Clients love buying gift vouchers online as gift vouchers are a great last-minute present that always delights! (We've all been there hehe) Gift vouchers are also great for business as they often introduce you to new clients, increase your revenue and improve your cash flow. What a win-win!
This feature may not be available on your current plan. Find out how to upgrade in our How to change your Timely plan guide.
There are two types of vouchers available online, to be sold either through your mini website or by adding a button to your own website. Both types allow for a personalised message and can be emailed to the recipient:
- Fixed amount gift vouchers: Think of these as a template voucher for a specified amount that you wish to sell to your clients.
- Custom amount gift vouchers: These gift vouchers have their value set at the point of sale. These are great for client's who want to purchase vouchers for specific amounts
Once your clients have successfully purchased a gift voucher online, an email will automatically be sent to the account owner.
In this guide, we'll cover how to:
- Allow gift vouchers to be sold online.
- Connect a payment gateway.
- Use the mini website to sell vouchers.
- Create a gift voucher button for your website.
- Send gift voucher links to your clients so they can buy them online.
Allow gift vouchers to be sold online
Before your customers can purchase vouchers online you will need to make sure your voucher settings will allow this.
This can be enabled/disabled for each voucher separately.
Fixed amount gift vouchers
- Head to Setup > Gift vouchers in the main menu.
- Click Edit next to the voucher you would like to update:
- Scroll down to the Online purchase section.
- Check the box next to Gift voucher can be purchased online:
- Select a location that you want to assign the online sale to (these can still be redeemed at any location):
- Click Save to apply.
Custom Amount Vouchers
To get started head to Setup > Gift vouchers. This is where you can edit the settings for your custom amount vouchers. To enable them, check the 'Allow sale of custom amount vouchers' box and ‘Allow these vouchers to be redeemed online’
The client view when purchasing a Custom Gift Voucher
- The client will be prompted to enter the voucher amount, given the option to add a personalised message and whether they’d like the voucher emailed to them or the recipient.
- Once the details are completed, they will be prompted to enter their payment details, and select ‘pay now’. They will then get confirmation (on screen and via their email), that the payment has been received and the voucher processed.
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Connect a payment gateway
If you would like customers to be able to purchase vouchers online, then you will need to make sure you have a payment gateway connected to accept those payments.
Check out our How to set up your payment gateway guide for more information.
Use the mini-website to sell vouchers
If you're already using your free Timely mini-website, then selling gift vouchers online is a few clicks away!
If your gift vouchers have online sales enabled (see above), then a Buy Gift Voucher button will automatically be included on your mini-website:
There will also be a Gift Vouchers tab in the menu, which allows customers to select a voucher for a specific value:
Create a gift voucher button for your website
If you have your own website, you can generate a button, link or widget to sell gift vouchers.
These work the same was as Timely booking buttons and widgets that customers can use when making appointments or bookings from your website.
- Head to Setup > Booking buttons (Promote) in the main menu.
- At the top of the page, select the Purchase gift voucher tab:
- Choose the type of resource you'd like (i.e. button, link or widget).
- Select whether you'd like a dark or light button, or whether you'd like your own image:
- You'll see a preview of what your button will look like, as well as the code you need to use to add it to your website.
- Copy the code and add it to your website:
Need help adding this to your website? Check out our Website guides for step-by-step instructions.
Send gift voucher links to your clients so they can buy them online
Most businesses have had to temporarily close due to Covid-19 / Coronavirus. However, to make an income during this time you can still sell gift vouchers online to your clients.
We have added specific gift voucher links to Timely that you can send in an SMS, email or post on your social media.
Simply head to Setup > Sales tools > Gift vouchers
