Customers love feeling like they are receiving a great deal on their purchases, which is why various special offers are an effective way for boosting the sales. Discount coupons are one of the most popular tools for running promotions.
A discount coupon is a unique code that a customer can apply at checkout to get a discount. In Ecwid a customer can apply one code per order.
You can generate discount coupons with various limits: a dollar value discount, a percentage discount, or a free shipping discount. You can also restrict the dates during which the coupon is valid, the number of times a code can be used, a minimum order amount before the code can be used, and to which products the discount can be applied.
In this article:
How to create a discount coupon
Here is a video on how to create discounts in your Ecwid store:
- Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → Discounts → Discount Coupons.
- Click + Add New Coupon.
- Fill the necessary fields:
- Click Save.
Setting coupon options
Name
Add a coupon name for your convenience. Only store owner can see it.
Code
You can use the "generate" link to create a random code or insert your own code. For example "Christmas_coupon". Code is case-insensitive. Your customers will use a code to receive a discount. It can be:
- Free shipping
- Absolute discount (e.g. $5 off)
- Percent discount (e.g. 10% off)
- Absolute discount + Free shipping
- Percent discount + Free shipping
Setting coupon limits
Date limits
- Valid from date — the date when coupon start to work
- Valid until date — the date of coupon expiration
Orders
- all orders — coupon will be applied to all orders regardless of their totals.
- orders over $N — coupon will be applied only to orders which totals are greater than $N
Number of Uses:
- unlimited — no limits. Each customer can apply such coupon numerous times.
- once per customer — each customer can apply a coupon only once per e-mail, however the coupon can be applied numerous times. (also a customer can place two orders with such coupon, if he/she specifies different email addresses).
- single use — coupon can be applied only once
Customers
- all — no limits by customer type.
- repeat customers only — a coupon can be used by customers who made at least one order that is in the Paid status. If a customer has made an order that is in the 'Awaiting payment' status yet, a coupon will not work for them.
- new customers – a coupon can be used by customers who haven't yet ordered anything in your store.
Products and categories
Select one or several products or/and categories a coupon can be applied for.
Generating coupons
You can create as many duplicates of any coupon code as possible using Coupon Generator app from Ecwid App Market.
All you need is pick an existing coupon, select how many you wish to create and let the app do the work. You can set prefixes for the new coupons to help you specify a promotion they belong to.
The app price is $1.99/month.
FAQ
When the Apply a coupon field on a cart page is displayed?
Ecwid will show the Apply a coupon field on a cart page if your store has at least one enabled coupon.
What a discount coupon applies to?
Discount coupons for Absolute of Percent discount apply to subtotal (sum of items prices for all items in this order without taxes), such discount doesn't apply to shipping cost. The total discount cannot be more than a subtotal.
Is it possible to create a gift card (gift certificate) in Ecwid store?
You can use a single-use discount coupon for Absolute or Percent discount + Free shipping as a gift card - a customer who has a promotion code can apply such a coupon and get a discount plus this product will be shipped for free. Also, if you set a 100% discount for a coupon, an order will actually be free for a customer, you can use it for either attracting new customers or offering a reward to regular ones.
Notes:
- If you decide using 100% discount, you will need to enable the Skip payment method selection, if the order total is zero option in order to prevent warning messages caused by the fact that most of the online payment gateways don’t allow orders with zero total. Please refer to this article for the details: What if order total is zero? Can a customer skip payment methods selection in this case?
- Please mind that Free shipping, in this case, will be applied to all the cart contents. In case the customer wants to use the gift card and also to buy something the shipping for the whole order will be free.
How can I use discount coupons to decrease cart abandonment?
If a user decides to leave your store page without making a purchase, you can show them a popup message with a discount coupon code from your Ecwid store. This message should encourage a customer to stay in the store and a coupon code can have a small discount to your catalog items to further incentivise purchasing in your store.
To do that, check out the Exit offer application which will add that functionality in all your Ecwid storefronts.
My customers get a warning saying they cannot pay for a zero-total order, when a discount is more than or equal to order total. How can I fix that?
Such a warning is displayed when a customer tries to pay with an online payment method for a zero-total order because most of the online payment gateways don’t allow orders with zero total. In order to fix that, you will need to enable the Skip payment method selection, if the order total is zero option in your control panel. Please refer to this article for the details: What if order total is zero? Can a customer skip payment methods selection in this case?
Other promo features
This video shows how to use some of the paid Ecwid features such as coupon codes, discounts, SEO, and marketplaces.
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