December at the front desk
In December, a stream of people ask for gift vouchers. Some buy at the desk, where you write a voucher card by hand and note the code in a book. Some email and pay by bank transfer, and you send a PDF you made in a design tool. Some want a voucher for a specific pack, some for an amount.
In February, the vouchers start coming back. A recipient arrives with a card. The desk looks for the code in the book, finds it, and adds a pack by hand. Someone else emails a screenshot of a PDF. Was it already used? The book does not say.
By summer, you have no idea how many vouchers are still out there, or whether the one in front of you has been used before.
Why vouchers become a mess
Vouchers sit awkwardly between a sale and a product. The money arrives in December, the class happens months later, and nothing in a typical booking system joins the two unless vouchers are set up properly.
Many studio booking systems do offer gift cards, but they are often an afterthought: the design is plain, delivery is immediate, and redemption does not map neatly to a specific pack. So studios make their own, and the handwritten book takes over.
Outstanding vouchers also matter for your accounts. Your accountant will want to know how much is owed in unredeemed vouchers, which is hard to answer from a notebook.
What a voucher notebook costs
| Issue | Effect |
|---|---|
| Codes written by hand | Double redemptions and lost entries |
| PDFs made one by one | Evenings spent on voucher design in December |
| No delivery date option | Buyers asking you to send it on Christmas morning |
| No outstanding total | Accounts that do not reflect what is owed |
| Expiry not tracked | Disputes about old vouchers |
Gift vouchers bring in new clients who might never have tried the studio. A clumsy redemption is their first impression.
Online vouchers that redeem into packs
We set up vouchers so they work from purchase to redemption in one place.
- Buyers choose a voucher on your website: a set pack, a workshop or a money amount, with your design and a personal message.
- They pick a delivery date and time. The voucher is emailed to the recipient then, with a copy to the buyer.
- Payment is taken by card through Stripe or your booking system's own checkout.
- Recipients redeem online by entering the code, which creates the pack on their new account, or at the desk from the same screen.
- Each code can only be redeemed once, and part-used money vouchers keep a balance.
- A report shows vouchers sold, redeemed, outstanding and approaching expiry, ready for your accountant.
Voucher expiry terms and how unredeemed balances are treated are matters for your own terms and accountant. The system applies and reports what you decide.
The situations we cover
- Old paper vouchers already in circulation are entered once, so they redeem through the same system.
- A recipient who already has an account gets the pack added to it, not a duplicate profile.
- Corporate buyers ordering a batch of vouchers receive a single invoice and a list of codes.
- A voucher bought for a workshop that is then cancelled can be converted to a pack or a money balance.
After it is set up
December vouchers sell themselves on your website. Recipients redeem without queuing. You know at any time what is outstanding.
- Vouchers bought and delivered online
- Redemption into packs without manual entry
- No double redemptions
- An outstanding voucher total for your accounts
Are your vouchers handled like this?
- Voucher codes are written in a book or spreadsheet.
- You design PDF vouchers one at a time.
- Staff add packs by hand when a voucher is redeemed.
- You do not know how many vouchers are outstanding.
- Buyers ask you to send vouchers on a particular date.