Valentine's day gift card: how to attract and retain your customers?

To stand out from the competition, the Valentine’s Day gift card can replace other sometimes stereotypical and unoriginal gifts.

There is no shortage of ideas to please on February 14th: restaurant, flowers, perfume, jewelry, chocolates, relaxation time, etc. Every year, 60% of the French celebrate their love, and 99% of them offer a gift to their partner.

Valentine’s Day remains an essential annual event for retailers, and can generate increased traffic and activity for many stores, as long as you find the right idea!

Interested? Follow the steps!

How to create a special Valentine’s day gift card?

1 – Define your goals to (re)enchant shopping

Valentine’s Day is a day that can be very profitable depending on your business. In France, it ranks as the third most important commercial day after Christmas and Halloween.

It then becomes essential to set marketing and sales objectives in advance: increasing sales, acquiring new customers? And why not reward your most loyal customers? After all, retailers can also play Cupid and send a sweet message!

Your objectives will help define the scope of your gift card program.
For example, if your goal is to increase in-store traffic, focus your action plan around your physical gift card. On the other hand, give your customers the flexibility to shop either in-store or on your e-commerce site by promoting omnichannel.

Valentine’s day gift card

2 – Love and retail for everyone: choose your target!

Once your goals are set, you must, of course, choose your target(s). Loyal customers or, more broadly, prospects interested in an attractive and differentiating Valentine’s Day gift card program? The choice is yours!

Also, know that it’s not just couples or those secretly in love who are the biggest fans of Valentine’s Day, the color red, seductive communications, and big hearts.

Today, this holiday is aimed at all communities: couples, families, friends, etc. More and more, the holiday of love is dedicated to everyone we love, even pets! Did you know? 9 million people would buy a gift for their furry friends. In 2021, more than a quarter of consumers surveyed stated they wanted to buy a Valentine’s Day gift for their favorite pet.

And singles aren’t staying hidden under their blankets either! Some even celebrate their joy of not being in a relationship on Single Awareness Day, which takes place on February 15th. So, there’s no shortage of occasions for brands to stay connected and maintain an emotional bond with shoppers.

A unique gift card

3 – Stand out by personalizing your Valentine’s day gift card

We have the goals, we have the target(s). Now, you need to work on your gift card.

Depending on your target, and if your heart desires, why not stand out from your competitors by offering personalized gift card designs (dogs, cats, singles) with thoughtful messages, and maybe even a little touch of humor!

You can also make the day more enjoyable with 100% customizable gift cards. After all, every lover wants to feel unique on Valentine’s Day.
Personalization allows you to offer a unique experience and lets your customers express their emotions. To do this, you can rely on partners like Livstick, which offers personalized gift cards with audio or video messages to be discovered by the recipient.

Communicate your special Valentine’s day gift card

4 – Spread the word about your gift card to the masses!

Valentine’s Day only comes once a year, so don’t miss the opportunity! To do this, don’t hesitate to promote your gift card program beyond your loyalty program, newsletter, website, or social media.

How to do it? With a solution like Vitreen, which allows anyone – passersby, spectators, visitors, or internet users – to order an e-gift card by scanning a simple QR code placed on all your communication materials, whether print or digital. Posters, magazines, live shopping, web ads, etc… Your love will know no bounds!

You see the QR code in the middle of a heart on your store window or at the bus stop? We do!

Valentine’s day gift card

5 – Cupid also cares for the planet

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to mean overconsumption, waste, and excess!

It’s entirely possible to continue your eco-friendly approach by offering varied materials with a limited environmental impact while promoting sustainable forest management, which is ecologically appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically variable.

For example, choose to offer traceable cardboard & paper materials sourced from specific FSC-certified forests. Manufacturing that incorporates production waste into recycling systems (after sorting), whether for cardboard or PVC. Partners like SELP and ISRA CARDS allow you to offer physical gift cards while considering the health of our beautiful planet.

6 – Analyze your results

The heart of the matter! Like any seasonal holiday, it’s useful to analyze your performance and gather valuable insights about your customers’ behavior, their buying preferences, etc.

For this, consider opting for a gift card solution that has a robust back-office with detailed statistical reports (average activation amount, number of cards bought and/or debited on the day and/or week, etc.). This data will help you evaluate your performance and compare it with market figures:

• 45% of people celebrating Valentine’s Day spend less than €50 on gifts
• 41% spend between €50 and €150
• 9% spend more than €150

Interesting data when you know that a gift card recipient spends an average of 1.4 times the original value of their gift card. We’ll let you do the math!

Is the gift card becoming one of the favorite gifts for the French to declare their love?