Offers
Build a coupon offer: what customers get, the text that carries it, how staff redeem it, when it expires, the reminder, and how to end it.
An offer is the thing you give away: an amount off, a percentage off, a free item, or buy one, get one. Once you have one, you can hang it on a ladder rung or send it to a group. Each coupon has its own page, with the offer, its code, when it expires and its terms, and a new offer's text links to that page for you.
Make an offer
Open Coupons > Offers and press Start an offer. The first screen asks what you are trying to do:
- a One-time offer: sent once, to the people you pick, when you press send;
- a Ladder: texts that go out on their own when something happens, like a first visit or a review.
Under either one you can Start from scratch or pick a starter, and change anything on the next screen. Every starter expires, stacks with nothing, and is capped at one per customer.
New offers start from your Defaults for new offers in Coupons settings, such as when an offer expires and how it is redeemed. Changing a default never touches an offer you have already made.
What they get
Pick one of four kinds:
- Percent off, with an optional cap on how much it can take off.
- Amount off.
- Free item: one item you pick from your menu.
- Buy X get Y: they buy something and get something else, free or at a lower price.
For an amount or a percentage off, say what it applies to: the whole check, a category, items you pick from your menu, or any one item the customer chooses at the counter.
The message
Give the coupon a Coupon title. It shows on the coupon page, at the counter and on anything you print.
Then write the text. It always starts with your business name. Unless you move or remove it with the tags below, it ends with the opt-out line, Reply STOP to end, HELP for help. You can type these tags, and each one is filled in for every person:
{first_name}: their first name, or nothing when we do not have one.{location_name}: the name of your storefront.{offer_headline}: the coupon title.{offer_text}: what they get, in plain words.{code}: their coupon code.{coupon_link}: the link to their coupon page.{expiry_date}: the day their coupon expires.{footer}moves the opt-out line to where you type it, and{no_footer}sends the text without it.
{no_footer}.As you type, the composer counts the characters and text segments the message will use, with the tags filled in. Use full web addresses: link shorteners are one of the things carriers refuse outright, and {coupon_link} is already a full address.
How they use it
Choose how staff redeem it at the counter:
- A code just for them. Every person gets their own 8-character code. Nobody can share it, and you see exactly who used it. Staff open the link and tap Redeem, or type the code. This is the only option that tells you who redeemed.
- Show this text. No code at all: the customer shows you the message. It is the fastest and costs the counter nothing, but anyone can forward it and you cannot count who used it.
- One code for everyone. A word you can print, for a window sign. Staff type the same code every time. Assume it leaks; someone will screenshot it.
Every coupon also has a QR code on its page, whichever you pick.
When it expires, and the reminder
Every offer expires: pick a number of days after it is sent, or a date. There is no "never expires", because an offer with no end is a liability that circulates for years.
You can also remind people a few days before it expires (how many days is in Defaults for new offers). The reminder goes only to people who have not used it yet, about one text each. Settings > Sending rules has a switch that turns reminders off for every offer.
More options
Under More options you can add a minimum spend; choose where it counts (dine in, takeout or delivery); set the days and times it works; keep it to one per customer; stop it after a number of redemptions; say what it stacks with; and read the terms your customers see, with a line of your own added if you need one.
You can also tick Hold back for a one-time send, while Hold back a few people so you can measure is on in Settings > Sending rules. When the send is big enough, a small group gets nothing, and after ninety days Results compares how often they came back with everyone who did get it. That is how Results tells you what an offer caused, not just what it discounted. With nothing held back, Results can show what was redeemed but not what the offer earned.
Check it before it goes
From the offer you can preview the text for free, or send one real text to your own phone. A test is a real text: it is priced like one and uses up one real code. Tests need your texting number, so they work once it is switched on.
Offer status
Each offer is Draft, Scheduled, Live, Ended or Archived. An offer waiting on your texting number is marked as waiting rather than sent.
- End offer asks how. Keep it running changes nothing. Stop it after a given day, offered while people still hold unused codes, lets those codes run out first. Stop new redemptions now stops it at once. Nothing is refunded and nothing is un-sent. If a ladder rung uses the offer, ending it stops that rung sending until you give it another offer.
- Archive takes an offer out of your library. If it has one code for everyone, anything you printed keeps working and shows that the offer has finished, and the word stays with that offer.
To send an offer once, see One-time sends. To send it on its own when something happens, see Ladders and rungs.
Coupons overview
What Coupons does, how your texting number is registered with the carriers, who you can text and how they agree to it, and the rules every text follows.
One-time sends
Send a coupon to a group once: who it reaches and who is left out, when it goes, what it costs in text segments, stopping it, and the receipt.