What Is Giftnote and How Does It Work?

Discover how Giftnote captures gift recipients at checkout and converts them into customers, with real merchant ROI examples.

Written By Giftnote Team

Last updated About 2 hours ago

Giftnote is a Shopify gifting platform that turns every gift order into a new customer relationship — by identifying the person who receives the gift and bringing them into your marketing. After reading this, you'll know exactly what Giftnote does, how it fits your business, and what results to expect.

Why this matters

Right now, when someone buys a gift from your store, you know who the buyer is — but you know nothing about the person who actually receives the product. That recipient opens your packaging, loves what's inside, and has no way to hear from you again. They're invisible.

This is a massive blind spot. On average, 74–80% of gift recipients have never purchased from the brand before. That means every gift order is introducing your product to a completely new potential customer — and without Giftnote, you have no way to reach them.

Giftnote solves this by capturing the recipient's contact information at checkout, delivering a branded gift message at the exact moment the package arrives, and feeding that recipient into your Klaviyo flows so you can convert them into a paying customer.

The results speak for themselves:

  • 11% average recipient conversion rate — gift recipients who go on to make their own purchase within 90 days

  • 25% higher average order value on gift orders compared to non-gift orders

  • Nestig turned $4K in Giftnote spend into $190K in recipient revenue (47x return)

  • Bartesian generated $1M in gifted revenue with 547 first-time buyer conversions

  • Kelly's Books acquired new customers at $2 per customer through gift recipient capture

Gift orders aren't just nice customer experiences — they're an acquisition channel hiding in plain sight.

How it works

Giftnote has three products that work together. Most merchants start with gift messaging, then add gift cards or corporate gifting as they grow.

Gift messaging

This is the core product. Here's what happens:

  1. A customer shopping on your store decides to buy something as a gift.

  2. A gift message widget appears on your product page, cart, or checkout — prompting them to "Send as a gift."

  3. The customer enters the recipient's name, email or phone number, a personal message, and when they'd like the message delivered.

  4. The order goes through your normal Shopify checkout. Your warehouse ships it like any other order — nothing changes operationally.

  5. When the carrier marks the package as delivered, Giftnote automatically sends a branded email and/or SMS to the recipient with the gift message.

  6. The recipient's contact information is captured in your Giftnote dashboard and synced to Klaviyo as a new profile.

  7. You nurture that recipient through Klaviyo flows — turning a one-time gift into a lifelong customer.

The key differentiator: the gift message arrives at the moment of delivery, not at the moment of purchase. The recipient opens the box, sees the product, and gets a beautiful branded message on their phone at the same time. It's the closest thing to handing someone a gift in person.

Gift cards

Giftnote replaces Shopify's default gift card experience with one designed for gifting. The difference: Giftnote delivers the gift card code directly to the recipient — not to the buyer, who then has to forward it manually.

Gift cards include custom designs for different occasions (birthday, holiday, thank you), a personal message from the sender, and scheduling so the card arrives on the right day. Balance reminder emails are automated through Klaviyo, and on average, recipients spend 30% more than the gift card value when they redeem.

Corporate gifting (Multi-Gift)

For merchants whose customers include companies buying gifts in bulk — employee appreciation, client gifts, event swag — the Multi-Gift portal lets a corporate buyer select products, upload a spreadsheet of recipients (up to 1,000+), and place a single order that Giftnote splits into individual Shopify orders automatically.

Your warehouse sees normal individual orders. Each recipient gets a personalized gift message on delivery. The corporate buyer gets a self-service portal instead of back-and-forth emails and spreadsheets.

Key things to know

  • Giftnote works on any Shopify plan. The gift message widget can be placed on your product pages and cart on any plan. If you're on Shopify Plus, you also get a checkout extension for the highest-converting placement.

  • Your operations don't change. Giftnote sits on top of your existing Shopify workflow. Your warehouse ships orders the same way they always do — no printed notes, no special handling, no 3PL changes required.

  • Klaviyo integration is where the magic happens. Giftnote creates a Klaviyo profile for every gift recipient and fires events at each stage of the gift lifecycle — scheduled, delivered, redeemed. You build flows that convert recipients into customers automatically.

  • Setup is hands-on. When you install Giftnote, the team sets up your widget on a staging theme, configures your Klaviyo flows, and walks you through testing before go-live. You're not left to figure it out alone.

  • Giftnote starts at $19/month (Core plan) plus $1 per gift processed. The Pro plan at $99/month adds the Multi-Gift corporate portal. Volume discounts are available at 500+ gifts per month.

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