Creating and Managing Coupon Codes

Coupons can be a great way to spark sales in your studio and build enthusiasm. With our Coupon Code system you have full control over what type of coupons you'd like to make. This tutorial will walk you through the steps of creating and managing Coupon Codes and gift certificates.

Getting Started

You'll find the Coupon Code control panel in your MyArtFire under the promote tab listed with our other promotion tools.

The Coupon Code creation page displays lots of different options and settings for all of the different kinds of coupons you can make. For this part of the tutorial we are going to make a Coupon Code, if you want to learn how to make a Gift Certificate please refer to the second part of this tutorial.

If you are unsure about how a certain code works or how the code will affect the price of a sale you can check out the Coupon Code Reference Guide for more information. By default, "Coupon Code" is selected when you visit the creation page.

Creating Coupon Codes

First, you'll need to decide what kind of discount you'd like to offer. If you select Dollars off or Percentage Off, a box will appear below this menu where you will need to enter the amount of the discount. For a Dollar Off coupon you enter the a dollar amount to be subtracted from the items/order, for a Percentage Of" coupon you enter the percentage as a standard number (e.g. 15 for 15% off). For Free Gift, a longer box will appear in which you can describe the gift. This text will be visible to the customer after they have entered the code during checkout. If you chose a Free Shipping coupon you can go to the next step.

Currently, Free Shipping only applies to U.S. and Canadian orders. International sellers will be able to offer free shipping to residents of the U.S. and Canada, however, this system is not yet able to discount shipping on a 'free domestic shipping" level yet.

Once you've decided on a discount type, it's time to decide how that discount will apply to items in your studio. You can choose to apply discounts at the item level, to certain studio categories, to items within a certain price range, to all items, or to an order total. ***For a Dollar off coupon applied to Every Item the amount of the discount that you enter will be subtracted from each item (e.g. If a customer used a $3 off every item coupon for an order of 4 items, that would be a total discount of $12) *** If you chose to apply a discount to an Order Total you will have the option of setting a minimum "threshold" order total that must be met before the coupon can be used. Please note that that price includes shipping and that 'percentage off order total" discounts shipping along with items.

Applying the coupon at the item level can be tricky if you have quite a few items. We've included a search function when you are selecting items for an item level discount. When you are searching for an item, use the title to find it the click it to add it to the items included in the discount.

The next step is deciding what you want your Coupon Code to be called. The "name" of your Coupon Code will be what the customer enters during the checkout process to receive the discount. You have two options; you can randomly generate a 20 character alpha-numeric code for your customers to use, or you can enter a more customer friendly code of your chose by selecting the Make My Own option. The only limitation we have is that you cannot have the same code twice, each code needs to be unique to you. You may include spaces if you wish but your customer will have to enter the code exactly as you have created it to receive the discount.

Once you have created the code you need to set how long the code will be active. You have the following options: you can choose a Time Frame which makes the code active immediately and expires after the number of day that you enter. You can choose a Date Range to have the code activate and deactivate at some point in the future (this option pops up a calendar to help you find the correct dates and by clicking the day of the month it enters the date for you). You can set the coupon to Number of Uses, once the coupon has been used a certain number of times it is exhausted and goes inactive. If you do not want to have any limitations on time/use you can set the coupon to be active for 1 year. All coupons expire after one year.

The final options are whether or not to make the coupon viewable to the public and whether the coupon is one use per customer. The Viewable to the public option determines how ArtFire will use your code. We plan on building a buyer shopping method so that interested buyers can browse/shop the different sales that our artisans are having. If you do not want ArtFire to be able to display or work with your coupons once this new feature has been built, set the public option to no. If you want to be included, set it to yes. If you select the one use per customer setting we will do everything we can to make sure that a coupon is used only once per shopper. A determined individual will be able to get around any limitations we have in place but the majority of customers will be limited to using your coupon once.

Once you have entered all the information and double checked to make sure that each option is set the way you want you can click the ALL DONE! button to create the code. Here is an example of a code that is ready to be made. This code is for 15% off an order over $30, the code is SAVEBIG, the number of uses is set to 10, it is viewable to the public, and it is set to one per customer.

Clicking all done takes you to the Coupon Code management screen. You will be able to see all of you active/inactive coupons and gift certificates. Each listing tells you the discount type, what the coupon applies to, the time period/uses, and whether it's public, active, and the per customer settings. From the management screen you can also tweet your coupon, send an email with your coupon in it and generate a widget for your blog/site that has your coupon on it with a link to your studio.

Making Gift Certificates

Gift Certificates have many more rules/regulations across states and countries than Coupon Codes, as such the creation process is more limited. If you are making a Gift Certificate please understand that we will treat that certificate like money, we consider it currency. If you sell or give out a gift certificate you will need to be in compliance with both your states/countries regulations as well as be in compliance with the regulations of the state/country of the buyer. Many locations require a gift certificate to be honored for the duration of the business. We have built the Gift Certificate system in order to be in compliance with the strictest regulations, as such our system does not expire Gift Certificates. A Gift Certificate can be used completely in one shopping trip, or partially used and the remainder will update to be used in the future.

To make a Gift Certificate, choose the "Gift Certificate" option on the Coupon Code creation screen. Enter the recipient's name and email address so that they can be notified and will have a record of the code. In order to make a code you must check the box stating that you understand that it is your responsibility to be in compliance with regulations affecting your Gift Certificates.

The only option we have made available for Gift Certificates is the randomly generated alpha-numeric code. This is a security measure so that your code is not guessed by a party who the certificate is not intended for. As mentioned previously, there are no date range options, the Gift Certificate will be valid indefinitely. Here is an example of a Gift Certificate for $25 that is ready to be completed and sent.

Gift certificates appear on the same management screen as the Coupon Codes. You will also be notified through invoices when and where a Gift Certificate has been used. While our system will keep track of your Gift Certificates it is always good business practice to keep your own records. Depending on the regulations that apply to the sale of a Gift Certificate you may be responsible to honor any certificate issued even if you leave ArtFire in the future as long as you are still in business, as such your own records would be necessary.

Have more questions about Coupon Codes and Gift Certificates?

If you have more questions or need help, please don't hesitate to contact our support staff at Service@ArtFire.com. You can also post questions in the Help! or Bug Reports section of the forums, or in Twitter.