Anatomy of a Good Voucher

Voucher campaigns are designed to engage customers and promote your business with increased visitation the desired outcome. A good voucher campaign starts before you click send on your email and relies upon your customer's experience at the counter to be successful. This article will outline the steps to success with vouchers.

The components that make up a good voucher campaign are:

1. Value & Positioning
2. Marketing & Presentation
3. Staff Training

Part One: Value & Positioning

Define what an average sale looks like

It's important to the success of a voucher that the offer is relevant to your business and your customers. This is true both from a value as well as a product perspective.

Example: An average sale is two people ordering mains & a drink each.

From a value perspective this might be an average transaction value of $50.00.

From a product perspective this may mean that mains and drinks are important to your customers, where as appetizers and desserts are not.

Determine the value

Once you have an idea of what your average sale looks like consider the value of your voucher. An voucher that presents a 20% or higher discount on a customers transaction is generally considered valuable.

Offer levels:

• Good: greater than 20%
• Average: between 10% and 20%
• Poor: 10% or lower

Example: Based on our average transaction of $50 in our example above a good voucher must have at least $10.00 worth of value.

Select the offer & express it clearly

Not only should an offer be valuable to customers, it should be easy to understand the value. Don't include percentages as these often make customers unsure of what they will be saving. Instead express vouchers in dollars or as products.

Example: A good value offer might be a $10.00 voucher or a 2 for 1 main meal.

Part Two: Marketing & Presentation

Get the subject line right

Subject lines are our customer's first contact with anything you send to their inbox. Spend the time to personalize the content and engage the customer. Don't forget to avoid exclamation points!

Example: What have we got on offer for you [first name]?

Check out our detailed guide to getting subject lines right.

Create good content

Jump into TalkBox and create your voucher email with our best practice tips below:

A well branded email template. A simple explanation of the offer excluding any T&Cs. Friendly text, personalised if possible, and focused on rewarding the customer. Include instructions on what the customer needs to do to redeem the voucher. A personal sign off from you and your team. A clear voucher that is able to be scanned at your venue. It’s important your staff are familiar with what the vouchers look like and how to scan them. Terms & Conditions that are clear but not restrictive. Redeeming a voucher shouldn't be a chore to a customer. A call to action such as a link to a booking form if applicable. Up to date contact details for your venue.

Ensure T&Cs aren't limiting your offer

Terms & conditions are important part of any offer but it's important that they aren't so restrictive that they actually overshadow the value of the offer itself.

Here's our top tips on T&Cs:

• Make sure you're clear about when, where and how a voucher can be redeemed. Use TalkBox merge fields to customise content such as "30 days from [send date]" or "voucher to be presented with membership card [card ID]".
• Don't restrict offers to times when customers don't visit UNLESS increasing trade during a certain time is the goal of your voucher.
• Setting a minimum spend is okay (unless you're sending a voucher as a birthday or event celebration) but ensure the minimum spend is at or below your average transaction. As per our earlier example "$10 voucher to be used when spending $40 or more" is all good where our average transaction is $50.

Part Three: Staff Training

Build offers knowledge

Ensuring staff are aware of the types of offer that may be presented will keep things running smoothly. Add info about vouchers to your staff communication channels and make sure they're mentioned during staff briefings.

Through TalkBox you can send test sends to any email address you select - try sending some out to managers and staff so they are familiar with the offers and the format.

Train on scanning & redemption

Staff that know what to do when presented with a voucher are invaluable for both customer satisfaction and ensuring accurate voucher redemption.

Before sending TalkBox vouchers train your staff on the redemption process with the TalkBox voucher scanning app or at your POS if you have integrated vouchers.

If you're using the TalkBox voucher scanning app download our staff quick guide and print it for display in your staff areas.

Missing the Basics or need to know more?

Links to relevant articles

Sending and Redeeming Vouchers: a end-to-end guide on how to create, send, and redeem vouchers in TalkBox. READ NOW

Creating Automated Promotions with Vouchers: a guide on how to create an automated date-triggered communication with vouchers. READ NOW

Scanning Vouchers - Devices and Mobile App: a technical guide on devise requirements with links to download the TalkBox voucher scanning app. READ NOW