Coupon Marketing in Ecommerce: how to create Discount Codes and 4 Strategies to Increase Sales and Reduce Cart Abandonment

2 reasons to use coupons and discount codes in your ecommerce

Coupon Marketing is a marketing strategy that takes advantage of customers' propensity to save money on purchases. Presenting your products to consumers at a lower than normal cost can have a number of benefits, including:

• optimize your chances of conversion (especially if you take advantage of Robert Cialdini's urgency);
• increase retention and the resulting LTV of the customer: a discount coupon, in the context of theecommerce, can in fact reactivate an inactive customer, increasing the value over time.

The starting point is to understand with which tools to create discount coupons: one of the most used is OptinMonster (www.optinmonster.com). Let's see some features of OptinMonster to create coupons for ecommerce.

#1 From "Copy" to "Click to Copy".

Let's start with 2 typical techniques for a discount coupon: a popup with a CTA (call to action) button to copy and paste the discount code, so you can paste it into the checkout space designated for discount codes (by the way, did you know that the 8% abandons the cart because it sees the coupon space...and goes looking for it, abandoning the cart?)

Here's an example created just with OptinMonster, with the unfailing presence of a kitten, as you know unbeatable in terms of engagement 😉

 At this point the customer would see this offer and could copy and paste the coupon code (SAVE20OFF from the image above).

Or they could be waiting for a follow-up email to copy and paste the coupon from there, especially if you're contextually collecting the visitor's email in order to Lead Generation and then put it into a workflow of email marketing automation, which can be created with software such as:

• Omnisend.specific for ecommerce;
• MailPoet, ideal for ecommerce created with WooCommerce;
• "great classics" like Aweber, GetResponse, SendinBlue, Drip, ActiveCampaign.

If the strategy works, there was one thing that could be improved: the act of copying and pasting added unnecessary friction to the process., hindering User Experience.

When you add a step to a customer's checkout path, you also add the risk of them abandoning the cart altogether. 

This is why it is useful to remove that friction from your client's path with the "Click to copy“.

Now, when your users receive a promotional offer or coupon, they can simply click the call to action (CTA) button and have the coupon code is automatically copied.

Then, upon payment, all they have to do is paste that code into the coupon field, as you see in this example:  

This removes a friction component from your coupon marketing efforts that could have prevented users from using it.

Not only that, let's look at another technique to optimize coupon performance in your ecommerce, the wheel of fortune.

#2 Coupons and Gamification: Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune (Spin Wheel) is a method used in view of the acquisition of subscribers to the newsletter (which still serves as a goal of micro conversion in ecommerce), made effective by the element of the game, gamification to be precise. Here is an example:

When users add their name and email address, the wheel spins and sent them a series of coupons to redeem depending on where they stopped.

Nice, "engaging", but, there is a but: sometimes these coupons never get used.

Why? Because when the excitement wears off, they forget about the coupon.

#3 Coupon: From PopUp to Mail

How to remember the coupon? For example with a series of email marketing That send a series of reminders. Not only that, thanks to the integration between OptinMonster and Klaviyo, when a user wins a prize, that coupon code will automatically be transferred to your email marketing software, embedded in the email, transferring the coupon code data to your email service provider.

#4 The right coupon at the right time to the right person

Like everything we do in our web marketing initiatives, offering the discount coupon at the right time and to the right person can make all the difference in terms of performance - let's look at some profiling ideas and how to do it.

For example, you can target coupons:

• depending on the device
• based on visitor activity or inactivity
• in conjunction with the abandonment of the page with technology exit intent
• to buyers in a specific location with geographic targeting
• visitors who have clicked on a specific ad

The aforementioned OptinMonster has advanced targeting features, allowing you to show coupons on specific pages, to specific visitors, at specific times, and in specific locations.

How to create a discount coupon for ecommerce

In today's tutorial we will use OptinMonster (www.optinmonster.com).

Step 1: Create your campaign

In this tutorial, we're going to create a popup coupon similar to this one from BaubleBar. Use it as a starting point to create your own. However, you should also know that there are many ways to customize this coupon. For example, offer a discount, but you could easily offer free shipping.

To get started, log in to your OptinMonster dashboard and click Create Campaign:

Choose a campaign type. For this tutorial, we use the Lightbox popup:

Choose a template for your popup. There are over 30 professionally designed templates to choose from, with different layouts and color combinations.

We will be using the Coupon theme. Find it by scrolling through the available themes or type "coupon" in the search box to find it quickly:

All OptinMonster templates are flexible and customizable. If you prefer to design your form in HTML, you can use OptinMonster's Canvas technology to implement it.

Assign a name to your campaign, choose the website you will use the popup on, and hit the Start Creating button:

Step 2: customize your coupon popup

Whichever campaign type you select, the next step is to customize the design and copy to meet your needs.

After pressing Start Building, you'll be taken to an OptinMonster drag and drop campaign generator. You'll see a live preview of the default coupon popup on the right and editing tools on the left.

Take note of the Save button in the upper right corner of the generator.

The BaubleBar example has a different title and text body and is a different color. Here's how I'll do it.

Click the title to display the item editing tools on the left. Then, type the new text in the text box. You can format the text with the available tools.

Your headline will be the only important thing you want people to know about your offer, like the "Get 15% off" headline in the BaubleBar example.

Use the same method to edit the body copy. You can add more details about the offer and what visitors need to do to get it, such as entering their email address.

We won't use an image in the popup, but adding an image to your optin is really simple. Click + Add Blocks, then drag the image element into the live preview.

Images usually reflect your business, the offer you're making or both.

We will now change the background color of the popup from yellow to white to make it brighter. This is done in Optin Settings " Optin Display Styles.

There are 2 ways to get there quickly:

1. Click the Home icon in the generator
2. Click the Design tab

This will take you directly to the main menu where you can easily access the rest of the editing tools. Once again, we want to go to Optin Settings " Optin Display Styles.

Once there, we'll change the background color to hexadecimal code #ffff. You can also do lots of other things, like adding an image, an overlay color, or a border.

Click the submit button in the live preview to bring up the Fields Edit Element menu on the left. Here you can edit the trigger fields and button formatting and actions.

Edit the button text by clicking on the Button tab and typing the text into the Button Text field (we're using "Start Now"). This is the call to action, which is the only thing you want visitors to do to take the next step.

Step 3: Set up the delivery of the coupon code

Once you've finished the basic design, it's time to think about how your customers will receive their coupons after they hit the submit button. There are several ways to do this.

• deliver it immediately and also send it by email. You'll need to enable your email marketing provider's integration;
• redirect visitors to a new page where they can redeem the coupon;

After editing the button text, click on the Action.

Click the drop-down menu under Successful Action Form to see the available actions - there are a few!

Select Redirect to a URL and type your URL into the redirect URL field. It's really useful for redirecting users to a payment page to use the coupon you're offering them.

You can also use a coupon link as a redirect URL, which will apply the coupon automatically when visitors arrive at the destination site.

Step 4. Publish your coupon popup

The final step is to save the changes, then publish the campaign. To start the publishing process, click the Publish to display the publishing options, then toggle the status button to make it active.

You will need to install the WordPress to get your popup coupon on WordPress. After you've done that, go to the OptinMonster section of your WordPress dashboard and click Update Optin. You'll see the name of your new campaign and you can also see if it's published.

You can also use site-wide embed code, which you can acquire by clicking a button.

And you can use the campaign-specific embed code to embed only your popup coupon.

This is what your final coupon will look like:

This is a great start. But let's take it a step further by focusing on certain customer behaviors.

Choose display rules for new or outgoing visitors

You now have a coupon popup posted on your site. However, it is currently in the default display settings.

When you're happy with the look of your coupon popup, it's time to choose when and where visitors will see it.

To do so, go to your campaign dashboard and click on the Display Rules tab:

You have several options for displaying your coupon popup. First, we'll make sure the coupon welcomes your guests.

How to greet guests with a popup coupon

You can see that the default setting for your popup campaign is the After X Seconds rule, which ensures that visitors always see your campaign after they've been on your site for a while. But you may want to be more aggressive and offer your promotion immediately.

Fortunately, the default settings only require a few changes.

In the first field, we recommend that you keep the NOW condition on the page. In the next field box that says it's at least, we recommend you click the IMMEDIATE option:

So, below, we suggest you change the rules of retargeting on site to make sure you only display the coupon to new customers:

This is one way to convert new cold leads into customers.

Oh, and one last thing: don't forget to hit save.

But maybe you want to take a different approach. Rather than welcoming new guests with a coupon to keep them on your site longer, maybe you want to use your discount to keep people from leaving your site.

Coupon with Exit Intent

One of the highest converting options is an exit-intent popup, which ensures that your coupon popup is displayed when visitors are about to leave your site. This strategy has been proven to reduce abandonment.

Go back to the display rules dashboard and edit the first setting:

You'll notice to your right that you can change the amount of "sensitivity" used by your exit-intent campaign. Most campaigns are successful with Medium, but you may want to try this feature until it's right for you.

You can be creative and add more display rules for your visitors. You could:

• Promote the coupon exclusively to visitors from mobile devices
• Have the popup appear when your guests have scrolled a certain percentage of your page
• Show the coupon popup only on a specific date or time
• Put the popup offer on some pages of your site and exclude it from others
• Share your coupon popup with your email list using a shareable MonsterLinks™

How to create a coupon code with WooCommerce and Shopify

There are many ecommerce platforms you can work with. But in this tutorial, we want to show you how to create a coupon code with WooCommerce and Shopify.

WooCommerce coupon code

First, we recommend that you sign up for WooCommerce with your WordPress account.

You'll also want to make sure you've installed and activated your WooCommerce plugin. And from that point, you'll want to go to WooCommerce in the WordPress dashboard and click on Extensions:

Then search for URL Coupons:

After purchasing this extension, you will be able to create a unique coupon URL. Go to WooCommerce in your WordPress dashboard and click Coupons:

Now click on Add New Coupon:

And in the general description fields, you can create the URL of your custom coupon:

This is the URL you'd like to include in the coupon popup. To do this, go back to your campaign dashboard in OptinMonster and enter your coupon URL into the redirect URL for your call to action (which we covered earlier in this tutorial):

And that's it! So let's say you offer first time visitors a 30% discount on a marketing course, your campaign might look like this:

When your users click on the call to action (Start Now), they will be redirected to the checkout with the coupon code automatically applied.

Now that we've explained how to do this with WooCommerce, let's repeat the process for Shopify users.

Shopify coupon code

Simply go to your Shopify store dashboard:

Click on Discount:

And create a discount:

You will be asked to choose between creating a discount code or an automatic discount. For this tutorial, click Discount Code:

Then you can change the terms of your discount code:

When finished, scroll down and click Save discount code:

Scroll up to see the confirmation message. In that message, you will see an option to get shareable links:

Click to view the new URL for the coupon code popup:

Now you can place that link in your popup campaign in the OptinMonster dashboard just like we did previously with WooCommerce:

And just like before, your call to action will redirect your users to their cart and automatically apply the discount.