It has been a couple of months since we have launched our latest Shopify app called Gift Box. The app serves as a motivator for the customer to spend more by showing free gifts he/she can get. During the soft launch, we have collected a lot of very useful feedback based on which we continue developing the app.
But besides the feedback, we have also seen a few merchants had an issue with the app. Most common issues were a) the free gift is not added to the cart automatically, and b) the free gift is actually not free. The problem is caused by other applications which are preventing Gift Box from inserting the discount coupon to make the product free.
What’s New in Gift Box 2.0
Therefore, we have decided to change the app logic and give away free gift using so-called draft orders. That should ensure much better performance and user experience with the app. But more importantly, the free product will be always free. We strongly believe this will make the app more user-friendly and solid.
On the other, there are also a few drawbacks by using draft orders approach. When updating to Gift Box 2.0 please bear in mind these limitations:
- It won’t work with any custom checkout solution (i.e. CartHook, Bold Cashier, etc.).
- Customers won’t be able to add additional discount coupons when checking out. Neither the automatic discount rules you may have on your store (i.e. any volume/tiered discounts).
- Free gift won’t be visible in the cart but added when checking out. We plan to communicate the free gift on the pop-up and in the cart using the notification.
How to Update to the Latest Version
To get the latest app update simply go to your Shopify store » Apps » Gift Box and click on the Update app. That’s it, now you should be on the latest version. After the successful update, we recommend checking the user journey to make sure everything is working as expected. If not, simply use the in-app chat or contact form to let us know.
The reason why we can’t simply push this update to every merchant is that the app now requires different permissions. Gift Box 2.0 requires access to orders, specifically to create draft orders.
What Features Are on the Roadmap
Besides changing the logic we also plan to implement the following improvements and new features in the near future (i.e. July and August):
- Selection of one from multiple free gifts.
- Option to limit free gift with the max amount. This will allow to give away only the last free gift in the highest tier.
- Targeting free gift per product or collection (i.e. when customer purchase a specific product or product from a specific collection).
- More customization for merchants (icons, CSS).
