Tinybeans Gift Card

Subscription Monetization & Growth

A strategic product initiative that unlocked new gifting channels and solved legacy UX problems while driving subscription revenue growth

The Why User Gifting Demand Identified

The What New Gifting Product Launched

The Impact (Strategic) Scalable Growth Lever Created

🧠 Overview

Project Details

Role: Senior Product Manager
Product Type: Subscription Monetization & Growth
Company: Tinybeans
Timeframe: 2024–2025
Business Goal: Increase subscription revenue by unlocking a new gifting channel and solving legacy UX problems

To grow subscription revenue and improve the experience for gift-oriented users, I led the development and launch of the Tinybeans Gift Card product. This solution allowed users to easily gift a premium subscription, solved a recurring support issue, and opened new promotional and B2B distribution opportunities through partnerships and Tinybeans+ Business.

🔍 Problem Statement

During user research for a referral initiative, we discovered:

65%+ of users joined Tinybeans after seeing it via a friend or family member.
Users frequently requested the ability to gift subscriptions, especially during holidays or life milestones like new births.
3% of premium subscribers were not the account's primary users (e.g., grandparents purchasing on behalf of parents), resulting in workaround flows that negatively affected user experience and data integrity.

This insight pointed to an untapped opportunity to launch a new product that could solve gifting friction while driving revenue growth.

💡 Solution

Develop a Gift Card product to:

Enable seamless gifting of Tinybeans+ subscriptions
Eliminate the need for manual workarounds
Lay the foundation for commercial and promotional partnerships with hospitals, baby registries, and employers

🔧 Strategy & Execution

🎯 Use Case Development

Consumer (MVP): Users gift subscriptions directly via Tinybeans.com
Commercial (Future): Businesses like hospitals or employers gift Tinybeans to new parents or employees
Promotional (Future): Distributed through platforms like Babylist

🛠 Technical & Product Approach

Purchase/redemption experience hosted on Tinybeans.com for faster iteration and full control of UX and communications
Integrated Stripe Checkout for lower fees, flexible payment options, and data control
Backend designed with scalability in mind to support future commercial/promotional use cases

💬 Subscription Design

Introduced 6-month and 12-month durations (no monthly)
Non-renewing gift cards to avoid billing ambiguity
Designed a renewal messaging flow to help convert gifted users into paying subscribers post-gift

📲 User Flow Overview

✅ Purchase Flow

User taps "Gift Card" in the app menu
Chooses "Purchase" option
Redirected to Tinybeans.com to:
- Select duration (6 or 12 months)
- Enter recipient info, sender name, optional message
- Choose send date
- Checkout via Stripe (supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna, etc.)

🎁 Redemption Flow

Recipient receives an email with gift card code and redemption link
In the app, they tap "Redeem", enter the code, and activate Tinybeans+

Design Wireframes

Purchase Flow Wireframe

Four-step purchase flow showing the complete user journey from app menu to payment completion

Redemption Flow Wireframe

Three-step redemption flow showing how users activate their gift cards

⚖️ Key Trade-offs & Decisions

Decision	Rationale
Web-based purchase (vs in-app)	Bypassed platform fees, allowed faster iterations
No monthly plans	Simplified decision-making, focused on meaningful gifting
No auto-renewal	Avoided renewal confusion, enabled intentional follow-up conversion strategy
Scheduled delivery	Enhanced delight and usability around key life events

📈 Results & Impact

✅ MVP Launched

Sept 2024 Launch Date

Successfully launched the gift card feature with strong early adoption signals and positive user feedback.

🤝 First Partner Launch

Q1 2025 Babylist Australia

Established first commercial partnership with Babylist Australia, validating the B2B distribution strategy.

📬 Support Impact

Reduced Support Tickets

Eliminated workaround gifting flows that were causing user experience issues and support burden.

Final MVP Screenshots

Purchase Flow (Launched)

Final launched purchase flow as seen in the Tinybeans app and web experience.

Redeem Flow (Launched)

Final launched redeem flow for activating a Tinybeans+ gift card.

💬 Reflection

This project highlights my ability to:

Uncover insights from edge cases and convert them into scalable growth opportunities
Prioritize MVPs that balance speed, impact, and future extensibility
Align user experience with business needs and operational efficiency

Although I transitioned out of the company shortly after launch, I'm proud that this feature laid the foundation for Tinybeans+ Business—a commercial expansion strategy I helped define to scale the gifting product across partner and B2B channels.