Discounts and special offers are one of the effective ways to drive sales in your online store, as most customers enjoy making great deals on their purchases.
To offer discounts, you can create discount coupons – unique codes that customers can apply at checkout and obtain a discount on their purchase. Discount coupons can help you increase sales and meet revenue goals, drive customer loyalty and improve retention.
In this article:
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.
The coupon field is displayed on the cart page below the order total:
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. Each discount coupon should have a unique code of letters and numbers. You can use your own codes or let Ecwid generate them for you.
When a coupon is applied at checkout, the discount amount is deducted from the order subtotal – a total cost of all items in the cart excluding taxes and shipping.
When a customer uses a free shipping coupon, the shipping rates are reset for all items in the cart.
Creating discount coupons
Watch how to create discount coupons in Ecwid:
You can create discount codes for:
- a fixed value discount (e.g. $5 off),
- a percentage discount (e.g. 10% off),
- a free shipping discount,
- a fixed value / percentage discount + free shipping.
To create a new discount coupon:
- Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → Marketing → Discount Coupons.
- Click Add New Coupon.
- Enter a Name for your coupon:
- Enter an alphanumeric Code for your coupon or use the code generated by Ecwid:
- Select the Discount type – discount, free shipping or discount + free shipping:
- Enter the discount Value and choose between a percentage or a monetary value:
- Choose the day from which the coupon should be active:
- Choose the day when the coupon should expire:
For example, if you select a coupon start day of January 1, the code will activate at 00:00:00 UTC on January 1. If you select a coupon end day of January 2, the code will expire at 23:59:59 UTC on January 2.
In case you want to create a coupon that is active for one day only, select the same start and end days.
- If the code should apply to specific orders, products or customers, click No limits and define the coupon limits:
- Click Save.
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:
- Go to Ecwid Control Panel → Marketing → Discount Coupons.
- Open the coupon to edit it and click No limits:
- Here you can configure which orders, customers and products the coupon should apply to:
- When you have defined all coupon limits, click Apply.
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:
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 and are signed in your store qualify for the discount.
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.
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.
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:
Offering discounts on specific products may also encourage shoppers to add other items to their shopping carts, as even small savings can result in big spending.
Managing discount coupons
You can manage coupon codes in your Ecwid Control Panel → Marketing → Discount Coupons. Here you can filter coupons by:
- name
- code
- discount type
- time of life
- availability
- number of uses.
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:
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How to make Buy One Get One Free promotions
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