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Discount coupons

You can offer your customers a percentage (10% off), fixed value ($5 off), free shipping, and a combination (a discount plus free shipping) on products and categories. Coupons are unique codes that customers can enter at checkout and get a discount on their purchase. A promo code can be a combination of letters and/or numbers or a word. You can use your own codes or let Ecwid generate them for you.

You can specify a minimum order amount to use a discount, what type of customers can use a discount, and products or categories to which the discount can be applied. For each coupon you can also choose how many times it can be applied: unlimited, single, or once per customer. For a “Free shipping” or “Free shipping + discount” coupons it’s possible to specify a certain shipping or delivery method.

  1. How discount coupons work
  2. Creating discount coupons
  3. Adding coupon limits
  4. Modifying existing coupons
  5. Managing discount coupons

How discount coupons work

A discount coupon is basically a code that a customer can enter at checkout and get a discount on their order.

Offer gift cards in your store to boost up sales during the holidays.

If you create at least one coupon and it's active, the coupon field will appear on the cart page. Your customers can click on Redeem your coupon link to access it:

Discount coupon field at checkout

Сustomers can apply one coupon per order. When a coupon is applied at the checkout, the discount amount is deducted from the order subtotal — a total cost of all items in the cart excluding taxes and shipping.

Once you remove or deactivate all discount coupons in your store so there are no active discount coupons that customers can use, the coupon field will automatically disappear from your store.

You can create codes for monetary ($5 off) or percentage (10% off) discounts, free shipping and a combination of the two — a discount (fixed value or percentage) plus free shipping. A discount code is a combination of letters and/or numbers or a word. You can use your own codes or let Ecwid generate them for you.

How to send coupons

You can send coupons to customers in different ways:

  • through personal emails and messengers,
  • in the abandoned cart recovery emails,
  • in the marketing emails — add the discount code for the next purchase to increase chances for the next order,
  • in the social media — add the discount code to the post, tempting followers to visit your store.

How to make coupon field more visible

To enter the discount code at checkout, a customer should click on Redeem your coupon link to access the coupon field. If you often offer your customer discounts via coupons or gift cards, you can expand the coupon field so shoppers can enter promo codes right away:

expand_coupon_field.png

You can expand the coupon box with the help of CSS. You can find the CSS code for expanding the coupon field in the Ecwid CSS Cookbook article.

Creating discount coupons

You can create discount codes for:

  • a fixed value discount (e.g. $5 off),
  • a percentage discount (e.g. 10% off),
  • a free shipping,
  • a fixed value / percentage discount + free shipping.

To create a new discount coupon:

Desktop
iOS
Android
  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Marketing → Discount Coupons.
  2. Click Add New Coupon.
  3. Enter a Name for your coupon.

    The coupon name displays only in the Ecwid admin. Customers don't see it. To share a discount with customers, send them the coupon code.
  4. Keep the Code generated by Ecwid or type your own code. Here you can use any combination of letters/numbers or type a word, e.g. 'Promo'. The code is what customers should enter at the checkout to get the discount.
  5. Select the Discount type: discount, free shipping or discount + free shipping.

    When a customer uses a free shipping coupon, they get free shipping for all items in the cart even if the coupon is limited to certain products.
  6. Enter the discount Value and choose between a percentage or a monetary value:Screenshot_2019-09-30_at_15.36.22.png
  7. Choose the day from which the coupon should be active and when the coupon should expire:
    coupon_expire.png
    The coupons are activated at 00:00:00 and deactivated at 23:59:59 in the time zone specified in your Ecwid admin, Settings → General, Regional Settings tab,  Date & Time section. For example, if you choose the period December 5 - December 10 for a discount coupon, customers will be able to apply the coupon to their orders starting from 00:00:00 of the 5th December till 23:59:59 of the 10th December in your store's time zone.

    In case you want to create a coupon that is active for one day only, select the same start and end days.
  8. If the code should apply to specific orders, products or customers, click No limits and define the coupon limits:Ecwid_Control_Panel_2019-09-30_15-41-16.jpg
  9. Click Save.

Instead of adding codes one by one, you can import a list of coupons in CSV with the Discount Coupon Importer app for Ecwid or duplicate an existing coupon as many times as you need with the Coupon Generator app.

You can create a 100% discount coupon for certain items, offering them as a gift. In that case, you may want to automatically mark orders with zero price as “Paid”, so that you don’t have to manually change the status of each order from "Awaiting Payment" to "Paid". For this, go to Settings → General → Cart & Checkout and in the Checkout Settings section set the Default payment status for orders with zero total setting to Paid.

Adding coupon restrictions

You can set coupon codes to be applicable to specific orders, products, and customers and limit the number of times a coupon can be used.

To add usage restrictions to a coupon:

Desktop
iOS
Android
  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Marketing → Discount Coupons.
  2. Choose the coupon to edit it and click No limits:

Ecwid_Control_Panel_2019-09-30_15-13-44.jpg

  1. Here you can configure which orders, customers and products the coupon should apply to. The Shipping Methods can be set up only for coupons with the free shipping option:

discount_coupons.png

  1. When you have defined all coupon limits, click Apply.

Coupons restrictions for orders over specific amount

If you want customers to spend a minimum amount to qualify for the discount, select Subtotal over in the Orders section and enter a minimum subtotal amount:

Coupon restriction on orders

Coupons restrictions for specific customers

If you want to define what customers can use your coupon, you can set it up in the Customers section by selecting one of these:

  • All customers — anyone can apply the code.
  • Repeat customers — those who placed at least one order with Paid status. To apply the coupon, a customer should also login to his account in your store.
    You can send such coupons in Order Confirmation emails as a bounce back offer that encourages people to return to your store for another purchase, or reward your regular customers with a special discount.
  • New customers — those who haven’t yet ordered in your store can use the code.
    You can promote these coupons right in your storefront or send them in Abandoned Cart Recovery emails to drive sales and increase the conversion rates.

Coupons restrictions for number of uses

To restrict the discount usage, select one of these:

  • Unlimited — customers can apply the code numerous times.
  • Once per customer — each customer can apply the coupon only once with the same email at checkout. The same person will be able to use the code several times, if they provide different email addresses for each order at checkout.
  • Single use — the coupon will expire as soon as a customer places an order with this code. You can use these coupons for making personalized special offers to your customers.

Coupons restrictions for specific products

In case you want to clear out some excess inventory or boost sales of seasonal items, you can create coupons that should apply to specific products or categories. Click Limit by product or Limit by category to select items that qualify for the discount:

Coupon restriction on products

Coupons restrictions for shipping methods

For coupons with the free shipping option, you can specify a shipping and delivery method by clicking Limit by shipping method and selecting shipping or delivery methods:

limiting_shipping_method_for_a_discount_coupon.png

Shipping or delivery rules (e.g., delivery area, delivery date picker, etc.) of a method you chose will be applied to the free shipping coupon.

All shipping or delivery methods you connect to a coupon will become free for a customer after they enter a promo code at checkout:

free_coupon_shipping.png

For local delivery or pickup, a customer will be able to choose a delivery or pickup date if you enabled one.

Need a custom coupon restriction? Contact our Customization experts for help.

Modifying existing coupons

You may need to change details in an existing coupon.

To edit a discount coupon:

Desktop
iOS
Android
  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Marketing → Discount Coupons;
  2. Place a checkmark next to a coupon that you want to update;
  3. Click Modify above the list of coupons:

DISCOUNT_COUPONS.jpg

  1. Change the coupon as you need:

Ecwid_Control_Panel_2019-09-30_15-43-20.jpg

  1. Click Save.

Managing discount coupons

You can manage coupon codes in your Ecwid admin, Marketing → Discount Coupons. Here you can filter coupons by:

  • name
  • code
  • discount type
  • time of life
  • availability
  • number of uses.
Click on the number in the Uses column, you’ll see a list of orders that were placed with this code.

Filters help you quickly check what codes are used oftener than others, which coupons are active at the moment and which ones have already expired and more.

In case you want to stop the coupon usage for the moment and keep it for another promotion, you can pause the code and reactivate it later:

Screenshot_2019-09-30_at_15.17.16.png

Learn how you can promote your discounts and special offers.

Related articles

How to sell gift certificates
How to make Buy One Get One Free promotions
How to inform customers about ongoing promotions

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