Gift card program
Let customers trade their points for a real Shopify gift card they can spend across several orders or send to a friend.
This feature is available for Essential, Advanced and Ultimate plans
What is the Gift card program?
A Gift card program turns points into a Shopify gift card. For example, a customer spends 500 points and gets a $10 gift card. Unlike a discount code, a gift card is money on file: the customer can use part of it on one order and keep the rest for later, and Shopify tracks the remaining balance.
Use it when you want a reward that feels like cash, or when you want customers to gift their points to someone else.
Before you start: grant gift card access
Joy needs extra Shopify permission to create gift cards. You only grant it once.
Open Joy from your Shopify admin (not in a separate browser tab), because the permission can only be granted inside Shopify admin.
Go to Reward programs → Redeeming programs → Gift card program and click Add more.
If you see the access banner, click Grant Gift card Access and approve the request in Shopify.
How to set up a Gift card program
Setup rewards
Enter a program name customers will see, for example "$10 gift card".
Redeem value
- Customer redeems: the number of points the customer spends, for example 500 points.
- Gift card value: the amount loaded on the gift card, in your store currency, for example $10.
Gift card expiration date
Choose Never expire, Expire after a set duration, or Set a specific date and time. Joy passes the expiry date to Shopify when the gift card is created. Shopify uses the date only, so the time and Usable from are ignored for gift cards.
Gift card code's prefix (optional)
Keep Shopify's default code, or turn on Use gift card code prefix to start every code with your own text, for example JOY-. Avoid spaces and special characters.
Save the program and make sure it is turned on.
What your customers see
- The customer opens the loyalty widget or loyalty page, picks the gift card reward and redeems it.
- They choose Redeem for myself or Send as a gift to a friend.
- When sending to a friend, they enter the Recipient email, and can add a Recipient name, a Personal message, and a Send on date up to 90 days ahead. Leave the date empty to send now.
- With Redeem for myself, the full code is shown once on the success screen, so customers should copy it. With Send as a gift, Shopify emails the code to the friend. The friend doesn't need an account in your store; one is created for them without a welcome email.
- The customer can use the code at checkout like any Shopify gift card. The remaining balance is kept for their next order.
The gift card email comes from Shopify, so you edit its look in Shopify admin → Settings → Notifications (gift card templates), not in Joy's Notifications.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't customers redeem the gift card reward?
Check that gift card access was granted (see the first section). Also check that the customer is linked to a Shopify customer in your store, because Shopify only creates gift cards for existing customers.
Do points come back if an order paid with the gift card is refunded?
No. Refunding an order doesn't return points spent on a gift card, and the Refund points setting isn't available for gift cards. To give points back, revoke the gift card from the customer's coupon history in Customers: Joy deactivates the gift card and returns points for its unused balance. A fully used gift card can't be revoked.
Can customers combine the gift card with a discount code?
Yes. A gift card is a payment method in Shopify checkout, not a discount, so it works alongside discount codes.
Where do I see the gift cards Joy created?
In Shopify admin → Products → Gift cards. Each card Joy creates has a note starting with "Joy redeem", followed by the program ID and the Joy customer ID.
Need help?
Contact us via the live chat widget in your Joy admin, or email us at [email protected].