Gift Voucher Schemes for Music Festivals.

Music festival operators are always looking for ways to increase sales revenue and promote loyalty and engagement with festival-goers. Running a gift voucher scheme is an excellent way to achieve these goals but what is involved in setting up and running such a scheme that generates incremental revenue without increasing costs.

There are a number of steps involved in setting up a successful gift voucher scheme and many festival organisations already operate such schemes. Each scheme needs to be designed and run to fit the specified requirements of a particular music festival; no two schemes are alike. Here are suggested considerations for setting up and running a gift voucher scheme. 

Planning and Scheme Design.
Festival organisers should define the objectives of any scheme which is likely to include increased ticket sales, engagement and loyalty. The metrics for measurement of success should also be defined in any planning phase. Some research will be required including looking at how competing festivals run such schemes. Designing the voucher options can include consideration for pricing to cater for a variety of budgets and may include a high value full festival experience or top up added value extras like VIP and exclusive access for example. It may be prudent to provide a flexible approach to allow purchase of any value voucher that can be redeemed against any festival purchase option as part of a cash sale. 

Scheme Logistics. 
Historically gift vouchers have been issued using physical paper, but this is unlikely now as most will be fulfilled in a digital format. A specific gift voucher software system will be required, there are dedicated packages available which can often be bolted onto an existing system, or it may already exist as an option on shopping cart software currently being used. Most of these packages allow multiple options for visual design, pricing, fulfilment, and redemption processes. 

Marketing. 
Once a gift voucher scheme has been designed, set up and tested a launch marketing campaign will be required to announce the scheme to audiences. Marketing campaigns can include emails, newsletters, social media posts and targeted online advertisements. Provide links that can be forwarded so potential festival-goers can suggest the purchase of a gift voucher to friends and family for birthdays for example. 

Redemption and Management. 
The use of dedicated gift voucher software should enable digital gift vouchers to be redeemed against purchases. Festival organisers may wish to consider on-site redemption for certain services but this can get complex to manage. When setting up any gift voucher scheme it is essential to define from the outset what measurement criteria will be used to assess success. Monitoring of visitor traffic, abandoned carts and actual sales needs to be done on an ongoing basis. The selected gift voucher software should include all the metrics required to enable regular reporting. 

Once any scheme has been operating for some time it is essential for organisers to get feedback from customers on how the scheme is working to identify areas for improvement. A well run gift voucher scheme for music festival organisers provides opportunities for incremental sales revenue and enhanced loyalty to their event. 

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by kalhh via Pixabay

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