How to sell gift products with Limio and Zuora

In order to sell a subscription gift code in Limio, you will need to set up a product and rate plan in Zuora, then understand the data Limio will create as part of the gift purchase and redemption.

In this guide, we will cover:

1. Set up a product and rate plan in Zuora.

2. Configure Zuora to handle the gift purchase

3. Configure Zuora to handle the gift redemption

1. Set up a product and rate plan in Zuora.

Gift codes can be classified as either one-off or recurring, depending on whether the term needs to be included in the Zuora subscription.

Here are the three different approaches using Limio and Zuora, which you can assess based on your requirements.

A. (Recommended) Re-use your existing product and rate plans

If you are using Limio Offers and Initial Pricing, you will be able to override the price and auto-renewals settings within the Limio Offer. Therefore, you may not need to create new product and rate plan in Zuora and can re-use your existing data.

For example, you may have a Digital product (SKU-001) with a rate plan (Yearly Plan) of $100 per year. You can easily go in Limio, create a Gift Digital Limio Product that re-uses the SKU-001 and configure an offer referencing the Yearly Plan rate plan with an initial price of $100 for a 1 year with auto-renew set to false.

If this works for you, then skip to step 2.

For reporting or downstream systems, you may not want to use your existing product and rate plans for gifts. Consider Option B or C:

B. Create a Recurring rate plan (term included in subscription):

Use this option if you need to track the term of the gift subscription. You will need to:

• Create a new product or reuse an existing product in Zuora.
• Add a recurring zero-priced rate plan in Zuora.
• Configure the billing period in Zuora to reflect the desired term (e.g., Two Years, One Year, 12 Specific Weeks, 6 Months, etc.).
• In Limio, configure Initial Price with a frequency that matches the Zuora billing period.

B. Create a one-off (term not included in subscription): 

Use this option if you do not need to track the term of the gift subscription. You will need to:

• Create a new product or reuse an existing product in Zuora.
• Add a zero-priced one-off rate plan in Zuora.
• In Limio, create a one-off charge with an initial price.

⚠️ Limitation: Gift products does not support deal ramps or adding multiple charges in Limio. Doing so is unsupported and may cause issues in the Limio order processing and/or in Zuora.

2. Configure Zuora to handle the gift purchase

When someone purchase a gift, a subscription doesn't exist yet. It is only created when the gift recipient redeem their gift. By default, for the gift purchase, Limio will create a new Customer Account with a payment method and a Debit Memo in Zuora.

⚠️ You will need to activate Invoice Settlement in your Zuora tenant for this feature.

You will need to configure the Reason Code for the Debit Memo as 'Gifting' in Zuora and define a revenue schedule for the debit memo.

Additionally, the Gift Code generated by Limio can be provided to the Zuora Debit Memo of the gift purchaser. You must go to Zuora Settings > Billing > Manage Custom Fields > Debit Memo Fields. The API value must GiftCode__c but the label can be customised.

Once configured, the following Debit Memo will be generated for a gift purchase.

⚠️  Alternative processing: Limio can allow for gift to create an Invoice and Subscription instead of a Debit Memo. This is not recommended and best practice, however might be necessary for compliance with local invoicing rules. Please contact your Account Executive if this is required.

3. Configure Zuora to handle the gift redemption

When the gift recipient redeem their code, Limio will create a new Customer Account with a zero-priced Subscription in Zuora. The customer will not have a Payment Method.

The Gift Code generated by Limio can be provided to the Zuora Subscription of the gift recipient. You must go to Zuora Settings > Billing > Manage Custom Fields > Subscription Fields. The API value must GiftCode__c but the label can be customised.

Once configured, the following Order will be created at gift redemption: