How to Increase Tennis Gift Card Sales at Your Club

The gift-giving season is not over, so there is still an opportunity for tennis club managers and marketers to increase their tennis gift card sales. While tennis gift certificates can be sold year-round, you will normally see that those sales increase during the holidays and gift-giving season.

While sweaters, shirts, and perfumes could make great presents, an activity gift, such as a tennis lesson voucher, could be a much more enjoyable way of celebrating someone.

Who buys tennis gift certificates?

Everyone! It is a perfect gift for a person that has everything, a friend who is a health and wellness enthusiast, or a family that is interested in sports or looking to try something new.

Also, according to a report by PR Newswire, 80% of consumers reported receiving a digital or physical gift card for the 2019 holidays. Therefore, it is definitely something you want to offer at your tennis club.

How tennis gift cards can increase your tennis membership numbers

Gift certificates (aka. gift cards or gift vouchers) can also be a great way to introduce new people to your tennis club's programs, by giving them an incentive to try your tennis programs.

In this blog post, we will show you a few ways to increase your gift certificate sales at your tennis club.

Resourcely® can professionally design gift certificates, so if you are looking for someone to create a template for you, please contact us for a quote. Some of the below text contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I may get a commission if you click and make a purchase. This is at no cost to you, of course.  

Ways to increase tennis gift card sales:

Tip #1: Increase visibility and make them available 24/7

When people buy gift certificates it is frequently because of their convenience. It is one of the reasons why Amazon gift cards sell so well - they are readily available, can be purchased in many stores and pharmacies, or online at any time, and the gift card can be emailed and used immediately.

Holidays are busy and hectic and many people wait until the last minute to purchase gifts. To achieve that "gift convenience", try making your tennis gift cards available both in-person (e.g. at your tennis club), on your club's website, on social media, or your club's client and members app.

Tip #2: Cross-merchandise them with relevant items

A great way to market your tennis club's gift cards is to make them visible at strategic locations and near relevant items. For example, if you are offering tennis lessons gift cards, why not display them near your pro-shop or your holiday camp sign-up sheets?

Tips #3: Create tennis lesson gift card deals

Everyone loves sales and deals. The types of gift card sales offered can be many - offering two lessons for the price of one, or multiple lessons for a discounted price. You can also offer a bundle of a tennis lesson and equipment from your pro-shop or a tennis lesson combined with fitness or swim lesson if you offer those complementary services at your club. These are all great ways to up-sell your product and services and encourage larger holiday purchases.

The options are many, so try to think of what would work best for the type of customer base you have at your tennis club. You can also make those holiday deals "limited time" offers, to encourage tennis members to purchase sooner than later.

Tip #4: Customizable gift card amounts

What we mean by "customizable" gift card amounts is creating and offering gift certificates with prepaid dollar amounts - for example, $20, $50, $100, which can be used towards any tennis club service.

Tip #5: Email marketing

Do you send out email newsletters? Every email newsletter can be customized. Therefore, you can make a new section in your next email newsletter for "Gift Cards", and add a button or link it to your Gift Card website listing. As an alternative, you can also include permanent gift card links or a CTA button in your emails.

Tip #6: Reward loyal clients with gift cards

Consumers love receiving gift certificates for special occasions and events. You can offer gift certificates as part of tournament prizes, as a reward for a large purchase, or an existing client bringing a new referral. Many of your tennis clients might not even know that gift cards are offered at your tennis club, so this is a great opportunity to remind them and promote your gift cards.

Tip #7: Use gift cards during open house events

Many tennis clubs use open house events as a way to bring in new clients and members. By offering gift card prizes, raffles, and rewards you get those people who come to your open house events to come back to your club and give you another chance to make a sale.

Tip #7: Social media gift card offerings

If you are trying to increase awareness of your gift card program you should definitely be talking about it on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. Your social media posts will be even more appealing if you include images. Some ideas could be pictures of your gift card design, a photograph of the gift card displayed at your club's entrance (e.g. on the front desk), or a client holding their gift certificate prize. As always, it is best to have a healthy mix of social media messages, so do not bombard people with gift cards social media posts every day.

Tip #8: Make themed gift cards

In addition to your general gift card that you offer, you should consider designing themed gift cards for special events like birthdays, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. See an example from Amazon below. Also, check out Canva - one of our affiliate partners. It's a great resource with countless of templates that are easy to modify and get great marketing design pieces in no time. We regularly use it to design content pieces here at Resourcely®.

Tip #9: Consider letting other retailers market your gift cards

If you want to reach other crowds, outside of your tennis club, you may want to consider striking a deal with other local businesses (preferably those that complement your products) and asking them to display your gift cards in their stores. Some may ask for a chunk of your sales or for you to display their products at your tennis club, so see what makes sense for your business and whether it is worth doing.

Final words on tennis club gift cards and gift certificates

One of the biggest mistakes tennis clubs and other businesses make in terms of their gift card offerings is not promoting them enough. People will not buy them just because they saw them once displayed at your front desk.

Remember, in marketing, a consumer typically needs to see an ad, a message, or a product several times to remember it. There is a book written all the way back in 1890 called Successful Advertising, written by Thomas Smith, who believed that a person needs to hear a message at least 20 times before buying a product. Others argue that the number is way too much and realistically it should be closer to 3. It is hard to put an exact optimal number of message or ad repetitions that is general for all businesses. However, we recognize that repetition in marketing is effective, and as long as you tune your message to your potential buyer's needs and desires, it will not sound annoying.

So, if you post a promotional message once or twice and you do not see a result, do not give up just yet. Increase the frequency and the places you promote and you might get pleasantly surprised!