Why Free Gift Certificates? by Jen Sharp
05 Dec 2007
Have you ever received a gift certificate and never used it? By the time you remember you had it, remember where you put, you look it over and realize... It expired!
Now, think about how often you give gift certificates. Have you ever wondered if they are used or not?
In many ways, gift certificates are popular, pragmatic gifts, especially for that hard-to-buy-for friend. It's the shot gun approach to gift giving. You can get within a range of gifts without being specific.
But the biggest disadvantage is expiration dates. I recently bought a gift certificate for a friend, and I asked the store owner when it expired. He said, "It never expires... I don't think that's fair. You buy something you should have it." I admired his philosophy, but as a business owner myself, I know the complications of that. Besides the huge task of mere record keeping spanning several years, the value of the certificate is so fluid. So let's say you purchase a skydive for your friend... is it a dollar amount? Dollar value depreciates. Is it in the form of a jump? That's unfair to the business and its rising costs. Either way, not having an expiration date creates more problems than it solves.
Another problem with gift certificates is the recipient forgets they have it! It sits quietly in a drawer, taking up no space, and unable to remind the person of its existence. I looked through my statistics and half of the gift certificates we have given over the last several years have expired before they were used. Of course, I knew of this problem and have encouraged people only to buy deposits instead of the entire jump, but this stat is too high! We want to jump with people, not print out pieces of paper with no value!
So, after some thought, I came up with our free gift certificate program. I think it is a win-win! You get to give a cool gift and not pay unless they use it! Plus we get a larger interest response! Check it out and see how it works!
Now, think about how often you give gift certificates. Have you ever wondered if they are used or not?
In many ways, gift certificates are popular, pragmatic gifts, especially for that hard-to-buy-for friend. It's the shot gun approach to gift giving. You can get within a range of gifts without being specific.
But the biggest disadvantage is expiration dates. I recently bought a gift certificate for a friend, and I asked the store owner when it expired. He said, "It never expires... I don't think that's fair. You buy something you should have it." I admired his philosophy, but as a business owner myself, I know the complications of that. Besides the huge task of mere record keeping spanning several years, the value of the certificate is so fluid. So let's say you purchase a skydive for your friend... is it a dollar amount? Dollar value depreciates. Is it in the form of a jump? That's unfair to the business and its rising costs. Either way, not having an expiration date creates more problems than it solves.
Another problem with gift certificates is the recipient forgets they have it! It sits quietly in a drawer, taking up no space, and unable to remind the person of its existence. I looked through my statistics and half of the gift certificates we have given over the last several years have expired before they were used. Of course, I knew of this problem and have encouraged people only to buy deposits instead of the entire jump, but this stat is too high! We want to jump with people, not print out pieces of paper with no value!
So, after some thought, I came up with our free gift certificate program. I think it is a win-win! You get to give a cool gift and not pay unless they use it! Plus we get a larger interest response! Check it out and see how it works!
