WooCommerce store owners employ different marketing strategies to boost sales and revenue. If you are new to WooCommerce marketing and planning, you might be on the lookout for strategies to upscale your business. Gift card marketing is a common marketing strategy found in many WooCommerce stores. 

You may be wondering how selling gift cards on your WooCommerce store can help you get more customers. Well, hang on, today we are going to explain everything you need to know about WooCommerce gift card marketing.

This is going to be a beginner’s guide, so we will explain everything from the basics. Starting from the basics, let’s begin with the very basic question.

What is WooCommerce Gift Card Marketing?

WooCommerce gift card marketing is a common marketing strategy employed by WooCommerce store owners with the use of gift cards. A gift card is a coupon with a prepaid value of the store credit. 

Gift cards can be created as a standalone product on your store site. Customers can purchase gift cards from your store and send them to their loved ones. These gift cards can be redeemed as store credits or can be used at the checkout when placing an order. 

When a customer sends a gift card to someone from your store, the other person who received the gift card will definitely sign up at your store to redeem the gift card. After all, who would say no to gifts?

Apart from this, you can offer free gift cards to your customers, send personalized gift vouchers and do a lot more. This way, you can maintain good relationships with your customers.

What are The Benefits of Selling Gift Cards in WooCommerce?

Selling gift cards on your WooCommerce store can benefit you in numerous ways. One of which we already mentioned earlier. Let’s now take a deeper look at the benefits of selling gift cards in WooCommerce. 

1. Customers love it!

It is a no-brainer that your customers love gift cards. Gift cards add to the shopping experience on your store site. Unlike WooCommerce coupons, gift cards can create a sense of receiving gifts for your customers. 

2. Get more sales

WooCommerce gift cards can get you more sales on your store site. Research has proven that customers are more likely to buy more than the actual cost of the gift card. 

3. Build good relationships with your customers

Offering gift cards to your customers can help you build good customer relationships and maintain customer loyalty. You can also offer personalized gift cards to your loyal customers on special occasions like Birthdays, Christmas, and New Year.

4. Get new sign-ups

People often buy gift cards for their loved ones. The majority of those who redeem gift cards in your store will likely be first-time customers. In this way, you can get new customers on your store site.

5. Free money, literally

Gift cards with an expiration date will expire over time. And those unredeemed gift cards can be free money on your store site.

Now that you are aware of the benefits of selling WooCommerce gift cards let’s see how we can set up gift cards on your store site.

How to Set Up Gift Cards in WooCommerce?

WooCommerce doesn’t provide you with the option to sell gift cards on your store site. We will use a third-party gift card plugin to do so. 

You can see many options for WooCommerce gift cards, but the gift card plugin by WebToffee offers the best value. 

  • After purchasing the gift card plugin, download the plugin .zip file from the My account section of the website. You may also receive an email to download the plugin file.
  • Then go to Plugins > Add New from your WordPress dashboard. 
  • Install and activate the plugin. 

Now follow the below steps to set up gift cards on your WooCommerce store.

Step 1: General Settings for WooCommerce Gift Cards

Navigate to Gift cards > General settings from your WordPress dashboard.

General settings for WooCommerce gift cards
  • Enable the gift card product option.
  • Then choose whether to allow users to email or print gift cards from your store site.
  • Choose an order status to auto-generate the WooCommerce gift card.

Under the gift card usage settings, set various usage restrictions for the gift card.

Gift card usage settings
  • Choose when to calculate the taxes for the orders purchased with the store credit discount. 
  • Enable whether to allow usage of store credit coupons with other WooCommerce coupons.
  • Choose to allow using store credits to purchase gift cards.
  • Set an expiration date for gift cards. If left blank, no expiration will be set for the gift cards. We will set 30 days as the expiry.

Step 2: Gift Card Product Page Settings

Gift card product page fields
  • Choose the fields to be shown on the gift card product page. Enable or disable to show or hide the fields accordingly.
  • Allow users to schedule the gift card coupons to be sent on a specific date. 

Step 3: Gift Card Template Settings

Gift card template settings
  • Choose whether to categorize the gift card template. 
  • Then choose a preferred template from the available categories. Let’s keep it all checked. 
  • Now, click on Save to save the settings.

Step 4: Adding New Gift Card Product

  • Go to the Gift card products tab. Then click on Add new.
  • Enter a product name and a short description.
Product data metabox
  • Scroll down to the Product data meta box to configure the gift card product settings
  • Choose a purchase option for the gift card product.
  • If you are choosing the Predefined amounts, enter a set of predefined amounts in the provided field.
  • For Custom amounts, choose the minimum and maximum amount limit.
  • Go to the Usage restrictions section to add usage restrictions for the gift card product. You can allow or restrict certain gift card products or categories for using the gift card.
  • Then choose the maximum spent limit for the gift card.
  • Now go to the Template settings tab and choose a template. You can also allow your customers to choose the template by enabling the Allow customer to choose a template checkbox.
  • Add any other product information for the gift card product. Then click on Publish to save the product. 

Here is a front-end view of the gift card product. 

How to Send Free Gift Cards to Customers?

Sending free gift cards to customers can help you maintain customer loyalty and build good relationships with your customers. 

Now, let’s see how to send free gift cards to customers.

Go to the Send gift card tab from the WooCommerce Gift Cards settings page.

Send free gift cards to customers

  1. Firstly, choose a template for the gift card. 

  2. Then, enter a credit amount for the gift card value. 

  3. Enter a caption and message for the gift card.

  4. Add the recipient’s email address.

    You can add multiple recipients by separating the email with a comma. 

  5. Enter the sender’s name if you want. 

  6. Click on the Configure email button to configure the gift card email from the WooCommerce Emails section.

  7. Under the Usage restrictions section, set various usage restrictions for the gift card. 

  8. Choose certain products to allow or exclude redeeming with the gift card.

  9. Select a maximum spend limit for the gift card.

  10. Then select an expiry for the generated gift card coupons.

  11. Click on Send email to send the gift card mail.

Frequently Asked Questions about WooCommerce Gift Cards

Is selling gift cards a marketing strategy?

Gift cards are becoming more popular in eCommerce. It offers an effective way to increase sales on your store website and bring new customers to your store. In simple terms, selling gift cards can be an effective marketing strategy if you use them right.

Can I make a profit from gift cards?

Sending free gift cards or selling gift cards at discounts can increase your store revenue. Many studies have found that most people often have the tendency to spend a larger amount than the actual gift card price. This way, you can increase the average order value in your store.

How can I promote gift card sales?

You can promote gift card sales increasing the visibility of gift cards in your store. Let your customers know that you sell gift cards by displaying banners and popups and showing suggestions. You can also give a discount for gift cards to increase sales.

Can I allow customers to schedule gift cards?

Yes. With the plugin discussed in this article, you can allow your customers to schedule gift cards on your store.

Best Practices for WooCommerce Gift Card Marketing

Now, let’s see some of the best practices to follow for WooCommerce gift card marketing.

  1. Send personalized gift cards to customers 

You can send personalized gift cards to your customers on special occasions like Birthday, New Year, and Christmas. Add their name, photo, and a wish message so that they can have a sense of getting a gift. 

  1. Offer gift cards for store referrals

Reward free gift cards to your customers for store referrals. This helps in getting more referrals and new sign-ups on your store site. This can increase the average order value and sales figures for your store.

  1. Sell occasion-based gift cards

Selling custom gift cards for festivals and other special occasions can increase the conversion rate for gift cards in your store. Check out this article to learn how to create custom gift vouchers in WooCommerce.

  1. Add usage restrictions for the gift card

You can add various usage restrictions for gift cards to promote sales for specific products. Choose to allow or exclude products or categories from redeeming with the gift card.

  1. Promote your gift cards

If you are selling gift cards, inform your customers of the gift card. Let them know about the available gift cards on your store site. You can use pop-ups and banners to promote gift cards in your store. 

Conclusion

Gift cards are really an effective marketing tool. It can help you generate more sales on your store site. The WooCommerce gift cards plugin we used in this article can help you create and manage unlimited gift cards on your store site. 

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand about WooCommerce gift card marketing and how to use it effectively. If you find this article to be informative, please share your valuable feedback. 

Thanks for reading!

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