More and more companies are using discount codes to attract customers and focus sales on specific times, periods or for specific product lines.
Here I want to concentrate on helping the customer redeem the discount code.
It’s quite simple really.
A typical online ordering process will take the customer through a few screens. Order summary, payment details, payment confirmation.
However, there are too many e-commerce sites where the customer needs to input and submit their payment details, before they have the option to enter the discount code.
When the discount code isn’t requested before or at the same time as the payment details, the customer has to trust that the discount code will be requested on the next page, and hope it will be correctly applied to the cost.
Many customers don’t want to submit payment details if they’re unsure if the discount will be applied. This can cause a much higher rate of abandoned carts (sales stopped before the transaction is completed), because it’s not possible to see whether the next page of the order process requests the discount code, and they don’t wont to approve the use of their card details if the cost it wrong.
Also, if you are giving an option to input a discount code, make it clear and easy to see. Don’t try to hide it, in the hope that the customer forgets and orders without having the discount code applied – this will just cause issues as the customer will be unhappy, want either a refund or have the discount applied retrospectively, and will very probably tell friends on social media and in person, about their bad experience with your company.
Once a customer has had a bad experience on your e-commerce site, they are very unlikely to try again and won’t recommend you to friends.
So, keep it simple:
- Make the discount code input clearly visible
- Request the discount code before you request payment details