2 gift card strategies you can use to make more money.

For most venues, the gift card redemption rate sits around 75%. That means 25% of gift card sales never get redeemed — and that money drops straight to the bottom line with no COGS and no labour.

And when someone does redeem a gift card, they almost always spend more than the face value.

Pure profit when unused. Extra revenue when redeemed. Should you be trying to sell more?

Strategy #1 - Incentives

Let's assume you email your database with a link to buy gift cards online.

No offer (full priced gift cards, no incentive)

Database size = 10,000

Gift cards sold = 10

Avg gift card size = $100

Revenue = $1000*

Vs Offer (20% off gift cards)

Database size = 10,000

Gift cards sold = 50

Avg gift card size = $80

Revenue = $4000

In this scenario the incentive drives 5x the volume.

And here's why the discount largely pays for itself — 25% of those cards will never be redeemed, so you collect the cash and never fulfil the value.

The breakage alone offsets much of the discount you gave away.

Strategy #2 - Gifts

This one happens inside the restaurant.

As part of the farewell to a high-spending table, you hand them a gift card: "A small gift from our team is a $50 gift card you can use on your next visit, or gift to someone else."

If the card is never used, nothing changes.

If it is used, it likely generates $250 in revenue from a $300 table — and brings a customer back who already likes you.

You're not discounting to strangers. You're rewarding the customers most likely to return and spend well. This is a way to build more loyalty with your ideal customers.

This works really well when you have multiple venues in your group because you can gift the 'sister' venue instead.

Gift cards can be so much more than a last-minute birthday idea.

Used well, they drive more new customers, more repeat customers and higher margins. Hello gift card campaign.