Holly has been working long hours at the hospital, and Dave wants to get her a gift certificate for a relaxing massage. The only problem is that Dave lives in New York City, and Holly lives on the other side of the country in Seattle, Washington. She doesn’t see a massage therapist regularly, so Dave isn’t sure which business he should buy from.

But there’s good news for Dave. He used MassageBook to find an awesome practice in New York where he’s now become a regular, and he knows that all across the United States, there are thousands of other highly rated, independent massage professionals waiting to be found and booked.

To make it easy for Holly to find the one that’s right for her in Seattle, Dave can buy and email her a MassageBook Gift Card to be used in the area. With her e-gift card, she’ll be able to book and pay for an appointment with a true pro who is part of the MassageBook network. Looks like Dave found the perfect gift after all!

From here, he can pick the card style for the email, the dollar amount of the gift card, who it’s for, where it’s going, and when he wants it to be delivered. He can even add a special note to tell Mom how much he loves and misses her.

After Dave has reviewed the details to make sure everything looks correct, he can securely enter in the credit card that he wants to use for payment. Dave was already signed into his MassageBook account prior to buying this gift card, so he won’t have to enter in his contact info again. But if he wasn’t, he’d be able to sign in or create a new account right on this page. Now all Dave has to do is complete his purchase to schedule the gift card delivery.

Let’s fast forward to the delivery date and take a look at the email in Holly’s inbox. She’ll see Dave’s message, the gift card amount, the code she’ll need to redeem the gift, and instructions for how to get started.

The link in the email will take Holly directly to the MassageBook directory where she’ll see a list of all businesses in the Seattle area that accept MassageBook Gift Cards. If she doesn’t go through the email, she can always select View Businesses here to filter the results.

Holly can then use the tools on this page to learn more about each business, read reviews from around the web, and see when they’re available during the week. Once she has made a decision, she can open their MassageBook listing to start booking an appointment.

From here, she can pick the service that’s right for her, the length of the session, a provider if the business has more than one staff member, an available date, and then the time that works best for her on that day.

This is Holly’s first time booking online through MassageBook, so she’ll need to create an account in order to reserve her appointment time at Hanna’s Massage Business. And since it’s her first time meeting Hanna, she can introduce herself by leaving a quick note that will appear in the appointment on Hanna’s Schedule.

After agreeing to the cancellation policy, Holly can select to pay for the service using Dave’s generous gift. From here, she can add a tip in advance and enter the code found on her MassageBook Gift Card. The remaining balance will be kept on her gift card, and she’ll be able to use the rest when she comes back for a second visit. Now all Holly has to do is select pay to confirm her upcoming appointment.

You’ve seen how a MassageBook Gift Card makes it easy for the public to gift the gift of massage to family and friends around the country, so let’s switch gears and talk about how this works on the professional side for Hanna and her massage business.

Hanna will see the new booking on her MassageBook Schedule, and she can use the info in the appointment block to see that Holly booked and prepaid through the MassageBook directory, added a message during online booking, and filled out her intake form prior to the visit. When Hanna clicks on the appointment, she’ll see that Holly paid with a MassageBook Gift Card, and she’ll be able to read the greeting under the Appointment Notes.

Now all Hanna has to do is check out the appointment after a great first session with Holly. On the checkout page, Hanna will see that Holly prepaid an extra $6 for the $60 service, so she can bypass adding a tip before confirming the payment.

Once checkout is complete, Hanna will see that she just got paid with a MassageBook Gift Card and that $54.78 is scheduled to arrive into her bank account within 2 business days. That’s because when MassageBook sends Hanna a brand new client that books and pays with a MassageBook Gift Card, she gets 83% of the total amount that’s redeemed. The 17% difference covers MassageBook’s marketing fee and the cost of processing the credit card at the time of purchase.

Holly can use the remaining balance on her gift card when she comes back for her next appointment, and when that happens, Hanna will get to keep the full amount since Holly is now a customer at Hanna’s business. A marketing fee is not applied if someone uses a MassageBook Gift Card at a business they’re already a client of.

And to be clear, the fees we’re talking about are only for Gift Cards sold by MassageBook. When Hanna sells gift certificates directly through her business, she gets to keep the full profit every time.

Now that you’ve seen what happens when a business gets a new client with the help of a MassageBook Gift Card, let’s talk about how you can join the program today.

First, we’ll go to Credit Card Payments under Business Settings. Your business can use either Square or Stripe for credit card processing in MassageBook; however, you must be connected to a Stripe account in order to receive a deposit from a MassageBook Gift Card. There are three options on this page.

You connect to Stripe for all payments, which means that your business will be able to accept credit cards and MassageBook Gift Cards.

You can connect to Stripe for money transfers only, which means that you won’t be able to process credit cards in MassageBook, but you will still be able to receive your payment if a client ever uses a MassageBook Gift Card at your business.

Or, you can connect to Square for credit card payments and you can connect to Stripe for money transfers only. This means that Square will be your primary credit card processor, and you will still be able to get paid when a MassageBook Gift Card is redeemed at your business.

In this example, Hanna’s business is connected to Square and Stripe. She has a separate account for each but both have the same bank information on file; therefore, all credit card and gift card payments will go to the same place.

On this page, connect to one of the three options to complete your preferred setup. If you don’t already have a Square or Stripe account, you will be able to create one when following the connection steps the software walks you through.

Now that you’re set up to receive MassageBook Gift Card payments, let’s go to Online Booking Rules under Business Settings to turn on the feature.

Head up to the top right corner of your account to flip on your Business Listing. This puts your business in the MassageBook directory where Dave and Holly were searching earlier.

Now go down to Booking Rules where you’ll choose who can book with you and from where online. The first three boxes must be checked—which includes existing clients, new clients through your business website, and new clients who find you in the MassageBook directory.

Once you’ve satisfied these requirements, you can go ahead and check the box to accept Gift Cards sold by MassageBook. Save your settings at the bottom, and you’ll automatically be added to the list of available businesses that accept MassageBook Gift Cards.

Don’t miss out on getting your next new client. MassageBook Gift Cards are waiting to be redeemed all across the country!