Coupons allow merchants to offer discounts on various items or costs related to an order. Once you have created your coupon, merchants can display the coupon code on their web site (usually near the Buy Now button) that invites the customer to enter the code during the purchase process (at checkout). You can also generate Campaigns within UltraCart (covered later) which will generate random coupon codes so they can be used only by a single Email recipient (once).
To create your first coupon navigate to:
Now click on the New button as shown below.
This will present you with a list of all the coupon types that UltraCart supports. Select the type of coupon you would like to configure and then click Next as shown below.
A summary of available coupon types appears in the table below:
Coupon | Description – "Allows a merchant to:" |
---|---|
Amount off subtotal | discount a specific amount off the cart's subtotal. |
Amt off subtotal & free shipping w/certain size purchase | a specific amount off the cart's subtotal and free shipping (specified method) with certain size purchase. |
Amt off subtotal w/purchase of item block | a specific amount off the cart's subtotal for each block (qty) of a certain item. |
Amount off subtotal with purchase of items | a specific amount off the cart's subtotal for purchase of specified qty of specified items. |
Percentage off subtotal | discount a specific percentage off the cart's subtotal. |
Percentage off subtotal (limited) | discount a specific percentage off first (specified amount) of subtotal |
Percentage off subtotal and free shipping method | discount a specific percentage off the cart's subtotal and offer free shipping for a specified shipping method. |
Percentage off subtotal with a certain size purchase | discount a specific percentage off the cart's subtotal with a purchase of a minimum dollar amount. |
Amount off shipping method | discount a specific amount off a specific shipping method. |
Percent off shipping method | discount a specific percentage off a specific shipping method. |
Free shipping method | offer free (specified) shipping method. |
Free shipping method with subtotal | offer free (specified) shipping method with minimum subtotal. |
Amount off item(s) (with optional limit on quantity) | offer specific amount off specified items, with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
Tiered amt off an item (with optional limit on quantity) | offer tiered discount off specified item and quantity, with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
Tiered percent off subtotal | offer tiered percent off subtotal towards an optional specified set of items. Otherwise, all items qualify for the discount. |
Tiered dollar off subtotal | offer tiered amount off subtotal towards an optional specified set of items. Otherwise, all items qualify for the discount. |
Percent off item(s) (with optional limit on quantity) | offer specific percentage off particular item(s), with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
Percent off item(s) with purchase of item(s) (with optional limit on quantity) | offer specific percentage off when specific item(s) are purchased, with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
Percent off item(s) with purchase of certain number of item(s) (with optional limit on quantity) | offer specific percentage off when specified number of specific item(s) are purchased, with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
Free item with purchase of another item (with optional limit on quantity) | offer specified free item(s) when specific item(s) are purchased, with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
Free item with purchase of subtotal (with optional limit on quantity) | offer specified free item(s) with minimum purchase subtotal with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
[Qty] free of item with every [Qty] purchase of another item (with optional limit on free quantity) | offer a specified quantity of a specified item free, with a purchase of a specified quantity of a specified item, with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
[Qty] free of item with every [Qty] purchase of another mix and match group item (with optional limit on free quantity) | offer a specified quantity of a specified item free, with a purchase of a specified quantity of a specified mix and match group, with an optional limit on purchase quantity. |
No Discount | only prints coupon description on order |
Next you will need to configure the details of the coupon. The screen shot below shows the minimum fields that you should configure for the coupon.
Even though only a few fields are required, below is a description of all the options you can configure for a coupon.
Field | Description | Required | |
---|---|---|---|
Code | The base code for the coupon. This should be a short value such as 10OFF for a coupon that gives $10 off the subtotal.
| Yes | |
Description | A description of the coupon. This information is displayed to the customer on the their order. A good idea is to describe the marketing channel that this coupon will be used through. | Yes | |
Expiration | If the coupon has an expiration, enter that date here. Please note you can enter a date or date and time. | ||
Usable By | Who can use the coupon. The most common setting is anyone, but you may want to restrict it based upon your marketing offer | Yes | |
Valid with Other Coupons | Set this to No if the coupon can not be used with any other coupons. | Yes | |
Discount | Each coupon will have a set of configurable options for the discount type that the coupon provides | Yes | |
Quickbooks Code | If you are using QuickBooks, then you will need to specify the QuickBooks Item that this coupon matches up with so the order can import | ||
Affiliate | If an affiliate is selected, then the affiliate will receive credit for the sale if this coupon is used by the user. | ||
Restrict Usage to Zip Code(s) | Limits the usage of the coupon to people ordering within certain zip codes. Useful for coupons distributed at local conferences, etc. |
To edit an existing coupon, click on the "edit" button to the right of the coupon you want to change. You will be taken to the Coupon editing screen. Any of the coupon fields can be edited. However, if you change the Coupon CODE field, all previously issued coupons under the original coupon code will no longer be valid. Click on the "Save" button after making your changes.
This section contains a checkbox configuration field for suppressing the the coupon entry field, titled "Hide coupon entry during checkout".
Please note that by default the coupon entry field is suppressed when there are no active coupons configured. |
To duplicate (copy) a coupon, check the box next to the coupon's code and click on the "Copy" button. When the duplicate appears in the list, you can then make changes as desired.
This feature is ideal for those merchants that want to disseminate coupon codes via their own devices; newsletter, merchandise show, their own email campaign, etc. When utilized, this routine will create a specified number (up to 1000) of unique, one-time usage codes for distribution to customers. Once you click the "one time code(s)" button, an additional Qty field will appear. Enter the number of codes you need and click the "go" button.
Your coupon list will appear on the next screen in a scrollable window. Using your mouse pointer, drag and select (highlight) the list. Then copy and paste the list into a separate document and save. NOTE: You will not be able to access this list from the UC Marketing section later so be sure to save it on your system for later reference.
There are times were you need to upload one time use codes that have been generated by an external party. This feature is often used by merchants that are doing a Groupon.com offer. To upload one time use codes click the button as shown below.
Paste the codes into the text field as shown below and then click upload.
The system will add the coupons and then display the results at the bottom of the page. If you need to upload more than 1000 coupons click the next button and upload additional batches.
Once you have uploaded all of your coupons click the Return to Coupon List link at the bottom of the page.
This is an excellent way to obtain data about the customer usage of any particular coupon. Click on the "usage report" button to the right of the coupon desired.
The following screen will appear:
For each usage the report will show you the actual code (in case they used a one-time use code), the order ID, the date of the order, and the subtotal of the order.
To delete a coupon, click the red "delete" button to the right of the coupon you want to remove. This action is permanent.
If you delete a coupon code that was used in an e-mail marketing campaign, all of the custom coupon codes created that reference this coupon will no longer function. |
You can also batch delete coupons (including one-time use codes). At the bottom of the coupon list you can enter the coupon codes that you want to delete and then click the delete codes button.
Please note that the coupon entry field will only appear in the checkout once one or more active (non-expired) coupons exist in the account. |
After you have configured your first coupon the default behavior of UltraCart is to display a coupon entry field on the checkout. The screen shot below shows the coupon entry field on the regular checkout.
Some merchants only want to allow coupons to be used when they are part of a buy link that they send out on a marketing email. If you want to suppress the display of the coupon entry field on your checkout you can enable that setting on the coupon list as shown below.
This setting is shown below the list of coupons.
UltraCart makes adding a coupon to a buy link really easy. When you are in the link builder for your item use the Advanced Buy Link screen. Just enter the coupon code into the form and it will display the proper link for you.
To access the Advanced Link Builder go to
Main Menu → Item Management → Items → [links] |
You can insert the coupon field into the "buy form" code as a hidden input field, like this (see line 4). You could also create a visible text input field for passing the coupon over:
<form method="post" action="https://ucsupport.ultracart.com/cgi-bin/UCEditor"> <input type="hidden" name="merchantId" value="DEMO" /> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="Bone" /> <input type="hidden" name="coupon" value="10off" /> <table class="uc-item-table"> <tr class="uc-item-qty-row"> <td class="uc-item-qty-label">Qty</td> <td class="uc-item-qty-field"> <input type="text" name="quantity" value="1" /> </td> </tr> <tr class="uc-item-cost-row"> <td class="uc-item-cost-label">Cost</td> <td class="uc-item-cost-value"><script type="text/javascript" src="https://ucsupport.ultracart.com/cgi-bin/UCPrice?MERCHANTID=DEMO&ITEM=BONE&output=Javascript"></script></td> </tr> <tr class="uc-item-submit-row"> <td></td> <td> <input type="submit" name="submit" value="add to cart" /> </td> </tr> </table> </form> |
The coupon field will typically appear in the lower right portion of the checkout page:
This topic is covered in more detail in the email marketing section of our documentation, but the example below shows how to use a coupon in a marketing campaign so that each customer receives a unique one time user coupon code.
Q: We noticed that there is some sort of limit to the number of characters or the number of zip codes or something. long story short, folks are calling in because they're coupons are not working because of the zip code constraint. I noticed that it's cutting off our list at a certain point. so, I'm wondering if that is something easy that can be changed or if we need to create more coupons and break the zip codes out more.
A: The zip code configuration field is limited to 1000 characters in the database. However, please note you can use ranges to make things more compact:
You can use a 3 digit prefix (example: 303*), 5 digit prefix (example: 30319*), 3 digit to 3 digit range (example 303*-305*) and then 5 digit to 5 digit ranges (example 30312-30319).