Your regulars already recommend you to their friends. They talk about the coffee, the vibe, the dish they always order. Gift cards give them a way to turn that recommendation into an experience, something their friend can actually unwrap and look forward to.
That's new revenue from a customer who hasn't walked through your door yet. And when they do come in, there's a good chance they'll spend more than the card is worth. Gift cards are one of the most straightforward ways to grow your venue, not just by rewarding the customers you already have, but by reaching the ones you haven't met yet.
If you've been running gift cards through a third-party system that doesn't talk to your POS, you already know the problem. Balances get out of sync. Reconciliation is a pain. Staff aren't sure what's been used and what hasn't. Oolio One has the full gift card stack built in. Here's what that looks like in practice.
Gift cards in Oolio One work across every channel, your customers can buy them online, or your staff can issue them directly from the POS. Physical cards, digital cards, or both. Preset amounts or custom amounts, whatever works for your venue.
Never forget a another birthday! You can also schedule a digital gift card to be sent on a future date, you can order it today and it arrives right on time. No last-minute scramble, no forgetting.
Digital gift cards can be sent straight to a customer's phone via SMS, and they can save them to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet so they always have it on them. No more lost cards, no more "I think I left it at home."
You can choose from a design library or upload your own branding, so the card looks like it came from you, not a generic gift card platform.
Customers can redeem across POS, online, and kiosk: the rewards follows them wherever they order. If you run multiple locations, balances track across all your stores automatically.
You get full redemption history, unredeemed gift cards, and the ability to check any card's balance at any time. If you're moving from another system, you can import existing gift card balances so your customers don't lose their credit.
No manual reconciliation. No chasing down which cards have been used. It's all in one place.
The best loyalty programmes don't just reward customers for spending, they give them a reason to come back after their first visit, and make them feel remembered every year after that.
With Oolio One you can set up three types of automated rewards:
Not every customer needs the same offer. A Drifter who hasn't been in for two months needs a different nudge than a Regular you want to bring in more often.
Oolio One lets you create custom vouchers and send them to specific customer groups. Set the discount, the expiry, how many times it can be used, and whether it applies to a whole order or a specific product. Then send it to your loyalty members by email or download a list to use however you need.
Want to post a shared code on social media for a quiet Tuesday night? You can do that too with a guest voucher: one code, multiple uses, with a limit you control.
The right offer, to the right customer, at the right time. That's what turns occasional visitors into regulars. And if you want to get smarter about which customers to target, read our guide on understanding your customers through Oolio One reporting.
Because gift cards live inside Oolio One, the data is clean. Every redemption hits your reports automatically. Your end of day reconciliation doesn't need a separate system. And because it's all connected to your POS, your staff don't need to jump between tools to check a balance or process a redemption.
It works because it's all one platform.