In this short guide, we look at how to create and send personalized gift cards via email in WooCommerce using a gift card plugin.
Who doesn’t love receiving gifts? Nobody. But most often, the gift you receive is not the gift you want, and the result would be an hours-long wait in lines to replace your gift.
Given the situation, it wouldn’t be that bad in this digital economy, but still, returning and then re-delivering products in itself is not a piece of cake. This is why digital gift cards are one of the most successful and thriving ideas in the world of online retail business. Let’s dive into the key takeaways.
Key Takeaways
- Personalized gift cards can boost customer loyalty and retention.
- Learn how to set up and email customized gift cards to WooCommerce customers.
- Explore the key features of the best gift card plugin for WooCommerce.
In WooCommerce, gift cards present an opportunity for customers to purchase credits for their loved ones rather than choosing specific products. This way, the recipient can select the items they want or need, eliminating any issues with returning or exchanging gifts.
- Reward Customer Loyalty
WooCommerce gift cards offer a thoughtful way to reward your loyal customers. Personalized gift cards allow you to express appreciation to customers in a way that resonates with them. Rather than receiving a generic item as a gift, these cards let customers choose products they prefer.
- Celebrate Special Occasions with Customers
Sending personalized gift cards to customers on their birthdays or other occasions helps you build stronger relationships and shows that you value their continued support. These gestures, especially during major holidays like Christmas or New Year’s, can go a long way.
- Offer Gift Cards (or Store Credits) as Refund Alternatives
Instead of offering direct refunds, providing gift cards of equal value helps retain revenue while keeping customers engaged. WooCommerce gift cards can also serve as a goodwill gesture in case of delivery delays or other issues, helping to restore customer satisfaction.
- Encourage Product Reviews
You may also use WooCommerce gift cards to encourage your customers to write store or product reviews. For example, customers can be offered $10 personalized gift cards if they have made five or more product reviews.
- Recover Abandoned Carts with Gift Card Incentives
You can also use this to attract customers who have abandoned their purchases mid-way. Whatever may be the reason for this abandonment, an offer such as gift card would make your customers re-examine their decision to leave the store.
WooCommerce gift cards can be created and distributed from your WordPress admin console. You need a single plugin, the WebToffee WooCommerce Gift Cards. The plugin enables you to set up gift cards and send them to selected customers via mail in real-time.
In addition to emailing gift cards, the plugin can also be used to create WooCommerce gift card products in your store, customize gift cards, administer store credit balances of individual customers, and more.
Here, we will look into sending personalized WooCommerce gift cards to customers via email.
Step 1: Install and Activate The WebToffee WooCommerce Gift Cards
The gift cards for WooCommerce can be activated in your WordPress account by installing and activating the WebToffee Gift Card plugin. To do that,
- Go to your WordPress admin console and go to Plugins > Add New.
- Upload the plugin zip file that you got when you purchased the plugin.
- Install and activate the plugin.
Step 2: Configure The Gift Card Email
If you want to configure the email contents that your customers will see when they receive the gift cards, you can do so with this step. If you are happy with the default setup, ignore this step and proceed to the next.
- Go to Gift Cards > General settings > Email settings and click on Configure email. You will be redirected to WooCommerce email settings for gift cards.
- In the opening window, enter the appropriate subject, heading, and body of the email.
- Once done, click on Save changes.
Step 3: Customizing The Gift Card Email Template
- Go to Gift cards > General settings > Template settings.
- ITo organize gift card templates by category, enable the Categorize templates checkbox. We’ll keep this option enabled.
- All available templates will now be visible under each category. You can upload additional templates by clicking on the + icon.
- Moreover, you can deselect any templates you do not want while sending personalized gift cards.
- Once the changes are made, click on Save to update the changes.
Step 4: Send Gift Card Emails To The Customers
- Now go to the Send gift card page in the Gift Cards panel.
- All the templates you selected in the previous step will be displayed here. Choose your preferred template.
- Enter the credit amount that you want to give your user.
- Input the recipient’s email addresses. In case of multiple recipients, separate each address with a comma.
- Mention the sender’s name if required.
- Specify a Caption and a Gift card message.
- If you want to set up a custom gift card code, enable that option here and provide the custom code in the subsequent Gift card code field.
- You can also suggest products that customers can purchase using the credits in the Add product recommendations option.
- Next, you can specify any usage restrictions for the gift card. That is, define when a customer can redeem the gift card.
- Define product and category-specific restrictions in the Allowed or Excluded products/category fields.
- Enter the Maximum spend allowed on a purchase if you want to enforce gift card credit usage for individual purchases.
- If your gift card should remain active only for a specific period, specify it under Set expiry for generated coupons.
- After reviewing all settings, click Preview email to see how the email will appear in the customer’s inbox.
- Finally, click on Send email.
That’s it! Setting up and emailing a WooCommerce gift card is easy with these simple steps.
WebToffee WooCommerce Gift Cards plugin enables stores to offer customizable digital gift cards. Customers can buy, redeem, and share these gift cards directly from your store.
You can design attractive gift cards of fixed values or custom amounts, set expiration dates, and allow customers to add personalized messages. Available in two versions, the free gift card plugin covers basic gift card setup. For more advanced gift card capabilities, you will need the gift card pro version.
Key Features of the premium gift card plugin include,
- Create an unlimited number of gift cards
- Allow users to email or print gift cards
- Allow users to schedule sending gift cards
- Allow users to choose custom value for gift cards
- Attach gift cards as PDFs to emails
- Add ‘gift this product’ option to product pages
- Send product recommendation in the gift cards
- Manage user credit balances
- Provide instant refunds to store credits
- Use store credits on shipping, tax, and other charges
Summary
Gift cards are highly handy, and therefore, it is one of the most popular forms of product in WooCommerce stores across the globe. Since no other product offers such flexibility, it is unlikely that its significance will decline in the near future.
Personalized WooCommerce gift cards, when sent to customers’ inboxes directly by the admin, can help retain loyal customers. It may even help you bring back customers who may have left your store.
I hope this article has helped you understand the significance of gift cards and how to set them up. Do let us know what you think in the comments below.
Frequently Asked Questions
To set up and create gift cards in WooCommerce, first install and activate a WooCommerce gift card plugin. Once activated, go to the Gift Cards panel to configure the general settings. Then, in the Gift card product tab and add a new gift card product. For more information, refer to the article here: Add Gift Card as Product to a WooCommerce Store
Yes, gift cards can be sent via email. WooCommerce doesn’t offer this feature by default, so you’ll need a third-party plugin, like WebToffee’s Gift Card plugin, to enable it.
With the WebToffee Gift Card plugin, you can sell gift cards in four ways: as a gift card product, digital gift cards, physical gift cards, or printable gift cards.
When customers purchase a digital gift card, they select a template, enter the gift card amount, add a personalized message, and provide recipient details. They can also schedule the delivery for a future date. The recipient can then redeem the gift card as store credit or use it for purchases.
Comment (1)
Francine Battaglia
May 28, 2023
Keep the samples coming