Many WooCommerce store owners try various promotional strategies to attract seasonal shoppers during holidays. Some run discount campaigns, and some offer gift cards to grab attention. Indeed, gift cards help entrepreneurs attract visitors.
So, if you have a Woocommerce store, you can use gift cards to increase sales. However, do you know how to create gift card in WooCommerce.
If you know, start utilizing it in your store. If you don’t, learn to generate gift cards by reading this resourceful guide.
Why Should You Offer WooCommerce Gift Cards?
As an online business owner, you’ll enjoy many benefits by offering gift cards through your WooCommerce store. First, the gift card market in the US is rising. According to
Yahoo Finance, it’ll reach $234.14 billion in 2025. So, entering this huge market can help you increase your business revenue.
Second, gift cards let you attract new customers. Picture this: when someone gets a gift card, they become more likely to visit your WordPress store for the first time. And who knows, they might become loyal customers over time.
Third, gift cards encourage repeat business since prospects may consider your shop for future purchases. Fourth, gift cards are more secure than cash, and they reduce fraud risks.
Aside from all these benefits, gift cards increase the opportunity for upselling and help businesses maintain the cash flow. Thus, you now understand why you should offer WooCommerce gift cards.
Learn how to complement your gift card strategy by exploring How to Add Discount in WooCommerce to attract even more customers and boost sales.
Types of Gift Cards in WooCommerce
WooCommerce gift cards come in several types. Each type serves a different purpose. Let’s now discuss in detail each type.
1. Digital Gift Cards
Digital gift cards are virtual products and a popular gift card type. You can send these items directly to the recipient’s email as a store owner. The significant advantage of digital gift cards is that you don’t need to deal with shipping.
2. Physical Gift Cards
As you can guess from the title, physical gift cards are physical items you print and ship to the buyer. These items are a valuable addition to WooCommerce shops with physical stores. You display these physical cards in your store and allow prospects to buy them in person.
3. Fixed Amount Gift Cards
Fixed amount gift cards can be both physical and digital. These cards offer a fixed purchasing value, such as $25, $50, or more. You can set a fixed value on these cards and let shoppers purchase products using that defined purchasing value on those gift cards.
4. Variable Amount Gift Cards
It’s the opposite of fixed amount gift cards. A variable gift card enables customers to enter the desired gift card amount. As a store owner, you can just set a minimum and maximum amount that customers can input within a variable amount gift card.
5. Product-Specific Gift Cards
These gift cards only work on particular products or categories. Shop owners use these cards to highlight seasonal items or a collection during holiday seasons.
These are the major types of WooCommerce gift cards. Let’s now create one.
How to Add Gift Card in WooCommerce
As of now, you might be wondering, “How do I add a gift card in WordPress?” You’ll get the answer in this section. So, carefully read it and follow the guidelines to create a gift card in WooCommerce.
Step 1: Use the Best WooCommerce Gift Card Plugin
Since WooCommerce doesn’t have a built-in function to help store owners generate gift cards, you need to rely on third-party WordPress plugins.
However, the problem arises when you search for such plugins. You get to see a plethora of plugins that claim to generate WooCommerce gift cards.
As a result, you get baffled and can’t decide which one to use. You might follow the criteria below to figure out how to choose the best WooCommerce gift card plugin.
- Check if the plugin lets you create both digital and physical gift cards
- Inspect whether the plugin lets customers add custom messages
- Examine if your chosen plugin enables you to set a delivery date and time
- It should let you easily manage and monitor gift card balances
- The plugin must be compatible with WooCommerce
- The plugin should have a user-friendly interface
- Check the plugin’s developer reputation
- Inspect the customer support and documentation
- Check reviews and compare other plugins
If following these criteria seems a hassle and you need a recommendation, select ShopBuilder. It’s a WooCommerce store builder that integrates with WooCommerce and works with Elementor, a famous page builder.
It lets you build high-converting WordPress stores in minutes. This plugin has several modules, which are standalone plugins, and they help you level up your store and increase sales.
Among these modules, the Gift Card module helps you generate both physical and digital gift cards. Let’s utilize this plugin and the module.
Step 2: Install and Configure ShopBuilder
Before proceeding with the installation, we want to inform you that ShopBuilder comes in free and pro versions.
While the free version allows you to build a decent WooCommerce store, the game-changer modules and functionalities are present in the pro version. Also, the Gift Card module comes in the pro version.
So, get the pro version of ShopBuilder.
Once you purchase it, you’ll get a zipped file via email. Also, you can download that file from the Radius Theme website. Now, you need to upload this zipped file to your store. Here’s how.
- Navigate to WordPress Admin Dashboard > Plugins > Add Plugin.
- Then, press “Upload Plugin” button at the top left.
- Now, hit “Choose File” button to upload the ShopBuilder Pro zipped file.
- After uploading that zipped file, click “Install Now” button.
- Wait a moment and then press “Activate Plugin” button.
That’s how you install and activate the pro version of ShopBuilder. Remember that you’ll see a notification to install and activate the free version after activating the pro version.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install and activate the free version of the ShopBuilder plugin. Lastly, you need to insert the license key you received via email.
- So, go to WP Admin Dashboard > ShopBuilder > License.
- Then, enter your license key in “Licence key” field and hit “Activate License” button. Congrats! You are now a pro user. Enjoy the benefits.
Configure ShopBuilder Settings
To build a gift card with ShopBuilder, you first need to enable its “Gift Card” module. So, head to WP Admin Panel > ShopBuilder > Settings.
Now, click ‘Modules’ tab at the top, scroll down to find the “Gift Card” module, and hit on it.
You’ll notice a pop-up. Toggle on “Enable Gift Card?” switch and press “Save Changes” button.
Okay, we are ready to generate a gift card. Note that this module has several customization options that you can read about in the gift card documentation to learn more about the customization.
Step 3: Create a Gift Card in WooCommerce
We’ll now create a digital gift card with diverse purchasing values. Let’s build. First, visit WP Admin Dashboard > Products > Add new product.
Now, write a gift card title in “Add new product” field and a description in “Product description” box.
Scroll down a little, click “Product data-” drop-down menu, and select “Gift Card” menu.
Check the ‘Virtual’ checkbox beside the “Product data-” drop-down menu if you are creating a digital gift card. Afterward, ensure you are on the ‘General’ tab, and enter the gift card purchasing value in “Gift Card Amounts” box. Lastly, hit ‘+ Add’ button.
Again, add another purchasing value and click the ‘+ Add’ button to include another gift card amount within the same card. After adding all the values, input a number in the “Validity Period (Days)” field to define the validity of your gift card.
Now, click ‘Inventory’ tab and input ‘SKU’ number and other inventory details.
You can work on other “Product data-” tabs; it’s not necessary, though. Then, head to “Product short description” box and include a short description.
Finally, look at the right side of the product editor, include product tag, product category, set product image, and press ‘Publish’ button.
That’s how you create a digital gift card with ShopBuilder’s Gift Card module.
Step 4: Test the Gift Card Functionality
We’ve successfully created a digital gift card that offers different gift card amounts. Let’s visit the gift card page and purchase it. Watch the animation below to see how we are buying the newly-generated digital gift card on our WooCommerce store as a customer.
If we visit “My account” page and click ‘Orders,’ we’ll notice our order status.
Let’s now approve the order using WooCommerce’s Order menu. Once we approve the order, we’ll see the order update in the “Order notes” section. Watch the animation below to see how we update this order status.
We can now purchase items using the gift card. Let’s see it in action in the animation below.
As you can see, our generated digital gift card is working perfectly. So, follow the steps we’ve shared in this article to easily create a gift card of your choice in your WooCommerce store with ShopBuilder.
Tips for Promoting Gift Cards to Customers
Only gift card generation won’t be enough to attract visitors and increase business revenue. You need to implement practical promotional strategies to achieve your goal. Here are some strategies that might help you along the way.
Create Attractive Bundles: Offer gift cards as a part of a bundle. For instance, a coffee shop may provide a $60 gift card with a free beverage. This will help that shop lure customers and encourage higher spending.
Utilize Seasonal Promotions: Create gift cards dedicated to holidays and special occasions and run limited-time offers, like “Purchase a $200 gift card and get a $20 bonus!” It will evoke urgency among your targeted people and drive sales.
Incentivize Repeat Business: Reward customers who reach certain shopping milestones with gift cards. Allow them to use those cards to purchase their favorite items. This can help you strengthen customer engagement.
Utilize Social Media Platforms: Market gift cards through various social media platforms. Try sharing engaging content, running contests, and collaborating with influencers to promote gift cards.
Highlight at Checkout: You can remind customers about gift card options during checkout. Doing so can increase average transaction value.
Personalize the Experience: Let customers make the gift more meaningful and increase purchase odds. Just allow them to personalize the gift cards with messages and see how sales increase with time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Selling Gift Cards Profitable?
Of course, selling gift cards is profitable. Many shops make money by selling physical and digital gift cards. Sometimes, many customers don’t use gift cards, and stores get to keep the full value as profit.
Can You Legally Resell Gift Cards?
You can legally resell unused gift cards at third-party marketplaces and other gift-card reselling platforms. However, you might not get the full face value while reselling unwanted gift cards.
How Do I Turn off Gift Cards in WooCommerce?
It’s an easy job. Just navigate to your WordPress Admin Panel > ShopBuilder > Settings. Then, ensure you are on the ‘Module’ tab, click “Gift Card” module, and turn off this module.
Our Concluding Thoughts
No wonder gift cards can help you lure new customers, enhance the shopping experience, boost sales, and encourage repeat purchases. So, every WooCommerce store should utilize different gift card types.
That’s all with this article on how to create gift card in WooCommerce. We think you can now easily build physical and digital gift cards in your WooCommerce store by following the guidelines we shared above. We wish you the best of luck on your gift card generation and selling journey.
