Step 1: Find Out Where Your Gift Card Balance Lives
In most salons the booking platform is the POS. Vagaro, Boulevard, Fresha, Mindbody, GlossGenius, and Square Appointments all have built-in gift card features that store the balance and let you redeem it against an appointment. If you also run a separate retail register, decide which system owns gift cards. Balances split across two systems is the most common salon gift card problem.
Step 2: Match the Card to How You Redeem
Most salon software redeems a gift card by typing or scanning the card number at checkout on a tablet. That usually means a barcode read by a small USB or Bluetooth scanner, or a QR code read by the tablet camera. Very few salon platforms use magnetic stripes anymore. Check your software's gift card screen before ordering.
Step 3: Physical Cards and Online Gift Cards Together
Most booking platforms sell digital gift cards online. Physical cards should live in the same system so a client can buy a card at the front desk and redeem it on an online booking, or the reverse. Ask your platform how to add physical card numbers, usually a bulk import, and order cards whose numbers match that format.
Step 4: Handle Tips and Partial Redemptions
- Decide whether a gift card can cover the tip. Most platforms let you allow or block it. Tell your team either way.
- Partial redemptions leave a balance on the card. Make sure the printed card has a balance-check line so clients aren't calling.
- Series and packages: some platforms let a gift card buy a package. Confirm it before you promise it.
Step 5: Order Cards That Fit the Front Desk
Standard credit card size, 30 mil PVC, both sides printed. Front is your brand. Back carries the barcode or QR, the number in plain text, and a short balance-check line. Consider a matching greeting sleeve or envelope, since salon gift cards are almost always bought as presents. Plan for Mother's Day, the holidays, and Valentine's Day, which cover most of the year's gift card sales in this industry. salon gift cards.
Step 6: A Two-Minute Front Desk Routine
- Selling: sell the gift card in your booking software, scan to activate, load the amount
- Redeeming: at checkout, scan the card as payment, apply the balance
- Online booking: client enters the card number at booking or at checkout
- Lost card: look up by client name if your platform allows it
Common Salon Gift Card Mistakes
- -Selling physical cards outside the booking software, so balances can't be redeemed online
- -Ordering barcode cards for a platform that only accepts typed numbers, or the reverse
- -No tipping policy, leading to awkward checkouts
- -Running out of cards the week before Mother's Day