This page is about the new SpaBoom instant online massage gift certificate service for massage therapists. You will find:

• A quick description of the service.

• My Opinion - Should you use it or not?

• An interview with SpaBoom representative Matt Heath

• A new option - www.thegiftcardcafe.com reviewed below

SpaBoom has two services, the online gift certificate sales system for your existing web site, and a web site design service. This page will only be reviewing the gift certificate sales system.

Basically, SpaBoom makes it easy to sell gift certificates on your current web site. You signup (no cost). They create a web page that looks like your web site with their instant massage gift certificate sales system built in. Your site visitors now have an attractive variety of gift certificates available (with your logo on them) to choose from and purchase. The buyer can choose a specific service or a monetary value, they can write a customized message, and they can print it themselves or have it emailed to the receiver.

There is no cost to set this all up for you. SpaBoom makes money on each sale of your gift certificates. The beginning rate is 5% of each sale (that rate can go down with more sales).

I have looked this service over pretty carefully and talked with the company. I have also seen therapists who are talking about their results on massage forums.

"...I have sold $2300 in gcs (gift certificates) since 11/23 (posted on 12/12). Only $300 of that was from existing client/known people."

I have to strongly recommend this service as a powerful tool for you to increase your gift certificate sales and get new clients, while saving yourself time.

From a marketing perspective, there are a number of unique reasons to utilize this service.

1. This is Client Problem Solving Marketing at it's best. The entire process of getting a gift certificate is easy and fun for your clients. They get to choose designs, customize the message and they get it instantly. Because of this it will convert more of your site traffic into sales, making your site more profitable, all by itself.

2. It does not cost you anything unless there is a sale. That is very rare. (Too bad all of your marketing expenses are not like that, where you only pay when it works!)

3. The costs are cheap. Don't forget that with every sale some gift certificates will not be redeemed, which means you can afford to spend a lot more to sell them. And don't forget that you get to convert all of those new clients into regular clients. If you keep the long term value of a new client in mind you should quickly realize that 5% is very inexpensive.

4. The service looks so professional on your site, that you will look more professional to potential new clients.

I wanted to learn more before I recommended SpaBoom so I interviewed Matt Heath, the director of sales and business development. You can read our conversation below to learn more.

Hi Matt. Your gift certificate sales system appears to be working very well for individual massage therapists, from what my site visitors and people on the massage forums are saying. What kind of results are your current clients having? Are they selling more certificates than they did before?

Our massage therapists love it, because they’re selling more gift certificates with less effort. Their clients like the instant gratification -- immediately printing or e-mailing a gift certificate. That really helps with out-of-state and last minute shoppers.

I always suggest that therapists build their web sites in ways that lead their viewers to take action, like scheduling a massage, or buying a gift certificate. Your service offers an easy action to take. And I think it will increase how profitable a therapist's site is. A massage therapist on a forum appears to think the same after using your system:

"My deduction so far is this: it's the website that gets them in the door, and now that there is a call to action that gives them immediate satisfaction, it's all coming together."

Are you finding that to be true, that your service is doing a better job of converting site traffic into sales for your clients? Was the service designed with those goals in mind? How does your service help create sales?

I completely agree with your approach to website design. The goal is to get new clients, and Instant Gift Certificates are the perfect call to action. It delivers what your client wants right now, with no reason to keep looking. Our goal was to take the typical brochure-ware website for a massage therapist and turn it into a profit center. Our clients that prominently promote Instant Gift Certificates on their home page and menu of services really see the results. And, we make it super easy to promote occasion-specific specials. For example, you can run a special for couple’s massage that appears on your site in early January through February 14th, and then is automatically replaced with your late February early bird spring special.

Your service is easy for a buyer to use, but how easy is it for the therapist to manage? Can they change services and prices easy? Is it easy for them to see their expenses and sales?

SpaBoom is very easy to learn – we generally train on how to change service offerings/pricing, create specials and manage gift certificates in 30 minutes or less. Our clients learn right away how effortless it is to add and change their services offerings. You can even track all of your gift certificate sales, if you want, and know exactly how much you have in unredeemed gift certificates.

What are the advantages of this instant type service over a sales system where the therapist has to mail the certificate out after the client buys it on their site?

Well, you sell more! People love the instant gratification and the ability to personalize the gift certificate design and message. It’s amazing how many gift certificates our clients sell the night before Mother’s Day or someone’s birthday. It’s the perfect last minute gift.

The time savings aren’t insubstantial either. No more writing out and mailing gift certificates by hand. It’s a lot of fun every time you get another e-mail saying that you’ve sold a gift certificate, and all you have to do is process the credit card.

Are there any hidden costs or expenses for the therapist? Any contracts?

There aren’t any hidden costs. We are only compensated when you sell. It starts at 5% of your online sales, and goes down as you sell more for the month. You can cancel at any time. Because we only make money if you make money, there’s no risk. Further, there is currently no set-up charge (As of 2009 there is now a $99 setup fee). Once you sign up, we typically have your Instant Gift Certificates page ready in one business day.

Once you’re selling enough gift certificates online, you might consider upgrading your credit card merchant account for online processing. That typically costs about $20 a month and saves the time of processing the credit cards for your online sales.

I want to thank Matt for letting me publish this interview on my site.

Click on the link now and explore the SpaBoom website: www.spaboom.com

NOTE: In 2009 a competitor for Spaboom emerged that looks good also. www.thegiftcardcafe.com offers a very similar service. At this point they do not charge the $99 setup fee that Spaboom does. And they charge 8% instead of 5%. But the extra 3% covers the credit card processing fees. So you don't have to process each transaction manually like with Spaboom. They take care of that. They also said they will soon have an option for manual credit card transactions.

It looks like a good option, although they do not put as much effort into attractive gift certificate designs. When I asked the company about the difference in design of the gift certificates vs Spaboom, they said they want to keep the massage therapist's brand/logo in front of the client at all times. And that by keeping things simple, and only having a one page checkout process, they have a much better conversion rate. Basically that means more people buy gift certificates when it is kept a simple process. Sounds good.

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