Coupons are a simple way to win new customers, bring past ones back, or clear out extra inventory. In this lesson, you'll pick the right type of coupon, create it, send it, and turn on the coupon field on your order form. Coupon codes are available on Pro and above.
There are two kinds. A group coupon is one shared code that lots of people can use, like a code for a holiday sale. Use it for a specific market or channel, like a Facebook ad, or put it on your membership site's homepage to reward your members.
A personal coupon is a unique code made for one person, and it works only once. Use it for someone who visited your order page but didn't buy, or to offer a past customer a discount on something similar.
To create one, go to Sales, then Settings, then Coupon Codes. Click New Coupon, and choose Group Coupon or Personal Coupon.
Give it a name. Customers never see the name, but it helps you keep coupons organized and find them later in merge fields. A prefix helps, like "Group: Holiday coupon."
Most settings are the same for both types. You choose the discount, a percentage or a dollar amount, or a free trial of a subscription product. You choose whether it applies to all your products or only specific ones, and you set the dates it's valid. For a group coupon, you type the code yourself and choose how many coupons are available.
For a personal coupon, the Coupon Code field is greyed out, because Ontraport generates each code for you. Instead, you choose how long each code stays valid once you send it. Then click Save.
Deliver coupons with merge fields. In a text section of your email, click the merge field icon and scroll to the section labeled "Coupon:" plus your coupon's name. You can add the code, the date it was created, and the date it expires. For personal coupons, each contact gets their own code. For group coupons, the merge field saves you from typos.
A personal code becomes active the day you send it. So if it's set to expire two days later, it expires 48 hours after the email goes out. You'll find every personal code you've sent in the Coupons tab of the contact's record.
The coupon field is off by default, and it needs an order summary element. Open a landing page with an order form block. Hover over the order summary element and click Add / Edit Product. Turn on the Coupon Code toggle above "Today's total," and click Done. Then check the order summary settings to make sure "Coupon code" is turned on there too. Save and publish your page.
When a shopper enters a valid code, the order summary shows the discount and the new total. An invalid code shows an error.
To see which coupons your customers used, add the Coupon Name and Coupon Code columns to the Purchase History section of their records. And keep in mind that coupons don't apply to products sold through order bumps. The discount only applies to the main products.
So: choose group or personal, create it under Sales, Settings, Coupon Codes, send it with merge fields, and turn on the coupon field on your order form. Next up, we start taking payment, with a look at the types of offers you can create.