As the holiday season approaches, there’s no better time to empower your audience to share the gift of content with others. Gifted Subscriptions from Admiral provide a seamless way for your subscribers to introduce your content to friends and family, all while boosting your bottom line.
In just a few steps, you can set up Gifted Subscriptions, customize the experience, and engage your users with targeted messaging to increase conversions.
Check out this how-to video on getting started with subscriptions as gifts, from your audience to their friends and family. Narration by Bryan Tobin, Director of Customer Love, Admiral.
Setting Up Gifted Subscriptions
Getting started with Gifted Subscriptions in Admiral is simple. Here’s how you can configure it for your site:
- Create Offers for Gifting: Access the offer section in your Admiral dashboard, where you can set up one-time or recurring paid subscriptions.
- Giftable by Default: By default, all subscription offers are set to be giftable, but if you want to exclude certain offers, you can easily toggle the gifting option off.
- Engage Users Through Messaging: Once an offer is available for gifting, use Admiral's platform messaging to prompt users during their checkout experience to make a purchase as a gift.
How the Gifting Experience Works
Once you’ve set up your Gifted Subscriptions, the checkout process makes it easy for users to purchase subscriptions as gifts. Here’s how the user experience unfolds:
- Gifting During Checkout: When a user selects an offer and proceeds to checkout, they’ll see the option to make their purchase a gift. This feature is built into the default checkout experience.
- Personalization Options: Users can add a personal touch by entering a message to the recipient and selecting the occasion for the gift. They also have the flexibility to either send the gift immediately or schedule it for a future date—perfect for holidays, birthdays, or special occasions.
- Seamless Delivery: Recipients will receive a clear, easy-to-follow email with instructions on how to redeem their gifted subscription, with no need for them to provide payment details.
Customizing Gift Subscriptions
Admiral’s Gifted Subscriptions feature offers flexibility and personalization, making it easy for users to give meaningful gifts. Subscribers can select the perfect occasion for their gift, whether it’s a holiday, birthday, or any special event, and tailor the timing to ensure it arrives at just the right moment. For example, they might want to send a subscription immediately or schedule it for a later date, aligning with a specific milestone or holiday.
Additionally, users can include personal messages, turning the subscription into more than just a transaction—it becomes a thoughtful and memorable gesture. These small touches make the gifting process feel personal and engaging, enhancing the overall user experience.
By offering these customization options, publishers not only create a seamless experience for their users but also align their offers with key gifting moments, boosting engagement and conversions around seasonal trends.
Enhancing Your Strategy with Gifting
Gifted Subscriptions are not just a holiday feature—they can be integrated into your ongoing engagement strategy to maximize long-term benefits. By using Admiral's built-in messaging tools, publishers can easily remind users of gifting opportunities at key moments in the customer journey.
With Admiral’s "Prioritize Gifting" option, you can push gifting to the forefront.
For example, you might choose to target your most loyal subscribers, encouraging them to share the content they love with friends and family. By customizing the messaging to highlight the benefits of gifting, you can make the offer feel even more compelling. With Admiral’s "Prioritize Gifting" option, you can push gifting to the forefront of the user experience, ensuring subscribers see it as a primary choice during their checkout process.
Additionally, evergreen campaigns can keep the gifting option visible year-round, offering subtle reminders on a regular basis to nudge users toward gifting. This strategy can be particularly effective during key seasonal periods, but it’s also a smart way to encourage gifting at any time, tapping into moments that are personal to each subscriber.
Gifting as a Retention and Engagement Tool
Deepen Relationships. Gifting isn’t just a feature for bringing in new subscribers—it’s also a powerful tool for deepening relationships with your current audience. When loyal subscribers give the gift of your content, they’re not only helping expand your reach but also reinforcing their own connection to your brand. In a way, gifting functions much like a referral, allowing your most dedicated users to share what they value with others.
Grow LTV and Retention. This strategy becomes especially meaningful in terms of retention and visitor lifetime value (LTV). Once a subscriber has gifted a subscription, it opens up new avenues for ongoing engagement. Whether through follow-up messaging, exclusive offers, or personalized outreach, publishers can continue building relationships with both the gifter and the recipient.
Create Community. Additionally, gifting can serve as a reminder that the value you offer doesn’t stop with the individual subscriber—it can be extended to their network. By positioning gifted subscriptions as a way for subscribers to introduce their friends and family to your content, publishers can create a sense of community and shared experience.
