Shopify is a leader in the eCommerce space because it is easy to set up, simple to design, and always innovating. I have had my online store on Shopify for a long time, I think over 5 years at this point, and have no desire to switch.
In the back end of your Shopify store, you can easily make coupon codes or discount codes (whatever you like to call them). One drawback when making discount codes on Shopify is the fact that multiple coupon codes can't be combined at checkout. As a merchant, it is a safeguard against customers taking advantage of multiple discount codes that they have found on the web. You can only use one discount code at checkout.
Listen to your customer service team - Many customers called in asking to combine multiple coupon codes
There is no doubt that I am a slow learner. College took me 5 years, but maybe that was on purpose. I did have a great time. Anyways, whenever customer service gives me feedback I try to really listen and not disregard it as a problem customer. The customer feedback you get can show you a potentially bigger problem or help lead you to a new product you never thought of launching.
For my own store, we set up multiple discounts for different products. Each coupon code was unique to each product. So when a customer wanted to buy 2 or more products, they naturally wanted to use both coupons that were available. I don't blame them, I would too.
Not to mention, that we had a pop-up with another discount code. Now add that to the discount codes that our customers found by using the power of google! This previously excited customer is now overwhelmed by the multiple discount codes they have stumbled upon.
What do you do when you can use only one discount code?
Well, I decided to make things simpler in hopes of increasing the conversion rate and our average order value. For my unique online store, it worked! Please note, that every online store is unique.
If you decide you want to make the multiple discount codes more simple you can try this.
One coupon code for all products - This is the simplest way to use discount codes
Remove all coupon codes! - I know you just spit out your coffee. How could you remove your discount codes and still sell anything? I made the bold move of doing just this and marking our products at the price we use to sell after discount. We even went as far as removing the discount code section in checkout. Which you can do easily in Shopify by turning off your discount codes.
What happened when we removed multiple discount codes
The result for my online store was an increased average order value and increased conversion rate. It was just much simpler and the customers could just add multiple products without fear of not getting the best price. For my brand, this became the only acceptable solution.
I never try to make any massive changes like this based only on pleasing the customer service team. Sometimes a small problem is just a small problem, but in this case it was hurting our conversion.
No more discounts in Facebook Ads
To go with the theme of listening and paying attention to our customers. We got feedback from customers that the price didn't match what was on the Facebook ad. In reality, it did match but they needed to enter the discount code. Customers were seeing multiple discount codes all over the place, from Facebook ads to the website to coupon sites. By removing the discount codes on the website we were able to remove the discount codes on Facebook ads as well.
This made the experience from ad to product page much more...simple.
Still, want to offer discount codes?
I get it, it's a hard thing to stop using and it can provide leverage when you want to do a special or a reason to boost sales. So what type of discount code works best? Percentage discount vs. dollar off discount.
Testing is the best way to see what really works best, for our store we found that a dollar off typically worked best because there was less math involved. Remember, I like simple! This is why we decided to use dollars off for each unique product. The challenge with a dollar-off discount code is that it may not make sense for each unique product. Which lead to the multiple discount codes problem in the first place.
That is one argument for going straight percentage discount. Percentages mean you're making your customers do the math and sometimes difficult math. They just want to buy what you selling on your online store.
An alternative to discount codes is Free Shipping
At the core, we really are using discount codes to incentivize our potential customers to become a customer. You can make discounting as complicated as you like or as simple in my case. Free shipping is another option that doesn't actually discount your product price. I personally like to use this on the cart page to motivate additional purchases if you hit the free threshold of $250.
As a store owner, there are so many things to focus on to grow your store. Making it simpler or easier for customers to checkout can increase your conversion rate, and sales and reduce customer service inquiries.
How do you plan to use or not use discount codes on your own store?
Let me know in the comments.
Also, check out our recent product launch that did over $237,000 in a day!