Configure an Offer: Coupon

The platform supports several actions that define what happens when a Member responds to the Offer.

This article describes the configuration options available within the Coupon Offer Action type. Coupon Offers are one of the most commonly used Offer types in the platform. They are used to incentivize your Members to make a purchase by providing promotional pricing or other special discounts.

Coupon Offers are the only Offer type designed to interact with the platform’s standard Point of Sale (POS) flow. The platform can assign the Coupon to an order before the order is submitted, which allows the Member to apply the Coupon details to the purchase price. The platform will then automatically mark the Coupon as “completed” when the order has been submitted

This article assumes that you have already created an Offer by either copying an Offer template, or by creating a new Offer from scratch.

The Definition tab of the Offer Details screen is used to configure the properties and details of this Offer. The tab includes several sections, each of which is described below.

Offer Details Section

Within the header area of the screen, you can configure the following properties of the Offer:

  • Thumbnail Image: Click Upload to browse to an image file on your local PC. Select the desired image, then click Open. Please note that the thumbnail image is not used within the Offer content that gets configured on the Content Editor.

The Offer Details section contains many high-level properties about the Offer:

  • Display Name: The name of the Offer as displayed throughout the platform. When copying an Offer template, this value will automatically be the name of the Offer template followed by an incremental counter, such as “(1).”

  • Description: A description of the Offer.

  • Offer Action: If you copied an Offer template, this field is automatically populated with the Offer Action type of the base Offer template; you may optionally select a different option. If you change the Offer Action type, the configuration properties displayed on the Offer Details screen will update accordingly.

  • Categories: Offer Categories are used to organize Offers, often for controlling what Offers get displayed on your website or app. Optionally, to assign this Offer to one or more Offer Categories, select them from the Categories drop-down menu.

  • Tag: Tags are used to help organize objects within the platform. Offers can be searched by Tag from the Offer screen (but not from a "Get Offers" API request). To reuse an existing Tag, begin typing all or part of the Tag name, and select it. You can also type in a new Tag value.

  • Rank: Optionally, enter a ranking for this Offer. This value is used only when sorting the Offers screen by Rank.

  • Certificates on Responses: This flag is used to determine if certificate details will be displayed in API responses. In addition, if this flag is enabled, the platform will assign unused certificate codes to a Member when they respond to this Offer (or when the Offer is issued to the Member) via API, the CSR screen, or via Triggered Actions. For more information, see Working with Offer Certificate Codes.

  • Certificate Display Text: If you enabled Certificates on Responses above, optionally enter a text label that will be displayed alongside the certificate code.

The following fields are available by clicking the Show More link at the bottom of the Offer Details section.

  • Internal Name: This field is automatically populated based on the Display Name value. This field is disabled by default. To edit the Internal Name, click the lock icon to make the field editable. A confirmation dialog box is displayed; click OK. The Internal Name must be unique and can not include any special characters or spaces; only numbers, letters, and underscores are allowed.

Note: The recommended best practice is to change the Internal Name when you initially copy an Offer, in order to avoid issues with duplicate Internal Name values. After this initial change, you should not edit the Internal Name again. Never edit the Internal Name after you publish the Offer.

Coupon and Qualifying Rules Section

The Coupon and Qualifying Rules section allows you to configure the details specific to this Coupon, such as the discount amount, as well as other limitations, such as a list of valid products. The available configuration options will vary depending on the combination of Coupon Type and Discount Type that you select.

Note: This article focuses only on the Item Discount and Sub-total Discount Coupon types. Item Discount is used to apply promotional pricing or discounts to an item purchased by a Member. Sub-total Discount is used to apply promotional pricing or discounts to a Member’s order sub-total. The other Coupon Types supported by the platform are industry-specific, and are not widely used.

The Amount Discount Type allows you to define the discount as an exact amount (for example, "five dollars off").

This Discount Type is available for both Item Discount and Sub-Total Discount Coupon types.

For this Discount Type, enter the following configuration options:

  • Discount Type: Select Amount.

  • Percentage Off: This field is populated with 100 and is disabled from editing. You are essentially telling the platform to "take 100 percent off of the discount amount." For example, if the discount amount is five dollars, then the platform applies a discount of "100 percent of five dollars."

  • Max $ Amount: Enter the maximum allowable amount of the discount (in dollars).

  • Redemption Limit: Enter the maximum number of times that this discount can be applied to a single purchase.

  • POS Code: This field is used for integration with your Point of Sale system. This code contains metadata that tells the POS system how to apply the coupon. The POS vendor should supply you with this value.

The Percentage Discount Type allows you to define the discount as a percentage (for example, "10% off ").

This Discount Type is available for both Item Discount and Sub-Total Discount Coupon types.

For this Discount Type, enter the following configuration options:

  • Discount Type: Select Percentage.

  • Percentage Off: Enter the discount percentage.

  • Max $ Amount: Optionally, enter the maximum value of the discount (in dollars). For example, let's say you have a 10%-off coupon, with a maximum amount of $20, and a Member makes a $250 purchase. Ten percent of $250 is $25, but the discount would be capped at only $20. If you leave this field blank, then the platform will not impose any limit to the discount amount.

  • Redemption Limit: Enter the maximum number of times that this discount can be applied to a single purchase.

  • POS Code: This field is used for integration with your Point of Sale system. This code contains metadata that tells the POS system how to apply the coupon. The POS vendor should supply you with this value.

The Free Discount Type allows a Member to receive their purchase for free. This Discount Type essentially functions as a Percentage Discount Type, but with a fixed percentage discount of 100%.

This Discount Type is available for both Item Discount and Sub-Total Discount Coupon types.

For this Discount Type, enter the following configuration options:

  • Discount Type: Select Free.

  • Percentage Off: This field is populated with 100 and is disabled from editing.

  • Max $ Amount: Optionally, enter the maximum value of the free item (in dollars). For example, you may not want a Member to be able to purchase more expensive items for free. Let's say you want to allow only items of $30 or less to be available for this Coupon Offer. If the Member purchased an item costing $50, then they would not be allowed to use this Coupon Offer. If you leave this field blank, then the platform will not impose any limit to the discount amount.

  • Redemption Limit: Enter the maximum number of times that this discount can be applied to a single purchase.

  • POS Code: This field is used for integration with your Point of Sale system. This code contains metadata that tells the POS system how to apply the coupon. The POS vendor should supply you with this value.

The BOGO Discount Type allows a Member to purchase one or more items in order to qualify for a discount on one or more additional items. Traditionally, BOGO refers to "Buy One, Get One," but the feature can be configured to support other dynamic quantity-based promotions, such as "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" or "Buy 3, get 1 at 50% off" for example.

This Discount Type is available only for the Item Discount Coupon type.

For this Discount Type, enter the following configuration options:

  • Discount Type: Select BOGO.

  • Buy Qty: Enter the number of items the Member must purchase to qualify for the Offer. The default value is 1.

  • Get Qty: Enter the number of discounted items the Member receives if they qualify for the Offer. The default value is 1. The Get Quantity must be less than or equal to the Buy Quantity.

  • Percentage Off: To apply a percentage discount to the discounted item(s), enter the percentage discount. For example, if you want to offer a "Buy One, Get One Half Price" promotion, you would enter 50 in this field, to indicate 50%-off of the discounted item. The default value is 100 (that is, free).

  • Max $ Amount: Optionally, enter the maximum value of the discount (in dollars). If you leave this field blank, then the platform will not impose any limit to the discount amount.

  • Redemption Limit: Enter the maximum number of times that this discount can be applied to a single purchase.

  • POS Code: This field is used for integration with your Point of Sale system. This code contains metadata that tells the POS system how to apply the coupon. The POS vendor should supply you with this value.

Note: When more than two qualifying items are configured in the BOGO offer, the discount is applied to the lowest-priced qualifying item.

The New Price Discount Type allows a Member to purchase an item at a modified price.

This Discount Type is available only for the Item Discount Coupon type.

For this Discount Type, enter the following configuration options:

  • Discount Type: Select New Price.

  • New Price: Enter the modified price of the item.

  • Redemption Limit: Enter the maximum number of times that this discount can be applied to a single purchase.

  • POS Code: This field is used for integration with your Point of Sale system. This code contains metadata that tells the POS system how to apply the coupon. The POS vendor should supply you with this value.

The Bundle Deals Discount Type allows a Member to purchase a combination of specified items at a modified price.

This Discount Type is available only for the Item Discount Coupon type.

For this Discount Type, enter the following configuration options:

  • Discount Type: Select Bundle Deals.

  • Items per Bundle: Enter the minimum required number of items in the bundle. A Member must add at least this many qualified items to their purchase to qualify for the discount. The default bundle size is 2.

  • Bundle Price: Enter the modified price of the item bundle.

  • Redemption Limit: Enter the maximum number of times that this discount can be applied to a single purchase.

  • POS Code: This field is used for integration with your Point of Sale system. This code contains metadata that tells the POS system how to apply the coupon. The POS vendor should supply you with this value.

 

Qualifying Rules

The Qualifying Rules sub-section allows you to define the specific circumstances under which a Member can use this Coupon Offer. For example, you can link a Coupon Offer to only a specific product, or to a specific category of products.

The parameters in this section are as follows:

  • Minimum Subtotal: Enter the minimum purchase amount that a Member must spend in order to qualify to use this Coupon Offer. If you leave this field blank, then the platform will not impose a minimum subtotal threshold.

  • Excluding Coupon Discount: If using a Minimum Subtotal, optionally check Excluding Coupon Discount. If enabled, the platform will exclude discounts applied to qualifying items from the minimum subtotal calculations.

  • Apply Coupon: Only on Qualified Items: Apply the discount ONLY to the items listed below. If unchecked, the discount is applied to all items within the purchase. When using an Item Discount Coupon type, this option is checked by default, and disabled from editing.

  • Qualify Based On: Select one of the following:

    • Product Category: Enter one or more qualifying product categories. A purchase of any item within any of these categories would allow the Member to use this Coupon Offer. See below for details on how to specify the product categories.

    • Product PLU: Enter one or more specific products. The Member must purchase one of these items to use this coupon. See below for details on how to specify the products.

    • Lookup: Use a Lookup table to define the qualifying items. Lookup tables are typically used for more complex hierarchies of product categories / sub-categories.

  • Qualify By: This option lets you define the qualifying product or category based on either Inclusion (i.e., the item must be in the list defined below) or Exclusion (i.e., the item must not be in the list defined below).

To add a qualifying product or category:

  1. Click Add. The New Qualifying Product pop-up window is displayed.

  2. In the Identifier field, enter the product category or PLU.

  3. From the Level drop-down menu, select either Primary Item or Secondary Item.

  4. Click Create. The new item is added to the list.

  5. Repeat the above steps as needed to add more qualifying items or categories.

  6. Click Save.

Effectivity Periods

Offers are governed by an overall Effectivity Period that controls when, and for long, the Offer is visible to Members on your website or app.

In addition to the overall Effectivity Period for the Offer, the platform allows you to set more granular schedules that control when a Member can respond to the Offer (called the Response Period), and when a Member can use the Offer (called the Usage Period).

See Define Offer Operational Ranges for more information.