Introduction

Coupons are often used as a way of driving sales and building customer loyalty. After all, who would not appreciate a complimentary discount? Coupon campaigns can be beneficial for any business as long as they rely on a well-thought strategy.

Coupons are secret codes that can be redeemed for a discount on orders. In X-Cart, you can offer fixed and percentage-based discount coupons. They could be configured as available only under certain conditions, such as minimum order subtotal amount, particular product category, product class, or specific membership level. You can also determine the period of time and the number of times they could be used.

Accessing the Coupons section

For a start, please log in to your X-Cart Admin Area and navigate through the left-hand side menu bar to Discounts > Coupons.

Under this section, you are going to be creating and managing all your X-Cart Coupon codes.

Please bear in mind the Coupons feature is empowered by the Coupons Addon. Therefore, to be able to create and configure Discount Coupons, you have to ensure the Addon is installed and enabled in your X-Cart Online Store. In case this has not been done yet, please refer to our tutorial on How to install Addons (Modules) in X-Cart.

Creating Discount Coupon

To create your first discount code, please click on the "New discount coupon" button.

When the button is clicked, you are being redirected to a new "Coupon" section, where you have to configure the discount code details.

• Code - This is the secret code your customers have to enter to apply the Discount Coupon.
• Comment - This is an optional field, and it is only for your reference. You can leave a brief description to help you quickly identify the code in the future.
• Enabled - With this checkbox, you can control whether the custom is enabled - available to use - or disabled.
• Discount type - From this dropdown menu, you have to select whether the discount to be a flat amount ($) or percentage-based (%).
• Discount amount - In this file, you need to enter the discount value.
• Active from / Active till - These two calendar fields, allow you to configure the discount for a specific time frame. If left blank, the discount is going to available until manually disabled by you.

Right after these fields, you have to configure the Discount Coupon conditions.

• Subtotal range (begin) - In this field, you have to specify the minimum order subtotal amount required for the Discount Coupon to be applied.
• Subtotal range (end) - In this field, you can define a maximum order subtotal amount above which the discount is not going to be applicable.
• Limit the number of uses - The option lets you limit the use of Discount Coupon. If enabled, two additional fields appear where you need to specify the maximum number of times the code could be used overall and/or per user.
• Coupon cannot be combined with other coupons - This setting allows to control whether your customers are allowed to use this code in combination with other Discount Coupons.
• Categories - You can limit the use of this code to particular product categories if required. To do so, you have to specify the categories in the empty field. Alternatively, the Discount Coupon applies to all product categories.
• Product classes - If required, you can also limit the code to specific product classes by entering them in the empty field.
• Memberships - This option lets you reserve the Discount Code to members of a given Membership Level. If you are not yet familiar with the Memberships concept in X-Cart, please take a look at our tutorial on How to create and manage User Memberships in X-Cart.

When you are ready, please click on the "Create" button to add your new Discount Coupon.

During Checkout, your customers are displayed with a "Have a discount code message?" in their Shopping Cart. When the link is clicked, an additional "Coupon code" field appears where they need to enter a valid Discount Coupon.

When the code is entered, and the "Redeem" button is clicked, the discount code is automatically applied.

In case, an invalid coupon code is entered, due to being expired, disabled, or any of the required conditions are not met, your customers are informed with a message stating the exact reason for the coupon inapplicability.

Well done! You have learned a new way to make your customers happier. As always, we would like to thank you for your trust in our guidance and encourage you to contact our Support Team in case additional instructions are needed.