UPDATED: August 2026
TL;DR: Yes, you can send a digital gift card via text. Your recipient typically receives a link they can open on their phone to claim or use the card.
This article is for marketers, HR teams, researchers, program managers, and anyone else who needs/wants to text gift cards as part of a rewards, incentive, corporate gifting, or payout program.
Want to send a gift card via text to your customers, employees, or survey/research respondents? Easy—assuming you've got the right tools at your disposal.
For a one-off gift, you can purchase an eGift card from a retailer that offers text delivery, or buy one by email and forward the claim link yourself.
For an ongoing business rewards program where you need to text lots of gift cards, you should look for a gift card platform that lets you generate unique gift card links in bulk, personalize the reward experience, and track whether each reward has been claimed.
In this guide, we'll cover both approaches, including exactly how to text a gift with and without Giftbit. We'll also explain why gift card links work so well for customer incentives, employee rewards, research payments, and other recurring business programs.
Platforms like Giftbit make it very easy to send email reward. But of course, not every use case works best via email.
So if you want an even faster, more direct way to connect with your audience, here are three common ways to text a gift card or prepaid card (like Visa® or Mastercard®).
For a one-off personal gift, buying directly from the retailer is often the simplest option.
But if you’re sending rewards regularly or to a larger group, you’ll likely want more control over things like branding, reward options, funding, and reporting (which we'll cover below).
Not ready to commit to a new tool? No worries. You don’t need a reward platform to text a single gift card. Retailer checkout and email-delivered gift cards both work for occasional gifts.
Amazon offers eGift cards with text-message delivery in supported marketplaces.
Amazon also offers a Shareable link option in some marketplaces. Instead of having Amazon send the text, you can generate the gift card link, copy it from your order details, and send it yourself by text or another messaging app.
Amazon’s options can vary by country, so use the appropriate Amazon.com or Amazon.ca marketplace.
→See this guide if you're sending Amazon gift cards to recipients in multiple countries.
If you're wanting to text Starbucks gift cards, you've also got some ready options.
Depending on your device and location, you can send a Starbucks eGift through the Starbucks app or, on supported iPhones, directly through Messages.
On supported iPhones, Starbucks also provides an option to send an eGift directly through Messages. See Starbucks’ current gift card sending instructions before purchasing.
Remember how we said you can sometimes email a digital gift card to yourself and then text it? Here's how that process usually works:
Of course, you'll want to double-check the phone number and send the link privately.
Important → a gift card link or code should always be treated like cash: anyone who obtains it may be able to use it.
Ultimately, all these methods for texting gift cards are simple enough. Time and complexity start to pile up quickly when you start needing to deliver dozens or even hundreds of gift cards. These manual methods also make it harder to reconcile spending or check which rewards have been claimed.
We'll walk you through the easier way to do those things next.
Giftbit is built for businesses and organizations running repeat, bulk, or automated reward programs. Instead of buying and texting cards one-by-one from several retailers, you can generate unique Giftbit Links and text those links to your recipients.
Here's how.
Create a free business account and add funds. Giftbit has no subscription, platform, or minimum-use fees. Most digital gift cards cost their face value; select prepaid and physical cards carry nominal additional fees.
You can fund you account for free via bank wire, ACH/EFT and direct debit. Credit-card funding carries a 2.9% fee, and currency conversion is free.
Choose the gift card, prepaid card, or selection of rewards you want to offer. Set the value (i.e. how much you're sending each person), add your organization’s name and message, and customize the recipient experience.
You can offer one specific brand (like Starbucks or Amazon, for example) or let recipients choose from an approved selection. You also have the option to let your audience pick from the entire rewards catalog (currently at 1,500+ brands across 40+ countries and growing).
Select Order Giftbit Links and enter the number of rewards you need. Every link represents one individual reward and should be assigned to one recipient only.
After the order is processed, you’ll receive an email with a CSV containing your unique links.
Add the Giftbit Links to your recipient list. For a small send, you can match and text the links manually. For a larger program, import the links and phone numbers into the messaging, CRM, or workflow tool your organization already uses.
💡Remember: Keep the file secure and maintain a record of which recipient received each link.
Now for the fun stuff. Time to actually get your links onto your recipients' phones. 📲
Start with a clear message that identifies your organization, explains why the recipient is receiving the reward, and includes their unique Giftbit Link. Be specific; this is your best shot to ensure people see, recognize, and trust (and therefore claim) their digital rewards.
🙌 Bonus: when the person opens the link on their phone to claim their reward, they won't need to create a Giftbit account or download an app to access it.
Clearly, this is a much easier process than buying a stack of cards and texting them out manually. Using a gift card platform to text rewards also has other benefits.
Specifically, Giftbit shows you which Giftbit Links have been claimed and which are still outstanding. Its reporting tools also help businesses review reward activity, funding, and program spending.
Because the text itself is sent outside Giftbit, SMS delivery information comes from your messaging provider. Giftbit reports what happens to the reward link after you create and distribute it.
Note: not every gift card distributor gives this granular level of detail in their reports, so be sure to ask about it in your discovery process if it matters to your program.
Texting is a convenient and cost-effective delivery option that not only saves your company time and money but also enhances the overall gifting experience.
Text messages are an integral part of both our personal and professional lives. They've also become a mainstay in digital marketing, thanks in large part to their effectiveness as a communication tool and their high open rates.
Text messages are a popular communication method across all age groups, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers. So when you choose to send rewards through text, you're using the preferred contact method for many people.
Specifically, reward strategies that include texting offer the following advantages:
Higher redemption rates: Most of us don't open every email we receive, so there’s always the chance that someone won’t open your reward email. Mobile delivery can make rewards easier to notice and access, which can translate to wasting less of your rewards budget and increasing customer loyalty by reaching more people. Pro-tip: you might want to try measuring claim rates by channel to see which is best for your audience.
Instant delivery: Physical gift cards can be a nice touch, but text delivery has a major advantage over “snail” mail: it’s instant. Instead of waiting days or weeks, your customer can receive and redeem their reward in seconds.
Easy to redeem: With hundreds of emails flooding their inbox, customers might struggle to find their reward email right away. The longer it takes, the more likely they’ll put it off until they forget about it. But when you send the digital gift card over text, the recipient can easily press the notification and follow the provided link to redeem their reward.
Text-based marketing can be quite effective, assuming it's done right. The following best practices should always be top of mind.
To best protect yourself, and provide the best recipient experience for your digital rewards program, we recommend obtaining consent to send the digital reward via text when your recipient signs up for the program.
Of course, if you work with the right gift card distributor, you should have lots of options to send gift cards at your fingertips.
For example, at Giftbit, our goal is to make it easy to send rewards via pretty much any method you can think of. Take your stack of links and:
Integrate them into your online surveys
Turn the links into QR codes for printed mailers, event signage, or other offline materials.
Share them with employees via Slack
Send links through social media direct messages where appropriate.
Use them to get more signups at your next trade show, by integrating them as a QR code into your signage or other products.
Bottom line: you're not restricted in how you deliver them. Test what works best, iterate, and scale. 🚀
💬 “Giftbit is really easy to use, and I think that is probably the most important feature of any tech product," says Greg Augustine, Project Manager at Prime46.
See how Giftbit saves Greg up to 25% of his time here.
By now it should be clear that manual retailer purchases can be a nice, practical option when you need to text a gift card to one or two people.
They’re less practical when rewards are part of an ongoing customer, employee, research, or incentive program.
Giftbit gives businesses one place to:
There are no platform subscriptions, minimum orders, or exclusivity contracts. Eligible higher-volume programs may also qualify for discounts or custom pricing.
💬"We've taken all the friction out," says Nat Salvione, Giftbit CCO. "We're innovating the recipient experience, ensuring the act of receiving a Visa incentive card or other reward through Giftbit's platform is smooth. Recipients don't have to enter excess personal information, and they don't have to download a separate app to link it to their wallets. Give your recipient a Visa, and they can go spend it, right away."
Important:
Before sending business texts: Consent, identification, and opt-out requirements depend on the message, recipient, and jurisdiction. Review applicable rules and have your organization’s legal counsel approve the program where appropriate.🇨🇦 CRTC guidance · 🇺🇸 FCC guidance