Treatment Gift Cards for Salons, Spas and Clinics

Four ways to set up treatment gift cards

The first decision is what each card buys: a named treatment, or an amount of money to spend on any treatment. The second is where that’s recorded: printed on the card, written on when it’s sold, or held on your booking system. That gives four options.

Stillwater Clinic is made up for this page. The codes in the drawings are illustrations and won’t scan.

Which option suits your business?

Three questions settle it for most salons, spas and clinics. Start at the top.

1. Selling gift cards for treatments?
3. Does your booking or till system manage gift vouchers?If yes: Option DA card number your system reads
5. If not: Do most buyers choose one signature treatment?If yes: Option AName the treatment
7. If not: Are you happy for staff to write on each card when it’s sold?If yes: Option CWrite-on panels
9. If not: Option BPrinted money values

What to put on a treatment gift card

Here’s option C, the most common choice, laid out front and back. The front is the present; the back does the work.

1. Your name and logo. The first thing the recipient sees is who it’s from.
2. The words “Gift Card”, and a short, warm line if you like. Nothing that dates it.
3. To and From. Turns the card into the gift tag too. Write-on panels take an ordinary pen.
4. What it’s for. The treatment, or the amount, written in when it’s sold.
5. Valid until, and who sold it. A written date, so one design never goes out of date, and initials so you know who to ask.
6. A card number. Printed on every card, so every card can be found in your register.
7. A QR code to your booking page. The same code on every card is part of your artwork and costs nothing extra. Keep it at least 15mm square.
8. How to book. Online, by email or by phone, quoting the card number.
9. Two or three lines of terms. The rest can go on your website.

What to leave off

Terms you can copy

Lines that treatment businesses commonly use. Choose the ones that match how you actually work, and change the words in brackets. They’re a starting point, not legal advice: your terms are your decision, and they should match what you say on your website and at the desk.

Keep only the essentials on the card and put your full terms on your website, where the QR code on the back can take people.

From sale to treatment: keeping track

A gift card is money taken now for a treatment given later, often months later. A simple routine stops a card being used twice, and tells you at any moment how many treatments you owe.

1. SellFill in To, From, the treatment or value, the valid-until date and your initials.
2. RecordWrite the card number, date, treatment or value and price in your register.
3. BookThe recipient books, quoting the card number. Check it in the register.
4. RedeemKeep the card, or mark it used, and note the date in the register.

A register can be a notebook or a spreadsheet. What matters is that every card number is on it, with what it’s for and whether it’s been used, and the initials of whoever sold and redeemed it if more than one of you works the desk:

Numbers can be printed in any CMYK colour, so they can match your design rather than look stamped on: give us a start number and the cards run on from it. Our guide to numbered plastic cards explains the options, and stopping cards being copied covers what else helps.

Secret codes under a scratch-off panel

If your booking system lets customers redeem a gift card online by typing in a code, give every card its own secret code under a scratch-off panel. A code printed in the open on a card in your reception display is a code anyone can photograph and use. Under the panel it stays hidden until the person who was given the card scratches it.

Each card then carries two numbers with two jobs. The secret code is what the card is worth, so it’s hidden. A small serial number is printed where it can always be seen, so you and your staff can tell which card is which without scratching it, and look up its code if a client says it won’t work.

• The panel. Most sizes are possible; a typical panel is 8mm x 75mm, and it has to stop at least 4mm from the edge of the card. Nothing can be printed on the panel itself, so the instruction goes beside it.
• The codes come from a spreadsheet you send us, one row per card: the serial number in column A and the secret code in column B. If your booking or till system can create the codes and export them, use that export.
• Your copy of the file is your register. It’s the only record of which code is on which card, so keep it safe, and mark codes off as they’re used.
• Keep the code unrelated to the serial number, so nobody can work one out from the other, and never put the secret code in a barcode: anyone can scan a barcode with a phone.
• Format both columns as Text in Excel before you paste anything in, or it will strip the zeros from 0430.

Step by stepOur guide to gift card codes in Excel or CSV shows exactly how to lay the file out, how to make codes that are easy to type, how to stop Excel changing your numbers and how to find a card’s code later, with example files to download.

Secret codes suit businesses that redeem gift cards online. If every card is redeemed at your desk, a printed number and a register (option C) does the same job more simply. Scratch-off panels are not available on EcoTough plastic cards or Plastic-Free Board cards.

Making it feel like a treat

Calm colours, space and one good image suit massage and skin businesses better than a busy card. These are some of the spa and salon gift cards in our gift card examples; select one to see its front and back.

• Premium Matt gives a softer, understated look that suits a spa, and helps disguise scratches on dark designs. It’s £20 +vat per order; High Gloss, which makes colours richer, is included. Compare the two.
• Gold or silver. A metallic base card makes the whole card gold or silver, or metallic foiling picks out just your logo. White can’t be printed on a metallic base card.
• Matching loyalty cards. Many salons order gift cards and salon loyalty cards in the same design, so the two read as a set.

Selling them

Gift cards sell when people see them. Keep a few on show on the reception desk with a small sign, mention them when clients pay, and put a line about them in your booking confirmations and on your website.

Gift cards sell in waves: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and birthdays all year round. Order well before each one: standard production is 7 working days from proof approval and payment, and express production of 3 to 4 working days is also available — ask us for cost and availability.

A note for aesthetics clinics

Anti-wrinkle injections such as Botox use prescription-only medicines, and UK advertising rules (rule 12.12 of the CAP Code) don’t allow prescription-only medicines to be promoted to the public. The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against voucher offers for facial injections even where the product wasn’t named, so words like “injectables” or “anti-wrinkle treatment” can be a problem too.

So keep those treatments off your gift cards altogether. A money-value card, or a card for a consultation, lets a customer give the gift without the card promoting a medicine. If you’re unsure, check the ASA’s guidance or ask your insurer or regulator before you print.

For every clinicMany treatments, including massage, facials, lash and brow tints and peels, need a consultation, a health questionnaire or a patch test before the appointment. Saying so on the card, and in your booking reply, saves a disappointed customer on the day.

What to order

A typical first order for a massage, beauty or aesthetics business:

• 100 full colour gift cards, 86 x 54mm and 760 microns thick, printed on both sides (from £85.00 +vat for 100)
• Write-on panels for To and From, the treatment or value, valid until and initials
• Sequential numbering on the back, starting from a number you choose
• A QR code to your booking page, built into your artwork at no extra cost
• Premium Matt (£20 +vat per order) or High Gloss (included)
• Optional: a scratch-off panel with a secret code under it on every card, if customers redeem online, with the codes supplied in a spreadsheet

Write-on panels, numbering and scratch-off panels are priced on your quote. Gift cards start at 25 cards, so you can try a scheme before committing to more, and the price per card falls as the quantity rises: our price guide gives example prices.

Not sure? Just askEmail us a line about your business and the treatments you want to sell as gifts, and we’ll suggest the right set-up with a quote, usually within about 10 minutes, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Our in-house design service can lay the card out for £29 +vat.