Using an online gift voucher system will save you money – here’s why

You’re thinking about upgrading your systems to automate your voucher sales. You know it’ll save you lots of time and effort but you’re concerned about the costs.

Monthly commission payments? Surely, you tell yourself, paying commission to send out vouchers is unnecessary when your staff can fill out the voucher details, record the sales in a spreadsheet, take payments over the phone and send out emails or put vouchers in envelopes – and find a postbox. … Good luck with that one!

But have you really considered the opportunity cost?

If a potential gift voucher customer calls your venue on a busy day and doesn’t get an answer, they’re likely to give up and buy their gift elsewhere.

Attention spans are short and most people want things instantly.

And even if your staff members do pick up the phone, they will spend at least five minutes on the call taking the details and payment, five more preparing the voucher and a further five emailing or addressing an envelope and sending it out. That’s probably a conservative estimate. Each voucher is costing your company time and resources, not to mention the hassle of creating and tracking voucher codes to make sure that each voucher can only be redeemed once.

Did you know? With minimum staff wages at £12.71 per hour each voucher will cost over £3 to send out.

And there’s more. When your accountant asks how many vouchers you have sold or how many have been redeemed, how much time will be spent compiling that information? One day? Two?

A specialist online voucher system like One Tree takes care of all of this for you.

1. Buyers make the purchase themselves on your website – no staff time required.
2. Secure voucher codes are generated automatically and voucher details are stored in the management system. No manual tracking.
3. Vouchers are created at the point of sale and sent out automatically both for email and postal delivery. No pre-printing of vouchers or noting codes.
4. Vouchers can be redeemed simply and easily so that the codes are not re-used. You’re assured of security.
5. Comprehensive reports are available at the touch of a button. No time wasted generating management information.

Upside no 1

Sales naturally increase because your shop is open 24 hours a day. Consumers want to buy in the evenings, early in the mornings and sometimes even in the middle of the night. There are no barriers to making a purchase from you and who doesn’t want to come into work to see sales that have come in overnight?

Upside no 2

Without the admin overhead you can concentrate resources in promoting your vouchers and guiding prospects to your shop. You have no concerns about fulfilment. The more visitors to your site, the more likely you are to make sales.

Commission payments now don’t look so big

Let’s assume your average voucher sale is £30. If you pay 5% commission on a £30 sale, it’ll only cost you £1.50 If your customer wants the voucher sent by post, they pay the postage costs and we cover the packaging and staff time. This way, you sell more vouchers than ever without putting pressure on your own resources.

1 voucher sold = £1.50 saved by you

If you sell two vouchers each week for most of the year and five vouchers each week in peak season (November and December), you’ll sell around 140 vouchers in a year.

140 vouchers sold = £210 saved

Of course, if your staff costs are higher than £12.71 per hour and if it takes longer than 15 minutes to produce and send a voucher then your savings could be even greater.

Can you afford not to invest in the One Tree Gift Voucher System?

So the real question is: are you losing more by not investing in our automated gift voucher platform?

Contact us today to find out more or try buying a demo voucher to check out how the One Tree system works.