Christmas = Gift Voucher sales?
We see this every year. Many business, by default, drive/promote/force gift vouchers sales at this time of year, killing their brand loyalty as a result. The assumption is that having lots of online followers, a large email database or large store footfall, that you will automatically strike gold with Christmas gift vouchers. This is NOT the case. Or at least, not anymore.
Is it a generation thing?
We certainly think so. The younger generation is definitely more aware of ‘over-selling’ online and the dangers of ‘spamming’ customers. We do feel gift vouchers were more of a ‘thing’ 10 years ago, with a lot less choice, no online shopping etc.
With so much choice with where to spend your money at Christmas, if a customer wants to buy a gift voucher from you, they will come to you.
What am I actually doing by constantly promoting my gift voucher sales?
Does it annoy you when a company gets hold of your information and then proceeds to email you repeatedly every day? Of course it does; it annoys everyone. This is essentially no different to repeatedly serving your customers with an advert promoting your gift vouchers each and every time they login to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc etc. Your customers will get frustrated that you are spamming them with direct sale efforts and switch off (unfollow you, unsubscribe to your emails and hide your posts on Facebook). This KILLS your brand loyalty. You work hard all year, publishing content your followers want to see, nothing to sales driven, always engaging, only to spam them for the entire month of December (often longer) with the same sales pitch.
Does this mean no gift voucher promotion at all?
No. Definitely not. There is nothing wrong with a little gift voucher promotion. Make your customers aware that you do offer gift vouchers. Maybe pin a post to the top of your social profiles for the Christmas period and publish a couple of posts. Just not 10 posts and on-going advertising for 30+ days!