Coupons

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).

Navigation

To create your first coupon navigate to:

Creating a Coupon

Now click on the New button as shown below.

This will present you with a drop-down 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:

Coupon Editor Field Descriptions

A summary of available coupon types appears in the table below:

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.

Coupon Editor Field Descriptions

Below is a description of all the options you can configure for a coupon.

Editing Existing Coupons

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.

'Apply Coupon' Suppression

Please note that by default the coupon entry field is suppressed when there are no active coupons configured. Once one or more active coupons are configured in the account, an 'Apply Coupon' section will appear in the checkout.

Visual Builder supported Storefront Themes:
IF you have active coupons but wish to suppress the 'Apply Coupon' section from appearing in the checkout. You can edit the storefront theme using the Visual Builder and then select the coupon code column, then click the "three dots" menu then click the 'Hide' menu option:

Accessing Coupon Tools in the 'Three Dots' menu

Each existing coupon will have a 'Three Dots' menu, which contains the tools for:

1. Copying an existing coupon code
2. Usage Report
3. Generate One-Time Code(s)
4. Upload One-Time Code(s)
5. Download One-Time Code(s)

Copying Existing Coupons

To duplicate (copy) a coupon, click the "three dots menu" to the right of the edit button for the existing coupon code and then click on the "Copy" button.

You'll be in the coupon editor after clicking the 'Copy' button. Create any changes to the coupon as needed, then save the changes:

Generate One Time Codes

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.

From the three dots menu for an existing coupon, click "Generate One-Time Code(s)" button, a dialog window will appear asking "How many one-time coupons do you need?"
Enter the number of codes you need and click the "Generate" button.

The generate codes will be displayed:

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. 

Upload One Time Codes

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 comma separated one-time use codes into the text field as shown below and then click upload.

After pasting the codes into the field, hit the enter key which will save the separate codes in the field like this:

Then click the 'Upload' button to upload the codes and you'll receive a confirmation of the uploaded codes in the dialog window:

Once you have uploaded all of your coupons click the 'Close' button in the dialog window.

Reporting on Usage

This is an excellent way to obtain data about the customer usage of any particular coupon. Click on the three dots menu, then click the "Usage Report" button:

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.

NOTE: You can download the usage report details by clicking the 'download' button that appears in the top left side of the page.

'Apply Coupon' Suppression

Please note that by default the coupon entry field is suppressed when there are no active coupons configured. Once one or more active coupons are configured in the account, an 'Apply Coupon' section will appear in the checkout.

Visual Builder supported Storefront Themes:
IF you have active coupons but wish to suppress the 'Apply Coupon' section from appearing in the checkout. You can edit the storefront theme using the Visual Builder and then select the coupon code column, then click the "three dots" menu then click the 'Hide' menu option:

Auto Apply Coupons 

You can automatically apply coupons to a customer's order to provide them discounts. This feature makes it easy to trigger promotional discounts without requiring the customer to enter a code. Please note that customer only receives one level of coupons. A level can have more than one coupon added by separating multiple coupon codes with commas. 

Recommended Coupon Types: 

• Tiered percent off subtotal
• Tiered dollar off subtotal

There are two type of Auto Apply Coupons that can be configured:

1. Subtotal based coupon (this means that when the customer hits the required subtotal the coupon will be applied to the cart automatically)
   
2. Based on an item coupon, (IF the customer purchases a specific item apply coupon to the order)
   
   In this example we are using item BONE_PACK to apply the coupon. When this item is added to the cart the coupon assigned AUTOBONEPACK will automatically apply to provide the customer with a discount on the item. 

Import Note Regarding Auto Apply Coupons

Deleting Existing Coupons

To delete a coupon, click the red "delete" button to the right of the coupon you want to remove. This action is permanent.

Adding a Coupon Code to a Buy Link

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

Adding a Coupon Code to Buy Form Code

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>

Using Coupon in a storefront checkout

The coupon field will typically appear in the lower right portion of the checkout page:

Frequently Asked Questions

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).