Vouchers as the ultimate anchor in your Easter business in times of Corona

As no activities can be carried out at present due to curfews and contact bans, there is only one obvious option for tour, activity & attraction providers: shift the timing of the actual experience in the future, but generate revenue now! This is achieved through voucher sales, which is an ideal Easter present regardless. 

So that you can get the most out of selling vouchers this Easter, we have prepared a summary of our most important tips which all hinge around one important recommendation for dealing with the crisis, namely to concentrate completely on online pre-ordering and to approach your most loyal customers with your offer first of all. 

An overview of general Easter tips from the past years can be found here.

Two important benefits surrounding voucher business:

Easter gift purchases will take place online

The good news for tour, activity & attraction providers with a booking system is that Easter gift buying will be even more online this year than before, as offline shopping is largely closed. In addition, customers are also limited in their options due to the current situation – there will be no window shopping for Easter gifts in 2020. Simple, creative and hopeful gifts that can be purchased online and printed out immediately are therefore likely to be very popular.

The longing for outdoor activities is there 

In every part of the world it is evident how difficult it is for people to simply remain inside their homes. Therefore, once the curfews have been lifted, an explosive effect is to be expected – and everyone will stream outside. In anticipation, many customers are surely happy to gift a voucher as an amuse-bouche of the fun times to come!

What is the best way to proceed now?

First, we recommend that you deal with your situation as openly as possible. Be positive, optimistic and also promotional, but always be honest with your customers. Everyone knows about the current situation, and denying it would only cost you their trust.
Under normal circumstances, we would suggest the 10 points below for an optimal voucher business setup. At the moment however, we recommend that you concentrate your efforts on two main instruments, namely the visuals and the way you address your regular customers. 

Your experience in Easter robe

Be creative and combine your offer with Easter motifs such as eggs, rabbits, flowers, grass, etc., the right spring colours and other elements, both on your website, especially the banner at the top, and on your vouchers. Use the voucher configurator together with the Easter templates from bookingkit. Or use some of the many free photo platforms:

• Pexels
• Pixabay
• Freeimages
• Unsplash

Extra tip: For advanced users, we recommend using a popup to inform website visitors about the online sale of vouchers. Pop-ups can often be set up so that they appear when a visitor wants to leave the website – to make sure you have one last chance at enticing them! 

Get in touch with your most loyal customers

Now that you have your voucher business up and running, it’s time to let your customers know. Start with your most loyal regular customers and send them targeted offers. Let them know that great times are to come once the situation improves, and offer them a promotional discount, free additional services or upgrades if necessary. 
Always a good idea: Listen to your customers! If you notice that a certain offer is well accepted, be flexible enough to go “all-in”, leave out other offers and use your resources as effectively as possible. Even better: Ask your customers! What are they missing or what do they want to do in the current situation? This may not be representative, but it is a good way to get the most out of you relationship with your regular customers.

For orientation here are our 10 tips for a successful email campaign

1. Create and maintain a clean contact list for each campaign
2. Formulate a compact subject with the right keywords 
3. Choose a suitable time for sending the emails 
4. Attract attention through a thematically appropriate image
5. The content of your email campaign must be short and precise
6. Find a good balance between information and length
7. Link conspicuously in the email to your offer
8. Shorten your offer (artificially) 
9. Show your strengths and refer to ratings
10. Use charm pricing and list your most expensive offer

Afterwards it is advisable in any case to further increase the circle of recipients and to vary your offer. Especially the connection with other sales channels can’t hurt you – on the contrary, now you might finally have the time to deal with it properly and increase your reach. Finally, you can optimize your Easter activities along the following list. Especially the topics completion of information and the use of references are suitable for this. 

Our complete list of recommendations for voucher sales

1. The voucher sale should be visible on your website
2. Reserve a dedicated sales area for online vouchers
3. Your most beloved activities will sell the most vouchers
4. Promote additional offers especially for online voucher sales
5. Sell different offers as a voucher online
6. Make use of different types of vouchers
7. Update and complete all relevant information and add references
8. Vouchers which look appealing sell much better online
9. Online payment brings fast turnover as an important advantage
10. Online sales can be supported via affiliated partners

Here you can find all details on how to sell vouchers online.