Black Friday isn’t just for retailers and ecommerce. For restaurants and hospitality brands, it’s a golden opportunity to boost revenue and visits through gift card sales. Even better, it’s a chance to deepen loyalty and build future visits. The brands that make the biggest impact don’t just blast a generic offer on Instagram. They leverage guest data and visit history to identify the right audience, craft compelling pitches and transform promoted sales into a long term relationship.
- Frequent visitors are most likely to purchase a gift card
Recent and loyal visitors represent the highest intent audience for Black Friday gift cards. Here’s why:
- They’ve already tried your venue lots of times, they know your food, drinks and your ambiance.
- They trust the person they are gifting to will have a great experience with you
- They are more likely to respond quickly to an ad or email because your brand is already on their radar.
Leveraging guest visit history is crucial for a better return on paid marketing investment. Segment your audience by recency, frequency and value, targeting those in the top quartile.
Bonus Tip: Compile a list of guests who have visited in the last 90 days and send them a preview or VIP invitation before announcing the general sale.
- Create a Sharp, Time Bound Offer
For Black Friday, your offer needs to be impactful and straightforward. Here are some effective formats:
- “Buy £50, get £10 free”
- “Double value for January bookings”: Encourages future visits during a typically slower month.
- “48-hour exclusive sale”:
Ensure your checkout process is seamless and mobile friendly, whether accessed from your website, email or paid advertisements. A frictionless experience leads to higher conversions.
- Use Guestwise to Target & Track
Here’s how to utilise the Guestwise platform for your campaign:
- Segment your audience by visit recency and frequency and/or loyalty tier.
- Push these segments into paid advertising platforms or email campaigns.
- Create an ad set that mirrors your “top guests” list and a control audience of “recent but infrequent” visitors to compare performance.
- Track purchases, redemptions and visits. Feed this data back into your guest history model for future campaigns.
When investing in ad spend, target guests with a proven track record rather than cold audiences. This approach results in better conversion rates, higher ROI and stronger guest-lifetime value.
- Extend the Impact Beyond Black Friday
The gift card initiative doesn’t end when the sale concludes; that’s when its true value begins.
- Follow up with purchasers in January with a “thank you” email or a loyalty reward.
- Encourage redemption and repeat visits by offering a small incentive for the card holder’s next visit.
- Use redemption data to identify new high value guests and integrate them into your “loyal visitor” segment.
By treating gift card buyers as part of your acquisition funnel, you transform a seasonal sales spike into enduring guest relationships.
Conclusion
Black Friday doesn’t have to be chaotic. With precise guest history data and a well crafted offer, it becomes a strategic springboard for growth, loyalty and future visits.
This year, shift your focus from new people you might reach to who already loves you. Use that insight to drive your campaign and let Guestwise help you turn data into action.
Ready to get started? Book a demo with Guestwise and let’s explore how we can help you launch a high impact Black Friday gift card campaign.
