Gift Certificates

Gift certificates represent more than just a sales tool—they're a powerful marketing strategy to drive revenue and enhance customer engagement on your e-commerce site. Whether you're looking to promote seasonal offers, reward loyal customers, or attract new ones, gift certificates in DecoNetwork offer a versatile solution. You can select from a range of professionally designed templates or upload your own, ensuring each gift certificate reflects your brand's unique identity.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of managing gift certificates within DecoNetwork. You'll learn step-by-step how to issue, customize, and distribute gift certificates, maximizing their impact on your sales strategy. From understanding how gift certificates influence commissions to setting up availability in affiliate stores, this article covers everything you need to know to effectively leverage gift certificates as a dynamic marketing tool.

In this article, you will learn how...

• How Gift Certificates are issued in DecoNetwork
• How Gift Certificates Affect Commissions
• How to Create a Gift Certificate
• To set up the gift certificate
• Create Gift Certificates via CSV Import
• Exporting gift certificate details to CSV
• Gift Certificate Settings (including setting gift certificate availability in affiliate stores)
• Edit a Gift Certificate

How Gift Certificates are issued in DecoNetwork:

Gift certificates in DecoNetwork are issued through three primary methods. Firstly, they can be created and sent directly from the Administrative configuration pages of your Fulfillment Center. Secondly, batches of gift certificate codes can be imported into DecoNetwork by a Fulfillment Center and then distributed using external means outside of DecoNetwork. Lastly, customers have the option to purchase gift certificates directly on your Fulfillment Center's affiliate websites. Enabling the purchase of gift certificates and configuring their values is also managed through the Admin pages. Detailed instructions for each method are provided below.

How Gift Certificates Affect Commissions:

• When a gift certificate is redeemed during checkout, the gift certificate is taken as a payment method, like a credit card. It does not affect the commission of any sales going through a site.
• Commissions are not paid on the purchase of a gift certificate. This prevents a double payment of commissions at both the purchase of the certificate and the redemption of the certificate.

How to Create a Gift Certificate:

1. Log into your DecoNetwork website.
2. Browse to Admin > Marketing > Gift Certificates > Gift Certificates.

   The Gift Certificates page will be displayed.

   If you have not created any gift certificates, you will be prompted to 'Add Gift Certificates'.

   

   If there are existing gift certificates, they will be listed in the main work area. You can edit or delete gift certificates by pressing their respective buttons. To create a new gift certificate, click on the Add Gift Certificates button in the top bar.

   When adding a new gift certificate or editing an existing gift certificate you have the following settings:

   

   To set up the gift certificate:

   1. Enter in the sender's name.
   2. Enter the recipient's name.
   3. Check Send email to send the gift certificate via email to the recipient. Turning this option on reveals a text box to enter the recipient's email address.
   4. Personalize the message in the Message box.
   5. Set the Value of the gift certificate.
   6. Optionally tick the No Expiry checkbox.

      This setting allows you to issue gift certificates that do not have an expiration date. When enabled, recipients can redeem the gift certificate at any time, with no limitations on when it must be used. This option provides flexibility for customers, ensuring the gift certificate remains valid indefinitely.

      The Valid to field will be hidden if the "No Expiry" checkbox is ticked.

   7. Set the number of months you want the gift certificate to be valid for in the Valid for box.

      The certificate will remain valid for the number of months specified.

   8. Click on the Select Store button to choose a store where the gift certificate will be applicable.

      The Select Site popup will be displayed.

      
   9. Click on Select beside the store you wish to assign the gift certificate to.

      You can search for a particular store by owner name, owner phone number, owner login, URL, and/or owner email.

      If you have selected the wrong store, you can open the Select Site popup again and click on the Clear Store Selection button.

      When a store is selected, the gift certificate will show branding for the selected store and the email sent to the customer will contain a link to the affiliate store.

3. When you are done, click Save.

Create Gift Certificates via CSV Import

Prerequisites

• This feature requires a user-made CSV with one column containing a unique gift certificate code on each line. To ensure correct formatting it is recommended you use a spreadsheet tool.

This process will create a series of gift certificates with the code for each certificate based on input from an imported CSV. Each line of the CSV is to contain one column, which contains the gift certificate code. One gift certificate will be generated for each line. Each line must contain a unique code or the CSV import will fail.

1. Browse to Admin > Marketing > Gift Certificates and click the CSV Import button.
   
2. The gift certificate codes imported in the CSV will set up the gift certificate with the following properties:
   
   • Value sets the monetary value of the gift certificates in the default Fulfillment Center currency.
   • Valid From, Valid To set the dates during which the gift certificates can be redeemed.
3. Click Browse / Choose File to select the CSV to import.
4. Optionally, click on the Select Store to choose the affiliate store where the imported gift certificates can be used.

   You can search for a particular store by owner name, owner phone number, owner login, URL, and/or owner email.

   

   If you don't select a store, the gift certificates will be assigned to your Fulfillment Center's main store.

5. Click Save.

   The gift certificates that are created will appear in the Gift Certificates screen for review and editing.

Exporting gift certificate details to CSV

Details of all gift certificates can be exported to CSV file for analysis in external applications by the following method.

1. Click CSV Export.
   

   A CSV file containing the details will be saved to your computer.

   The following data is included in the export:

   • Code: the unique identifier or code assigned to each gift certificate.
   • Recipient: the recipient's name and email address for each gift certificate.
   • Purchaser: the name and email address of the person who purchased the gift certificate (if applicable).
   • Amount: the monetary value assigned to each gift certificate.
   • Used: the amount of the gift certificate value that has been used.
   • Unused: the balance remaining on the gift certificate.
   • Expiry Date: the date when the gift certificate is set to expire.
   • Expired: indicates whether the gift certificate has expired or not (Yes/No). It will show "Yes" if the gift certificate has passed its expiry date and is no longer valid for use. Conversely, it will show "No" if the gift certificate is still within its validity period.
   • Status: indicates the current status of the gift certificate (Enabled/Disabled). It will show "Enabled" if the gift certificate is active and can be used for purchases. On the other hand, it will show "Disabled" if the gift certificate has been deactivated or temporarily suspended, preventing it from being used until it is re-enabled.
   • Store: specifies the primary URL or web address associated with the store from which the gift certificate was issued or purchased.

Gift Certificate Settings (including setting gift certificate availability in affiliate stores)

The following settings change the default behavior of gift certificates that are purchased through a store.

1. Browse to Admin > Marketing > Gift Certificates > Gift Certificate Settings.
   

   The Gift Certificate Settings page will be displayed with the General tab selected.

   

   Click the image to enlarge.

2. Configure the General settings.

   Details

   • Gift certificates drop-down box has options that determine which, if any, affiliate stores may show gift certificates as products available for purchase.
   • Allow stores to customize certificates lets you choose to allow or prevent affiliate stores from making design changes to the certificates.
     • Stores use these settings:
     • Allow stores to customize:
   • Only allow 1 gift certificate per order prevents users from entering multiple certificate codes against a purchase. Consider adding this to the terms and conditions, if enabled.
   • No expiry for gift certificate: when enabled, this setting ensures that all newly issued gift certificates are valid indefinitely, with no expiration date. This setting provides recipients the flexibility to redeem their gift certificates at any time, without the pressure of a time limit, offering added convenience for customers. It is the default behavior unless otherwise specified when creating or managing individual gift certificates.
   • Expires set the period of validity for the certificate in months from the date of purchase.
   • Description sets information about gift certificates that is displayed on the gift certificate purchase page in the same way a normal product may have its description set.
   • Terms and Conditions sets the T&C's for the use of the gift certificate.

   Denominations

   Denominations allow you to set the values of gift certificates available for sale.

   • Clicking Add Denomination creates a gift certificate with a new value, and clicking Delete will remove that value gift certificate from sale.
3. Click the Design tab to customize the gift certificate design.

   Click the image to enlarge.

   This page lets you make design changes to the gift certificate, including font type, color, and background image.

4. Click on Change Font to choose a new font for the gift certificate.
   
5. Click on the color swatch to choose a new Font color for the gift certificate.
   
6. Click Upload Template to upload your own unique design.
7. When you are done, click Save.

Edit a Gift Certificate

1. Browse to Admin > Marketing > Gift Certificates > Gift Certificates.
   

   The Gift Certificates page will be displayed showing the list of existing gift certificates.

   

   Click the image to enlarge.

2. Click the Edit button for the gift certificate you want to edit.

   The Update Certificate page will be displayed.

   

   Click the image to enlarge.

3. Edit the settings.
   • From Name: edit the sender's name.
   • From Email: edit the sender's email address.
   • To Name: edit the recipient's name.
   • To Email: edit the recipient's email address.
   • Message: edit the message to be displayed on the gift certificate.
   • Value: edit the monetary value of the gift certificate.
   • No Expiry: set whether or not you want the gift certificate to have an expiration date. Tick the checkbox to make the gift certificate valid indefinitely. Untick it to set an expiration date.
   • Valid From: select a new start date for the period during which the gift certificate can be redeemed.
   • Valid To: select a new end date for the period during which the gift certificate can be redeemed.
   • Store: click on the Select Store button to choose a store where the gift certificate will be applicable.
4. When you are done, click Save.