Gift Card Redemption Contact Info
What it is
Require contact info to redeem gift cards is an account setting that asks a gift card recipient for an email address or a phone number before they can claim their card. Either one satisfies it - the recipient supplies one, not both.
The step is skipped automatically when you already have that recipient's email or phone on file for the piece that was mailed, so it only asks the people you have no contact details for.
Whatever the recipient enters is saved against the order and written back to the mailing list the card was mailed from, so your next send to that list has it.
A companion option, Ask recipients to confirm it's okay to contact them, adds a required checkbox to the same claim page. With it on, the recipient also confirms you may contact them before the gift card is revealed, and the time they did so is recorded against the order.
Where the setting lives
- Click the gear icon (⚙️) in the top right.
- Click Mail Preferences.
- Find the Gift Card Redemption card and the Require contact info to redeem gift cards toggle.
- While that toggle is on, a second toggle appears beneath it: Ask recipients to confirm it's okay to contact them. Switch it on to add the confirmation checkbox to the claim page.
Each toggle shows the current state for your account, and switching either one takes effect immediately - there is no separate save step. Check them before your next gift card send if you are not sure which way they are set.
The confirmation toggle is off by default, and it only does anything while the contact requirement is on. Turning the contact requirement off hides the confirmation toggle and stops the checkbox from being shown, whatever the confirmation toggle was set to; turn the contact requirement back on and the confirmation toggle reappears with its previous state.
Both settings are account-wide. They are configured on your main account and apply to gift cards sent from your subaccounts as well.
What the recipient sees
When the setting is on and there is no email or phone on file for that piece, scanning the QR code opens a claim page that reads You've received a gift card! and asks for an email address or a phone number. Below the form, the page tells the recipient the details are used only to deliver the gift card and let the sender know it arrived.
The recipient fills in one field, submits, and continues straight to the gift. Gating is unaffected: if the gift card is gated behind a video or a website, that step still happens as configured.
When the setting is off, or when the recipient's email or phone is already on the mailed piece, the claim page does not appear and redemption runs exactly as it does for any other gift card.
With the confirmation checkbox on
When Ask recipients to confirm it's okay to contact them is also on, the claim page shows a required checkbox under the email and phone fields, labelled It's okay for [your company name] to contact me. The company name comes from the company field in Branding Builder; with no company name configured, the label reads It's okay for the sender to contact me instead.
The recipient has to tick the box to continue. Submitting without it shows Please check the box to confirm it's okay to contact you. and the gift card stays hidden until they do. Submitting with it ticked is the confirmation itself - there is no separate step - and the recipient continues to the gift as usual.
Because the page has just asked the recipient's permission to contact them, the line under the form reads We use this to deliver your gift card and let the sender know it arrived (without "only") whenever the checkbox is shown. When the checkbox is not shown, the line keeps the word "only".
Your branding on the claim page
The claim page carries your branding rather than a thanks.io-branded page, because the recipient is your customer:
| Element | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Logo | Your rectangle logo in Branding Builder, falling back to your square icon |
| Company name | The company field in Branding Builder - also used to name your business in the confirmation checkbox |
| Button and accent color | Your accent color in Branding Builder |
If the card was sent from a subaccount, that subaccount's branding is used, so the confirmation checkbox names the subaccount's company. Branding is scoped per subaccount, so set it up inside each one - see What Is and Isn't Shared. The two Gift Card Redemption toggles themselves stay on the main account.
An account with no branding configured gets a clean, neutral claim page instead.
Preview what recipients see
Next to the toggle, click Preview what recipients see. It opens the claim page in a new tab with your branding and sample data, including the placeholder redemption code 5JFG-H334-4F78-99. When Ask recipients to confirm it's okay to contact them is on, the preview includes the confirmation checkbox with your company name in its label, so you can check the wording before a send.
The preview is marked as a preview at the top of the page and its form is inert - nothing you type there is submitted, saved, or sent to anyone. Use it to check how your logo and accent color read before turning the requirement on.
Where the contact details go
A submitted email or phone lands in two places:
- The order record for that gift card, alongside the recipient's address.
- The mailing list the card was mailed from, on the recipient row matching that mailing address.
Two rules govern the write-back:
- Blanks only. An email or phone already on a recipient row is never overwritten. Only empty fields are filled.
- Address matching. Rows are matched by mailing address, not by name, and only in mailing lists belonging to your own account.
The consent record
When the confirmation checkbox is on, completing the claim page with the box ticked is recorded as consent: the date and time of the submission are saved on that gift card's order item, next to the email or phone the recipient entered. The record is tied to the order, not to the mailing list row, so it is not written back to the list and does not follow the recipient to other lists.
Nothing is recorded when the checkbox is off, or when the contact requirement itself is off - the recipient is never asked, so there is no consent to record.
Because the details flow back into the list, a gift card send doubles as a way to fill in missing email addresses and phone numbers for addresses you only had a street address for. Pair it with a Mail Then Text follow-up.
Audit log
Turning either toggle on or off is recorded in your Audit Log, so you can confirm when the setting last changed and who changed it. The entries read Gift Card Contact Requirement Turned On / Turned Off for the contact requirement and Gift Card Contact Consent Checkbox Turned On / Turned Off for the confirmation checkbox.