How to Set Up a Gift Card Program for Your Local Business Before the Holidays

Every December, someone in your town is trying to figure out what to get the person who has everything. If your business has a gift card program, the answer can be you. Gift cards bring in money before the work is done, put a new customer through your door when the card is used, and turn your best customers into the people who introduce you to their friends and family. The weeks before Black Friday are the right time to set one up, so it’s ready when holiday shopping starts.

Why Gift Cards Are Worth Setting Up Now

A gift card is a sale today and a visit later. The person buying it already likes you enough to put your name on a present. The person receiving it may never have tried you, and now they have a reason to. When they come in, you get the chance to win them over in person.

It also fits almost any local business. A restaurant, salon, gym, landscaper, auto shop, or bookstore can all sell a gift card, even when the service itself is hard to wrap.

Physical Cards, Digital Cards, or Both

Physical cards sell at the counter. Customers pick them up while they’re already paying, they slip into a holiday card or a stocking, and they look like a real gift.

Digital gift cards sell from your website or a link on social media, at any hour, and arrive by email or text. They’re the answer for the last-minute shopper on December 23 and for anyone buying for a relative who lives in your town while they live somewhere else.

If you can, offer both. Physical cards catch the people already in your store, and digital cards catch everyone else.

Start With the System You Already Use

Before you buy anything new, check what your payment system already offers. Square’s gift card program, for example, lets businesses sell physical cards in the store and set up digital cards to sell online and in the store, with the balance tracked for you. Many other point-of-sale systems offer something similar, so ask your provider.

Look at the fees before you start. Some systems charge to load money onto a card, on top of the usual card processing fee when a customer pays for it, and physical cards usually cost something to print. Knowing the numbers up front keeps a good idea from turning into a surprise on your statement.

Know the Rules Before You Sell

Gift cards come with consumer protection rules. Under the federal gift card rules published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the money on a gift card generally has to stay good for at least five years, and an inactivity fee can only be charged after a card has gone a full year without use, no more than once a month, and only if the fee is clearly disclosed on the card.

Bonus cards given away as part of a promotion are treated differently, but they have to say so on the front of the card along with their expiration date. Your state may add its own rules on top of the federal ones, so check with your accountant or attorney before you print anything with an expiration date or a fee on it. The simplest approach for most small businesses is a gift card that never expires and never charges a fee.

Sell More With a Holiday Bonus

A bonus gives people a reason to buy from you instead of picking something up on the way home. The classic version is “Buy a $50 gift card, get a $10 bonus card.” The buyer keeps the bonus for themselves, and it brings them back in January or February, when many local businesses are quieter. Give the bonus card a clear label and an expiration date printed on the front, as the rules above require.

Two more ideas worth trying:

• Business gifts. Local companies buy gifts for employees and clients every December. Offer a simple way to buy several cards at once, and let the businesses you already know hear about it.
• Bundles. Pair a gift card with something small you already sell, so it looks and feels like a present.

Gift cards fit naturally into a bigger holiday plan. Our 25 holiday marketing ideas for local businesses have more ways to bring customers in this season.

Tell People You Sell Them

Plenty of customers never buy a gift card from a local business simply because they didn’t know it sold them. Make it impossible to miss:

1. Put a sign at the register. Keep the cards where people pay, with a small sign that says gift cards are available.
2. Have your team mention it. A quick “We have gift cards for the holidays” at checkout works better than any sign.
3. Add a button to your website. Put a “Buy a Gift Card” link on your homepage and in your menu through the end of December.
4. Post about it on social media. Post once a week through December, then post again on December 22 and 23 for the last-minute shoppers buying digital cards.
5. Add a post to your Google Business Profile. It’s one of the first things people see when they search for you. Here’s why that Google Business Profile feature is worth your time.
6. Email your customer list. Your past customers are the most likely buyers, and many of them have someone on their list who would like you too.
7. Feature them on the big shopping days. Make your gift card bonus part of your Black Friday marketing and your Small Business Saturday plan on November 28.

Keep Track of What You Sell

Write down how many cards you sell and when they come back in. When someone redeems a card, make them feel welcome, ask if it’s their first visit, and invite them to join your email list. A gift card only pays off fully when the person who received it becomes a regular.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do small business gift cards have to last five years?

Under the federal rules, the money on a gift card generally has to stay good for at least five years, and some states give customers even more time. Promotional bonus cards follow different rules but must show their expiration date on the front. Check your state’s rules before you set an expiration date.

Should a small business sell digital gift cards?

Yes, if your system makes it easy. Digital cards sell at any hour from your website or social media, and they’re the go-to gift for last-minute shoppers and out-of-town relatives.

Let Your Customers Know Before the Rush

A gift card program only works if people know about it before they start their holiday shopping. Digital Maestro plans and posts social media content and keeps Google Business Profiles up to date for local businesses, so your gift cards are in front of your customers all season long.