Govalo x Omnisend: Enhance your gift experience with our integration

Ecommerce merchants understand the value of email marketing. It’s a direct link to your most engaged customers, and how you communicate everything from order updates to information about new products. 


It’s also a key part of the gifting experience, and especially if a store is using Govalo. It’s through this channel that recipients get their gift cards delivered, where they get information about a subscription they’ve been gifted, and more.


Today, we’re launching our official integration with Omnisend. This will make it possible for merchants using Govalo to take advantage of what email marketing can bring to the gifting experience.  With their powerful automation, customization, and data tools, merchants can deliver a truly personalized and data-led gifting strategy designed for long-term growth.

How to connect Govalo and Omnisend


Connecting Govalo and Omnisend is simple and fast, so you can start customizing your email strategy for gifting right away. Let’s go over how to integrate the two apps.  


To connect Govalo and Omnisend go to the “Integrations” tab in the Govalo app and click “Configure Omnisend”. 


Once you’ve authenticated with Omnisend and allowed the connection with Govalo you’ll see this screen:



 

After that you can go to the “Configure” tab, then “Configure email templates”. From there you can select the email template you want to configure and change the source to “Omnisend” to send this email through Omnisend rather than from Govalo.




And then you’re ready to start customizing your templates, adding your own touches, and building out your email strategy.

4 email workflows to enhance your gift experience

Email is a key channel for engaging and retaining your customers, and gifting takes this to another level. Gifts offer the unique opportunity to engage with not one, but two interested individuals - the original customer, and their gift recipient. The original customer is of course interested, as they did the research into options and decided your store was the best fit for their needs. The recipient is going to be interested as they have a gift to experience from your store, and the person who purchased it for them thought they’d enjoy your brand. 


Getting your email strategy right means you could end up with a sort of two-for-one on customer retention. Let’s look at some examples of automated workflows you can set up that will engage these customers. 

#1 - Set up reminders for gift recipients to redeem gifts

When someone gives you a physical product as a gift, it’s easy to remember to make use of it. However when it’s a gift card or some other digitally delivered gift like a subscription, we don’t always remember to redeem them. Redemption is an important part of the gifting process, and retention. After all if they don’t redeem it then you don’t have that opportunity to showcase your customer experience. 


Set up a workflow that will automatically remind gift recipients to redeem their gift at different time intervals. Here’s an example of what that might look like:


  • First email is sent with the gift.
  • If the email hasn’t been opened after 3 days, they’re sent a reminder. 
  • Another email is sent after 1 week if the email is unopened.
  • A third email is sent after 3 weeks if the email is unopened.
  • Continue with increasing time intervals. 

You should also consider a flow for when the email is opened but the gift card hasn’t been spent or a gift subscription hasn’t been redeemed. To add some variety to gift card redemption emails and make them more engaging, include product recommendations such as what’s new in your store, best-sellers, and bundles. You can also use the data you have between Shopify and Omnisend to tailor the recommendations based on if the gift recipient has shopped with your store previously. 

#2 - Automate retention strategy for gift customers

When a customer gives a physical product, they’ve obviously bought it with the idea that the recipient will enjoy it. That means the recipient is an ideal customer, as not only are they likely to enjoy the product but they’re getting to test it out for free. However, in a traditional gifting journey, it’d be very difficult to reach those recipients and turn them into customers. With digital gift cards, this is made possible by giving you that vital touchpoint via email.


To engage these recipients, you can create an automated workflow that will encourage them to make a purchase in the future after they’ve redeemed a gift card or subscription. It can act as a sort of alternative to your standard welcome flow. There’s a chance they haven’t heard of your store or done research into your products before they received a gift card, so you need to give them the information and education they need to buy into your brand.


Once the entire balance of the gift card is spent, you want to encourage another purchase like you would any other customer. You could do this with another incentive, such as free shipping on their next order, or even another gift card as a sort of “here’s another gift, from us to you” with a $5 gift card. The incentive could even be determined by store data, such as AOV, LTV, or whether or not the customer is new or returning. Enhance all these emails with personalized recommendations based on the order they placed with their gift card.

#3 - Give gift subscribers a unique onboarding and retention experience

Similarly to the above, gift subscribers will need their own unique onboarding experience. They might not know anything about your brand, what’s included in a subscription, or even how it works. This makes it difficult for them to engage with a brand right away, so you need to do some of that work for them. 


Create a series of automated emails that introduce your brand, the subscription product they’ve been gifted, and how the subscription works. You can also include more information than usual about the products included, and any additional ways they can customize their subscription. This will give them more of a sense of ownership, so they feel like it’s truly their subscription. 


When the subscription gift period is nearing an end, it’s time to think about retention. Some of the work will be taken care of by your products and unboxing experience, and you can enhance that with email. Send reminders when the subscription is coming to an end, reminding them of the perks and benefits if they carry it forward. If they choose not to renew, then put them into an audience segment that will send them automated emails every now and again with what they’ve missed while they’ve not been subscribed. If they engage with those emails, they can then be sent a renewal incentive such as a bonus product, free shipping, or a gift card. 

#4 - Deliver personalized content to existing customers who buy or receive a gift

Personalization is key to an engaging email strategy - 70% of Millennials say they’re frustrated when brands send irrelevant emails. Customers receive a lot of brand emails in a day, so to stand out and really engage them you need to personalize the content you send. You should do this for both the customers who buy gifts, and those who receive one. 


For those who buy gifts, there are a few automated emails that you can set up to engage them and encourage a future purchase:


  • Gift reminder emails - When it comes to the holiday season or the time of year they purchase the gift, send a reminder of the gift options you have available on your store.
  • Product recommendations - If they purchased a gift, give them recommendations for complementary products they may consider in the future for their recipient.
  • Returning customer “thank you” email - If they purchased a gift product previously, send them a thank you email, tailored to the fact they’re a returning customer and that they purchased a gift.

You could consider also including an incentive, as a “a gift for you” to encourage them to try out the brand for themselves. There’s a chance that if it’s a gift that they may not be interested in making a purchase for themselves, and they may instead pass it on to their recipient who will spend it on another order. 


As for gift recipients, there will be a good portion who are already familiar with your brand if not existing customers. In one survey, 83% of respondents had received a gift card for a brand they’d tried previously. That means you potentially have even more leverage for retention, as they’ll already know about your brand or even may have tried your products. Send emails welcoming them back, letting them know what’s new with your store, and recommend products based on their previous purchases. 


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Email is one of the most valuable channels you have to engage with your customers. We’re delighted to be working with Omnisend to make it possible for even more merchants to make the most of email marketing alongside Govalo. 

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