Coupon Codes

About Coupon Codes in ONTRAPORT

Applies to: ONTRAPORT Plus and above.

Coupon Codes are alphanumeric codes generated and managed by ONTRAPORT that, when entered on an Order Form, adjust the price of a Product. A terrific sales tool to increase engagement and stimulate sales, ONTRAPORT’s Coupon Codes come in two varieties, Personal Coupons and Group Coupons.

Steps to using Coupon Codes:

Create a Group or Personal Coupon Code (Sales > Settings > Coupon Codes)
Enable Coupon Codes on your Order Form
Send Coupon Codes to your Contacts using a Merge Field

Personal and Group Coupons

Personal Coupons are single-use coupon codes generated by ONTRAPORT that are restricted to a specific contact. These codes can be delivered via email Messages, SMS or Postcards using the familiar Merge Field function. Use cases include targeting a contact after a page visit, promoting add-on sales for items similar to existing purchases, spurring new sales and re-engagement of Contacts near the end of their engagement lifetime.

Group Coupons are a general code you can customize for mass consumption. Eligible for use by existing contacts or new prospects, these codes can be posted publicly or privately on websites, Facebook pages, or in PPC ads or delivered via email Messages, SMS or Postcards. Use cases include targeting a specific market or channel, encouraging opt-ins on your website, or awarding existing customers with a general discount.

All Coupon Codes can be configured with a discount value or percentage on specified Products, start date and end date and a total number available. Reporting options include seeing at a glance how many have been redeemed, how many are left to be redeemed, total sales with a coupon, new contacts added as a result of the Coupon, and individual transaction information recorded in each Contact's Purchase History record.

How the Discounts Work

Coupons can offer a percentage or dollar value discount, or a free trial of a subscription product.

A percentage off will be applied to all qualifying products on the order form, even if the customer increases the quantity or selects more than one eligible product. Be careful with steep discount percentages, such as "100%".

A specific value amount coupon will subtract the amount from the subtotal if qualifying products are equal to or more than the value of the coupon. A $100 coupon applied to a $50 product will reduce the price to $0 (but not below). If the customer increased the quantity to three, the discount would be $100 and the net price $50. There is no "credit balance" stored for the contact.

For Coupons on subscription products or payment there are a two options to choose from:

Apply discounts to first payment only - Coupon code on a subscription or payment plan product only applies on the first payment, the next charges will be at full price.
Apply discounts to all payments - Coupon code on a subscription or payment plan product will apply the discount to all payments. All charges will be at discounted price.

If the "Value of the discount" option is set to "Free trial for [x] days", the subscription plan options will not be visible.

Only one coupon code is allowed per order form.

Create Group Coupon Codes

Group Coupons use the same code for everyone, such as "20OFF". Any purchaser can use the Group Coupon, you can set the total number of Group Coupons available for redemption and the start and end date for the coupon. It can be configured for a specific discount amount such as $20, a percentage discount such as 10%, or free trial period expressed in number of days (for subscription products). The coupon can be enabled for use with any Product, any group of Products, or for "All" products.

Navigate to Sales > Settings > Coupon Codes.
Select + Add New Coupon, then Select Group Coupon as the Coupon Type.
Add in your desired selections (see below). Then click Save.

Group Coupon Fields:

Coupon Name - For your reference purposes and what your merge field will be listed under. It's not publicly shown.
Coupon Code - The code that you want customers to enter to receive the discount.
Coupon Description - This describes the coupon offer and shows up in order forms and invoices.
Products - Select all products or specific products that a coupon can apply to
Value - Enter the amount, percentage or trial period for the coupon
Subscription Product Settings - If the product is a subscription, choose either to only discount the first payment or discount all payments.
Number available (optional) - To limit the number of coupons available, enter a number. If left blank, the coupon is "unlimited".
Valid Dates (optional) - To limit the start and end dates of when a coupon can be used, enter dates. If left blank, the coupon is valid anytime.

Create Personal Coupons

Personal Coupons are unique, custom coupon codes generated by ONTRAPORT for one-time use by a specific Contact. The coupon can be configured for a specific discount amount such as $20, a percentage discount such as 10%, or free trial period expressed in number of days (for subscription products). The coupon can be enabled for use with any single product, any group of Products, or for "All" products.

Personal Coupons have two different types of valid date settings. You can specify specific start and end dates just like a Group Coupon. Because the Personal Coupon is generated dynamically, you can also create coupons valid for a period of time after the coupon is generated in ONTRAPORT. This allows you to create a limited-time Personal Coupon, add the Merge Field for the coupon to a Message and send it to a contact. A contact receiving the coupon today will have the number of hours you specify to redeem it, and so would a contact receiving the Message two years from now. This allows using Personal Coupons in drip or evergreen marketing efforts without worrying about the specific expiration date.

Navigate to Sales > Settings > Coupon Codes.
Select + Add New Coupon, then Select Personal Coupon as the Coupon Type.
Add in your desired selections (see below). Then click Save.

Personal Coupon Fields

Coupon Name - For your reference purposes and what your merge field will be listed under. It's not publicly shown.
Coupon Code - The code that you want customers to enter to receive the discount.
Coupon Description - This describes the coupon offer and shows up in order forms and invoices.
Products - Select all products or specific products that a coupon can apply to
Value - Enter the amount, percentage or trial period for the coupon
Subscription Product Settings - If the product is a subscription, choose either to only discount the first payment or discount all payments.
Number available (optional) - To limit the number of coupons available, enter a number. If left blank, the coupon is "unlimited".
Valid Dates (optional) - There are two options: limit by start and end dates or limit by a countdown timer relative to each contact.
a. To limit by start and end dates of when a coupon can be used, enter dates. If left blank, the coupon is valid anytime.
b. To limit by countdown timer, enter the number of days and hours the coupon is active.

Enable Coupon Codes on Order Forms

After creating a Coupon Code it can be added to an Order Form. The coupon codes available for a Product are listed when adding or editing the Product on the Order Form. Select "Insert coupon code" from the configuration menu.

The "enter coupon code" field will be displayed on the order form. If an incorrect coupon code is entered a notice is displayed. If a valid coupon code is entered a line is inserted below the coupon code showing the description and discount amount or percentage:

In the Contact record, the Purchase History will include the coupon details.

Send Coupon Codes to Contacts

Personal and Group Coupon codes are inserted as merge fields on ONTRApages, ONTRAforms, ONTRAmail, SMS, Postcards, Tasks and inside WordPress sites integrated with Pilotpress.

Use the merge field pulldown and locate the coupon section. Coupons are listed by the name you selected when creating the coupon. Search the merge field by entering the word "code" to bring up all coupon codes easily.

Available Merge Fields

Code- inserts the personal or group coupon code
Date Created - only applicable if you have a start date or countdown timer for personal coupon available
Expires - the end date for personal/group coupons or the last day the personal countdown timer coupon is available for use.

Suggested Naming Conventions

If you have personal and group coupons that are named very similarly, add a prefix such as "PER:" for Personal Coupons or "GRP:" for Group Coupons to make it easier to differentiate them when using Merge Fields. The image below highlights two coupon codes each labeled "Summer 2017". It would be difficult to tell which one is personal or which one is group if not for the prefix.

FAQs

Q. Does a coupon discount every payment on a recurring subscription?

A. If you choose "apply to all payments", then it will discount every payment. If you only wish to have the first payment discounted, then choose "apply discount to first payment only".

Q. What happens if I change a Coupon to apply the amount to all payments? Does it change any existing subscriptions that used the Coupon Code previously?

A. No, if you edit the Coupon to apply the discount to all payments it will only do so for future orders using the coupon. It will not affect any existing subscriptions or payment plans.

Q. Can I have more than one coupon code on an order form?

A. No, only one coupon code is allowed on an order form.

Q. Can I make a coupon code required?

A. No, the order form will still process if the coupon code section is left blank.

Q. Can a coupon reduce the price below $0, causing a credit balance?

A. No, a coupon can reduce the price to zero, but not below.

Q. Can I have a coupon with a $0 discount? Zero has been a valid number for calculations since the 5th century in India.

A. Yes, we now validate $0 coupons on order forms as of Oct. 2017. We apologize to 5th century Indians for taking so long.

Q. I have a coupon set to expire in two days. At what time does the coupon expire?

A. The coupon is active throughout the last day, expiring at midnight.

Q. I exported personal coupon codes to include them with a postal mailing promotion. When do they expire?

A. The coupon timing starts at the moment of export. Allow sufficient time when creating the coupon to allow for this.

Personal coupon code export warning

Frank Hagan

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