A unique solution for physical gift cards.
At a glance
Researched demand for in-person gifting. Designed print-at-home PDF templates with QR activation. Protected the existing digital flow. 33% sales uplift, 98% activation within 24 hours.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Company
Gift Card Exchange
Platform
Web & Mobile
Date
June 2023
OVERVIEW
Expanding beyond digital-only gifting
Gift Card Exchange (GCX) was a digital-only platform — fast and convenient, but missing something important. Customers wanted a more personal, tangible way to give gift cards for birthdays, weddings, and special occasions.
I owned the end-to-end experience strategy and design for GCX’s first physical gifting feature: print-at-home cards with occasion-themed templates, QR code activation, and seamless integration with the existing digital wallet. The constraint was clear — add a new channel without breaking the simple digital purchase flow users already trusted.
THE CHALLENGE
Real demand, real risk
GCX had no physical gifting option — users who wanted to gift in person had no path
Occasion-based personalisation was a strong user desire with no product answer
Any new flow had to coexist with the existing digital purchase experience
Pre-activated cards risked skipping recipient onboarding entirely — losing acquisition and retention
The business saw an opportunity. My job was to design a hybrid solution that felt native to GCX, drove new revenue, and turned every physical gift into a platform touchpoint — not a one-way transaction.
MY ROLE & APPROACH
Research-led design with growth built in
What I owned
I led experience strategy and design end to end — from initial research through high-fidelity UI, journey mapping, PDF template design, and dev handoff. I worked closely with developers, stakeholders, and the product team throughout.
What I delivered
Print-at-home physical gift cards with occasion-themed PDF templates
QR code activation flow that onboarded recipients into the GCX digital wallet
Unified purchase flow with clear delivery choices: Digital or Physical
Personalisation tools — custom messages, logo upload, and safe-area template constraints
Charity bulk-gifting mode with optional pre-activation for recipients without phone access
01 — DISCOVERY
Validating demand before designing the solution
I ran initial surveys via Hotjar to understand whether existing GCX users would value in-person gifting and occasion-based personalisation — before committing engineering resources to a hybrid model.
Research questions
How would you prefer to deliver a gift card?
Would you pay extra to personalise a gift card for a specific occasion?
65%
preferred to gift in person
85%
desired to pair it with an occasion
65% of users wanted to gift in person — a clear signal that the digital-only model was leaving real demand on the table.
— Research takeaway
From pre-activation to QR-led growth
Our first concept was simple: ship a pre-activated card, ready to spend. But that created a problem — the recipient would never interact with GCX, meaning no new account, no wallet relationship, and no path to future purchases.
After further research and technical discussions with the dev team, we landed on QR code activation. Scanning is familiar, low-friction, and — critically — it routes every recipient through a secure acceptance flow before the card lands in their digital wallet.
The QR code approach wasn’t just a technical decision — it was a growth decision. Every physical gift card became an acquisition opportunity for GCX.
— Strategic pivot
02 — DESIGN DECESIONS
Validating demand before designing the solution
Customer journey mapping
I mapped both the digital and physical purchase flows so the team could see where the experiences diverged, where they shared steps, and where friction could be removed. This became the shared reference for design, product, and engineering alignment.
Purchase flow
I designed high-fidelity wireframes and UI flows covering the full sender experience:
Delivery method selection — Digital (email/text) or Physical (print-at-home)
Occasion and template selection
Custom message and logo upload
PDF template personalisation with safe-area constraints
The existing digital flow stayed untouched. Physical gifting was an additive path, not a rewrite — which kept implementation scope manageable and protected conversion on the core product.
Recipient activation flow
When a recipient receives a printed PDF, they scan the QR code and land on a secure acceptance screen. They log in or create a GCX account, accept the gift card, and it is automatically added to their digital wallet — ready to use immediately.
The flow was designed to convert a physical gift recipient into a GCX wallet user, turning a one-time gift into a long-term platform relationship.
Edge case: charity bulk gifting
We partnered with charities that needed to distribute gift cards to recipients without phone access — people who couldn’t scan a QR code or create an account.
Challenge: Recipients had no way to complete the standard activation flow.
Solution: A toggle allowing charity partners to pre-activate cards when needed, so recipients could use the card immediately without onboarding — while standard consumer gifting still routed through QR activation.
03 — FINAL DESIGNS
From designed flows to shippable specs
Physical gifting introduced new deliverables beyond standard UI screens — PDF templates, print constraints, and a multi-step activation flow. I documented each piece clearly so engineering could build with confidence.
High-fidelity UI flows for sender and recipient journeys
Occasion-themed PDF template designs with safe-area and print guidelines
QR activation and wallet integration specifications
Interactive prototypes for stakeholder review and dev reference
Charity pre-activation toggle behaviour and edge-case documentation
A selection of some of the PDF templates
04 — OUTCOME & IMPACT
A new revenue channel that strengthened the core product
+33%
Increase in total sales within the first month
98%
Of physical cards activated within 24 hours
20%
Of users opted for print-at-home physical gifting
Business impact
Physical gifting became a meaningful new revenue stream without disrupting the digital business. The PDF templates added a personal, occasion-led layer that digital-only delivery couldn’t match — and the QR activation model meant every physical card still fed the platform’s user base.
User impact
Customers praised the “instant yet personal” experience — download, print, and gift in person, same day
20% of users chose the physical option immediately, validating the research signal
Charities and business clients adopted the feature for bulk gifting occasions
20% of users immediately opted for the physical option — confirming that the digital-only model had been leaving real demand unmet.
— Post-launch validation
05 — NEXT STEPS & LEARNINGS
Phase 1 – Full image personalisation
Replace the current logo and avatar section with a full image upload — enabling users to completely personalise their PDF templates. A critical improvement for business clients making bulk purchases.
Phase 2 – Occasion-based messaging across the full flow
Expand occasion theming across the full digital purchase experience. Using creative assets from the PDF templates, customers could choose an occasion and the recipient would receive an SMS or email styled to match.
Research drives bold decisions
The survey data — 65% wanting physical, 85% occasion-driven — gave the team confidence to push a hybrid solution that many initially considered too complex. Without that data, the safer call would have been to stay digital-only.
Emotional design matters in commerce
Personalisation tools and beautifully designed PDF templates turned a transactional product into something meaningful — and that meaning was directly tied to the sales uplift.
Protect what works
By leaving the existing digital purchase flow untouched and using smart constraints — safe areas, QR activation — we delivered meaningful innovation without introducing friction for existing users.