GIFT CARDS
Your Customer Pays, a Stranger Walks In
Someone buys a gift card today so that a person who has never heard of you visits next month. You are paid up front, there is nothing to print, and the card arrives in the recipient's wallet by a link.
Someone Else Pays. A New Customer Arrives.
A friend bought this card and sent it over. Spend it the way your team would — a bit at a time, until the balance is gone and the stranger holding it has become a regular.
A $100 gift card, already paid for. Every dollar of it is a visit you have not had yet.
Set it to be spent all at once, or a little at a time like this.
The Only Card a Stranger Buys for a Stranger
Your customer pays you today so that someone who has never heard of you walks in next month. You are paid up front, and you gain a customer you did not have to advertise for.
Someone buys it
At your counter, or online through Stripe if you would rather sell them while you sleep. Either way the money reaches you before any service is delivered.
You send it to the recipient
An install link by email or SMS, with a personal message on it. No plastic to print, nothing to post, nothing to lose in a drawer.
They install it and see the balance
One scan and the gift is in their wallet, showing exactly what it is worth. You now have a contact for someone who had never heard of you.
They spend it, in one go or over time
Your team deducts from the balance at each visit. Choose whether the card must be spent all at once or across several visits — and several visits is how a gift becomes a habit.
Over the Counter, or Online While You Sleep
Both put money in your account before you do the work. One needs nothing extra; the other needs a payment account connected.
Built for Things People Give Each Other
If someone has ever said “I would love to treat you to this”, you should be selling gift cards.
Spas & treatment rooms
$100 to spend on anything
The most gifted service there is. A card lets the giver be generous without choosing a treatment the recipient may not want.
Restaurants & wine bars
Dinner for two, paid in advance
Gift cards bring in tables of people who would never have chosen you, and they almost always spend past the balance on the night.
Bakeries & specialty food
Small amounts, given often
Perfect for thank-yous and teacher gifts. Small denominations sell in volume, and most recipients spend more than the card is worth.
Studios & classes
Credit toward any workshop
People want to give an experience but cannot pick the date or the subject. A balance lets the recipient choose both.
Salons & barbers
Enough for a cut and a treatment
Someone tries you once because a friend paid for it. If the visit goes well, you have won a regular for the price of a service you were paid for anyway.
Bookshops & gift retail
Any amount, spent over several visits
Customers who genuinely cannot decide what to buy for someone. Let the recipient pick, and let them come back twice to do it.
What Amounts Should You Offer?
Anchor them to real things on your menu, not to round numbers that mean nothing to a buyer.
Settings Most People Never Find
All of these live in the card builder, and any one of them can lift a program that is already running.
Sell it online yourself
Connect a payment account and switch on the gifting option, and people can buy a card for a friend from your website at two in the morning without you lifting a finger.
Minimum and maximum amounts
Set the range a buyer can choose. It stops someone loading five dollars onto a card that costs you more than that to service.
All at once, or bit by bit
Decide whether the balance must be spent in a single transaction or across several. Several visits is almost always the better choice — each one is another chance to keep them.
Birthday top-ups
Add to the balance on their birthday, with a push telling them. It costs you nothing until they walk in, and it restarts a card that had gone quiet.
Expiry, handled carefully
You can expire the card or the balance on it. Check your local rules first — in many countries expiring prepaid value is restricted or outright illegal.
Feedback links
Ask for a rating after that first visit and point the happy ones to your Google listing. A gift recipient’s first impression is a review worth having.
Four Mistakes That Cost Real Money
We would rather you read these now than learn them in December.
Launching without a way to deliver the card
Gift cards are sent to the recipient as an install link by email or SMS. If neither sender is connected, you can create cards but you cannot get them to anyone. Set this up first, and test it by sending one to yourself.
Expecting a referral program on this card
This is the one card type with no referral feature at all. It does not need one — the gift itself is the referral, and a friend’s recommendation carries more weight than any bonus. Just do not build a campaign around a feature that is not there.
Choosing single-use without thinking it through
Single use means any unspent balance is lost the moment they redeem. It is simpler for your team and worse for your customer, and it is locked once the card is activated. Multiple use gives you two or three visits from one gift instead of one.
Forgetting the money is not yours yet
An unredeemed gift card is cash in your account against a service you still owe. In many places it is also regulated, with rules about expiry and unclaimed balances. Keep the outstanding total somewhere you can see it, and check your local rules before setting any expiry date.
Launch Your First Gift Card Today
Pick a template, set your amounts, and start selling them at the counter this afternoon. Most businesses are live in about fifteen minutes — and the trial costs nothing and needs no card.