Top 5 Tips to Increase Holiday Sales

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for spas that sell gift certificates. Your spa can take advantage of holiday spending today and start generating more revenue up front without excessive operational costs. SpaBooker is excited to bring you these five tips to help your spa achieve its full potential this holiday season.

1.     Integrate Online Gift Certificates with Your Website

• The holidays are a busy time of year, so give your customers the convenience of 24/7 online shopping. Here’s why you should integrate online gift certificates with your website:
•  The demand for online gift certificates is clear. 20% of gift certificates sold on the SpaBooker platform between August 2011 and August 2012 were purchased online.
• Customers can instantly print out or email gift certificates to recipients, which is great for last-minute gift purchases and drives sales even when your doors are closed.
• Adding online shopping to your website is not only convenient for your customers, but also a great time-saver for your staff. By offering gift certificates online, you’ll have more time to take care of customers instead of answering phones.
• Check out this tip in action on Drew Patrick Spa’s online shopping page.

2.     Generate Online Gift Certificate Sales Directly on Facebook

By integrating online shopping with Facebook, customers can purchase holiday gift certificates without leaving your business’s page. Software like SpaBooker allows spas to add online gift certificate sales to their Facebook page and take advantage of the following:

• Facebook accounts for one in seven minutes spent online[1], so offering gift certificates through your page helps you reach your customers where they spend most of their time online.
• Facebook sales offer a simple and seamless shopping experience for your customers.
• Customers can share their gift certificate purchase on their Facebook profile immediately after checkout, which increases the number of people who see their purchase and hear about your spa.
• See this tip in action on Pineapple Day Spa’s Facebook page.

3.     Reflect Holiday Spirit with Effective Gift Certificate Designs

It’s never too late to brand your gift certificates with your logo and customize them with holiday designs. By adding new templates to your gift certificate library, your customers will buy more of them because:

• Adding your logo to your gift certificates strengthens your brand and increases brand recognition amongst purchasers and recipients.
• Holiday themed designs are more enticing to purchase. As customers look for the ideal holiday gifts for their friends, they’ll naturally gravitate toward seasonal designs.

4.     Embrace the Power of Social Media to Sell More Gift Certificates

• Promote your holiday gift certificates on your spa’s Facebook and Twitter profiles keeping existing and prospective customers engaged on the sites they visit the most. Here’s why using social media to promote instant gift certificates is important:
• 28% of spa consumers use Facebook to get information about spas[2]. Keep your page updated, and post frequently to bring in new business and keep your spa at the top of people’s minds.
• 85% of spas that use social media report that their social media strategy has had an impact on their revenue[3], so the holidays are the perfect time to start driving online sales directly from your pages.
• When a customer likes, retweets, and shares your posts with their friends, your spa gets additional exposure at almost no cost to you. Post updates with links to your online shopping site so followers can easily find your online store and make purchases.
• Check out how Royal Treatment Spa & Salon promotes specials using Facebook

5.     Entice Customers to Purchase with Holiday Promotions

• Black Friday deals and specials in the days leading up to Christmas are just a few ways to encourage customers to purchase gift certificates as last-minute gift ideas. Here’s why spas should offer holiday promotions:
• 37% of gift certificates sold across the SpaBooker platform in 2011 were purchased in December. Over 49% of those gift certificates were sold in the week leading up to Christmas.
• According to ISPA, 73% of spas have offered at least one gift certificate promotion. Among these spas, revenue generated from gift certificate sales accounted for 14% of total revenue[4].  With a proven ROI, gift certificate specials can only help your business grow.
• Promote holiday specials through social media, email marketing, and your website/booking site to spread the word about your gift certificates. “Buy two gift certificates and get 10% off the total” is a popular special for last-minute shoppers.

So there you have it - The Top 5 Tips to Increase Holiday Sales. We’re happy you took the time to read this guide and hope these tips gave you ideas for your business. If you haven’t already noticed, SpaBooker can help you implement all of these tips in time for the holidays, so feel free to call us at 1.866.966.9798 or visit spa-booker.com for a free demonstration!