Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and insufferable heat has befallen most parts of the world, these harmful effects on our earth the result of rapid global warming.
As condemned by the United Nations, excessive worldwide consumption and production have put the earth on the highway to destruction.
According to the UN, should the human population exceed 9.6 billion by 2050, then the equivalent of 3 planets would be required to sustain our current lifestyle. This is no doubt a cause for concern, and it is up to us to do our part as businesses to cut down on our carbon footprint in every aspect of our processes.
On that note, why should incentives be physical then?
The Cost of Physical Vouchers
For a long time, vouchers were slips of paper or cards that contained a certain value, and they could be exchanged for products from selected stores. Being physical, there was a need to print those vouchers.
However, printing vouchers isn’t cheap.
- First, there is the cost of the papers and the ink, which can rack up quite substantially if you are printing huge numbers of vouchers. You may also have to put more money into printing security features like watermarks and holograms which prevent fraud by ensuring that only valid vouchers can be redeemed.
- Second, you need to invest time and effort into managing the logistics of it. The more vouchers you have, the more outlets you want to distribute them at, the more troublesome and impossible the task sounds.
- Third, and most importantly, printing vouchers is not environmentally friendly. Large volumes of vouchers demand large volumes of paper, toners and ink, and power. Reducing the number of vouchers printed helps to cut back on our resources, and our carbon footprint.
Making the Switch to Digital Vouchers!
To address the problems above, one of the solutions that many a companies have adopted eco-friendly digital vouchers! In addition to resolving said issues, digital vouchers can also present quite a few benefits that you may find helpful to your business
Here’s why Going Green with e-Vouchers can be a great option.
1. Saves Money
Without the need to be printed, digital vouchers help you save on money and time.
No longer do you need to spare the budget for paper and ink, and even printing services if you don’t have one.
In addition, you wouldn’t have to spare costs to transport it to your outlets and risk losing some during that transition. Remember Vouchers = currency, therefore lost vouchers just add on to your losses, and the money that went into its printing and issuance is wasted. You can certainly put that extra money that you save into improving your core business, or your next marketing campaign.
2) Easy to Distribute and Redeem
Unlike physical vouchers, your eco-friendly digital vouchers can be distributed to your customers without them having to be physically present at your store.
Moreover, customers can also redeem it in the comfort of their own homes. This can be done via a few clicks of a button or using a contactless method such as scanning a QR code to self-claim digital vouchers. There is no need to liaise with your various outlets, or to spend more money to deliver to those outlets.
3) Green Alternative
Without needing to print them, digital vouchers are definitely much more eco-friendly than physical ones.
Play your part in saving the environment by swapping to your eco-friendly vouchers!
Did you know that you can also attract more customers by drawing attention to this choice? 13% of consumers would pay up to 50% more if they get the impression that your business is making a positive world impact.
4) No Manual Reconciliation
Imagine having to manually tick off redeemed vouchers and invalid vouchers, all whilst receiving information from the managers of each of your outlets.
Surely, your time and effort can be better spent elsewhere. For such a menial task, it is more efficient to rely on automation. Whether a digital voucher has been issued, redeemed, or closed, you can rely on a digital voucher platforms to reconcile their statuses for you. You can even view this in real time, so that you can be kept abreast of your customers’ most recent voucher transactions.
5) Better Security Features
Digital vouchers can be more secure than physical ones, since each of the eco-friendly vouchers have their own unique generated QR code/ barcode and an alphanumeric code. This creates a layer or security and makes it more difficult for fraudsters to forge a voucher to be used at your store.
However, you must also ensure that the voucher platform vendor that you are engaging with has viable data security measures.
Look for your provider’s certifications, and for symbols such as those corresponding to the GDPR or DPTM.
Inventrik is certified with ISO2700 and the DPTM. Be sure to check out our certifications!
6) Harder to Lose
Let’s face it—it’s easier to lose a physical voucher than a digital one. After all, the latter isn’t even corporeal; it’s just a bunch of data stored in cyberspace. As long as your customers can access their digital wallet, they can absolutely access their vouchers. This means that customers are more likely to spend their vouchers with you, complete more purchases and drive up your revenue.
Not only do they save money, resulting in an incentive to buy from you, but if they spend more than the voucher’s value, you could earn a tidy profit too!
7) Swiftly Replaced without Hassle
Even if, for some inexplicable reason, your customer manages to lose access to their digital voucher, these eco-friendly vouchers can be easily replaced. You can just resend the same voucher to your customer in distress, and they can receive it immediately through email or SMS.
In fact, event if the customer is able to validate their identity at your store, you can easily trace their vouchers in system, offer the discount & redeem it for them.
This is unlike physical vouchers where reissuance is very difficult due to the fear of fraud. After all, you aren’t sure whether your customer truly lost their voucher, or whether they intend to wheedle one out of you.
Being able to replace your customers’ vouchers can enhance your customers’ shopping experience. They trust that they will be entitled to discounts and rewards that they rightly deserve, without fear of losing out thanks to a misplaced voucher.
Conclusion
Having seen all the benefits that digital, eco-friendly vouchers can present you, there is no reason for you to stick to physical ones. Especially with the rapid digitalisation in the world today, consumers are finding it easier and more convenient to shop online as well, increasing the need for these digital vouchers.
If you are looking for digital voucher engine to help you manage and distribute your eco-friendly vouchers, do look us up! Vouchermatic specialises in voucher management, and we’d be delighted to help you kickstart your digital voucher campaigns!
Contact us here today and our dedicated team would be happy to answer your queries, and even provide a free demo upon request!
