In this tutorial, we're exploring a oft-requested feature – selling gift vouchers. 


Now, we need to be clear - currently, we don't have a built-in solution for selling gift vouchers via Book That In (though it is on our development plan!) However, this tutorial will walk you through a work-around solution which will allow you to make use of the existing functionality in Book That In to achieve this.


Though it's a temporary work-around, it offers a creative way to leverage our existing functionalities to meet your immediate needs.


Pros and Cons of the Workaround:

  • Pros:

    • Immediate Solution: Enables selling gift vouchers without waiting for new updates.
    • Increased Revenue: Opens up an additional revenue stream.

  • Cons:

    • Temporary: As a workaround solution, it does not have all the polished features of a dedicated gift voucher system.
    • Booking Questions for the Gift Voucher will match the questions set for your regular booking options, unless you set all questions at 'Booking Type Level', instead of 'Company Level'. Learn about setting booking questions at different levels.
    • Setup Required: Requires a bit of setup, but I'll guide you through every step.


Here is a video tutorial to follow and work through setting up Gift Vouchers:




Step by Step Instructions:


Part 1: Create the Gift Voucher as a 'Group Event'


  1. Access Group Overview:

    • Navigate to 'Business' and then to 'Group Overview' in your 'Book That In' account.

  2. Create Group Event for 'Gift Vouchers':
    • Select 'Create Group Event' at the top of the page.
    • Click on 'Create New Group Event Type'.

  3. Setting Up the Event:
    • Name the event as 'Gift Vouchers'.
    • Add a description. For example, "Buy a gift voucher to give to a friend or loved one". Include what the vouchers can be redeemed for and any specific terms related to the vouchers.
    • At the bottom of the description add, "Below you will see the expiry date of the Gift Voucher:"

  4. Booking Warning:
    • In the 'Booking Warning' section, input EXTRA information that will be included in the booking confirmation email sent to customers. For example, instructions on how to claim their gift voucher code. All standard info such as what has been booked, and price etc will be included as part of the main email template.

  5. Address:

    • Set address to relevant address or create new address for 'Your Choice of Venue' if you Gift Voucher is not specific to one venue.

  6. Other Fields:

    • Create new Category for 'Gift Vouchers' if you use the Category View.

    • Ages can be left blank or set as required.

  7. Use the Event Date to set the Expiry Date:

    • Set the 'Start Date' to match the expirydate of the voucher (e.g. 31/12/24). 
      • This is quirk of using an 'event' to take bookings for Gift Vouchers - you have to set a date. By setting it to the expiry date of the gift voucher, it ensures that people can buy a gift voucher at any point up to the expiry date, and also makes the date relevant to the purchase.
    • Set the duration to anything between 1 minute and 1439 minutes (a full day)
    • Set number of sessions to 1.
       

  8. Pricing Options:

    • For varying amounts, set up different Price Bands for the different pricing options.

      • These should be 'Fixed Number of Sessions' Price Bands, using the 'Consecutive Dates' option.

      • Set Name = "£XX Gift Voucher" (where XX is the value for this option)

      • Set 'Number of Sessions' = 1

      • Set 'Number of Attendees' = 1

      • Set cost to XX (as above)

    • Repeat for each option you wish to offer

  9. Click Save.


Part 2: Create the Discount Codes to Use so Customers can Claim their Gift Voucher


This Tutorial walks you through how to create discount codes.


  1. Access Discount Code Section:
    • Navigate to 'Business' and then to 'Company Settings' in your 'Book That In' account.
    • Click on the 'Vouchers' tab to the right.

  2. Create a New Discount Code:
    • Click 'Add Voucher.
    • Name the discount code in a way that indicates the value: e.g. £10 Gift Voucher.

  3. Setting Voucher Parameters:
    • Set discount type to 'Fixed Amount'
    • Set the value of the voucher in the 'Amount' field. This should correspond to the amount the gift voucher is worth.
    • Set the expiry date for the discount code, matching the expiry date of the gift voucher 'event'.

  4. Create Codes:
    1. If creating as Gift Vouchers are purchase, set the Code to something unique, like the customer's name, and set the 'Number of uses' to 1.
    2. If creating codes in advance, switch 'Create Your Own Codes' to 'No'. Then set 'Number of codes' to the number of codes you want the system to randomly generate.
      1. TIP: If creating codes in advance, copy and paste them into a spreadsheet to help you keep track of which codes have been allocated (and to whom).

  5. Repeat to create Vouchers and Codes for all the different Gift Voucher values you are selling.

  6. Manual Step: Send these codes to your customers when they buy a Gift Voucher via Book That In.