When you sell with Lightspeed eCom, promo codes that you create in your POS are not synced with eCom. That means, if you want to offer online shoppers discount based on a code, you have to create them specifically for your online store from your eCom admin. 

You can offer your online customers a percentage or fixed value discount, free shipping, and a combination of both on products and categories. 

How discount coupons in eCom work

A discount coupon is basically a code that a customer can enter at checkout in your online store to get a discount on their order.

Offer gift cards in your store to boost up sales during the holidays.

In order for a coupon field to appear at checkout, you need to create at least one coupon code. Your customers can click on Redeem your coupon link to access it:

Сustomers can apply one coupon per order. When a coupon is applied at the checkout, the discount amount is deducted from the order subtotal — a total cost of all items in the cart excluding taxes and shipping.

Once you remove or deactivate all discount coupons in your store so there are no active discount coupons that customers can use, the coupon field will automatically disappear from your store.

You can create codes for monetary ($5 off) or percentage (10% off) discounts, free shipping and a combination of the two — a discount plus free shipping. A discount code is a combination of letters or numbers or a word. You can use your own codes or let generate them for you.

You can specify a minimum order amount to use a discount, what type of customers can use a discount, and products or categories to which the discount can be applied. 

For each coupon you can choose how many times it can be applied: unlimited, single, or once per customer.

For the “Free shipping” or “Free shipping + discount” coupons it’s possible to specify a certain shipping or delivery method.

How to let customers know about discount coupons in eCom

You can send coupons to customers in different ways:

• through personal emails and messages,
• in the abandoned cart recovery emails,
• in the marketing emails — add the discount code for the next purchase to increase chances for the next order,
• in the social media by adding the discount code to the post, tempting followers to visit your store.

How to make a discount coupon field more visible at checkout in eCom

To enter the discount code at checkout, a customer should click on Redeem your coupon link to access the coupon field. If you often offer your customer discounts via coupons or gift cards, you can expand the coupon field so shoppers can enter promo codes right away:

To make the discount coupon field expanded by default:

1. From your POS, go to Online.
2. Switch to the Webstore tab and click Edit Site.
3. In your site editor, click Settings at the top left and select Fonts & Styles.
4. Click Advanced custom CSS.
5. Copy and paste the following code in the field and click Publish:

.ec-size .ec-store .ec-cart-coupon__wrap { visibility: visible } 

.ec-size .ec-store .ec-cart-coupon:not(.ec-cart-coupon--applied) .ec-cart-coupon__button--apply { 
display: block; 
}

.ec-size .ec-store .ec-cart-coupon .ec-cart-coupon__wrap { 
display: flex; 
align-items: center; 
height: auto; 
}

.ec-size .ec-store .ec-cart-coupon .ec-cart-coupon__text { 
display: none; 
}

Creating discount coupons in eCom

You can create discount codes for:

• a fixed value discount (e.g. $5 off),
• a percentage discount (e.g. 10% off),
• a free shipping,
• a fixed value / percentage discount + free shipping.

To create a new discount coupon:

1. From your POS, go to Online and click Go to eCom.
2. In your eCom admin, click Marketing in the menu on the left and select Discount Coupons.
3. Click Add New Coupon.
4. In the Name field, enter the name for your coupon. It will be visible to you only, your customers won't see its name.
5. In the Coupon code field, keep the generated code or enter your own code. You can use any combination of letters or numbers or type a word, e.g. 'Welcome Promo'. The code is what customers should enter at the checkout to get the discount.

6. Select the Discount type: discount, free shipping or discount + free shipping.

   When a customer uses a free shipping coupon, they get free shipping for all items in the cart even if the coupon is limited to certain products.

7. Enter the discount Value and choose between a percentage or a monetary value:

   

8. Choose the day from which the coupon should be active and when the coupon should expire:
   
   The coupons are activated at 00:00:00 and deactivated at 23:59:59 in the time zone specified in your store settings. You can check it by navigating to Online → Settings → Regional Settings tab → Date & Time section. For example, if you choose the period December 5 - December 10 for a discount coupon, customers will be able to apply the coupon to their orders starting from 00:00:00 of the 5th December till 23:59:59 of the 10th December in your store's time zone.

   In case you want to create a coupon that is active for one day only, select the same start and end days.

9. If the code should apply to specific orders, products or customers, click No limits and define the coupon limits:

   

10. Click Save.

You can create a 100% discount coupon for certain items, offering them as a gift. In that case, you may want to automatically mark orders with zero price as “Paid”, so that you don’t have to manually change the status of each order from "Awaiting Payment" to "Paid". For this, go to Online → Settings → General → Cart & Checkout and in the Checkout Settings section set the Default payment status for orders with zero total setting to Paid.

Adding discount coupon restrictions in eCom

You can set coupon codes to be applicable to specific orders, products, and customers and limit the number of times a coupon can be used.

To add usage restrictions to a coupon:

1. From your POS, go to Online and click Go to eCom.
2. In your eCom admin, click Marketing in the menu on the left and select Discount Coupons.

3. Choose the coupon to edit it and click No limits:

   

4. You can configure which orders, customers and products the coupon should apply to. The Shipping Methods can be set up only for coupons with the free shipping option:

   

5. When you have defined all coupon limits, click Apply.

Coupons restrictions for orders over specific amount

If you want customers to spend a minimum amount to qualify for the discount, select Subtotal over in the Orders section and enter a minimum subtotal amount:

Coupons restrictions for specific customers

If you want to define what customers can use your coupon, you can set it up in the Customers section by selecting one of these:

• All customers — anyone can apply the code.

• Repeat customers — those who placed at least one order with Paid status. To apply the coupon, a shopper should also login to his customer account in your store.

  You can send such coupons in one of your automated marketing emails as a bounce-back offer that encourages people to return to your store for another purchase or a special discount for your regular customers.

• New customers — those who haven’t yet ordered in your store can use the code.
  You can promote these coupons in your storefront or send them in the abandoned cart recovery emails to drive sales and increase the conversion rates.

Coupons restrictions for number of uses

To restrict the discount usage, select one of these:

• Unlimited — customers can apply the code numerous times.
• Once per customer — each customer can apply the coupon only once with the same email at checkout. The same person will be able to use the code several times, if they provide different email addresses for each order at checkout.
• Single use — the coupon will expire as soon as a customer places an order with this code. You can use these coupons for making personalized special offers to your customers.

Coupons restrictions for specific products

In case you want to clear out some excess inventory or boost sales of seasonal items, you can create coupons that should apply to specific products or categories. Click Limit by product or Limit by category to select items that qualify for the discount:

Coupons restrictions for shipping methods

For coupons with the free shipping option, you can specify a shipping and delivery method by clicking Limit by shipping method and selecting shipping or delivery methods:

Shipping or delivery rules of a method you chose will be applied to the free shipping coupon.

All shipping or delivery methods you connect to a coupon will become free for a customer after they enter a promo code at checkout:

For local delivery or pickup, a customer will be able to choose a delivery or pickup date if you enabled one.

Modifying existing discount coupons in eCom

You may need to change details in an existing coupon.

To edit a discount coupon:

1. From your POS, go to Online and click Go to eCom.
2. In your eCom admin, click Marketing in the menu on the left and select Discount Coupons.
3. Tick a coupon that you want to update.

4. Click Modify above the list of coupons:

   

5. Change the coupon as you need.
6. Click Save.

Managing discount coupons in eCom

You can manage coupon codes on the Marketing → Discount Coupons page in your eCom admin. Here you can filter coupons by:

• name
• code
• discount type
• time of life
• availability
• number of uses.

Click on the number in the Uses column, you’ll see a list of orders that were placed with this code.

Filters help you quickly check what codes are used oftener than others, which coupons are active at the moment and which ones have already expired and more.

In case you want to stop the coupon usage for the moment and keep it for another promotion, you can pause the code and reactivate it later: