A voucher link is a gift voucher published at an address, so the holder opens it on their phone at the counter without a file to find or an app to install.
The page is the voucher. The thing that stops it being spent twice is your record of which codes have been used.
This guide covers what belongs on the voucher, how redemption works in practice, expiry and terms, and where a page is not enough.
Design for the counter
A voucher is presented in a shop, to a person, with people waiting. The value and the code need to be visible without scrolling and readable at a glance.
<div class="voucher">
<p class="issuer">Harlow Coffee Roasters</p>
<p class="value">£40</p>
<p class="code">HCR-7K4M-2019</p>
<p class="terms">Valid at our Leeds and Harrogate shops.
Not exchangeable for cash. Expires 30 September 2027.</p>
</div>
Make the code selectable text rather than an image, so someone at the till can copy it rather than typing from a screen. Set it in a monospace face so the characters cannot be confused, and avoid letters that look like digits when you generate codes.
A QR code alongside helps if your till can scan, but the printed code has to be there regardless, because scanners fail and phones dim.
Redemption is your process, not the page
This is the part people expect the technology to solve, and it does not.
A page has no memory. It cannot know whether this voucher has already been spent, and it cannot mark itself used. That has to happen in whatever you use to run the business.
| What the page does | What you do | |
|---|---|---|
| Carries the value | Yes | |
| Carries a unique code | Yes | |
| Records that it was used | No | Check against your list |
| Prevents a second use | No | Same check |
| Tracks partial redemption | No | Note the balance |
For a small business a spreadsheet of issued codes is sufficient. Check the code, mark it spent, note the balance if it was partly used. That is the same discipline a paper voucher needs.
Expiry and terms
Rules on gift voucher expiry vary between countries and several restrict it, so check what applies where you trade rather than copying terms from elsewhere.
Whatever the rules, state the terms on the voucher in plain language. Where it can be used, what it can be used on, whether change is given, and the expiry if there is one.
When a voucher does expire, keep the page working. A dead link reads as a business that has gone, and a page that says "this voucher expired on 30 September 2027, please contact us" turns a dead end into a conversation. Some businesses honour recently expired vouchers as a matter of goodwill, and they can only do that if the holder gets in touch.
Send it to the buyer
The buyer is giving a gift, and the giving is part of it. Sending the link straight to the recipient takes that away and occasionally ruins a surprise.
Send it to the buyer with a short note on how to pass it on. Offer to deliver it directly on a date if they want that, which is a reasonable thing to handle by hand at small volumes.
Corrections and top-ups
An advantage a page has over a printed or PDF voucher: it can change.
A wrong name, a value that should have been higher, a shop that closed and needs removing from the terms. All of those are edits, and the holder sees the correction whenever they next open it.
Partial redemption can work the same way. If someone spends £25 of a £40 voucher, update the page to show the remaining balance and the date. The holder then has an accurate voucher rather than a paper one with a pencil note on the back.
When a page is not enough
If you sell vouchers at volume, take payment for them online, or need them to work across multiple tills at once, you need a system that holds balances and marks redemption centrally.
The page approach suits a business issuing tens rather than thousands, where a person checks a list. That covers a great many independent shops, studios and practices.
Put it at an address
Write the voucher as a page, keep the code selectable, state the terms plainly, and create a share link for the buyer.
Then record the code. The page is the voucher; your list is what makes it spendable once.