Gift cards represent a versatile and strategic tool for your online store. Whether you want to build customer loyalty, increase holiday sales, or resolve refund situations, gift cards offer a simple and convenient solution. With Shopify, setting up and managing gift cards is a quick and intuitive process, suitable for any theme or type of store.
In this guide we will explore step by step how to best create and use gift cards on Shopify to improve your customers' experience and boost your business. These instructions apply to both free and premium themes, so you can apply them no matter what type of theme you're using.
First of all, log in to your Shopify admin panel. Go to the Products section-> Gift Cards. If you haven't created any gift cards yet, you'll see an option to create a gift card or add a gift card product.
Creating a gift card
By selecting this first option, you will have the option to create a gift voucher in the form of a code to issue directly to a customer, and there are several reasons why you may need to do this, for example:
- A credit to a customer instead of a refund
- A giveaway to be awarded to the winner
- A discount to provide to an influencer for influencer marketing activity
- A discount for selected customers
Creating these gift cards is relatively simple. The parts you can change are:
Details
Gift Card Code: You can leave the code automatically generated by Shopify or you can customize it as you like.
Initial value: Represents the economic value of the discount code
Expiry date
You can set the voucher to have no expiration date, or select an expiration date to create a sense of urgency. However, make sure you know the regulations in force for the country or area where you are issuing the gift card. This is because there are areas where it is not possible to issue gift cards with an expiration date.
Customer
You will need to select the individual customer to whom the gift voucher should be addressed.
Internal notes
As the name itself suggests, these are notes for internal use, and therefore the interested customer will not see them. It may be helpful to write down the reason why you are issuing the gift card to a particular customer.
Once you have completed these settings you can click on save and you will have the gift voucher active and ready to be sent.
Creating a gift card product
With this second option, you will have the possibility to create a gift voucher in the form of a product that the customer can view and purchase on the store.
The parts to be filled in to create this gift voucher are:
Details
Title: Add the name that the gift voucher will have inside the store
Description: Create a description that will appear on the coupon's product page. You can also use Shopify Magic to automatically generate a description for your gift card. This AI-powered tool creates a quick and effective description based on keywords.
Multimedia: You can add a voucher image, video or 3D model to your gift voucher. You can also download a free gift card image from platforms like FreePick, then upload it to Shopify. The image file must be in PNG or JPEG format.
Category: By default it will be “Gift vouchers” and it will not be possible to change it.
Denominations
One of the main features of gift card products is the ability to set different economic values. Shopify will automatically generate naming options when you create a gift card. You can change these values or add new options as you see fit. Providing more options is a great way to offer different price points to your customers.
Product organization
In this section, you can fill other details like product type and supplier. Shopify will automatically recognize the product as a gift card because it belongs to the Products category. You can also add the gift card to a collection and use tags, just like with any other product in your store.
Save and publish the gift card product
Once you have completed the details for your gift card, make sure the product status is set to Active. You can then check whether the gift voucher is visible in your online store or on other sales channels.
Testing the functionality
Now it's time to see how the gift card looks and works in the store frontend. Go to the Online Store section and preview the gift card product. You should see the image, description, naming options, and a call-to-action button like Add to Cart.
If the customer purchases the gift voucher as a gift to someone else, during the check out phase he will have the opportunity to send him the voucher, filling in the recipient's name and email address. This is an important feature, especially for holiday shopping or special occasions. After completing the order, Shopify will send the digital gift card to the recipient. You will be able to see all the details of the order, including the value of the gift voucher and the recipient's information.
Bonus points: Customize the gift card image in notification emails
Shopify lets you replace the default gift card image in notification emails with a custom one for more consistent branding. Before you begin, upload your desired image (recommended: 950x550 px or 5:3 ratio) to the Files section of your Shopify Admin. Access the notification settings, change the notification code in the gift card section, replacing the default file with the name of your customized file, and save the changes. This will improve the aesthetics and customer experience.
Making the most of Shopify’s tools can make all the difference in the success of your online store! Discover all of Nama's Shopify guides.
