Gift Cards

Send gift card rewards directly to your ReferralHero subscribers across 200+ countries. ReferralHero handles the entire payout process—collecting funds, sending gift cards, and supporting year-end 1099 tax reporting for eligible recipients in the United States. Recipients choose from 1,000+ gift card options, including Visa/Mastercard, Apple, Nike, Airbnb, and charitable donations.

Note: Additional gift card reward payout & processing fees apply (starting at 2.5% + $0.50 per payout), paid by the account owner or deducted from the recipient's reward amount. See full details here

Setting Up Gift Cards

To set up the Gift Cards integration in ReferralHero, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Integrations > Gift Cards in your ReferralHero campaign dashboard

2. Click ‘Enable Gift Cards’

3. Select who should pay the processing fee

4. Select the reward currency

5. Click Save

Supported Reward Types

Subscribers can redeem rewards from a wide range of payout options, including:

• Merchant gift cards (e.g. Amazon, Starbucks, and more)

• Prepaid Visa / Mastercard cards

• Charity donations

ReferralHero supports multi-currency reward payouts.

Setting Up Gift Card Rewards

To configure gift card rewards in ReferralHero:

1. Go to the Rewards section in your ReferralHero campaign dashboard

2. Click the Add Reward button

3. Configure your reward trigger and reward conditions

4. Enable the ‘Issue Gift Card Reward’ option in the Reward Overview section

1. Enter the reward value

2. Click Save Reward

Gift Card Reward Processing Flow

When a subscriber becomes eligible for a reward, ReferralHero automatically handles the payout lifecycle.

Step 1: Charge Attempt

ReferralHero attempts to charge for:

• Reward value

• Processing fee

Note: Additional gift card reward payout & processing fees apply (starting at 2.5% + $0.50 per payout), paid by the account owner or deducted from the recipient's reward amount. See full details here

Step 2: Charge Result

• If the charge fails

  • The reward is not sent

  • The failure reason is logged in the subscriber activity timeline

• If the charge succeeds

  • ReferralHero proceeds with reward creation.

Step 3: Reward Creation

ReferralHero creates the reward request through our 3rd party gift card provider and generates a secure gift card link for the subscriber.

Step 4: Reward Delivery

The gift card link is:

• Delivered through your configured email and/or SMS automations

• Available in the subscriber’s profile

Subscribers can use the gift card link to select and redeem their preferred gift card option.

Processing Fee Options

ReferralHero allows you to decide who covers the payout processing fee.

Option 1: Charge Processing Fee to My Account

The subscriber receives the full reward amount.

Example:

• Reward value: $20.00

• Processing fee: $1.00

• Total charge to campaign admin: $21.00

• Amount subscriber receives: $20.00

Option 2: Pass Processing Fee to Recipient

The processing fee is deducted from the subscriber’s payout amount.

Example:

• Reward value: $20.00

• Processing fee: $1.00

• Total charge to campaign admin: $20.00

• Amount subscriber receives: $19.00

Reward Notifications

Configuring reward emails and SMS messages:

1. Go to Automations > Reward Emails / SMS Messages in your ReferralHero campaign dashboard

2. Use the merge tag %gift_card_link% in the email or SMS body to display the gift card link

3. Customize the content as desired

4. Click Save

When the reward is sent, the subscriber will receive the gift card link via email or SMS.

Gift Card Link Click Tracking

ReferralHero automatically tracks when a subscriber clicks their gift card reward link. These events are visible in:

• Activity Log

• Email analytics

• SMS analytics