Skip to main content
You can offer subscribers the option to purchase a Subscription as a gift for another user using the Subscribe Portal.
  • Use Case Number: 2-1-11
  • Completed By: Business Manager
  • Estimated Completion Time: 20 Minutes

​
Design Approach

Gift subscriptions combine two Subscribe features, Products and Coupon Campaigns. A typical gift card has a unique code and a value associated with it. In this use case, the unique code is a Subscribe Coupon Code that offers a 100% discount on the gifted Subscription. The gifter purchases a gift Product and is issued the Coupon Code. The gift recipient can then redeem that code to activate their gifted Subscription.

​
Alternative Flows and Applications

  1. Gift Subscriptions do not have to include a discount. They can simply be used to drive subscribers to your website. For example, the subscriber can purchase a coupon that can be redeemed for one month of free service. That Subscription can be the same Subscription that comes with a one month free trial offering (see Configure a Free Trial Offering for a Given Subscription). In this case, Campaign Coupons drive the user to your website but the “discount” (in the form of a free trial period) is built into the definition of the Subscription. The subscriber receives the free trial period whether they use the Coupon Code or not.
  2. The price of the product used to purchase the gift can be any price, including zero.

​
Tasks

To set up the Gift Coupon Campaign and Gift Product in Subscribe, you must perform the following tasks: Parent topic:Gift Subscriptions

​
Configure Gift Products Using the Subscribe Portal

  1. In Subscribe Merchant Portal 2.0, select your starting point from the following options:
    • To create a new product, click the + New button and select Product.
    • To duplicate an existing product, select the relevant existing product (ID) from Catalog > Products and click Duplicate.
    • To edit an existing product, select the relevant existing product (ID) from Catalog > Products and click Edit.
  2. Define the following Product fields in the Details Pane:
    1. In the ID field , enter your unique product identifier. Also knows as a SKU, this value uniquely identifies this product in Subscribe. It can be any alphanumeric value up to 255 characters.
    2. In the Status field, use the toggle switch to set the status of the Product toActive by moving to the right or Inactive to the left. By default, set to Active.
    3. In the Tax Classification field, enter the required classification ​provided by your tax vendor for this product. For more details, see the Avalara Avatax System Tax Codes list. This field only appears if Taxation has been activated.
  3. Define the following Product fields in theDescriptions pane:
    1. Click Add to add a description.
    2. In the Description field, enter a meaningful product description (up to 255 characters long).
    3. In the Language field, select the desired language for the description from the drop-down list.
    4. To add additional Description entries in different languages, repeat these steps. You can define multiple descriptions in different languages at this time or come back later to add additional descriptions.
  4. Define the following Product fields in the Pricing pane: The Pricing pane governs the product price and associated currencies and Tokens:
    1. Toggle to define the Pricing Mechanism. Toggle right for currency/token Standard Pricing. By default, field is set to Standard Pricing.
    2. Select Add Currency/Manage Currencies to define the relevant currencies. The Manage Currencies dialog box appears. You can add multiple currencies for the product at this time or come back to do so later. Only one currency will be accepted for the customer’s full payment.
    3. Place your cursor in the selection box and select a currency using its ISO three-lettered currency code. For example, select USD for US dollars. When finished, click Submit.
    4. Enter the desired price in the Amount field for the defined Currencies. Identify the relevant currency by its national flag or hover over it to see its name. Note: This product is used for the purchase of gift subscriptions. As such, it has no entitlements.
  5. Click Save or Update.
  6. Repeat the steps above for each gift Product you want to define.
Parent topic:Offer Gift Subscriptions

​
Create Gift Coupons Using the Subscribe Portal

  • Define a product catalog with at least one product.
  • Determine which products can be purchased using gift coupon codes.
  1. In the Subscribe Merchant Portal 2.0, select your starting point from the following options:
    • To create a new Campaign, click the + New button and select Campaign.
    • To clone an existing Campaign, select the relevant existing campaign (ID) from Catalog > Campaigns and click Clone.
    • To edit an existing inactive Campaign, select the relevant existing campaign (ID) from Catalog > Campaigns and click Edit.
  2. Define the following fields in the Details Pane:
    1. In the ID field , enter your unique campaign identifier (alphanumeric up to 255 characters).
    2. In the Name field, enter a meaningful name for the Campaign (alphanumeric up to 255 characters).
    3. In the Description field, enter a description for the Campaign (up to 255 characters).
    4. Select the Start Date and End Date. Start Date defines the first date the campaign will be available for use, while End Data defines the last date the campaign can be redeemed. If the given campaign does not have a specific end date use a date far out in the future like Dec 31, 2080.
    5. For the Type field, select Coupon from the drop-down list.
    6. For the Max Redemptions field, enter 1 to specify that each Coupon can only be redeemed once.
  3. Define the following fields in the Campaign Grants Pane:
    1. Select the Percentage radio button to provide a percentage discount. Enter 100 to provide a 100% discount..
  4. Define the following fields in the Duration Pane:
    1. Select the Billing Cycle radio button to offer the gift discount over several billing cycles. Enter the number of cycles for which the discount is relevant. For example, for a subscription billed monthly, enter 3 to grant the discount for a 3 month period.
    2. Select the Discount Expiration Date radio button to specify a specific expiration date for the gift discount. Place your cursor in the relevant field. A calendar drop-down appears. The discount is applied up to the specified date. The discount period itself can extend beyond the Campaign end date. So that there is a specific period that the campaign can be redeemed. If redeemed in that period, the discount can be valid up to the expiration date.
  5. Define the discounted product/s in the Discounted Items Pane:
    1. Place your cursor in the Products field. A list of the existing Products appears.
    2. Enter the first letters of the relevant Product or scroll and select. The Product name appears.
    3. To add an additional product, place your cursor in the field below the listed product and perform the previous steps again.
  6. Define the following in the Coupon Codes pane:
    1. In the Quantity field , enter the number of gift coupons you want Subscribe to generate. Each coupon will have its own unique code
    2. In the Prefix field, enter he unique prefix that you would like to appear at the beginning of the Coupon code. You can not use a Prefix more than once in the system. Note that the prefix is case sensitive.
    3. In the Separator field, enter a single symbol character to be used to separate the Coupon Prefix string and the rest of the Coupon Code string. Valid characters include any printable ASCII text symbol, that is neither a letter nor a number.
  7. When you’re done, click Save or Update. The campaign is saved successfully. The campaign is in pending state and is not yet active.
  8. Generate the coupon codes, by clicking the Generate Codes button in the Actions list . Note:
    • Subscribe will auto-generate and download a TSV (Tab-Separated Values) file containing the unique Coupon Codes.It can be viewed with an app such as Notepad.To learn more about the code format, see Campaign Coupon Codes Pane in the Subscribe Portal User Guide.
    • When requesting 10,000 or more Coupon Codes, please contact Vindicia support BEFORE generating the codes.
  9. Store the generated Coupon Codes file securely in a local data store as these codes can be redeemed for service.
  10. After the Coupon Codes have been generated, activate the campaign by clicking the Activate button in the Actions list.
  11. Repeat the steps above to create additional gift Coupon Campaigns.
Parent topic:Offer Gift Subscriptions