Gift wrapping on Shopify: how shoppers find the option before checkout

Most guides to gift wrapping on Shopify stop once the option exists: a gift wrap product, a checkbox in the cart or a product option app. That part matters, but a wrap option only helps when shoppers know about it before they pay. Shoppers who never open the cart page won't see it, and some only glance at it on the way to checkout.

This guide covers the second half. You will set up gift wrap so it works with the rest of your store, tell shoppers about it in your store's feed, show the offer only to carts that don't have wrap yet, and take it down once your last gift shipping date passes.

Set up gift wrap as a product first

The simplest setup is a product called Gift wrap, with a variant for each style if you offer more than one. Give it a price, or set it to zero if wrap is free, and make sure it is available in your online store. A product option app or your theme's cart checkbox also works, but a real product is what the steps below rely on, because it can be picked in targeting rules and added from the feed.

Decide two things now: what wrap costs, and the last order date that still ships wrapped in time. Your shipping cutoff sets the end of everything that follows. If you haven't written your cutoff messages yet, read holiday shipping cutoff messages for Shopify stores first.

Why shoppers miss the option

A cart page checkbox only reaches shoppers who visit the cart page. Themes with a cart drawer may not show it at all, and a shopper using an accelerated checkout button on the product page skips the cart entirely. A line in the product description gets read by the few who scroll that far.

The fix is to say it earlier, in a place shoppers check while they browse, and to say it again while they have items in the cart.

Tell shoppers in the feed

A NotiFeed message sits in the feed that opens from the bell on your store. It is on every plan, including the free Starter plan, where you get one active NotiFeed campaign with one message, so pause any other NotiFeed campaign before you save this one. Keep it short and specific. For example:

Gift wrap is back for the holidays

Add wrap to any order for $4. Order by December 15 for delivery before December 24.

Point the call to action button at the Gift wrap product page so shoppers can choose a style. The bell shows a count of messages a shopper hasn't seen yet in that browser, so a new message gets noticed by shoppers who already know your feed. See add an announcement to the NotiFeed for each setting.

Offer wrap only to carts without it

Targeting rules work on every plan, and they make the wrap message follow the cart. On the message's Setup tab, switch on Target visitors based on and add two rules under all conditions:

• Cart items Is greater than 0, so shoppers with an empty cart don't see it.
• Cart products Does not include any, with your Gift wrap product picked, so the message goes away once wrap is in the cart.

Atomato checks the cart when a page loads and each time your theme changes the cart, then shows or removes the message. With some themes, a change only counts from the next page load. A feed message with a cart rule moves to the top of your NotiFeed messages when the cart matches, but the feed doesn't open by itself. The full recipe is in show messages based on what is in a shopper's cart.

Let shoppers add wrap from the feed

On Scale or Enterprise+, a NotiSell message lists products shoppers can add to cart from the feed. Choose the Manual method and pick only the Gift wrap product. With Add product to the cart ticked, the button adds one unit of the chosen style and opens the cart page, where the shopper can change the quantity for more gifts.

Give it the same two cart rules as above. If you want wrap to be free for shoppers who add it from the feed, Offer incentive can create an automatic discount of up to 100% on the listed variants. Know that the discount only applies to wrap added with the NotiSell button. Wrap added from its product page stays at full price as a separate line. Free wrap, whether priced at zero or discounted to 100%, won't show attributed revenue in Atomato's analytics. Setup details are in recommend products in the feed with NotiSell, and there is an overview on the NotiSell page.

Time it to your gift season

On Scale and Enterprise+, the Schedule tab lets a campaign start and end on its own. Set the start to the day your gift season opens and the end to your last wrapped shipping date, so the offer never promises delivery you can't make.

Times use the time zone of the computer you schedule from, so convert them if that differs from your store's. A schedule belongs to the whole campaign, not to single messages, so put wrap in its own campaign if the dates differ from your sale. On Starter (Free), there is no scheduling: pause the campaign yourself on your cutoff day. To fit wrap into the rest of your season, see planning BFCM on-site messages and the holiday gift guide post.

A worked example

A candle store on Scale sells wrap for $4 and ships wrapped orders until December 15.

Before: wrap was a checkbox on the cart page. The store uses a cart drawer, so the checkbox only showed to shoppers who clicked through to the full cart.

After: two campaigns, both scheduled from November 20 to December 15 at 11 pm.

1. A NotiFeed campaign with one message, "Gift wrap is back for the holidays", with the cutoff date in the description and a button to the Gift wrap product page. No rules, so every shopper can find it in the feed.
2. A NotiSell campaign titled "Wrapping these up as gifts?" with the Gift wrap product only, Add product to the cart ticked, and the rules Cart items Is greater than 0 and Cart products Does not include any Gift wrap.

When the end time passes, both campaigns are completed and stop showing. The store then turns off the cart checkbox in the theme by hand. In Atomato's analytics, products added within 6 hours of a click on a NotiSell product button are counted when the checkout happens in the same browser within 30 days.

What this does not do

• Atomato doesn't collect gift notes or recipient names. Use your theme's cart note or an order note field for that.
• It doesn't show on Shopify checkout, the thank-you page, POS or headless stores, so it can't add wrap at checkout.
• A NotiSell button adds one unit of one variant. It won't add wrap for every item in the cart at once.
• Atomato doesn't check stock before listing a variant. If a wrap style sells out, untick it in the campaign.
• Cart value rules count the cart total, which includes the wrap itself.

Next step

Create the Gift wrap product today, write down your last wrapped shipping date, then build one NotiFeed message with the two cart rules above. If you are on Scale or Enterprise+, add the NotiSell campaign and schedule both to end on your cutoff.

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