GV + Klaviyo Gift Card Shopify Flows: Automated Emails
A gift card finishes its story at checkout. Someone buys it in November, a friend opens it in December, and the balance may sit untouched until it expires in a forgotten inbox.
That gap between purchase and redemption is exactly where a store either earns a loyal customer or loses one.
When merchants search for the ideal Klaviyo gift card Shopify setup, most guides point straight to Rise.ai, since its Klaviyo connection has years of tutorials behind it. GV deserves a place in that conversation too.
The Shopify App Store lists Klaviyo in GV's "Works with" section, so gift card and store credit activity from GV can power automated emails inside Klaviyo.
This guide covers the three moments that matter most: the purchase, the low balance, and the approaching expiry date. Each one comes with a sample flow that you can copy, tweak, and launch in an afternoon.
Why Klaviyo Gift Card Shopify Automation Pays Off
Shopify already sends a basic notification when someone receives a gift card, so a fair question is why anyone needs more. The answer lies in timing and targeting. Shopify's default message goes out once, while Klaviyo can react to every change in a balance and adjust its message to the person reading it.
The recipient is a new customer in disguise
The buyer already knows your brand, but the recipient often discovers it for the first time through that email.
A thoughtful welcome sequence turns this stranger into a subscriber, which a plain code-delivery email rarely achieves.
Leftover balances are unfinished sales
Shoppers seldom find a product priced to match their balance exactly. Someone holding $50 usually picks a $65 item and pays the difference, it means each redemption tends to push the order above the card's value. Well-timed gift card email flows bring people back to make that visit, while silence leaves the revenue sitting idle on your books.
How GV Connects to Klaviyo
GV keeps the records for gift cards, store credit, cashback, and loyalty rewards, while Klaviyo decides who hears about them and when. Once a merchant links the two apps from GV's integration settings, GV starts passing activity into Klaviyo as metrics on each customer profile. Those metrics serve as triggers for every flow below.
What data travels between the apps
The exact metric names can differ by GV version, so Klaviyo's Metrics list under Analytics offers the most reliable reference after the first gift card sale. The table below shows the data each flow typically relies on.
|
Gift card moment |
What Klaviyo needs |
Why it matters |
|
Gift card purchased |
Buyer email, recipient email, card value, delivery date |
Separates the thank-you message from the recipient welcome |
|
Balance updated |
Remaining balance, original value |
Lets a filter catch only cards running low |
|
Expiry approaching |
Expiration date, current balance |
Powers countdown emails and skips empty cards |
Avoiding double emails
GV can send its own balance reminders and expiration notices. Merchants who rebuild these messages in Klaviyo usually switch off the matching GV notification, because two emails about the same $12 balance feel more like spam than service.
Three Gift Card Email Flows Worth Building
Each flow below follows the same process: a GV metric starts it, a filter narrows the audience, and one or two conditional splits stop the emails as soon as the customer acts. This keeps the experience helpful.
Flow 1: Gift card purchased
This flow does double duty by thanking the buyer and introducing your brand to the recipient. A conditional split near the top routes each person down the right path.
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Trigger: The GV gift card purchase metric starts the flow.
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Split by role: A conditional split checks whether the profile is the buyer or the recipient.
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Buyer branch: An immediate email confirms the order, repeats the gift message, and shows the scheduled delivery date.
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Recipient branch: A welcome email is sent after the gift arrives, sharing your brand story along with three bestsellers.
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Delay and check: After seven days, a split asks if the recipient has placed an order yet.
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Nudge: Recipients who have not shopped receive a short "still deciding?" email featuring items close to the card value.
The seven-day pause matters here. A recipient who receives a nudge on day one feels rushed, whereas one who hears from you after a week often welcomes a fresh idea.
Flow 2: Balance running low
A small leftover balance is the easiest sale in your store, because the customer already holds the money. A gift card balance reminder works best when it pairs the remaining amount with products that make the math feel effortless.
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Trigger: The GV balance-updated metric fires after each partial redemption.
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Trigger filter: The flow only continues when the remaining balance drops below a threshold, such as $15 or 20% of the original value.
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Email 1: The message names the exact balance and showcases items within $10 of it.
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Delay and check: Five days later, a split looks for a placed order.
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Email 2: Customers who have not returned get a gentler reminder with a single hero product.
The threshold filter is the secret ingredient. Without it, a customer who just spent $5 on a $100 card would receive a "running low" email that doesn't make sense.
Flow 3: Gift card expiring soon
Expiry dates create natural urgency, which makes a gift card expiration email one of the highest-intent messages a store can send. Klaviyo's date-based flows suit this job well, since they count backwards from the expiration date stored on each profile.
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Trigger: A date-based trigger reads the GV expiration date property.
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Profile filter: The flow skips anyone with a balance of 0.
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30 days before: A friendly heads-up shares the balance and a link to the balance check page.
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7 days before: A second email adds a curated collection and clearer urgency.
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1 day before: A short final reminder goes out with one prominent button.
Local law shapes this flow as well. In the United States, the federal CARD Act stops most retail gift cards from expiring within five years of purchase or the last reload, and several states ban expiry entirely. Merchants therefore reserve expiry flows for promotional credit or cashback rewards, where shorter windows often apply.
Final Thoughts
A gift card holds a promise, and these flows help your store keep it. The purchase flow is a brand-new customer, the low-balance flow rescues small amounts that would otherwise vanish, and the expiry flow gives people one last friendly reason to return.
The best Klaviyo gift card Shopify setup is not reserved for one famous app. GV already works with Klaviyo, so stores using it can start with a single flow this week, monitor redemption numbers, and add the next automation once the first proves its worth.
>> Read more:
- Scheduled Gift Card Delivery: Birthdays & Holidays
- Gift Card Balance Reminder Emails For Shopify
- Giftable Products vs Gift Cards for International Customers
FAQ
Does GV integrate with Klaviyo?
Yes, it does. The GV listing on the Shopify App Store lists Klaviyo in its "Works with" section, allowing gift card and store credit activity to trigger Klaviyo flows.
Can Klaviyo send a gift card balance reminder automatically?
It can, as long as GV passes balance updates into Klaviyo. A flow that uses a trigger filter on the remaining balance will email customers only when their card drops below the threshold you choose.
Should a gift card expiration email come from GV or Klaviyo?
Either option works, but one source keeps things tidy. Klaviyo offers more control over timing, design, and conditional splits, so merchants who build expiry flows there usually turn off GV's built-in notice to prevent duplicate messages.
