Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
Is there a regular gift certificate format?
Even though there’s not really a one-size-fits-all for gift certificates, the most common format you will find is 8? x 4? (8 by 4 inches). If you design your own gift certificate, it is also the most convenient since you can use standard 8? x 12? paper and create two certificate from one sheet of paper.
Other formats
- 5 1/2? X 4?
- 9 1/8? X 3 1/4?
- you can of course create your own format, but keep in mind to choose a gift certificate format that is compatible with your paper.
Should you go for a standard gift certificate format?
We think so, since it’s familiar to most consumers. They already know what a gift certificate looks like in other shops, so it’s better for your business to stick to this well-known format. It’s a good thing if your customers recognize immediately that the paper they’re looking at is a gift certificate. Nevertheless, if your shop’s signature is originality above all, you might try some more exotic formats. In the end, it all depends on your customers expectations. If you run a car repair shop, go for the standard gift certificate format. If you sell original jewelry, you can try to experiment with different formats.
How to choose the right gift certificate paper?
We wrote an article on choosing the right gift certificate paper. In short, you should pay attention to paper weight, opacity and paper finish. And you should keep in mind that paper quality is very important to convey the desirability of your gift certificates.
Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
If you’re trying to make your own gift certificate, a little inspiration wouldn’t hurt. At Gift Certificate Factory we have been creating quality gift certificate designs so we’d like to show a few sample gift certificates.
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Spa gift certificate template
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Birthday gift certificate template
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Massage gift certificate template
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Beauty salon gift certificate template
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Hotel gift certificate template
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Nail salon gift certificate template
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Tatoo gift certificate template
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Restaurant gift certificate template
Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
Gift Certificate paper format
Gift certificate format is usually 8?4 inches so an A4 format (8?11 inches) works best. That means you can print 2 gift certificates per A4 paper sheet. Make sure to use a good paper trimmer to give a nice finish.
Ready-Made Certificate Paper or Not?
When considering to make printable gift certificates, you should choose some paper to print the gift certificates on. What you should choose depends what kind of gift certificate you want to print:
- a blank gift certificate: you just want a simple gift certificate design with colored borders and that’s it. In that case, a ready-made certificate paper is best. You’ll have a choice between several colors and border styles, but the design won’t be stellar.
- a printable gift certificate with no photo: you have a gift certificate design you want to print, but it has no pictures and doesn’t need to be of the highest quality. In that case, simple paper will work. You might want to choose an extra-thick paper though, if you can afford it.
- a printable gift certificate with quality photography: a good photo paper will be the best option.
Now that we’ve covered different needs for printing gift certificates, we need to go into more details into how to choose gift certificate paper. You have to decide mostly about three things: paper weight, opacity and paper finish.
Paper weight
Paper weight is usually expressed in pounds (lb.) or as grams per square meter (g/m2).This ranges from light weight newsprint to very heavy cardboard. Most quality business paper should be about 20 to 24 pound- the greeting card paper is heavier, usually in the range of 60 – 65 lb. Gift certificate paper should also be in that range.
Opacity
Opacity means how see-through is the paper. The more the opacity, less of the printed text will be visible from the other side. This is especially important for double-sided gift certificates. Photo papers have high opacity of about 94-97 usually.
Paper finish
Choose between matte and glossy. It’s mostly a matter of preference- the finish should be selected based on the look you want to achieve. A matte finish indicates more absorbent paper, consisting of paper particles, air and an ink-receptive coating. Glossy papers are far more complex with any number of chemicals added to create the reflective surface. Matte papers may be more stable over time, but glossy papers provide higher contrast and color saturation.
Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
Is there such a thing as a gift certificate maker? If you google it, you might stumble on a few programs that pretend to make gift certificates. The most prominent one is probably SmartDraw Certificate Software – http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/award-gift-certificates.asp . It gets good reviews, however at $197 a pop, it’s a rather expensive proposition. When you have spent that much, you can then go and create gift certificates. Another problem is that the gift certificates created that way are ultra-basic, and might not be very helpful in boosting your sales and improving the perception of customers towards your customer. Indeed, we wrote earlier that gift certificate design quality is of prime importance in order to convey attractiveness and desirability of gift certificates.
The other websites proposing so-called gift certificate makers are not really worth mentioning since they won’t assist you very far in making a decent gift certificate.
Is the situation desperate then? Do you have to work hard in order to make a do it yourself gift certificate? The answer is no, because some websites provide ready made gift certificate templates that have been designed with attractiveness and quality in mind. Though you might not think of it as a gift certificate maker, that’s what these websites propose: to simplify the creation of quality gift certificates. Though they are not a piece of software that you buy and install on your computer, they provide the gift certificate creation facility from Internet, which gives several advantages: you don’t risk losing the certificate, you can have access to it from different computers and locations, and you gain access to an ever-expanding collection of gift certificate templates. Compare that to paying $197 for a piece of software that’s going to sit on your computer and provide outdated gift certificate designs that your grand-mother could make. Yeah, that’s what we thought.
Gift Certificate Factory provides custom gift certificates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our spa gift certificate templates.
Gift certificates are a great way for your spa business to get more sales and spread positive word of mouth. You can get started by making a few gift certificates and promoting them in your store.
- The easy way to make custom spa gift certificates is to make certificates from online templates. Gift Certificate Factory provides a selection of gift certificate templates for spa and if that’s not enough, you can also find other templates on the web by typing “spa gift certificate template” in Google.
- The hard way is to make the gift certificates yourself using design software like Photoshop for example.
In any case, your gift certificate should convey the qualities that people are looking for when giving a spa voucher to a loved one: comfort, relaxation, pampering should exude from the design.
Customize the gift certificate
Once you’ve found a suitable gift certificate template, you can customize it by writing the recipient’s name, the name of your company and the certificate value. Most certificates also have a certificate number associated, which is important for several reasons, among them keeping track of gift certificates and fighting against fraud. That way you know that when a certificate is redeemed it’s a legit one and you can evaluate how many certificates are redeemed so far in your gift certificate campaign.
Print the gift certificate
At this point, you could also download the gift certificate on your computer if you want to archive it or print later. However, you can also just print it now. There’s a built-in print functionality on the website, so that you can just click on the template, configure your print preferences (such as paper type) and off you go! Just make sure you have enough paper and ink. You may want to use a sharp paper cutter or alternatively, scissors to cut the paper.
A few other tips for your spa business
- You should place all gift certificate designs on a highly visible, easily accessible, well-organized page on your website, as well as on your confirmations and receipts, which will appeal to impulse purchasers. Big stores all have their gift cards at that location, that’s because it works.
- Gift certificates are usually given for special occasions: birthday, christmas, graduation etc. Make sure that you have a wide array of gift certificates so that you can accommodate all gifting desires.
- Since a spa gift certificate is often seen as premium gift, you can capitalize on that by offering metal tins, boxes and die-cut envelopes for a distinctive touch. That’s also an easy way to bring in more sales for your shop.
Gift Certificate Factory provides instant gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
Gift certificates are on the rise. More and more small businesses realize the opportunity lying in front of them and decide to offer gift certificates. They are a great way to make more sales and increase customer loyalty for your business. To maximize their value, it is worth considering how to successfully execute gift certificate marketing.
Gift certificate marketing objectives
Your gift certificate marketing strategy should target the following objectives:
- Communicating the fact that gift certificates are available and are a popular and desirable gift
- Conveying the relevance, variety and quality of the gift certificate- offer upsells such as metal tins, boxes and die-cut envelopes
- Reinforcing the “convenience” benefit of purchasing gift certificates
- Building awareness of your gift certificate program through inclusion of certificates in print, direct mail, e-mail, online, and other advertising opportunities
Gift certificate marketing ideas
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Trigger impulse purchases
You should place all gift certificate designs on a highly visible, easily accessible, well-organized page on your website, as well as on your confirmations and receipts, which will appeal to impulse purchasers. Big stores all have their gift cards at that location, that’s because it works.
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Use Personalized gift certificates
Gift certificates are usually given for special occasions: birthday, christmas, graduation etc. Make sure that you have a wide array of gift certificates so that you can accommodate all gifting desires. Having unique designs and personalization options like a space to write a personal message helps. You can also have designs that fit with corporate customers, so that you don’t miss potential sales.
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Network with similar small businesses
A very effective way to market your gift certificates is to partner with another local business. The way it works is that you offer gift certificates for the other business, and they would do the same. It works better if your businesses are somehow related, or could attract the same category of customers.
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Use a psychological weapon: reciprocal agreement
Reciprocal agreement is a widely used sales technique meaning that you first give an item to somebody. The sense of reciprocation, deeply rooted in human social behavior, makes the customer want to give something back. You could offer a gift certificate of small value to a person visiting your shop for the first time. Reciprocal agreement kicks in and you have turned a visitor into a customer, likely along with a juicy purchase.
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Use another psychological weapon: liking
Liking means that we are more sensitive to people we like, like our friends, and so we value more advice or opinion coming from them than coming from a stranger. This is also a widely used sales technique. For example, at checkout time, you could offer a gift certificate to a customer and to his best friend (if that still makes economic sense to you). That will act as a referral and you’ve secured a new customer, your customer’s best friend.
Gift Certificate Factory provides instant gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
When it comes to find gift voucher templates on the web, we can split templates in two categories:
- Instant gift certificate templates
- Downloadable gift certificate templates
Instant gift certificate templates
These templates are instant in the fact that you can go to the website which provides them, edit them and print them instantly. There’s no downloading files, firing up Microsoft Word or Publisher to then manually edit and finally print the certificates. All is done in the convenience of the web browser. These templates make it easier for you to be done quickly. You don’t spend time aligning labels, selecting a matching font and other details. The other advantage is that the instant certificate being hosted by the certificate website, you can access it later from another computer (for example, if you want to print it from a different computer, you can access it directly from there, and you don’t have to copy the file on a USB stick to plug in the second computer).
Downloadable gift certificate templates
On the other end of the spectrum, there are downloadable gift certificate templates. Most of the time, they will be made available in the Microsoft Word format, so you download it and edit it using Word or any other compatible software like Open Office for example. Sometimes the files are of a different format, for example Publisher. So you need the compatible software to use these templates. However, some people may be more at ease using software they’re used to (like Microsoft Word) rather than editing the templates right in their browser. It’s a matter of preference, even though most people find it easier and more convenient to use an instant gift certificate template.
Who wins?
In the end, it all comes down to your preferences. Would you rather have the convenience and ease of using your browser to edit directly the gift certificate, or would you prefer to use your favorite text editor to do the same task? You decide.
Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
How can you make your own gift certificate? The easiest way is to use a gift certificate template. A number of templates are available online. The advantages of using online gift certificate templates are simplicity, greater choice and better quality for designs: websites providing gift certificate templates go to great lengths to simplify the process of creating custom gift certificates.
In this example, we’re going to use templates provided on this website, but you are free to go check another template website of course.
- go to Gift Certificate Factory website.
- go to the template gallery (click on the ‘templates’ button), showing you a wide selection of gift certificate templates.
- Select a template that you like – you can restrict the template view by category, for example if you search for birthday gift certificate templates, select “birthday” category. Then you can choose the template of your choice in the birthday gift certificate category.
- Now you can personalize the template – depending on the template, you can edit different information. You can always edit the company name, the recipient’s name and the gift certificate value. On some templates you can also add a personal message, the giver’s name, and your business details (address, website…). If you want more direction on the wording, you can check out the gift certificate wording post.
- When you’re done with your editing, you have to buy the template. You will then be redirected to the payment website to pay and provide your payment details.
- When payment is done, you’ll be redirected automatically to the template you were editing.
- At this point, you can still edit the template.
- You can then print or download the template directly from this page.
- If you want to print the gift voucher later, or you want to save it for reference, download the template. It will be stored on your computer as a PDF file.
- You’ll have unlimited access to this template for 24 hours – so if you need multiple versions of this template, make sure to download the template multiple times – that is, as many times as you need versions.
Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
Google Images
Google’s “advanced image search” allows you to limit by size, color, and other parameters. A little-known feature is the power to search only for certain content types: for example “photo content”. So you might want to use the “ advanced image search – http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en ” to restrict parameters. For example:
- Find results related to all of the words: spa gift certificate template
- Return images that contain: photo content
- Return images that are: Larger than 2 MP (to filter out low quality pictures, especially important if you want to print gift certificates).
- Return images with an aspect ratio that is: Wide (usual format for gift certificates)
- Return only images in: full colors (no black and white certificates)
- Return images that are: labeled for commercial reuse with modifications
The problem is, there are actually few certificates (if any) that match all these criteria. The license criteria is the most restrictive: you might want to search without this criteria enabled and talk with the owner of these images if it’s okay to use his gift certificate.
Flickr search
Flickr is another very popular image database. There are literally millions of pictures, and a handful of good certificate designs. Here again you would gain by using Flickr advanced search – http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/ to restrict a few criteria. Most importantly, specify “Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content” at the bottom of the page. The Creative Commons license – http://creativecommons.org/ is a very liberal license that gives you rights to use the gift certificate template in most usages. You can play with other parameters and different keywords such as “gift certificate template”, “printable gift certificate” or “custom gift certificate” for example. You can also look into our post Gift Certificate Forms or Gift Certificate Templates, to give you an idea of other vocabulary to use.
Gift certificate templates on the web
You can also search on Google for website providing gift certificate templates. Typing “gift certificate templates” in google – http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=gift+certificate+templates would give you a list of such websites. Gift Certificate Factory is one of these and provides quality gift certificates for your business that you can easily customize and print. Check out our gift certificate template gallery and see for yourself. These templates are not for free but provide a good return for investment. However, if you want to find free gift certificate templates, you can also find that easily on Google. Just be warned that the quality of these templates might be subpar. In other terms, you could send a negative signal to your customers by displaying low-quality gift certificates in your store.
Gift Certificate Factory provides gift certificate templates that you can print and sell to your customers. Check out our gift certificate template gallery.
If you’re making your own gift certificate and you want to give it or sell it to your customer, you need to carefully choose your wording. First, you need to know there are usually conditions attached to a certificate. None of it is mandatory, however it can be helpful to protect yourself against potential abuse from customers, and to limit applicability of your gift certificate.
Standard information to include in a gift certificate
- name of your company
- recipient’s name
- purchaser’s name
- certificate value (in dollars)
- personal message
- certificate serial number: this will help you to keep track of gift certificates, and making sure customers are not reprinting gift certificates for their profit.
- business contact: your business address, website, email
Let’s go over a few conditions you might want to mention at the bottom (in small print) of the certificate.
Legal mentions to include in a gift certificate
- restriction for a certain type of service/product: if you want to offer a gift certificate for a specific service, mention “valid only for service X” or “to be used towards the purchase of X”.
- no cash value. This will protect you against customers willing to redeem the certificate for cash (people will try to do that!). Mention “no cash value” or “not redeemable for cash” on the certificate.
- non-transferability: if you want the gift certificate to be redeemed only by the person whose name is mentioned on the certificate, mention “non-transferrable” on the certificate.
- certificate expiration: this might not be legal in your state/country. Check your legal regulations or an attorney for this. If it is legal, you might want to include a certificate expiration date, to avoid having gift certificates out in the open for years. One year from now is a good default. Mention “expiration date: 2012-03-17?.
How to choose wording for a personal message
A personal message will vary substantially from one relationship to another. If the gift certificate is from a father to a son, the message tone and content will be very different compared to a corporate gift certificate. Here you can follow your inspiration, but we can give a few guidelines:
- be precise: you can specify for what reason you’re giving this gift certificate. If you’re selling a gift certificate it might not be applicable but if you’re giving it, there is probably a reason. Tell your customer why you’re giving it.
- use the right tone: it is important to know who you’re giving this certificate to. If you’re giving it to a customer, you’re not going to use the same language and vocabulary as if you give it to a loved one. Be professional or informal according to the occasion.
