Contents
# 1. Introduction to Friend's Vouchers
Friend's Voucher is a new feature launched based on Weixin vouchers. This feature allows a voucher that is received by a user to be shared by multiple users to achieve rapid social dissemination and conversion.
When a user receives and shares such a voucher with friends, the voucher automatically appears in the voucher list of the user and the user's friends for use later. The merchant can set a rule of giving away vouchers like this: the user who uses a Friend's Voucher is immediately given another voucher based on the number of vouchers given away configured by the merchant, so that the user can continue to share the voucher with friends.
# 2. Advantages
High exposure: After being received, Friend's Vouchers automatically appear in Weixin Cards & Offers of the receiver and the receiver's friends. Therefore, the exposure is greatly improved.
High conversion: A common coupon is exposed only to one user. However, Friend's Vouchers can be exposed to the receiver and the receiver's friends. In this way, more exposure is obtained with the same budget and costs, and the conversion rate and benefits are effectively increased.
Recommendation by friends: Vouchers are shared to friends only after being approved by the receiver. With endorsement from the receiver, Friend's Vouchers become more reliable. In addition, the conversion rate can be further increased due to similar interests between Weixin friends.
Propagation: After a Friend's Voucher is redeemed by the user or the user's friends, the merchant can immediately give away another voucher for the user to receive and share. In this way, the promotion offered by the merchant is constantly exposed among users.
# 3. Supported Categories
Friend's Vouchers are gradually launched according to merchant categories. Here is a list of supported merchant categories. More merchant categories will be available soon. Pay close attention to the notices on the Weixin Official Accounts Platform.
| Primary Category | Secondary Category |
|---|---|
| Foods | Cantonese cuisine, tea restaurant, Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Northeast cuisine, Northwest cuisine, hot pot, buffet, snacks, fast food, Japanese cuisine, Korean cuisine, Southeast Asian cuisine, Western food, bread & dessert, cafe, JiangZhe cuisine, other foods, food delivery |
| Entertainment | Exhibition, Spa bath, foot massage, gym, chess room, KTV, bar/club, art photo, pet grooming, beauty salon, manicure |
| Life Services | Courier services, pet health care, property management, housekeeping services, healthcare |
| Movie Ticket | Movie tickets |
| Hotel | Express hotels, resorts, and star hotels |
| Shopping | Maternal and child supplies, general food, flowers and gifts, home textiles, watches/clocks/glasses, daily necessities, cosmetics, sports outdoor, footwear/bags, clothing, non-staple food stores, supermarkets/convenience stores, shopping malls/shopping streets, department stores |
| Life Services | Wedding service, gas stations, car repair, driving school |
| Tourism | Attractions tickets |
| Shopping | Convenience stores, jewelries & accessories, home decorations, building materials/hardware/mechanical instruments, musical instruments, alcohol, pharmacies/drugstores, books/newspapers/magazines, digital appliances |
| Public Transport Ticketing | Air tickets, cruise tickets, bus/train tickets |
If a developer's Official Account is not covered in the supported categories, the developer can apply for a sandbox test account to create, receive, issue, and redeem vouchers. Sandbox test accounts have the permission to create Friend's Vouchers that will not be approved. The developer can receive these unapproved Friend's Vouchers by calling the "Set Whitelist" API. These shared vouchers are visible only to friends in the whitelist.
# 4. Requirements
Voucher sharing greatly improves the exposure and utilization of vouchers and makes social media more compelling by facilitating the interaction between friends. Therefore, Friend's Vouchers need to meet the following requirements:
Select either threshold-independent price-reduction vouchers/exchange vouchers without requiring minimum purchase amount or threshold-dependent price-reduction vouchers/exchange vouchers. Supported types of thresholds include amount-based threshold (available after purchase of xxx), category-specific threshold (available/unavailable for xxx), and "Using with other vouchers is not allowed" threshold.
The advanced_info field is specified to describe the benefits using text description and images.
(Optional) Allow users to redeem one voucher and get one free.
Merchant-defined code is not supported.
# 5. Notes
To develop Friend's Vouchers, the developer needs to perform the following steps:
Log in to the Weixin Official Accounts Platform, and click Cards & Offers or call the "Activate Token Account" API to activate a token account for Friend's Vouchers. This API is available only for merchants in specified categories. Other categories will be available in the future.
Create Friend's Vouchers: Provide information such as the logo, the store name, and the color value, and then call the creation API to create a price-reduction voucher without the minimum purchase amount. Insert text description and images. Set to allow users to redeem one voucher and get one free. Get the card_id. For more information, see Create Friend's Vouchers.
Call "Increase Voucher Inventory Balance with Tokens" and "Top Up Voucher Token Account" APIs to configure the inventory for Friend's Vouchers, and top up the token account.
Issue Friend's Vouchers: After configuring the inventory, you can create a QR code based on the card_id or create an HTML5 page that is opened by scanning a QR code, and issue Friend's Vouchers via the QR code or the HTML5 page. In addition, you can also issue Friend's Vouchers by using an HTML5 page that is opened via Weixin Shake or Weixin Wi-Fi. For more information, see Issue Friend's Vouchers.
If Friend's Vouchers are not approved, the developer can set a whitelist via the "Set Whitelist" API to receive and share unapproved vouchers. All shared vouchers are visible only to friends in the whitelist.
Redeem Friend's Vouchers: The voucher is visible for the sharer and the sharer's friends, who then can present the voucher in store to enjoy the discount. After redemption, they are given another voucher, so that they can continue to share the voucher with friends. You need to use the redemption assistant or develop a redemption tool to help merchants redeem vouchers. For more information, see Redeem Friend's Vouchers.
Manage Friend's Vouchers: After issuing a Friend's Voucher, the developer can modify the information of the voucher or collect the voucher-related data. For more information, see Manage Friend's Vouchers.