A seventeenth birthday card with a voucher inside
A grandparent buys five lessons as a birthday present. The office writes a voucher by hand, notes the number in a book and takes payment by card over the phone. The birthday is three months away. When it arrives, the new pupil rings to book, and the office finds the voucher number in the book, but not whether the payment went through or whether the price has gone up since.
At Christmas the office sells lots of vouchers. By spring, nobody is sure which were redeemed, which were for which instructor, and how much of the money is still owed in lessons.
Why vouchers get messy
- Vouchers are sold months before they are used.
- They are written or printed by hand, with numbers kept in a book.
- Some are for a number of lessons, some for an amount of money.
- Prices change between purchase and redemption.
- The pupil may be allocated to any instructor, so the money has to reach whoever teaches.
- Your terms on expiry and refunds are applied inconsistently.
The cost of loose vouchers
Vouchers redeemed twice, or not recognised, cause embarrassment on a gift that was meant to be special. Money held for unredeemed vouchers is not tracked, so the business does not know what it owes in lessons. Voucher sales at busy times take phone time the office does not have. And a well presented voucher sold online in the evening, when grandparents are shopping, is a sale a phone line cannot take.
The gift vouchers we build
- Buyers choose a voucher on your website, for lessons or an amount, add a message and pay by card through Stripe or your provider.
- Each voucher has a unique code, and the buyer gets a printable voucher in your design or an email version to forward.
- The voucher states your terms, including any expiry, in plain words.
- When the recipient books, they enter the code. The value is added to their pupil balance and the voucher is marked as used, so it cannot be used again.
- If the voucher is for a number of lessons, it is honoured as lessons, following your terms on price changes.
- The money reaches whichever instructor teaches the lessons, through their statement under your arrangement.
- The owner sees vouchers sold, redeemed and outstanding, and reminders go to recipients before any expiry.
| Voucher event | Recorded as |
|---|---|
| Sold online | Payment and code issued |
| Sold by phone or in person | Office issues code with payment recorded |
| Redeemed | Value added to pupil balance, code closed |
| Nearing expiry | Reminder to recipient |
| Outstanding | Owed in lessons, visible to owner |
Your voucher terms, such as expiry and refunds, are for you and your advisers. We apply and display them consistently.
Vouchers that look after themselves
The grandparent buys online at 9pm and prints a smart voucher for the card. Three months later the pupil enters the code when booking, and five lessons appear in their balance. At Christmas, voucher sales run through the website while the office gets on with other work. In spring, the owner knows exactly how many vouchers are outstanding and can plan instructor capacity for the new pupils they represent.
Corporate and family buyers get something more polished too. A parent buying lessons for twins can buy two vouchers in one order. Someone buying a block as a gift can choose whether the voucher shows the number of lessons or just says it is for driving lessons, and the recipient sees the same terms online when they redeem it. If a voucher is lost, the office can find it by the buyer's name and reissue the code, and the old one stops working.
Recognise your voucher system?
- Gift vouchers are written by hand.
- Voucher numbers are kept in a book.
- You are not sure which vouchers have been used.
- Vouchers are only sold by phone.
- You cannot say how much is owed in lessons for unredeemed vouchers.