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Let me start with the maths, because this is the part most operators have never done.

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Say gift cards become 20% on top of what you sell today. Around 15% of them are never used. On the ones that are used, you keep roughly half after costs, assuming you have the average margin profile in this industry. Here is what that looks like:

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That is not revenue, that is profit: €11,500 extra profit on €100k in yearly revenue, and €57,500 on €500k. Most of it earned between Black Friday and 24 December, in the weeks where you would otherwise be quiet.

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And here is the thing: in 9 out of 10 experience businesses I talk to, this money is not being collected. They have a gift card solution. Somewhere. A page nobody links to, a line at the bottom of the menu, or a "just send us an email and we will sort it out". The ones who take it seriously see gift cards at 15-25% of yearly revenue.

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Why gift cards deserve more of your attention

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Your happy guests want to pass on your experience. Someone who loved your tour, class or workshop wants to pass that feeling on to people they care about. A gift card is the easiest way for them to do it. You get more out of guests you have already won, without spending a krone on marketing to find them.

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Gift cards bring new guests. A gift card is almost always bought for someone else, and in an experience business that someone has usually never been to you before. So every card is a warm introduction to someone you would otherwise have to pay to reach. And they tend to spend on top of the card when they show up.

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Cash now, delivered later. The money comes in in November and December, often when your normal bookings are at their lowest. You deliver the experience in spring or summer. That evens out your year and makes cash flow easier to plan.

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Picture the year most operators know: busy summer, quiet winter. Now picture the same business with gift cards. Smaller bumps around Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, and then November and December stop being the empty months.

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Some cards are never used. Not all, and not something to count on, but typically 10-20% of gift card value is never redeemed. That part has no cost of delivery behind it. Everybody still wins: you, the buyer, and the recipient who got the thought that counts.

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How to sell more gift cards before 24 December

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1. Make it easy to buy, both ways. Offer gift cards for a specific experience ("Sushi class for two") and for an amount ("€100 to spend"). Buyers who know what they want pick the first. Buyers who are unsure pick the second. Both must be buyable online in under a minute, with instant delivery by email. On 23 and 24 December, the biggest sales days of the year, nobody is waiting for the post.
2. Put "Gift card" in your main menu. Not in the footer. Not three clicks away. A clear page, a clear price, a nice looking card they are proud to give. Add the link to your Google Business Profile too, so it shows up when people search for you.
3. Be there when they search. From mid-November, people search for your name plus "gift card". If your ad does not show the gift card, someone else's will. One small Google Ads campaign on your own brand name pays for itself many times over in December.
4. Email your past guests three times. Everyone who has been through your door and said yes to emails. First mail the week before Black Friday, second mail in the first week of December, third mail on 20-22 December for the last-minute crowd: "Buy now, arrives in their inbox in two minutes." That last one is often the best performing of the three.
5. Mention it in the call or on the tour. The best moment to sell a gift card is right after someone has loved the experience. End every tour, class or event with one line: "If you know someone who would love this, we do gift cards." Put a QR code on the wall, the menu, the thank-you email.
6. Remind the ones who already know you. If you have a decent customer list, run a small Facebook and Instagram campaign in December aimed only at people who have visited your website or booked before. It is cheap, because they already know who you are.

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One more: companies. Teams buying gift cards for staff Christmas presents are often the biggest single orders of the year for experience businesses. Make it clear on your gift card page that you do bulk orders, and send a short mail to your corporate contacts in November.

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What to do this week

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1. Open your website on your phone. Can you find and buy a gift card in under 20 seconds? If not, that is the first fix.
2. Put the three email send dates in your calendar now.
3. Write the one sentence you will say at the end of every tour from now until Christmas.

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Want help with this?

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Going into this season, we are helping Understory customers set up the full gift card engine: the gift card page and checkout, the Google campaign on your brand name, the December email sequence, and the retargeting. If you want us to look at your setup and tell you what to fix before Black Friday, write me at lasse@understory.io. I will get back to you personally.

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PS. If you are on Understory, gift cards for both specific experiences and amounts are built into your booking flow already, and the email and retargeting campaigns can run automatically. Write me if you want them switched on.

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