Gift cards, vouchers, coupons, and store credit
These four concepts are often used interchangeably, but they behave differently in a WooCommerce store. Choosing the right one for your use case avoids confusion for both staff and customers.| Type | Purpose | Typical use case |
|---|---|---|
| Gift card | A prepaid value that the recipient can spend in your store. Usually purchased by one customer for another and delivered with a unique code. | A customer buys a 500 kr gift card as a birthday present for a friend. |
| Voucher | A document or code redeemable for a specific product, service, or fixed value. Often issued for promotions, partnerships, or as compensation. | A magazine campaign hands out vouchers for a free product when redeemed in your store. |
| Coupon code | A discount applied to a purchase, typically a percentage off, fixed amount off, or free shipping. Not prepaid — it reduces the price of a new order. | A WELCOME10 code that gives 10% off the first order. |
| Store credit | A balance attached to a specific customer’s account that they can spend on future purchases. Often used to issue refunds without returning money to the original payment method. | Issuing 200 kr in store credit instead of a cash refund after a return. |
Gift Cards for WooCommerce
The Gift Cards for WooCommerce plugin lets customers buy gift cards as products, receive a code by email, and redeem the balance in a future order. The plugin handles the gift card lifecycle inside WooCommerce. When a customer redeems a gift card, the order total is reduced before the order reaches the Processing state. Smart Send sees the resulting order in WooCommerce and ships it like any other order.Coupon codes
WooCommerce includes coupon codes natively. You can create them under Marketing > Coupons in your WordPress admin and offer percentage discounts, fixed-amount discounts, or free shipping.A free-shipping coupon only affects what the customer pays — it does not change which carrier or service is used. Configure your shipping methods in Smart Send to control the actual shipment.
Related resources
Supported plugins
Other plugins that work with Smart Send
Shipping methods
Configure WooCommerce shipping methods