gift Certificate via Spa Emergency, they're purchasing it directly from your spa. They're immediately your client. You've already been paid.

When the recipient relates the relaxing, pleasurable experience they had at your spa, the gift giver will go back to your website for future purchases.

The cost for Spa Emergency is similar to traditional spa directories at 15% plus credit card processing. But the value of Spa Emergency to your spa is much greater than a traditional spa directory — it's a real marketing avenue that immediately brings you both the gift giver and recipient as clients.

Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Gift Certificates • 2 Comments »

We've just launched Spa Emergency, the national spa directory with membership exclusive to spas offering our instant, online gift certificates. There's no setup fee, no service fee, and you pay only 15% of your gift certificate sales. And, you get paid immediately — there's no waiting for redemption.

It's the perfect last-minute gift giving solution, where consumers can buy instant spa gift certificates at SpaEmergency.com directly from spas, salons and massage therapists across the country.

Why have we created another online spa directory? People love instant gift certificates, and we want to promote your spa's great capability to solve gift giving problems to a national audience.

Who can join? Only spas, salons and massage therapists offering Instant Gift Certificates. All SpaBoomers are automatically listed, just to give you time to check it out. The listing is free, and all gift certificates sold for the introductory period are free too. Let us know ASAP that you want to stay listed, so you don't miss out on the upcoming holiday sales surge!

How much will it cost? Listing on Spa Emergency is free. You pay only a flat 15% of gift certificates sold through Spa Emergency (no other SpaBoom fees apply). And you get all of your money at the time of sale — no waiting for a check after the gift certificate has been redeemed. We drive buyers to the Spa Emergency website, you make sales.

Does this affect my website's Instant Gift Certificates? Nope, you keep selling them on your website at the 5% or less rate. Spa Emergency is simply another way for you to maximize your online presence, reach a national audience, and sell more gift certificates.

Why should I be a Spa Emergency spa? National exposure! We're marketing our hearts out to generate traffic to Spa Emergency so that you'll sell more gift certificates.

What do I do? Tell us you want to stay on Spa Emergency! Login to SpaBoom now, and with a couple of clicks your listing will be secured.

Check it out at www.SpaEmergency.com and tell us what you think — we love feedback!

Posted in SpaBoom New Features, Spa Marketing, Spa Gift Certificates • 8 Comments »

Dad needs a massage just as bad as Mom (or, at least I do). But Mother's Day Instant Gift Certificate sales out paced Father's Day by 10 to 1. Mom also got an average GC value of $108 vs. $84 for Dad.

It's not just how many men go to spas. According to ISPA's 2004 Spa Industry Survey, 23% of spa visits are made by men. Is it just much more common to buy Mom a spa gift certificate than Dad? Another factor could be the appeal of purchasing online. Men and women use the internet differently, but are equally likely to purchase online. But, do Instant Gift Certificates appeal more to men?

What did you do for marketing Father's Day? How did it work out?

Posted in Spa Gift Certificates • 7 Comments »

We love feedback! Your super-positive insight tells us when we're on the right track, and your wish list drives what we're working on every day.

What follows falls into the super-positive category, and after speaking at length with Ken at Brooks Massage in LA, I have to say positive seems to be his MO in life!

Ken shared why they became part of the SpaBoom family:

Thank you for your support, Ken and Yanni, and congratulations on your recent Miami wedding!

Posted in General, Spa Gift Certificates • 1 Comment »

Every spa operator knows (and every soon-to-open spa should) that spa gift certificates sales represent a critical source of annual revenue and new customers. Depending on the age and client market of a spa, these important sales can account from anywhere between 10-25% of total sales, a particularly crucial life preserver for new cash-hungry but client-poor businesses. For many spas, just like the holiday rush for retailers, seasonal gift certificate sales (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas) provide a powerful boost to flagging service appointments and bank reserves. Yet all spas, regardless of their years in business, need this steady flow of ready income and new customer potential to drive the wheels of growth forward. Conversely, it is tempting to take these sales for granted — windfall that they appear to be — instead of planning an optimal strategy for this lush opportunity.

Here’s some advice that you can use in your company right away to make more money while reducing the potential hardships and hazards brisk gift certificate sales can pose:

Individual services and/or specified dollar amounts

• Make gift certificates easier to sell! While we love this upfront cash, the transaction can be time consuming for front desk staff and a chore for the purchaser. You may want to consider adding a sales feature on your company website to handle the job for you. Companies like SpaBoom help you set up your site with the tools needed to make online gift certificate sales simple and fast. They charge a small fee per transaction and relieve employees of having to work every sale — a real blessing during a holiday crunch!
• Selling gift certificates for cash credit is the ideal way to go if you want to avoid the unpleasant task of having to book packages out many weeks in advance. When a customer has a gift certificate for, say, $200, the spa is only obligated to redeem it for its full value, not guarantee the availability of a specific package. Many clients will prefer to use the credit in small increments, and these several visits help establish them with your spa and often lead to retail purchases. In any event it helps eliminate pressure on your schedule and personnel.

Spa packages

By now you know that most spa service packages are sold as gift certificates and redeemed by persons for whom the spa is a rare experience. And while the welcome of this gift by the recipient can range from ecstatic to dread, even the most enthusiastic individual may require weeks, if not years, to get the thing scheduled. Now, that’s fine for them but if it’s your too-busy spa that’s causing the scheduling delay then you’ve got a real problem on your hands, namely, a miffed buyer and user. And since most package customers prefer prime time appointments (those precious evening and weekend hours) you may suddenly be forced to schedule these folks out many weeks into the future. This may inspire some to believe that they’re a low-priority to you, and that you’re making it deliberately difficult for them to use their gift. Worse, high concentrations of gift certificate appointments during peak hours can make it challenging for your loyal regular clients to schedule, leaving you with the terrible trade-off of top-value customers for the infrequent visitor. This isn’t a good deal for spas that depend on local trade for survival.

Solutions:

• Offer a maximum of 3 or 4 spa packages, all under 4 hours in length. Reduced-length packages are easier to schedule, are less damaging when cancelled late, consume less schedule time, and minimize the chances for something to go wrong over long hours of service that could cause you to redo or comp. the services… Ouch! Shorter packages are also easier to train employees on, and are more flexible when clients want to rearrange its order or substitute services.
• When customers call to schedule a gift certificate service be sure to offer your lowest demand appointment hours first! Never permit your concierge to voluntarily utter the deadly words, “When did you want to come in?” You’ll be amazed how positively people will respond to your time suggestions so don’t paint yourself into a scheduling corner needlessly!
• Never discount your spa packages!!! Considering the cost of scheduling them, then rescheduling them, poor retail sales after them, and the potential displacement of regular customers because of them you can scarcely afford to shave the price. Here’s how to sell your spa service packages above the combined services value:
1. Create a package that contains specially named and designed face and body services that are available only in the package: meaning, they are not sold or seen a la carte on the service menu. These “special” facials, massages, etc. should take no longer to perform, nor cost any more than a regular service would. There’s no need to lengthen or to make any significant changes in them they’ll be largely unfamiliar to both purchaser and recipient.
2. Charge roughly 20% more for this package than you would if those services were sold individually. This is a gift, and gifts aren’t as price sensitive as practical purchases.
3. Always schedule a package with the facial as the last service, if possible. This is the service that’s most likely to generate a retail purchase with this customer.
4. If you have some difficult-to-sell services at the spa then stuff them into your packages! After all, you have plenty of openings for those…
• Always direct gift certificate purchasers to the packages that you most want to sell! Instead of the passive and incorrect “Did you have something in mind?” ask the purchaser who the gift is for and then offer a suggestion: “That’s great! Would you like to know what everyone loves as a gift from our spa?” Then, describe the package that you’d like to sell, and do it in feeling terms, not technical. “It’s the most incredible and relaxing thing she’ll probably ever experience! She’ll love it — I would!” That’s about all it takes to get the card swiped and the envelope sealed.
• While the retail sales that follow spa package appointments are often dismal, and those gift baskets haven’t flown off the shelves, you can build products into the packages by designing it thus:



South Pacific Holiday

Our most popular package gives busy, working moms some needed time-out and a personal experience she won’t forget! She begins her visit with a wonderful tropical hand and foot exfoliation and massage using real papaya and natural loofah. Next, her tense muscles are soothed away by the hands of a specially trained therapist using the ancient Hawaiian Lomi Lomi technique, finally mom is carried away to the soft breezes of the islands with during our unique Tradewinds Aromatherapy facial.

As a special treat the package comes complete with an enchanting scented candle and skin smoothing body lotion for her enjoyment before we greet her here at Spa Leilani. Aloha!

• The package is only sold inclusive of the retail products that you place into a gift bag with the gift certificate. This is an excellent way to move slower selling stock while guaranteeing some commission-free retail sales!

Some final advice: do everything in your power to convert your gift certificate customer into a loyal, long-term client! With all the emerging competition in the spa market you cannot count forever on this fat flow of nearly passive income. It’s the clients you keep that ultimately represent your spa’s foundational business. If that gift river should run dry you’ll be glad you have a well of reliable supporters beneath you!

Posted in Preston Professionals, Starting a Spa, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

Our spas, salons and massage therapists just crested over a collective $1 million in online sales of Instant Gift Certificates today.

For last year's Mother's Day, we were testing Instant Gift Certificates with just one spa. The story was a little different for Mother's Day this year, as there are over 330 SpaBoomers out there now. Thanks for joining us, and congratulations on your sales!

Posted in General, Spa Gift Certificates • 1 Comment »

Our day spas did great with Instant Gift Certificates for Mother's Day! Here's the average sales numbers for the two weeks leading up to Mother's Day:

• All of our day spas: $2,663
• Top 50%: $4,547
• Top 20%: $7,125

Interestingly, almost half of these sales were during the crunch time of the two days prior to Mother's Day, and on Mother's Day itself. That's a lot of last-minute sales!

What promotions did you run for Mother's Day? What worked the best?

Posted in Spa Gift Certificates • 6 Comments »

We don't think so. Most buyers of Instant Gift Certificates are looking for a great gift for Mom. They are husbands, sons and daughters. The closest relative Mom could possibly have. These buyers will choose a discounted offering if available, but are not motivated by price. They are motivated by love.

So, how do you appeal to these buyers? By selling love.

Offer them special packages or services … just for Mom. Use creative names with Mom as the centerpiece, such as “Pamper Mom” or “Soothing Soak for Mom”. Use a description that really makes the point that this is a special service, just for Mom, and only offered now before Mother’s Day.

Save the discounting for the slower months.

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

I love getting emails like this… it’s very gratifying! Thanks, Mark, for the kind words; we’re very pleased to have you as a client!

Posted in General, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

First, the bad news: spas aren't very successful at selling products online.

Today, there are two primary ways to sell product online. First, you can hire a web designer to build a "catalog and shopping cart" website for you. The good web designers will use pre-built packages, to keep costs down. They will look nice and be somewhat easy to maintain. Despite the pre-built nature of the package, your upfront expense will still be somewhat significant. The second way to sell product is to take advantage of a vendor who is already selling product online, and you refer business to that vendor using a "reseller id" from your website. The advantage of the first method is you get all the revenue associated with the product sales (less your costs), while the disadvantage is you have to maintain the catalog, handle fulfillment, and keep your website updated as new products and pricing comes out. The advantage of the second method is it's very inexpensive to start, and you don't have the responsibility of managing the ecommerce transaction and fulfillment.

Either way, almost every spa or salon I talk to, has indicated dissatisfaction with the level of sales being generated. By almost every measure, these folks feel their effort has been a waste of time.

Online Instant Gift Certificate sales, in stark contrast, work very well for spas and salons.

Why the discrepancy? I don’t know, but I would love to hear your comments. What are your experiences with product sales and what have you done that you feel boosts product sales from your website?

Is there another way? Well, I want to fill you in on two options to consider.
First, SpaBoom is considering providing a built-in product capability into its offering, that will behave and work very much like the Instant Gift Certificates do. We feel it should be easy and seamless to sell product on your website. We feel you should have an option of whether to fulfill orders yourself or have someone else do the fulfillment. How do you feel about this? Please comment or . SpaBoom is interested in talking to vendors or manufacturers to partner with, who desire to enable their spa and salon customers to easily sell product on their websites. If you have vendor suggestions, please . Let us know what vendors or manufacturers you think we should be working with!

Second, and something you can easily do right now, consider enhancing your product and gift certificate sales by merging your products with your services. Make a really cool and unique package or service combo, combining the best of your services and products. For example, offer an “Aromatherapy Massage,” where after the massage, the massage recipient received a supply of the aromatherapy oil used in the massage. Or, in another example, they receive facial cream after receiving a blissful facial.

You would then combine the service and product price into the overall package, highlighting the benefits of both, and really exciting the gift giver, because not only are they giving the gift of a wonderful treatment, but their recipient also walks away with a tangible product after the treatment.

Have you tried this already? If so, share your thoughts and experiences with us!

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Gift Certificates • 3 Comments »

Joyce with The Spa…for the woman who cares is a woman who brings great passion to her work. With over 20 years in the business, she’s worked in a variety of environments — big, small, medical, and so forth — so when she decided to open her own spa, she knew exactly what she wanted to create.

Her desire to create a niche spa, offering high-quality, private services that draw people “who come to us to totally escape” is being realized, but not without careful thought and planning to help bolster her passion for providing absolutely luxurious, unhurried services to her clients. She elaborates, “People can feel your dedication. If you don’t have your whole heart in what you do, people don’t come back. They want a special experience, and they have many spas to choose from, particularly up here in Puget Sound. You know you’re doing something right when clients re-book again and again.”

Joyce has vision. She's had the foresight to advertise online with McCall Bennett () at City Search, which has helped create steady traffic for her website. In fact, she’s not only advertised on City Search, she has 70 customer reviews posted and her spa has made the Top 10 list in six different categories for two years running. That’s saying something!

She’s comfortable advertising on the Web, she’s learned how to make the most of her website, and in the process she discovered SpaBoom’s Instant Gift Certificates. “I come in every morning to find more gift certificates sold, and I’m delighted. This has been an incredible addition to our website, and an extremely effective way to sell gift certificates!” she said.

And her clients’ feedback underlines her decision to offer Instant Gift Certificates. One recently emailed Joyce:

Joyce has made a series of good choices when it comes to her business, not the least of which includes adding Instant Gift Certificates to her website. Having a passion for services and a head for business is definitely paying dividends for her spa!

Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »