How to Create an Influencer Gifting Page on Shopify

Influencer gifting sounds simple until you try to scale it. One influencer wants the black hoodie in medium. Another wants two lip glosses. A third asks if they can swap the tote for the beanie.

You're managing all of this through DMs, spreadsheets, and draft orders. Every gifting round means a day of back-and-forth before a single package ships.

The fix is a self-service gifting page. You build it once, set the rules (which products, how many, what discount), and send the link. The influencer picks what they want and checks out through your Shopify store. No DMs. No draft orders. No manual cart-building.

Here's how to set one up in under a minute.

Why Draft Orders Don't Work for Gifting at Scale

Draft orders are Shopify's default answer to "someone else is paying for this order." They work fine for one-off situations. But for gifting programs, they break down fast.

You build every cart manually. Each influencer gets a different selection. You're creating draft orders one at a time, selecting products and variants, applying the discount, and sending the invoice link. Ten influencers means ten draft orders.

No product choice. Draft orders are take-it-or-leave-it. The influencer gets what you picked. If they want a different size or color, they message you, you edit the draft, and send a new link. Multiply that by your roster and you're spending more time on logistics than content strategy.

No limits. There's no way to say "pick up to 3 items." You either build the exact cart for them or give them free rein on a discount code and hope they don't order your entire catalog.

No tracking. Which influencers redeemed their gift? Which ones never opened the link? Draft orders don't give you that data without manual tracking.

What a Self-Service Gifting Page Looks Like

A gifting page is a standalone page with a simple flow:

  1. Influencer clicks the link you sent them
  2. They see the products available for gifting
  3. They pick what they want (within the limits you set)
  4. They check out through your Shopify checkout — free, with a 100% discount pre-applied

From the influencer's perspective, it feels like shopping your store. From your perspective, it's a controlled experience where you decide exactly what's available and how much they can take.

The order shows up in your Shopify admin like any other order. Your fulfillment workflow handles it. Your inventory updates. Your analytics track it.

Build a Gifting Page With Checkout Links in 60 Seconds

Checkout Links has a pre-built Influencer Gifting template. You don't need to design the page from scratch — the template creates a three-step wizard that handles the entire flow.

Here's the setup:

Step 1: Create a New Link

Open Checkout Links in your Shopify admin. Click "Create link." Add the products you want to make available for gifting. Set the discount to 100% (or whatever your gifting terms are — some brands cover 50% and let influencers pay the rest).

Step 2: Apply the Influencer Gifting Template

Click the "Templates" button in the page editor. Select "Influencer Gifting." The template creates a three-step pre-checkout page:

  • Gift limit — tells the influencer how many items they can select
  • Product selection — shows the available products with variants (size, color, etc.)
  • Order summary — confirms their selections before checkout

Each step is a separate screen. The influencer progresses through them in order, so the experience is guided, not overwhelming.

Step 3: Set Your Rules

Configure the limits:

  • Product limit — "Pick up to 3 items" (or 1, or 5, or whatever fits your program)
  • Usage limit — one redemption per link, so an influencer can't share it or use it twice
  • Expiry date — set the link to expire after your gifting window closes
  • Passcode — optionally add a passcode so only invited influencers can access the page

Step 4: Send the Link

Copy the URL and send it to your influencer — email, DM, talent management platform, wherever you communicate. They click, pick their products, and check out. You get a standard Shopify order.

That's it. No draft orders. No spreadsheets. No back-and-forth about sizes.

Real Example: Gifting 20 Influencers in 10 Minutes

Say you're launching a new product line and want 20 influencers to try it. Here's the old way vs. the new way.

Old way (draft orders):

  1. Create 20 draft orders manually
  2. Wait for each influencer to tell you their size/color preferences
  3. Edit the draft orders based on responses
  4. Send 20 invoice links
  5. Track which ones were redeemed in a spreadsheet
  6. Follow up with the ones who didn't redeem

Time: 2-4 hours, spread across days of DMs.

New way (gifting page):

  1. Create one checkout link with all available products
  2. Apply the Influencer Gifting template
  3. Set the gift limit, usage limit, and expiry
  4. Send the same link to all 20 influencers
  5. Orders appear in Shopify as they're placed

Time: 10 minutes. And you know exactly who redeemed because every order is tracked.

Advanced Gifting Setups

Tiered Gifting

Not all influencers get the same deal. Your top-tier partners might get 5 items free, while micro-influencers get 1. Create separate checkout links with different product limits and discounts for each tier. Same template, different rules.

Seasonal Gifting Campaigns

Running a holiday gifting round? Set the link expiry to match your campaign window. After the deadline, the link stops working automatically. No need to remember to deactivate it.

Gifting + Attribution

Add UTM parameters to each gifting link. When the influencer posts about your product and their followers buy through the same link family, you can attribute sales back to the gifting investment. Checkout Links tracks clicks, conversions, and revenue per link.

Recurring Gifting

For ongoing ambassador programs, create a permanent gifting page and refresh the product selection each month or season. The URL stays the same — just update the products behind it.

Why This Works Better Than Discount Codes

Some brands skip draft orders and just send influencers a 100% discount code. That solves the logistics problem but creates new ones:

  • No product limits. A 100% discount code works on anything in your store. Unless you restrict it to specific collections (extra setup), an influencer could order 50 items.
  • Codes get shared. Discount codes leak. They end up on coupon sites. A checkout link with a usage limit can only be used once.
  • No guided experience. A discount code drops the influencer on your store with no direction. A gifting page shows them exactly what's available and walks them through the selection.
  • No order context. When an order comes in with a discount code, you know the code was used. You don't know it was an influencer gift vs. a leaked code vs. a customer support gesture. Gifting page orders are distinct.

What You Need

Checkout Links costs $25/month. The Influencer Gifting template is included — no extra charge, no add-on, no higher tier.

You need a Shopify store (any plan) and products you want to offer for gifting. That's it.

The template handles the page layout. The checkout link handles the discount. Shopify handles the order. You handle the relationships.

Create your first gifting page →