Naughty or Nice? Your Toggle Christmas checklist
Santa is not the only one keeping a list this year. When it comes to gift cards, a few small choices decide whether your venue lands on the Nice list and makes the most of the biggest gifting season of the year, or slips onto the Naughty list and leaves easy wins on the table.
So we made a list, and we checked it twice. Here are the naughty habits worth dropping, what lands you on the Nice list, and the deadlines to circle in red.
The Naughty list 😈
None of these are disasters, just small fixes hiding in plain sight. Here is how to turn each one into a win.
Only selling single cards. When one card at one price is the only option, that is exactly what most people buy. Offer a few different values, say a £15, £25 and £50, plus a multipack that bundles a few cards into one purchase, and spending a little more becomes the easy choice for your customers. A single price quietly caps every sale at that figure, while a spread of options lets people match the gift to the person, from a small thank you to a treat for the whole family.
Not giving your cards a festive makeover. A festive design makes a card feel like a proper gift rather than an everyday purchase. Refreshing the look is one of the simplest wins there is, as long as your artwork is booked in before the design deadlines.
Skipping the phone test. Most gift card purchases happen on a phone, so that is exactly where the magic needs to happen. Buy one from your own mobile, walk the journey your customers walk, and you will quickly spot what could be made smoother.
Leaving your physical cards switched off. Having stock printed and ready counts for nothing if shoppers cannot actually buy them. It is easy to assume everything is live when it is not, so take two minutes to check what you have set up and make sure your physical cards are switched on and selling on Toggle. If you are not sure your stock figures look right or your cards are linked and live, email us at giftcards@usetoggle.com and we will check it with you.
Letting postage costs scare shoppers off. For physical gifts, postage is often the last thing a buyer sees before they pay, and a charge that feels steep is one of the quickest ways to lose the sale at the very last step. Take a little time to get your postage right so it feels fair, and you take away the final reason for anyone to walk off with a full basket. Our guide to mastering your postage strategy for physical gifting shows you how to find the sweet spot.
Going quiet on socials right when gifting kicks off. The weeks before Christmas are when people are actively looking for presents. A quick weekly post reminding them you sell gift cards is often all it takes to be the option they choose. Better still, sell the solution rather than the product. Everyone has someone tricky to buy for, so a post along the lines of “Stuck for what to get your brother-in-law? A gift card sorts it in seconds!” meets shoppers at the exact moment they are scratching their heads.
Leaving the whole run to December. Start staging it now. Black Friday and Christmas both come round fast, so spread the work out and line things up a little at a time. It all beats one panicked scramble when the rush lands.
The Nice list 😇
Make your gift cards easy to find. Put them where people actually look, so front and centre on your website, in your booking confirmations, on your menus, at the till, and in your email footers. A gift card nobody can find is a gift card nobody buys, so the easier they are to spot, the more you sell.
Show your physical cards off in store. A stand by the till or a small display on the counter turns a quiet impulse into a sale, catching the eye of everyone who is already in the mood to spend. While you are at it, check your printed stock now rather than in the thick of the rush, because reprints take time and running low mid-December is the last thing you want.
Make the most of greetings gift cards. A greetings gift card is a gift and a decoration in one, a physical card with the gift already built in. It looks lovely under the tree on the big day, then earns its keep long after, sitting on the mantelpiece and keeping your brand in view well into the new year.
Line up your corporate orders now. One local business buying for its whole team can be worth more than a week of individual sales. Reach out to nearby offices and local businesses while their Christmas budgets are still open, whether that is 20 cards or 200. You can set these up yourself straight from your dashboard using free-of-charge (FOC) gift cards, which come in batches of 50, so a 200-card order is simply four batches. Our step-by-step guide walks you through the whole thing: How to send a free gift card (FOC) from the Toggle dashboard.
Add a little extra. A glass of fizz on their next visit, or a bonus card when someone spends over a set amount, turns a single purchase into a reason to come back.
Play Black Friday and December as two moments. They pull two different crowds, so treat them that way. Black Friday is mostly people treating themselves, and a good discount does the heavy lifting, with the Toggle average landing around 20% off or topped up and the offer often running across the whole week. December then shifts to buying for others, so your message moves from a treat for you to the perfect present for someone else. Tap into both and you meet shoppers in two very different moods.
Keep a digital option for the last minute. Digital gift cards land instantly, so you can keep selling right up to Christmas Eve, long after the post has stopped being an option.
Circle these deadlines
This is the bit future you will thank present you for, and the clock is already ticking. Physical designs need time to be created and printed, so the sooner your artwork is with us, the more finish options you get to play with.
- Special effects (foil and deboss): designs in by 24 August
- Standard physical gift cards: designs in by 7 September
- On-demand vouchers and greetings gift cards: designs in by 28 September
The special effects deadline is nearly here, so if foil or deboss is on your wishlist, now really is the moment. Get ahead of all three and you have every finish and format, with none of the last-minute panic.
Not sure which list you are on?
Book a 15-minute readiness check with your Toggle account manager. We will run through your setup together and tell you exactly where you are ready and where there is a quick win waiting. Think of it as a festive MOT for your gift card shop.
Ready to make the Nice list?
Fancy your name on it? Drop us a line at giftcards@usetoggle.com and we will get your Christmas run started, so present you does the work and future you enjoys something mulled. Not on Toggle yet? No problem! Say hello at sales@usetoggle.com and we will have you set up and selling gift cards in good time for the big Christmas push.
