Most Shopify brands have holiday season sales and offers. But most of the offers and promotions are the same. How about this holiday season you take a different approach?
Instead of just offering discounts and competing on price, you create a meaningful offer – ‘Gift a Subscription.’ Encourage customers to purchase subscription plans as gifts for their loved ones.
This drives recurring revenue and increases long-term customers for your store. In this blog, we explore ‘Gift a Subscription’ strategy for this holiday season, understand what it is, how it benefits brands, and strategies to make it a success.
Let’s get started!
Why shoppers are looking for more than discounted gifts
People want to give gifts that feel more thoughtful and meaningful. According to research by PwC, 64% of shoppers are looking to give something that does not involve screens, but rather experiences. Here are some reasons why people are looking for more than discounts on gifting items, and how subscriptions can be a good option for such gifting needs.
- Experiences over objects. A monthly delivery of coffee, a seasonal box of snacks or a regular skincare refill is something the recipient actually experiences, again and again. This makes the gift more thoughtful, useful, and meaningful.
- Thoughtfulness over price. A gift that lets the receiver know that the giver knows what they love feels better than a generic gift card or a last-minute discounted item.
- Sustainability and intentionality. Consumable and curated gifts tend to feel less wasteful than one-off items that may never be used.
- Convenience for the giver. One purchase, one checkout, and the gift unfolds over months. For busy shoppers, that is a feature.
Strategies to make Shopify gift subscriptions work
Here are 10 strategies that you can adapt to your product and industry to create a Shopify subscription gifting model in your Shopify store.
1. Highlight subscription gifting
Advertise the subscription gifting offer on your Shopify store. Don’t hide it; highlight it. If shoppers don’t see the offer, they won’t consider it. And if they don’t even know the option exists, they’ll just end up with single purchases or a gift card.
2. Default to prepaid, fixed terms
Another strategy to make subscription gifting efficient and a success is to make pre-payment mandatory. You can do this by making it default prepaid. Another thing to do is to provide the option to choose prepaid for a fixed duration – 3, 6, or 12 months. This helps shoppers buy the subscription knowing the receiver will not have to make any payments.
3. Add value instead of reducing price
Research shows that 85% of people say their relationships strengthen when they give gifts, and they want to give their loved ones something meaningful rather than something that they can buy at a discounted price. You can make these subscription gifts better by adding a free premium add-on in the first box, a bonus month on a 12-month purchase, or complimentary gift wrapping. This strategy protects margins while making the larger plan feel generous.
4. Sell the unboxing, not just the product
Make the subscription gift exciting by showing how great its unboxing experience can be. For instance, you can show photos of the first box, the gift card, and the gift packaging. Add the option of including a printed note from the giver. Both, the giver and the receiver are far more likely to stay customers if they feel special. And these are small details that make them feel special.
5. Let the giver control the timing
As the subscription box is a gift, allow the giver to choose the delivery timing and date. Offering a delivery date picker and an optional email announcement can make this easier. This way, the giver of the subscription plan can also time the delivery to a birthday, holiday season gifting, or a milestone. Ensure you mention all delivery, shipping cutoffs, and extra charges clearly so that it’s a pleasant experience with no late-delivery disappointment.
6. Build the recipient’s first 30 days
This is where the real value is created. Send a warm welcome message, make it easy to set preferences, and share something useful in the first week. The goal is for the recipient to think, ‘I like this and I want to keep this’ before the gift subscription plan ends.
7. Plan the conversion moment
A month before the gifted term ends, invite the recipient to continue with their own subscription. A small loyalty gesture, like a skip-the-first-shipping offer or an extra item in the next box, helps. Keep the tone friendly and make cancelling just as easy as continuing.
8. Don’t forget corporate and group gifting
Individual buyers are one option, but the other option is corporate buyers. Corporate gifting is growing at the rate of 7% to 8% CAGR and is projected to reach $ 1.31 trillion by 2030. Teams, clients and employees are looking for thoughtful gifts too. Offer volume options, multiple recipients per order, or a simple “send to a list” flow. A single business buyer can represent dozens of new customers.
9. Promote it everywhere you already have attention
Promote your Shopify subscription gifting offer everywhere! For instance, create email and SMS campaigns, include it in the homepage banners, post-purchase messages, social content and gift guides, etc. Create special campaigns for customers who just bought your products.
10. Test your own checkout
Buy a gift yourself, as the giver, and then receive it as the recipient. Check the emails, the dates, the mobile experience and the shipping notifications. Gifting flows are made of small moments, and one broken one can have a negative impact on the whole experience.
Gift subscription ideas across industries
Subscription gifting can be adapted to different industries. Here are some industry-based ideas.
| Industry | Subscription Idea |
|---|---|
| Coffee and tea |
|
| Beauty and skincare |
|
| Pets |
|
| Books and stationery |
|
| Food and gourmet |
|
| Wellness and fitness |
|
| Kids, crafts and hobbies |
|
| Plants and home |
|
| Wine and spirits |
|
How subscription gifting works on Shopify
Setting up and managing subscription gifting on Shopify is not complicated. Most gift-subscription setups use a subscription app that supports gifting, and several popular subscription apps on the Shopify App Store offer some form of gift purchase flow. Features vary by app and plan. Here are the typical building blocks:
- A gift option on the product page: A toggle or separate “Give Subscription as a Gift” button right next to the standard “Subscribe” option.
- Fixed-term plans: Prepaid options like 3, 6 or 12 months that end on their own, so the giver isn’t signing the recipient up for an open-ended charge.
- Recipient details and a gift message: Fields for the recipient’s name, email, shipping address and a personal note.
- Scheduled delivery: The ability to pick when the gift is announced and when the first shipment goes out, so it can arrive on or just before the occasion.
- A recipient redemption or welcome flow: Either you ship straight to the address provided, or the recipient receives an email to claim the gift and choose preferences like size, flavor or variant.
- A path to continue: At the end of the gifted term, an invitation for the recipient to keep the subscription at their own expense.
Wrapping up: Are you ready to offer subscription gifting this holiday season?
Buying items on discounts for gifting comes with the risk of choosing something that is outdated, mediocre quality, and others might give it too. Brands that want to increase sales before and during the holiday season have to think out of the box.
Subscription gifting can not only be an attractive promotional strategy, it can actually increase sales during the holiday season and ensure recurring revenue.
If you’re looking to set up subscription gifting on your Shopify store, integrate Appstle Subscriptions App in your store to automate and utilize its built-in subscription features.
Install Appstle Subscriptions App in your Shopify store today!
