Resources for the Local Economy: Gift Vouchers
Resources for the Local Economy is a new occasional series where I shall introduce websites about interesting schemes in support of the local economy. The first in this series is gift vouchers.
The website is Goodmoney and you will find the home page if you click on the link. (Note: websites change from time to time and so if you read this post in the distant future, the site will not necessarily match what I write!)
The first big positive is the home page explains the gift voucher scheme and nothing else. At the top of the page there is a brief introductory text explanation and a video. Beneath the video there are three buttons, to press, depending on how you wish to respond to the message. Best proactive suggests it is usually best to have a single call to action. However, the three possibilities are logical and clear. Is it confusing to have three to choose from? It would be interesting to look at conversion rates for this page.
The Turquoise box below the buttons seems a bit superfluous and would benefit from having links to the ethical supermarket and online store.
The next three sections correspond to the highlighted words in the introductory text. Links from the introductory text to these sections would be helpful. Five benefits for local businesses follow these sections.
Next are three buttons and one of these is different from the first three. Usually when links repeat down the page, they are the same. This allows people already decided to follow the link at the top and the undecided can read more and then encounter the same buttons again afterwards.
Overall this is a good home page and clearly conveys the gift voucher scheme and its benefits. There may be a few navigation issues but if the page converts, they may not be too serious. I would certainly recommend this as a site to visit not only for its core idea but the simple, clear way they conveyed it on the site.
What we don’t see on the website is the complementary in-person marketing that will be going on in Brighton and Hove. My guess is the website supports a primary in-person marketing strategy. Judging by the number of participants in the gift voucher scheme, it is building support. It would be interesting to see some statistics on the site. I gather it is early days and so these may follow at some point.
If you read the About page, you will find the gift voucher scheme has two purposes. First, it directly supports the flow of money in the local economy. Also Goodmoney are using the scheme to build their local business membership. It sounds as if they have plans to launch other forms of support as their membership grows.
This type of scheme will work when people visit businesses and explain the advantages of joining the scheme. As the number of participant businesses grow, this will make the scheme more attractive and evidence of income from the scheme will also be helpful. Another advantage personal contact has over depending solely on online registration is opportunities to identify barriers to joining the scheme. The reasons why potential customers might not invest in it can be varied and not necessarily what the developers of the scheme expect.
Research into the barriers to the scheme can result in changes to the marketing and perhaps to the scheme itself.
This is a brilliant idea, that could be extended to other areas. It is clearly described on the website and it seems it is being effectively marketed locally.
If you are aware of other resources supporting the local economy, please share them in the comments. My aim is to encourage the sharing of ideas and so I plan to review the idea itself as well as how it is conveyed online.