Online shopping used to be a convenient way for people to purchase products they needed from the comfort from their home. During the current crisis, online shopping is the only way to purchase anything. It is safe, quick and it helps businesses that needed to close down their physical stores continue to operate. And if you want to offer a friend a gift for their birthday or other special occasion, you can choose a gift card.
Now, Facebook helps businesses promote their gift card offering with a special new tool. In this way, you can not only continue to run your business, but you can also adapt your promotions and special offers in a meaningful way.
The Rise of Digital Gift Cards
Digital gift cards are the most sensible type of gift you can make, not only during the lockdown period. You can select a business where your friends love to shop and you give them the freedom to purchase the products they need.
Digital gift cards are extremely versatile. They are accepted both for online and in-store shopping. You store them on your mobile phone and the payment is processed in seconds. If anything, the need to be creative with ways to stay in business in this period will ensure the future growth of digital gift card.
How Does the New Facebook Gift Card Discovery Tool Work?
The tool is basically a registry where businesses can add their gift cards. It will cover all types of businesses, from retail stores to restaurants and cosmetics shops. This is a great opportunity for small businesses to run promotions even in these difficult times.
Digital gift cards are affordable for any kind of business. You do not need to pay a card making company to design and manufacture them. Instead, you use the regular design tools for creating the digital design and assign a code to be used by the client during checkout.
The gift card registry opened by Facebook will appear in the users’ news feed in a section called Support Local Businesses. When users finds a gift card they are interested in they can click on “Checkout on Website” to purchase it.
What Businesses Can List Their Gift Cards on Facebook?
The new tool rolled out at the beginning of April to users in the US. However, it is likely to expand to cover other countries as it gains popularity. At the same time, another platform under the Facebook umbrella, Instagram, is also rolling out a similar gift card registry.
What Can You Do to Take Advantage of This New Tool?
Even if the gift card registry on Facebook is not available in Australia yet, small businesses can find inspiration in this new programme. For instance, you may realise that you can boost your sales using gift cards. Or, you can find new promotional ideas involving gift cards, such as:
1. Offering Gift Cards as Loyalty Rewards
During these difficult times, it is extremely important to engage and keep your most loyal customers. Thus, you can offer them a gift card as a reward for their loyalty.
2. Using Facebook Ads to Promote Gift Cards
If you can’t list your gift cards for free, you can certainly create ads that encourage your followers to purchase gift cards for their friends. You can also create remarketing campaigns encouraging clients who purchased a product to offer a gift card to a family member.
3. Boost Customer Referral Programmes with Gift Cards
Gift cards are ideal incentives for a successful customer referral programme. Instead of accumulating points or discount percentages, your clients who refer friends can aim to get a gift card of a higher value.