This is a beefy article so I'm providing a TL;DR – Running gifting campaigns through an e-commerce platform can be difficult. Do yourself a solid and look into the purpose-built gifting platforms mentioned at the end.
When your client calls needing your help with a corporate gifting project, selecting the right platform can significantly impact the success of your project. Redemption platforms and traditional e-commerce platforms each have their strengths, but their use cases differ enough to warrant a purpose-built platform for gifting. This article explores how redemption platforms are uniquely suited for gifting campaigns and the additional considerations required to make your gifting project effective.
Redemption Sites: Purpose-Built for Gifting
Redemption Sites: Purpose-Built for Gifting
1. One Item, One Order Per Person: Often, a gifting campaign requires that each approved recipient can redeem only one gift one time. Redemption platforms can effectively enforce policies that limit each recipient to one item and one order, preventing duplicate orders and ensuring fair distribution of gifts. While this could be managed with a discount code or a store gift card, these options can complicate the communication and user experience aspects of the project. Additionally, unless you configure your e-commerce site to use points instead of dollars, your client may feel uncomfortable indicating a gift's value.
2. Simplified Billing: Traditional e-commerce platforms often require a billing address from the end-user, which can confuse them when selecting a gift. A redemption platform can avoid this by either not asking for a billing address or defaulting to the client's address on the backend where it is not visible to the end-user – streamlining the process and reducing confusion.
3. Clear Messaging: Your gifting platform should include on-page customizable messaging about how to redeem the gift and what to expect after selection. This helps manage recipient expectations and improves the overall experience. Additionally, it is crucial to have control over email notifications. Suppressing or customizing emails that typically relate to a paid transaction is important to avoid confusion. Clear communication about when recipients can expect their gift is ensures they are well-informed throughout the process.
4. Simplified User Experience: A simplified interface ensures a smooth and efficient gift selection process. Search functionality is typically unnecessary, as the platform should guide users quickly to their selection. User registration can introduce friction. Additionally, multiple checkout steps for billing addresses and payment are not appropriate for redemption platforms. Streamlining the user journey from selection to confirmation enhances the overall experience and reduces potential confusion.
5. Strategic Merchandising: Redemption stores should avoid extensive product catalogs that can complicate fulfillment and dilute the gifting experience. Unlike traditional e-commerce platforms that focus on maximizing sales with tools to optimize cart conversions and track customer behavior, redemption stores focus on delivering a seamless gifting experience without commerce-specific elements. Strategic merchandising in redemption stores prioritizes simplicity and user experience, ensuring that the offerings are curated and relevant, making it easy for recipients to choose their gifts without being overwhelmed by too many options.
Additional Considerations for Running a Redemption Store
When planning and running a gift redemption campaign for your clients, several factors need to be considered to ensure its success and alignment with both your clients' goals and your own business's goals.
Event-Driven vs. Evergreen Stores
Event-Driven Stores:
- Purpose: Designed for specific events like company milestones, holidays, or special promotions.
- Limited Time: Typically live for a set duration, creating urgency for recipients to redeem their gifts.
- High Engagement: Higher engagement rates due to the event's excitement and relevance.
- Production Efficiency: Orders are gathered after the window closes, making it easier to manage production (book-and-run), reducing waste and costs, especially for wearables, as exact sizes can be ordered based on reports.
Evergreen Stores:
- Continuous Availability: Always available, providing a consistent place for employees or customers to redeem gifts at any time. Typically seen in loyalty programs.
- Resource Drain: Can continuously drain accounting, customer support, and fulfillment resources. Unless generating high annual revenue, evergreen stores can be challenging to maintain.
- Print-On-Demand Solutions: Using print-on-demand solutions like the ones mentioned towards the end of this article can help avoid inventory and fulfillment-related costs.
Inventory Management: Book and Run vs. Standing Inventory
Book and Run:
- Order Aggregation: When the ordering window closes, orders are aggregated and go into production, then shipped to recipients.
- Efficiency: Reduces ongoing costs associated with maintaining standing inventory.
- Inventory Costs: Minimizes the risk of unsold inventory and reduces waste.
- Stock Uncertainty: Care needs to be taken to offer items that have deep inventories. Avoid painful back-order situations by working with your suppliers to identify "program safe" items.
Standing Inventory:
- Pre-Stocked Goods: Products are pre-purchased and stored, ready for immediate shipment.
- Inventory Control: You'll need to ensure that your platform supports inventory tracking and can prevent recipients from selecting something that is no longer available. Ideally, your platform can hide unavailable items so that recipients are not disappointed if their first pick is not available.
- Higher Costs: Involves higher upfront costs for inventory purchase and ongoing storage expenses.
- Quick Fulfillment: Standing inventory may result in recipients receiving their items more quickly, providing a good gifting experience. Additionally, if shipping from inventory, you may have the ability to elevate the gift with an insert or custom packaging.
Other Considerations
Access Control Methods
- One-Time-Use Links:
- Unique Links: Each recipient receives a unique link that can only be used once.
- Email Merge: Requires an email merge to send personalized emails with unique links. You may be able to avoid having to email links if your platform supports customer verification. See number 4 below.
- Security: High security as each link is unique and expires after use.
- Redemption Codes:
- Individual Codes: Recipients are provided with unique codes to enter on the site.
- Distribution: Codes can be distributed via email or printed vouchers.
- Password Protected Stores:
- Store Access: Recipients need a password to access the store.
- Ease of Use: Simple to implement but less secure if a single password is shared widely.
- Redemption Control: While a password-protected site may prevent individuals you do not intend from accessing the redemption site, it should be used in combination with another control method to ensure that one gift is redeemed per person.
- Customer Verification:
- Email Verification: Recipients provide their work email to gain access.
- Domain Whitelist: Only email addresses from specified domains are allowed.
- Automatic Links: After verification, recipients receive their unique one-time-use link.
- Email and Domain Whitelist:
- Access Control: Only pre-loaded email addresses or email domains can access the store.
- Verification Process: Ensures only authorized recipients can redeem gifts but would not necessarily be full-proof unless combined with other control methods.
- Integration: Can be combined with customer verification for enhanced security.
Shipping Logistics
- Delivery Locations:
- Recipient Homes: Gifts are shipped directly to home addresses, offering convenience.
- Predefined Locations: Gifts are shipped to predefined office locations. This provides the opportunity to ship in batches.
- Shipping Methods:
- Batch Shipping: Save money but increase complexity by scheduling regular batch shipments if sending to office locations for evergreen redemption sites.
- Single Shipment: Ship all gifts at once for event-driven stores. For event-driven sites you might be able to do one round of batch shipments. Be sure to include a detailed list of recipients and their chosen item so that your client can distribute items properly.
- Drop-Ship: Factor in the expense to have your supplier drop-ship individual orders to recipients.
- Tracking Numbers: Your redemption platform may have a solution for uploading tracking numbers into their system to trigger shipping notification emails. If they don't, consider advising your client that, while tracking numbers for shipments can be made available to them, you may not easily be able to provide ship notices to all recipients.
- Communication:
- Transparency: Clearly communicate shipping details, including timelines and methods. If you cannot provide tracking numbers to individual recipients, consider communication like, "We expect all gifts to ship the week of June 1st," or something to that effect.
- On-Page: Take every opportunity to communicate expectations. Crucially, add messaging to the home page (how to redeem your gift...) and on the submission page (your gift will ship the week of...). Consider building a frequently asked questions page.
- Off-Page: In addition to customizing email templates for order submission, you can collaborate with your client to develop an introductory email that invites recipients to select their gift. This email should include the 'why' of the gifting event, how to redeem it, and what to expect regarding shipping. For event-driven gifting, consider sending a reminder email shortly before the ordering window closes.
Conclusion
Running a successful redemption store requires careful planning and consideration of various factors, from the type of store (event-driven or evergreen) to shipping logistics. By addressing these considerations, you can create a gift redemption experience that not only is manageable for your team to execute, but also meets your clients' goals.
Gifting Platforms to Explore
The solution providers below all offer solutions for redemption stores. I encourage you to learn more about each of them and invite them to work closely with you on your next gifting project!
PromoHunt
When it comes to access controls to enforce one gift and one order per recipient, PromoHunt does a stellar job at offering a variety of methods to mix and match for your specific project. I've personally found Tony and his team to be helpful, consultative, and attentive.
OMG Redemption Stores
Redemption stores on Order My Gear go up easy and quickly. A great self-serve option.
GIVEE by PCNA
PCNA offers GIVEE, a gifting platform with some seriously cool tech behind it. Unique for its ability to offer personalization, it's a great option for book and run projects.
Order Your Imprint by Hit
Hit can help you with gifting campaigns as well with Order Your Imprint. At present the site is light on details so ask your rep for more info.
Single Serve Merch
While not exclusively built for redemption sites, Single Serve Merch does have the ability to offer payment-free transactions.
Did we skip one that you think belongs on our list? Let us know!
