Secure Cash Flow with Farm Gift Cards
As an Independent Farmer, securing near-term cash flow is essential to building a profitable direct-to-consumer business. By offering gift cards for your high-quality products, your Farm can attract new local Buyers and strengthen relationships with loyal customers to generate immediate revenue. Discover how implementing gift cards can increase your average order volume, lock in upfront cash flow, and drive consistent traffic to your online storefront year-round.
Gift Card Capabilities with Barn2Door
Barn2Door enables local food Buyers to easily purchase store credits from your farm for personal use or as a gift to share with others. Farmers can set gift cards to fixed or variable amounts, providing gift-givers with suggested amounts or the flexibility to enter a custom value. At checkout, the Buyer simply enters the recipient's email address and a personalized note (and then an email is sent automatically). With Barn2Door’s store credit capabilities, your Farm can leave administrative stress behind and deliver a seamless checkout experience for Buyers.
Buyer Account Credits: If the purchase was for the Buyer's account, their credits will display in the upper right corner and will be available for use at checkout.
Gifted Credits: If the credits were purchased as a gift, a code is sent automatically to the recipient’s email, along with clear instructions on adding the credits to their account (for use on your Farm storefront).
Refunds as Store Credit: Farmers may also issue refunds as store credits (instead of cash payouts). This helps your Farm retain revenue and maintain Buyer loyalty by giving customers another opportunity to try your Farm products.
Capture Off-Season and Pre-Season Cash Flow
Gift cards make fantastic seasonal holiday presents, regardless of your available product inventory, helping your Farm secure additional cash flow in the off-season. This encourages Buyers to support your Farm year-round, rather than turning to big-box stores for generic gift card offerings.
When your Farm should offer and promote gift cards:
Year-Round Events: Remind Buyers year-round that birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions are the perfect opportunity to gift a loved one Farm store credit.
Holidays: Promote your gift cards for major holidays — including Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, and Valentine's Day — to generate cash flow during slower inventory months. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, too, are great holidays to promote gift cards to your Farm products.
Seasonal Products: Encourage store credit purchases before seasonal Farm product launches, such as CSA sign-ups, recurring subscription launches, or peak harvest months, as a vehicle to “draw-down” on credits throughout the year.
How to Market Farm Gift Cards
To successfully secure additional revenue with gift cards, your Farm must regularly engage in direct marketing activities. Keep your Farm top of mind through online and in-person touchpoints to capture more sales year-round and boost average order volume.
Successful marketing tactics for Farm gift cards:
Email: Use targeted email campaigns to encourage Buyers to purchase gift cards. Explain why your Farm food is the gift that keeps on giving, and include a CTA (call to action) button linking directly to your gift card page for purchase.
Social Media: Promote your gift card offerings on social media by offering bonus incentives (e.g., $10 voucher for the purchase of a $100 gift card). Additionally, post short-form user-generated videos showcasing high-demand bundle boxes a gift card can buy.
Farmers Markets: Position a QR code that links directly to your digital gift cards next to your checkout stand at the Farmers market. This encourages add-on impulse sales and reminds market attendees that your store is open 24/7 online.
Converting a Gift Card Recipient to a Loyal Buyer
Welcoming a gift card recipient to your online Farm store is your opportunity to make a lasting impression. Buyers who feel an emotional connection to your Farm are likely to become repeat customers, refer other potential customers, and buy gift cards for their own network. The most effective way to create this loyalty for first-time gift card users is through targeted email campaigns.
Email strategies to capture first-time gift card recipients:
Automated Welcome Email: Enroll new gift card recipients into an automated welcome email campaign to share your Farm’s story, values, and practices, helping new Buyers appreciate the value of buying local.
First-Time PROMO: Offer an exclusive first-time discount code (e.g., 10% off first purchase) to incentivize purchase commitments to your Farm.
Smart Product Recommendations: Use the Barn2Door + Mailchimp integration to automatically segment gift card recipients and trigger Smart Recommendations based on past order history. This saves your Farm administrative time while driving higher-value add-on purchases.
Gifting Partnerships
Gifting partnerships within your ‘local loop’ are a powerful tool to expand your reach and convert prospective community members into online customers. By building local partnerships, your Farm will strengthen brand awareness and trust, driving regular purchases.
How to partner with your local community by offering gift cards:
Local Businesses: Partner with local businesses for bulk gift card purchases that they can use as thank-you gifts for employees or as client appreciation gifts. Consider all the places your Buyers frequent — gyms, CrossFit studios, yoga studios, barber shops, salons, nurseries, dentists, doctors, chiropractors, and a myriad of others!
Community Fundraisers: Partner with local schools, charities, and other community fundraisers by putting a voucher for Farm gift cards into these events. This will strengthen your relationships with the local community and reach new long-term Buyers.
Conclusion
Offering Farm gift cards is an effective strategy to secure additional revenue and attract new Buyers in your local community. With Barn2Door, your Farm can pursue targeted marketing and local partnerships that feature your Farm gift cards, driving more traffic to your online storefront year-round (and increasing your cash flow!).
Barn2Door provides Independent Farmers with the software to make more money, ditch the office work, and look like a pro. If you’re curious to learn more, watch this 5-minute video.