Why a digital voucher system is worth it

Or how you turn your voucher system into a sustainable revenue source

Vouchers are much more than just a gift – they are a clever instrument for boosting revenue, fostering customer loyalty and strengthening your brand. Whether you are in hospitality, restaurants, leisure operations, events or retail: a thoughtfully designed voucher system offers numerous advantages that quickly pay off.

Content at a glance

Immediate revenue – before the service is delivered

With vouchers you generate income even before the guest or customer uses your offer. That means you receive liquidity straight away, which you can use for day-to-day operations, investment or marketing measures. Especially during weaker revenue periods, this can be a genuine advantage.

Higher turnover and new target groups

Vouchers act like a personal recommendation. Whoever gives a voucher is automatically promoting your business. This way you attract new guests who might otherwise not have noticed your offer. In addition, many recipients spend more when redeeming than the value of the voucher – a nice side effect for your turnover.

A voucher system that pays for itself quickly

The investment in a professional voucher system usually amortises in a short time. Just a few sold vouchers are enough to cover the ongoing costs. Especially if you actively exploit the potential of voucher sales – for example via your website, social media, newsletter or directly on-site.

Which factors influence the pay-back period?

To help you estimate your individual value, here are the main influencing factors:

• Sales volume
  The more vouchers you sell, the faster the system is paid off. An online shop, good visibility and promotion help.
• Overspend / Additional spend
  The higher the amount customers spend beyond the voucher value, the better. Studies show that this additional spend is often between 30–75 % above the voucher value.
• Ongoing costs and fees
  A well-integrated system with little effort keeps costs down. If many manual processes are required, costs increase.
• Marketing & visibility
  Vouchers are not self-running – active promotion is essential (website, newsletter, social media).
• Non-redemption
  Vouchers are definitely a lucrative business: part of the vouchers are never redeemed – this amount can ultimately be recorded as pure profit, which is why a good system usually pays for itself quickly. At the same time the redeemed vouchers offer a big advantage: they bring new guests and ensure valuable additional revenue. Vouchers are therefore a win in every respect.
• Technical integration & process efficiency
  When the system works seamlessly with your POS system, you save labour hours and error costs.
• Industry & customer segment
  Experience-oriented sectors (hotels, events) by nature have higher upsell chances than retail businesses with standard merchandise.

Why e-guma is the ideal choice

With e-guma you rely on the leading Swiss voucher solution. For over 20 years hundreds of companies from tourism, hospitality, leisure and culture have trusted our system.

Your advantages at a glance:

• Simple sale: online, on-site or print@home – your customers can buy vouchers at any time.
• Professional design: your vouchers appear in your own branding. e-guma.ch
• Fast processing: automated workflows save time and reduce administrative burden.
• Full control: you always have an overview of sales, redemptions and open balances.
• Scalable: optionally combine the voucher system with the e-guma ticket system for events, tours or experiences, the e-guma prepaid card for cashless payments or the e-guma product shop for your merchandise, home-made delicacies, printed material and much more.

How to make the investment worthwhile

A voucher system unfolds its full potential when you actively use it. To ensure your voucher system pays off quickly, we recommend the following six steps:

1. Define objectives and KPIs
   Examples: voucher revenue, redemptions, additional spend, margin.
2. Establish an online shop
   Embed the responsive e-guma voucher shop prominently on your website.
3. Create experience-packages
   Offer vouchers not just as “CHF 50 value”, but e.g. “Wellness short-break for 2”, “Private chauffeur drive”. These packages often generate higher turnover and bring better margins.
4. Launch communication – actively offer the voucher as a gift idea
   Newsletter distribution, social media and also on-site prompts to buy vouchers, clearly visible at the point of sale: at check-in, at the till, in the restaurant. Also train your team to actively promote vouchers.
5. Establish recurring promotional cycles
   Seasonal vouchers, corporate gifts, last-minute promos – this keeps the topic active in the market. Use seasonal occasions like Christmas, Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day for targeted campaigns.
6. Analyse and steer data
   Which vouchers are purchased, redeemed, what was the average additional spend? Use the automatic e-guma reports for this.

In this way you turn your voucher system into a sustainable revenue source – and simultaneously create a positive brand experience for your customers.

Conclusion

A voucher system is not an expense; it is an investment in growth and customer loyalty. As with any investment: the higher the sold voucher value, the higher the additional spend and the more efficient the processes, the faster the system pays for itself.

With e-guma you have an experienced partner by your side who supports you from setup to ongoing operations – simple, secure and successful.

• by Denise Meyer, Content Marketing Manager