Discount codes attract new customers, encourage existing customers to try a new product and/or service, and generate new revenue. Discount codes are heavily utilized during holiday seasons, where online retailers entice consumers to spend more in the run-up to a big time of year, such as Thanks Giving through Black Friday sales.
In fact, research by Vericast found that an estimated 60% of consumers are likely to try a new product as a result of a discount code, and a further 46% said they’d change their original purchase to benefit from a discount code.
If you’re running an online store, brainstorming discount code ideas to use throughout the year is hugely beneficial to retaining customers, hitting sales targets, and generating profit.
We’re going to run you through the best discount code ideas for Shopify, including discount code examples, and how to create them from your Shopify dashboard to be best used throughout your online store.
Jump to section:
- What Is A Discount Code?
- Best Discount Code Ideas for Shopify
- Quick Steps To Creating A Shopify Discount Code
- Benefits of Discount Code
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is A Discount Code?
A discount code, also known as a coupon code, is a personalized code offered to customers as a purchasing incentive that reduces the total cost of an order. You can fully customize discount codes to best suit the needs of your online store, and apply them to your chosen products, collections, or your entire store to boost sales, shift slow-moving inventory, and attract new customers.
Discount codes don’t have to be technical, either. A discount code can be as simple as a name or slogan. A coupon code example could be ‘WELCOME 20’ to offer new customers 20% off their first purchase.
You can create an unlimited amount of discount codes that can be applied to different products, sales, or times of the year. Shopify has a number of great discount code apps, such as Bulk Discount & Sales Manager, where you can create and manage codes from one, easy-to-use dashboard.
Later in this article, we’ll run through the key steps to using Bulk Discount & Sales Manager app to generate and manage discount codes, but first, let’s delve into the best discount code ideas for Shopify.
Best Discount Code Ideas for Shopify
It can be difficult to choose the best discount code for your upcoming promotion. That’s why we’ve collated the best discount code ideas to get you started.
Welcome Code For New Customers
If our example earlier didn’t already give it away, offering a coupon code to new customers is one of the most effective discount code ideas to expand your customer base and generate sales. There’s a range of benefits of offering this kind of discount code, including:
Attracting new customers: Market your discount code to attract new customers
Expanding your email marketing database: Customers will have the opportunity to sign up to marketing emails when using a discount code. Email marketing is still proving to be one of the most successful promotional techniques, which you can build on with a new audience by introducing a welcome discount code.
Monitor the success of your marketing strategy: A discount code for new customers a great way to monitor the success of your current marketing strategy. The discount code will automatically decipher how many new customers you have attracted, which can work alongside new product launches and other marketing drives.
Free Shipping Coupon Code
Consumers love free shipping! Free shipping gives online shopping an advantage over in-person shopping, which can be particularly beneficial to clothing retailers who compete with the ideology of trying clothes on.
Free shipping is a coupon code example with proven success. In Deloitte’s annual holiday survey, 88% of consumers will choose free shipping over paying for a faster delivery service.
What’s more, a key reason for consumers to shop instore over online was to “avoid shipping costs” so introducing a free shipping discount code will allow your online store to compete with brick and mortar stores, attracting a larger customer base.
Holiday Discount Code
Holiday discounts are a great coupon code example to boost sales during a highly competitive time of year.
According to Ted Mayeda, co-owner of gardening store M & M Nursery and their online store, Fairy Garden Expert, holiday discounts will keep your online store competitive and create an “ideal opportunity to thank our regular customers for their loyal patronage throughout the year.”
To add to the argument supporting holiday discount codes, American Express researched why holiday discounts drive sales and found that holiday discount codes are a great way to clear out old inventory before the new year, as well as giving customers something they view as “valuable discount”, rather than a predictable promotional ploy.
There you have the top three most effective coupon code examples to drive your marketing campaign, gain customers, and drive sales throughout the year.
Ready to introduce these top-rated discount code ideas to your online store? You can do it in just a few simple steps with Bulk Discount & Sales Manager app, available in the Shopify app store.
You can create discounts in Shopify’s built-in discount settings. However, the benefits of using a specifically-designed discount app speak volumes. Not only will you be able to manage multiple discount codes from one, easy dashboard, but you will also gain access to fully-customizable badges, countdown timers, and more marketing features.
Quick Steps To Creating A Shopify Discount Code
Step 1) Add ‘ Bulk Discount & Sales Manager’ to your Shopify apps
Once you’ve logged into your Shopify admin, head to ‘Apps’ in the left-hand menu and search Bulk Discount & Sales Manager app.
Click ‘Add app’ and it will appear in your Shopify admin dashboard.
Step 2) Navigate to ‘Bulk Discount & Sales Manager’
Back in your admin section, you’ll find Bulk Discount & Sales Manager. Click on the app and you’ll be taken to your new bulk discount management dashboard.
Step 3) Create a Discount Code
Navigate to ‘Discount Code’ in the top menu and select ‘create discount set’. You can then create a discount code based on random code generation or custom code generation.
Random discount code: Allows you to select the number of codes you would like to introduce, how long you would like the code to be, the type of characters, and whether you would like to add a personalized prefix and suffix.
Custom discount code: Allows you to import a list of discount codes up to 40 characters each, if you already have coupon code examples ready to be used.
Step 4) Set your discount value
Choose from a percentage or fixed amount, and whether your chosen discount will apply to an entire order, specific collections, or products and variants.
If you would only like to apply the discount to select products or discounts, navigate the search bar to select the items for the discount to be applied to.
Step 5) Customize your discount code
Customize your discount code ideas based on:
- Minimum requirements
- Customer eligibility
- Usage limits
- Active dates
Step 6) Save your discount code
Once you have run through each set-up phase, click save and your discount will be activated throughout your online store.
Benefits of Discount Code
As you have learned from our top discount code ideas, introducing a discount code to your online store is a great way to:
- Shift old inventory
- Attract new customers & re-engage existing ones
- Persuade customers to buy more
- Drive short-term sales to reach targets during quieter months
- Improve cash flow
- Increase customer satisfaction
Using a discount app, such as Bulk Discount & Sales Manager, will further improve the usage of discount codes through additional features to help market the campaign. Visit the Shopify app store to learn more about the full features of a Shopify discount app.
Frequently Asked Questions
When using Bulk Discount & Sales Manager, you will be able to use an unlimited amount of discount codes depending on your marketing strategy. Use a variety of codes for different purposes, such as free shipping or new customer discount. With Shopify’s built-in settings, you can only have a maximum of 25 automatic discounts active on your store at one time.
Yes, Shopify discount codes are case sensitive. Choose whether you would like pre-drafted codes or automatically generated codes with a Shopify discount app.
No! That’s the great thing about using a discount app. They can be installed in a few clicks straight from the Shopify App Store with no Dev Input required. Run through our simple set-up steps and your discount code will be activated with any Shopify theme.
