The blog discusses how to sell gift cards or gift vouchers on WooCommerce using the Gift Cards plugin for WooCommerce. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to create and sell gift cards in your WooCommerce store in multiple ways.
Gift cards are the perfect solution for customers who don’t know what to get for their loved ones. The freedom of the recipient to purchase whatever they want is one of the prime reasons for their popularity. On the store owner’s side of things, gift cards coupons are possibly where the lifetime customer relationships begin.
But first, let’s go over the key takeaways.
Key Takeaways
- Different techniques for selling gift cards in your WooCmmerce store.
- Step-by-step instructions on how to set up the Gift Card plugin.
WooCommerce isn’t equipped with a built-in gift card feature to create or manage gift cards. Hence, you’ll require a third-party plugin to set up and sell gift cards in a WooCommerce store. The Gift Card for WooCommerce plugin acts as a savior for store owners wanting to unlock the full potential of gift cards, including the ability to manage store credit balances, set up physical or digital gift cards, and much more.
Advantages of offering Gift Cards
- Gift card guarantees sales for your store
- Customers end up buying more than the gift card’s value
- Boosts brand visibility
- Increase traffic and engagement during festive seasons
Gift cards can be offered in different ways in your WooCommerce store. In this section, we’ll explore four popular ways of offering gift cards in your WooCommerce store to help you maximize its potential and drive more revenue. We will also guide you through the process of creating each type using the gift card plugin.
1-Create and Sell Gift Card Products
One of the most common ways to sell gift cards in a WooCommerce store is by setting up gift certificates as products. Customers can purchase these just like any other item. However, instead of receiving a physical product, the customer or recipient gets the gift voucher with a pre-paid balance. This balance can then be used to purchase products from the same store in the future.
How to Set Up Gift Card As Products?
In order to create and sell gift cards as product, you may follow these steps:
- Begin by accessing the Gift Cards panel on your dashboard to create new gift card products.
- Click the Add New button to create the gift card product.
- In the opening window, provide a product name for your gift card and select a product image. These will appear on the storefront where customers can purchase the gift card.
- Scroll down to the General settings section. Here, you have the flexibility to either offer customers a selection of Predefined amounts or let them enter a Custom amount. If you opt for the latter, you can set a minimum and maximum value to guide their choices.
- On the Usage restriction tab, you can apply advanced limitations for gift card product.
- Choose from a variety of Gift card templates that will be displayed to your customers.
- Click on Publish to make your gift card product available for purchase.
Your new gift card product is now live and ready for customers to buy and share with others.
2-Sell Digital Gift Cards
These are the gift cards that can be shared via email. The gift cards will be shared with the email address of the recipient that the customer has specified.
For instance, if the customer has a wedding coming up and doesn’t know what to gift the couple—they can buy a gift card from the store for a specific amount and directly send it to them. There will be no extra manual effort required for downloading and then sending the gift card.
How to Create Digital Gift Cards?
To create virtual gift cards, follow these steps:
- Go to Gift Cards in your WooCommerce dashboard, and select Send gift card. Choose a template to begin with.
- In the Credit Amount section, enter the amount you want the gift card to hold. This will be the value available for the recipient to use.
- Provide the necessary information including the Sender name, a gift card message, and any other relevant details to make the gift card special.
- If you want a unique code for each gift card, enable the Use custom gift card code option. Enter your preferred code in the text box that appears below.
- You can also suggest specific products that the recipient can buy with the gift card using the Add product recommendation option.
- Click on the Configure email button to open the WooCommerce email settings window. Here, you can personalize the email content that will be sent to the recipient. Click Save changes.
- Back in the gift card setup window, click Preview email to see how the email will look to the recipient. If everything looks good, click Send email to deliver the gift card.
- Before finalizing, you can configure any Usage restrictions for the gift card, such as expiration dates or limits on what it can be used for.
This will send the digital gift card to your recipient’s email, where it can be redeemed at your WooCommerce store.
Want to deliver your gift cards on a specific date? Check out our dedicated article on scheduling gift cards here.
3-Offering Physical Gift Certificates
Physical gift cards are a type of gift voucher that one can purchase from a store as a customer and mail to others as gifts. Contrasting with virtual gift cards, which are delivered electronically, physical gift certificates are printed and shipped in physical form, just like other products.
How to Send Physical Gift Cards in WooCommerce?
In order to enable physical gift cards,
- Go to Gift cards > General settings.
- In the General Settings tab, under the Allow users to section, check the Send physical gift card option.
- Click Save Changes.
After setting this up, when customers access the gift card product from the front end, they will have the option to send a physical gift card.
4-Creating Printable Gift Cards
Printableable gift certificates allow store owners to provide gift cards in a printable format. These cater to the need for physical gift cards, especially when customers need them urgently and can’t wait for physical delivery.
How to Create Printable Gift Cards in WooCommerce?
To enable print option in the gift card,
- Go to Gift cards > General settings.
- In the General Settings tab, under the Allow users to section, check the Print gift card option.
- Click Save Changes.
Once enabled, the recipient will see a print button in their email, allowing them to directly print the gift card.
5-Gift Cards As An Alternative To Refunds
Offering gift cards as an alternative to refunds after product returns is an effective strategy to minimize the impact of lost sales. Gift cards not only help recover potential revenue but also encourage customers to return to your store. When a customer requests a refund, you can manually create a gift card and email it to them. Alternatively, you can add the value directly to their user credits account using the Manage Store Credit option available in this premium plugin. For a detailed guide on this, refer to our comprehensive guide on store credits.
Conclusion
Gift cards have clearly autonomy over other forms of presents. And the industry is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Providing support for a product that a majority of online retail customers need will help you grow your business at a faster pace.
Additionally, you can create different types of gift cards along with discount coupons, store credits, URL coupons, and more with a single economical plugin from WebToffee, Smart Coupons for WooCommerce.
