
This coupon code is a slap in the face - mijustin
http://justinjackson.ca/the-coupon-code-is-a-slap-in-the-face/
======
ebbv
This is a pretty ridiculous complaint.

First of all, giving everyone a referral URL works great in a web only world
but what if you're advertising on a Podcast (or _gasp_ print or radio), is it
easier to tell people to type in www.mysite.com/coupon to their browser or is
it easier to tell people to enter COUPON at checkout?

Secondly, the amount of people who are going to have this adverse reaction to
the mere existence of the coupon code field is vanishingly small. Most
customers who don't have a code will just ignore it and move on (and actually
many who have been told about a code will not even use it) only a small
minority will bother searching for a code to enter when they don't have one.

Whatever web site had a coupon code field that made you this angry probably
had at least 20 much worse UI violations they should prioritize above trying
to eliminate the coupon field.

~~~
mijustin
This PayPal/Comscore study found that 27% of potential buyers abandoned their
shopping cart because they had to go look for a coupon code.

Another study found that removing the promo code box improved conversion from
3.8% to 5.1%

Source:
[http://ux.stackexchange.com/a/11365](http://ux.stackexchange.com/a/11365)

(There's also some good shopping cart / checkout UX tips in there too)

~~~
ja27
I've abandoned a couple purchases because of that coupon code box. I go search
for one and realize that they do regular promotions so I wait for one, usually
to never come back and make a purchase.

~~~
tamal
I've done the same. The coupon code box screams, "You're a sucker if you don't
have a code to put in here."

I go searching for a code. I find a few great ones that have expired but
nothing active right now. Now I can continue my purchase and feel like a chump
or abandon my cart. The latter usually wins.

------
javert
Lenovo does this, but they quote all the prices _assuming_ you are going to
put in the coupon code, which they display on the entry page into the product
you are buying.

If you don't realize you have to jump through this dumb hoop and think you are
actually getting the discount automatically, which is quite easy to do (I did,
and I'm no dummy), they _do not_ reimburse you the difference if you call on
the phone to explain. The guy on the phone specifically explained to me that
that is their official policy in this situation.

I mean, I _trusted_ Lenovo (good past experiences), so I wasn't being super
duper careful to look for any kind of trick. Imagine that... not looking out
for being tricked! What a fool I was.

If you eally want the discount, you have to cancel your order and re-order,
which means getting the product later. Lenovo knows very well that many
customers won't do this.

tl;dr Lenovo suits have calculated a new way to trick customers, and treat
customers in a shitty way. They should be ashamed. Gipped me off for a few
hundred bucks.

~~~
beagle3
I have a simple system that works very well:

Never order anything online before checking dealnews.com; Takes 10 additional
seconds, saved me thousands. Among other things, they give you every single
Lenovo deal (including through the Microsoft Store, which is often better than
the coupons in the Lenovo store -- and usually arrives within a couple of days
rather than 3 weeks), and they give you the past deals/coupons, so you can see
if you need to wait a couple of days to get a 30% price reduction -- Lenovo,
and many other vendors, have 30% off in two out of every 3 weeks, or two days
out of every week.

~~~
EGreg
When you shop in a store, ask if they have a price match guarantee and then
pull up Google Shopping :)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Have you genuinely used that technique, where I am price match promises say
internet pricing doesn't count. Indeed sometimes their own websites have lower
prices.

~~~
nfriedly
I've had very mixed results.

* MicroCenter stores won't price match online stores, only nearby competitors.

* Sears stores will price match their own website (which is apparently a mostly separate business), but I don't think they will match any other websites.

* Windstream internet's website didn't work, and when I called in, they told me I'd get the deal on the website. When I got the bill, it was 40% higher. I had to jump through a bunch of hoops on the phone to eventually find out that the price they quoted me is only for places where they have competition. But they gave me the discount anyways since I asked.

------
raldi
Alternate suggestion: Have a textbox that says, "If you don't mind us asking,
where did you hear of us?"

Then the radio ad or whatever can say, "Enter DAN SAVAGE as your referrer to
receive a free gift!"

~~~
thisishugo
That would likely combat the problem of people quitting the checkout process
because they saw a coupon box and hunted for a code. However as a method of
tracking referrals I'd expect its usefulness to be close to zero, as it
ostensibly is still a coupon, and will appear on the websites that offer them
as such.

~~~
GhotiFish
actually. Do it right and it's even more useful.

People might voluntarily divulge who referred them to your store. Only with
the correct entry do you get a discount, as an added bonus to people who
answered.

So incorrect results arn't technically incorrect, they're just bonus data.

~~~
nathancahill
Check out [https://getambassador.com/](https://getambassador.com/)

------
ruswick
First, I'd like to point out that his suggestion is fucking absurd. Without
codes, there would be no way to discern between methods of customer
acquisition (eg. is this ad more effective than that ad), especially on non-
web content. Moreover, the efficacy of customer acquisition would decrease
tremendously (most people respond to ads because of the promise of a
discount). I don't understand how the OP believes that this is financially
tenable for most sites. Codes are a fundamental aspect of advertising strategy
for many companies.

Second, the notion that this is hostile to the user just bemuses me. I don't
understand why this has any detrimental effects on the customer. If they are
fine paying full price (as they were when they began checking out), they are
free to pay full price. If someone with expendable free time would rather dig
through these coupon sites, that is their prerogative. The existence of a
coupon code field merely gives the _option_ to seek out a discount. This is
similar to most other forms of commerce. If I have free time and want to save
money, I can dig through circulars and clip ads, or I can just go to the store
and pay full price. Is it offensive to the user that the self checkout also
has a slot for placing coupons? No one is forcing anyone to do anything. How
is it bad customer service when a user literally isn't forced to do anything
other than ignore the field if they so choose? Giving people the option to
save money if they are willing to exert some effort is an unequivocal positive
aspect of most sites.

This piece is just incoherent to me. I honestly don't understand why this is
bad in any way.

~~~
bpatrianakos
It's MOS. Manufactured Outrage Syndrome and its what people in tech do. They
see something they personally dislike, decide the world should work a
different way, and then write a blog post arguing for it.

The argument is that your conversions drop from people searching for coupon
codes. We'll all just have to test that see for ourselves, won't we. This
isn't the kind of thing where we've suddenly discovered a new counter-
intuitive best practice for shopping carts. It looks like a few finicky people
will be upset and call it bad customer service. I for one am willing to write
them off as wannabe usability experts and continue to make the majority of
users happy most of the time rather than cater to a small but noisy group. In
the end you can't please every customer. Ever. Next we'll see a post about why
not having a coupon code field is the worst customer service decision in the
world too.

~~~
mijustin
I wrote the post from an anecdotal POV, and just started digging into the
research now. ;)

Here's what I've found so far:

\- Oliver & Shor found that: "prompting for a code in the absence of having
one had negative effects on fairness, satisfaction, and completion when
compared to the control."
[http://www2.owen.vanderbilt.edu/mike.shor/research/promo/jpb...](http://www2.owen.vanderbilt.edu/mike.shor/research/promo/jpbm_reprint.pdf)

\- This study by Oliver & Swan (1989) found a big link between a consumer's
perception of pricing fairness, and their overall satisfaction with a
purchase.
[http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1251411?uid=3737720&ui...](http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1251411?uid=3737720&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102530121071)

\- Xia, Monroe, & Cox found: "For price comparisons, the other-customer
comparison has the greatest effect on perceived price unfairness because of
the salience of such a comparison"
[http://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/weitz/mar7786/Articles/price%...](http://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/weitz/mar7786/Articles/price%20fairness.pdf)

\- This study by Google found that in a real-world setting, "more than 40% of
shoppers have left a retail store without purchasing because they knew they
left a coupon at home". [http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/from-
clipping-t...](http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/from-clipping-to-
clicking.html)

------
joshuahedlund
Has anybody actually done any A/B testing on this sort of thing, or are we
just making competing assertions about how slapped in the face we personally
feel or not?

Edit: Thanks, some pretty good results out there.

~~~
jeremybencken
There's a professor at Vanderbilt who published this paper on the topic
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6205769](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6205769))
in the Journal of Product & Brand Management.

 _Providing a code and its attendant price reduction clearly had positive
effects on perceptions of fairness and satisfaction when compared to the
control group._

 _...prompting for a code in the absence of having one had negative effects on
fairness, satisfaction, and completion when compared to the control. As would
be expected from these findings, the three groups were ranked in the predicted
order (code > control > no code) for all dependent variables, including
intention to repatronize and recommend the online store._

 _Equity theory, then, becomes an alternative explanation for reactions to
code provision and non-provision... the Web buyer without a code experiences
the additional impact of the inequity perceived if others are imagined to have
a code, are selectively provided one, or are simply viewed as "special" in
some sense._

~~~
ScottWhigham
Cool - thanks for sharing. I'm interested in A/B testing done by "folks like
us", not a college professor who "guided users through a hypothetical web
store experience" like the paper talks about. Interesting though - I'm not
trying to be snarky or rude BTW - I like it, just not a "definitive source"
for this type of work IMO.

~~~
stdbrouw
So, just a little hint: instead of writing "I'm not trying to be snarky or
rude BTW" you could have just made your second sentence less snarky instead
:-)

~~~
ScottWhigham
I'm all for a suggested rewrite - if I could've thought of a better way to
write in under 60 seconds, I would have.

------
sp332
I dropped my car off for state inspection by my usual mechanic. Then I found a
coupon in the local paper for $10 off an inspection at that place. When I went
to pay, I showed the coupon but the mechanic told me, "oh I already did that.
You're a regular, we take care of you!" I don't think I've ever seen a website
that could do that.

~~~
burkemw3
Doesn't Amazon do the opposite? Charge less to newbies so they get hooked and
charging more to the regulars because they're hooked.

~~~
hbe_
Can anyone confirm they do this? Would hate to feel punished for loyalty.

~~~
ethanhunt_
No, it's a fabrication. Amazon used to a/b test prices (but don't anymore), so
people would see a lower/higher price when they deleted their cookies (thus
putting them into the opposite a/b class). There is no evidence that Amazon
has ever increased prices for older customers. See
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com_controversies#Differ...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com_controversies#Differential_pricing)
for more details.

------
brianbreslin
Did no-one learn anything from JCPenney debacle? People LOVE coupons. I've
never seen a coupon code field, where I didn't find a coupon and felt like I
was getting hoodwinked as this author seems to suggest.

Coupon codes are useful for promos and such. Not every customer pays the same
amount, thats how the world works.

~~~
liquidise
I think you are missing the perspective of the article. Coupons (and their
online codes) are a great tool for the recipients.

The article is from the perspective of a customer _without_ a coupon. In that
case, the presence of the coupon code field actually makes you _less_ likely
to buy or convert. This article isn;t blaming the methodology. It is saying
the status-quo presentation is poor and needs improvement.

~~~
ruswick
They can go online and search for coupons. It never takes me more than two or
three minutes to find a coupon through Retailmenot and another aggregator. If
no coupon exist or if they're all expired, then I'll pay full price. There is
no downside for me. I don't understand why this equivalent to a "slap in the
face." Frankly, this vastly improves my shopping experience through
occasionally saving me money, while never exposing me to any risk or
increasing the prices that I pay.

------
fjk
"You get pages of results: mostly garbage, some scams, and a few legitimate
coupon sites. Unfortunately, the codes listed on those sites are a year old:
you missed your chance."

It frustrates me when I see a coupon code box and cannot find any working
codes. Oftentimes the most recent codes for a retailer on RetaiMeNot haven't
been active in months or years. On the flip side, when I find a code that
saves me anything, even free shipping, I am ecstatic. I feel like I am
responsible, thrifty and savvy and I have a proclivity to purchase more items
from that retailer later on.

I think these emotions are worth evoking in customers and banning the coupon
code box destroys this ability. A referral link doesn't capture as much of the
emotional satisfaction as seeing your cart totals drop after typing in a
string of characters and clicking "Apply to Cart." Retailers could just hide
the coupon code box when there aren't any active coupons. When a coupon is
active, the box reappears.

~~~
ceol
I've done work for the kinds of retailers who have coupon code boxes, and most
of the time, the only reason it's on there is because the default WordPress
plugin/Joomla template/eCommerce solution has it there. No one ever thinks to
remove it, despite them never planning on using it.

The best way for coupon code boxes to stop appearing is for developers and
designers to bring it up with their client. A lot of the time, once the client
is actually confronted with it has to make a decision, they choose not to have
it.

------
jeremybencken
This may not be rational, but there's some research showing this is a
widespread phenomenon. Mostly, it has to do with a sense of fairness. Coupon
codes can make consumers feel like the merchant is being unfair, which leads
to dissatisfaction.

The solution: don't show the coupon code field _or_ make it extremely easy for
consumers to get coupon codes. I've noticed more and more stores put their
coupon codes right in the header while you're browsing. So it's impossible NOT
to get a coupon.

[http://www2.owen.vanderbilt.edu/mike.shor/research/promo/jpb...](http://www2.owen.vanderbilt.edu/mike.shor/research/promo/jpbm_reprint.pdf)
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6205769](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6205769))

~~~
hollerith
>more and more stores put their coupon codes right in the header while you're
browsing

By "in the header" you mean on the search-engine results page; don't you?

~~~
jeremybencken
actually, no, although that's an interesting place to do it. as a few others
have commented, merchants like Newegg and Gap use something like a HelloBar to
highlight their coupons in the header nav.

------
ig1
I've seen cases where having a coupon code actually increased conversions more
than just discounting the product for everyone. The people who searched for
the (easily found) coupon were far more likely to completely the purchase
process because they felt like they were getting a deal.

If you're using voucher codes you shouldn't just use one approach based upon
an article like this, rather you should be A/B testing different variants and
see what performs for your startup. Your customers aren't the same as everyone
else and you shouldn't expect them to behave the same.

~~~
dminor
> Your customers aren't the same as everyone else and you shouldn't expect
> them to behave the same.

Yes! In our case we found it had no effect on conversions and customer service
calls increased from people asking about where to enter the (expired) code
they found somewhere on the net.

Our solution was to keep the coupon code box and seed a $1 discount code on
one of the coupon sites.

We stumble across these wild A/B claims from time to time and in almost every
case we've seen no difference in conversions.

------
Fuzzwah
The real slap in the face is that the coupon code field is how the affiliate
marketing scam business works:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6204105](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6204105)

[http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/12/the-big-ugly-affiliate-
mar...](http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/12/the-big-ugly-affiliate-marketing-
scam/)

~~~
imissmyjuno
I have a feeling the linked blog post was written in response to those
articles. Not terribly original then..

------
martingordon
Some sites present the coupon field slightly differently as a Gift Card/Gift
Certificate/Coupon Code field which might help that "slapped in the face"
feeling.

I noticed this on Zappos and the first Google result for "zappos coupon" is
this: [http://www.zappos.com/truth-about-zappos-
coupons](http://www.zappos.com/truth-about-zappos-coupons)

------
tjansen
Simple solution: don't call it coupon, call it gift card.

~~~
auctiontheory
Genius!

------
ohwp
Happened to me: I had the code, but forgot to enter it. So afterward I
contacted customer service and they just said: sorry there is nothing we can
do for you.

Do you think I will be a returning customer? -no

------
leknarf
Outside of ad campaigns, there's another case where coupon codes are useful.
If you have a moderately expensive product and an actual sales team, you can
use the coupon field to let the sales team make one-off special deals for
individual customers. That's useful for unusually large orders (buy 10 get 1
free) or simply if you need to apologize for some sort of error (we're sorry
our site was down, here's $50 off your next order).

Coupon codes are an easily programmable solution to a wide variety of business
problems. They're particularly useful for problems that are difficult to
predict in advance.

~~~
cdjk
True. You can get the same thing with referrer URLs that apply a coupon code
behind the scenes, e.g. example.com/store/fifty_off. The logic is the same,
you're just hiding the troublesome coupon code field.

~~~
drone
Actually, that is more difficult - trying to explain an alternative workflow
to a customer over the phone is not nearly as easy as it sounds. "Enter this
coupon code in the field you see on your screen," is much easier than "Ok,
type in this new URL exactly, now, once you've done that, add this to your
shopping cart, now go to checkout..."

I've had to watch a lot of this sort of thing happen, and customers
"understand" coupon codes natively at this point - they require practically no
instruction. Getting the customer through the transaction as quickly as
possible is one of the prime desires for any e-commerce site that also takes
phone orders, and coupon codes have been, in my experience, most effective for
that.

Now, if you want to start a trend of re-training customers to expect
specialized URLs they use before entering checkout -- then I'll be more than
happy to switch over to that once customers expect it.

However, I feel there's a sort of paradox here: Providing discounts to new
customers helps create new transactions. The more steps required to complete
the transaction, the more like the customer is to abandon the transaction. If
a coupon code causes customers without one to be more likely to abandon then
it makes sense to require a separate step from the normal checkout workflow to
use it, thereby increasing the rate of abandoned transactions.

------
thehme
Sometimes when I'm buying online, it does bother me to find that "other"
people have a coupon for something I want and that if I REALLY want it, I will
need to pay full price. It specially bothers me when I'm a returning costumer
and didn't receive any e-mails letting me know of a sale or coupon. This
situation applies to other situation as well, for instance, think about the
couple (or single person) that signed a contract to rent a place, has been a
great tenant, and would like to renew the contract that is now ending soon.
However, instead of the landlord saying: "hey! you have been a great tenant,
so I will NOT raise your rent (or as much), so I can keep your business for
longer", he/she says (thinks): "I know you like it here, so I'm going to stick
it to you and raise the price of the rent, while new people who I don't even
know, will get a cheaper rate and possibly not be as good a tenant as you
are".

Sites should definitely keep track of loyal costumers and offer coupons in
this manner and allow one to enter then once logged in, but not trouble
visiting costumers with this. Letting people know they could have gotten
something for cheaper is usually a discouragement from click the "place order"
button. I know have definitely just x-ed out of my tab at that point in
several occasions.

------
RobGR
I think these coupon codes produce this reaction because they remind us how
non-transparent online commerce can be.

Walmart has a hard time at their brick and mortar store charging more for
diapers to the poor person who lives down the street and has no car to get to
competitors, and less to the better off person who arrived by car. But a huge
amount of "big data" work is spent differentially pricing online commerce --
the travel industry is most famous for it of course.

The general trend of technology tends to be that tools once only available to
the big institutions become democratized and more revolutionary as they are.
Similarly I think the "big data" and tracking and etc will swing around into a
more equitable balance.

That can be hard to believe, but try to imagine this -- you go to buy
something online, but you pay with bitcoin, and a browser plugin you have pops
up a screen when you are on the final checkout page -- this plugin uses the
bitcoin chains and non-anonymity to show you all recent transactions with that
bitcoin address. You can then get an instant sense of whether you are
overpaying or getting a deal.

Such a system could be gamed and evaded of course.

At one time I discussed making a reverse-Priceline system, where consumers
would use a browser plugin that shared what offers were being accepted and
rejected on Priceline style reverse auctions.

The sum total such efforts is a lot of infrastructure invested in replecating
what a simple open-outcry market would be, if the market were run by
disinterested, trusted authority.

------
rthomas6
Everybody here knows about retailmenot.com, right? For the majority of places,
you'll find a good repository of coupon codes without having to sift through
Google results.

~~~
mijustin
I think it's bad customer service to force someone to Google for a coupon
code; you're also running a risk (as a site owner) that the person will simply
abandon their cart.

See also this thread here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6204261](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6204261)

I like petercooper's idea of pre-populating the coupon field with a default
code.

~~~
mcintyre1994
I wonder if a competitor could grab the sale by purchasing ads against "<Your
Company> Coupons" claiming to be 20% cheaper or something.

~~~
johnward
They could. Accept they won't be buying them from Google since they have
ridiculous trademark rules. You can't bid on things like that now.

~~~
mcintyre1994
Ah fair enough, pretty pointless now then. Google have done a great job
forcing the legitimisation of a very gray market.

------
mhb
Previous discussion of someone else's rant about this:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2844369](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2844369)

------
enko
> It’s the optics that matter.

Oh really? Refraction and reflection of light, the study of same - that's what
matters is it?

Of course not. You mean _appearances_ matter. Name-dropping some physics-
sounding word does not make you sound smart, it makes you sound confused and
wrong. Optics means optics. It doesn't mean whatever you choose it to mean.

Deliberately misusing words doesn't make you sound cool, it makes you sound
like a "Sandwich Artist".

~~~
brandon272
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/optics](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/optics)

"2\. (used with a plural verb) the way a situation, action, event, etc., is
perceived by the public or by a particular group of people: _The optics on
this issue are pretty good for the Democrats. Administrators worry about the
bad optics of hiring new staff during a budget crisis._ "

~~~
enko
Yeah, brought to you by the same type of people responsible for
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literally](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literally)

 _Since the early 20th century, literally has been widely used as an
intensifier meaning “in effect, virtually,” a sense that contradicts the
earlier meaning “actually, without exaggeration”_

I know the language is being debased. Doesn't mean I like it.

------
ChrisNorstrom
Although I understand the anger stemming from coupon code forms, a lot of us
use them for very different reasons:

\- I run [http://DayOnePP.com](http://DayOnePP.com) and sell my inventions
there.

\- When something goes wrong for a customer you can give the customer a coupon
code "sorrykarenhurney" which will give them free shipping or 10% off. This is
a great way to win back customers who have had trouble. (You can rename the
"Coupon Code" field to be "Customer Service Code" if you use it exclusively
for this purpose)

\- When I advertise my Calendars or Pens on a design blog I tell the owner
that I'll give them an exclusive discount to their readers if they mention my
product on the front page. I name the coupon code after the website.

\- You can email coupon codes to newsletter members as a reward for signing up
for your newsletter.

Although the OP has a legitimate concern, he has never run an online store and
doesn't see the behind-the-scenes logic in selectively giving customers
discounts. It really is a necessity. Brick & Mortar stores use them even more,
but no one gets pissed off at them.

------
kellros
An alternative approach would be to create a 'claim coupon' form and point
your couponeers to that so that they may redeem the coupon. The trickier part
would be then to keep track of the coupons in a similar fashion to the 'Items
in Cart' (either via session based tracking or link it to their account).

This approach would also allow for implementing coupons in different ways (ex.
time-based, limited), reduce mental stress by being able to retry codes till
you found a valid coupon (some providers allow for coupon codes but no way to
verify it's valid) and not distract from the check-out process (it would
simply require showing which of the redeemed coupons are applicable to the
purchase).

A plus side of this approach is that a coupon is enough to persuade potential
buyers to create accounts to keep their coupon (while it's valid - for later
use) and thus also reducing friction in the check-out process which should
lead to more sales.

I do also now believe the existing 'coupon' implementation is at fault by
leaving too much on the table.

------
yanowitz
I've taken to using
[http://couponfollow.com/checkout](http://couponfollow.com/checkout) (the
chrome extension). It helpfully colors the coupon code box red if it has a
suggested coupon code. Eventually, I suppose, everyone will move to one-time
coupon codes. But that will probably take years, so in the meantime, I save
money.

------
Raphmedia
It's quite the opposite if you ask me. After you spent 15 minutes looking
online for that coupon AND you find one that gives you that little 10%...

Well, it makes you happy and probably makes it so that you really will proceed
with the purchase. "Hey, I spent a looonnng 5 minutes searching AND I got a
10% discount. Why wouldn't I proceed with the purchase?"

~~~
coldtea
Have you done this? Because the studies say the opposite.

For one, you might NOT find the coupon after those "15 minutes". What
percentage of users will find it?

Second, if you have to go searching online for 15 minutes, you might be
distracted enough to never return, or find something else to buy.

~~~
Raphmedia
Good points. I am a bit of a power user and you shouldn't ever market toward
power users. Unless you are something like Thinkgeek or HN.

------
drewying
I'm sure it's just me, but I've never felt bad or weird or bad or even cared
much about the possibility of paying 20 bucks for something vs 19 bucks with a
5% off coupon code. That one dollar savings doesn't seem worth the hassle of
spending 20 minutes on Google. I'd rather spend that 20 minutes billing 100
bucks/hour making a website for someone.

Reading these comments it seems there are a lot of people on Hacker News who
seem quite passionate about the idea of getting the best deal they can and not
"feeling like a sucker".

Which is fine, but it's definitely a feeling I don't experience. Maybe I'm
just weird.

With the topic at hand, having maintained an online shop for a client for
several years, I see that they use Coupon Codes as a customer service thing.
Didn't like your product? Here's a onetime use 15% off code so you don't hate
us. At least that's how they used it. So I always ignore those fields.

------
praptak
Coupons are a form of market segmentation, which generally aims to extract
surplus money from those customers who will pay more (for whatever reason -
don't care, don't know any better) while still extracting some money from
those who are price-sensitive.

This comes at a cost though, see this classic by Joel Spolsky:
[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckie...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.html)

The cost is the trust and goodwill of your customers. People _will_ feel
cheated if they find out and hopefully leave you for a competitor who doesn't
impose on them the additional mental cost of searching for coupons, finding
price engine links with lower prices(#) or whatever.

(#) Some shops actually do that - you get a better price from a price
comparison engine than if you search from shop's own site. Talk about treating
your trusted customers well.

------
adeaver
From having built a few of these, my solution was to add a string to the end
of the URL's in the promo material (ads, email, whatever) that, when clicked
on, would trigger the coupon code box on the site for that user only.

Otherwise you didn't see it.

The company I worked at that used this did a lot of targeted and 1-off
promotions so it seemed to work pretty well.

------
mmatants
Honestly, I never noticed myself feeling that way. Is this really losing that
many sales when it comes down to metrics?

To me, coupons are always seen as temporary _gifts_ from the company to butter
up my loyalty. So paying full price still feels fair.

But again, it's all about metrics. It would be great to see how different
audiences respond.

~~~
cdjk
It causes noticeable dropoff in stores. I don't remember the numbers, but we
did an A/B test and noticed a difference. We switched to referrer URLs for
discounts instead. I wanted to try an experiment of putting a bunch of low
value discount codes out there that would have been easy to find, and see how
that affects dropoff, but we never did that.

------
chcleaves
If you put forth a little bit of effort you can find any code on the Internet
- it sets you apart from the shoppers who don't care and won't take the time
to look for one (which is the majority of America) hence why retailers still
consistently leak codes out there.

------
pshon
Don't mess w/ coupons, just ask Ron Johnson.

[http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-10/lessons-
from...](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-10/lessons-from-j-dot-c-
dot-penney-dont-mess-with-coupons)

------
nwh
I've had this a lot actually, to the point of absolutely ridiculous coupons
that gave me 40%, even 75% off at one point. It's a pain in the ass to have to
Google around for a code that lets me pay the same as everybody else.

~~~
ronaldx
This illustrates a case where coupon codes are working as they are supposed to
- if it's too much of a pain in the ass for you to Google, the retailer will
be happy for you to pay the higher price.

Price Discrimination 101.

------
DanBlake
I am really late into this thread, but the way I got around this exact issue
is I just renamed the field from "coupon code" to "referral code". Users dont
mind skipping over it and it does the same thing.

------
croisillon
This is not always the case, a coupon is not always to get a fraction discount
but can be a way to redeem a voucher. Since it's a similar worklfow, websites
display it a similar way, leading to this misinterpretation.

~~~
ScottWhigham
Correct. I'm guessing English is not your first language and thus the previous
downvote(s). We use "voucher codes" this way - we don't have to educate the
customer at all; they get it, which leads to a happier customer experience and
less customer service headaches.

------
username42
Last time I encountered a coupon field, my wife told me that there was a
coupon code on the main landing page. Result: I have reread the main landing
page, entered the coupon and was happy to spare a couple of bucks.

------
illdave
Last year, I gave a talk to a group of online marketers, ecom specialists and
site owners. I asked them if they ever - when shopping on sites that weren't
their own - opened a new tab and searched Google for "[brand name] voucher
code" whenever they hit a checkout page and saw the promo box. Literally
everyone put their hand up.

I'm not sure why this thread has so many people saying that it's a complaint
that has no merit. Do _you_ open a new tab and search, or do you just ignore
it and carry on with the purchase?

------
chmike
In France one of the biggest high tech ware reseller use this coupon
promotiona codes. These coupon codes are ditributed through it's own
promotional mailing list.

Il you subscribe to their special offer mailing lists you get their coupon
codes. Of corse ou get a slap in your face when you see the coupn field box.
But this is also where you should say how to get coupon codes.

Propose a subscription to your special coupon offering mailing list where you
can also ommunicate about your product. This is opt in advertisement.

------
jakeludington
Macy's solves the problem of coupon codes in a way that's good for everyone.
They have a coupon code box. They also have a link to a page that shows you
all available Macy's coupon's. If one applies to your cart, you can use it. If
there isn't a coupon for your cart, you might find out something else is on
sale and buy that too. If you don't care about coupons, you can check out and
ignore the box.

The customer wins. Macy's wins.

------
ctdonath
How about moving the coupon code field up front? If I have a coupon code,
that's probably why I'm on the site now, I want to apply it, and I only want
to see what it applies to.

Let me enter the code right away. Show me what it applies to. Make it easy to
use it. _Don 't_ make me go thru all the contortions of buying something,
unsure of whether the code will apply or not - and pissing me off if it
doesn't after all that.

------
dchest
When launching new order pages a few years ago, I was bothered by the same
thing and asked my e-commerce company to add a checkbox, which you have to
click in order to show coupon field:

[https://blogjet.cleverbridge.com/9/?scope=checkout&product=1...](https://blogjet.cleverbridge.com/9/?scope=checkout&product=122736&cfg=cr)

It's not an ideal solution, but I believe this additional step helps a bit.

~~~
ScottWhigham
Interesting - I like it. When you say it "helps a bit", what makes you feel
that way? _If_ I'm going to change my cart, it needs to be something simple
like what you've done.

~~~
dchest
(I haven't A/B tested this, so I can only rely on intuition and feedback from
other people.) I think that the honesty plays a role here. If there's an empty
space that says "put a coupon there", people will be looking for a way to fill
it, even if they don't have a coupon -- because this box invites them to.
However, if there's a checkbox saying "click here if you have a coupon code"
(although my checkbox says something different), it means that by clicking it
people will lie, and not everyone wants to do it.

Now that I think of it, maybe even better strategy would be to buy a domain
"blabla-coupon-code.com" and put there a coupon code for your thing with a
small discount. People who like to search the web for coupons will be
satisfied ;)

------
oisino
Host Gator gets around this by putting a fake coupon in its signup flow to
make you think coupon has been applied
[https://www.evernote.com/shard/s151/sh/0189a90d-cf03-426e-88...](https://www.evernote.com/shard/s151/sh/0189a90d-cf03-426e-889d-f20070c1c3a0/6a52eb7f670e16951ddcf2e4a3ff077c)

------
keikun17
I never thought about it like this. I guess I'll try to do my best to get
offended the next time i run into one

------
ababab
I have no affiliation, but I'll plug this awesome Chrome add-on[1] for finding
discount codes at checkout. I'm not one to go actively hunting for discounts,
and this has saved me probably tens of dollars since installing.

[1] [http://joinhoney.com](http://joinhoney.com)

------
free652
Company logic: Because why make a discount for you if you're buying anyway.

Coupons codes are usually part of ad campaigns.

~~~
mijustin
Exactly. This is why more companies should follow Gumroad's lead: they let you
send out a link with the code, but don't display the coupon field in your
checkout form.

~~~
johnward
I think this is the best way to handle coupons. That way you aren't enticing
people to leave the check out process once they've committed to buying. You
also reward loyal customers with special links. I mean all you have to do is
make the coupon field hidden and pass a get var.

------
6cxs2hd6
Has anyone tried putting a generic coupon code on the checkout form, right
next to the input box?

Or even pre-filling the input box with the generic code?

Seems like that way, everyone can feel good, and some can feel even better.

p.s. Oh wait. I should probably file a B.S. patent for this idea. Unless
someone has already has.

------
throwit1979
Initial customer acquisition costs money. A lot of money. Once you have a
happy customer for repeat business, you reward and entice them with discounts,
usually via email newsletter.

As a first time customer, you are not being "cheated". You are just a lot more
expensive.

~~~
johnward
It doesn't matter if that's how it is. What matters is how consumers perceive
it. If they think they are being cheated then who are you to say they are not?
I don't care how much it costs for a retailer to nab me as a customer.

------
JSadowski
I'd be curious to test something like this:
[http://jsfiddle.net/CLJYC/](http://jsfiddle.net/CLJYC/)

"Do you have a gift card or promotional code?" Y/N, and then only show the
field _if_ yes is selected.

------
ck2
It's called retailmenot.com - spend all of 10 seconds to find a discount.

It might also offend you to know people in different countries pay more or
less for a product.

ie. Hosting in the USA is far more expensive than Europe for some mysterious
reason

------
olegp
What are the sites where one can find SaaS coupon codes and offers? AppSumo,
F6S, TNW Market - any others? We would like to aggregate them at
[https://starthq.com](https://starthq.com)

------
mathattack
It's not a slap in the face of the customer. It's the company shooting their
own foot. Whenever I see the coupon code box, I search for coupons. Sometimes
I fine one. If so, they've lost money.

~~~
rmrfrmrf
You don't understand business if you think companies are losing money when you
use a coupon.

~~~
lmm
If I pay them $5 less than I was about to pay them, in what world is that not
them losing $5?

------
fnordfnordfnord
It annoys me, and if the purchase is for something that I don't need
immediately, it always makes me try to find either a coupon code, a cheaper
price, or even a cheaper alternative.

------
shimon_e
Obviously there is a segment of the population that coupon codes are going to
help convert into customers and vice versa. Someone really smart would develop
some AI for this.

------
huffman
This is _completely_ off-topic, but you don't have a bold weight of the body
font you're using, so the browser is trying to fake it and it looks very
fuzzy.

------
JimmaDaRustla
Agree, but I love this too much:
[http://serverbear.com/coupons](http://serverbear.com/coupons)

------
EGreg
How about having a blue spot on the page where the promotion says to click, so
it doesn't say "COUPON CODE"

~~~
ruswick
Because that's really unintuitive.

------
amirhirsch
this is a fun way to apply a discount:
[http://www.yourinspirationweb.com/en/fun-with-javascript-
jqu...](http://www.yourinspirationweb.com/en/fun-with-javascript-jquery-and-
konami-code/)

------
piratebroadcast
Some of the most emo shit I've read in quite some time.

------
hownottowrite
_Why do web apps and retailers do this to their paying customers?_

Because it was a pain to manage millions of coupon codes on legacy catalog
fulfillment systems. In fact, it's still not particularly easy.

Way back in the day, mail order retailers would send out millions of catalogs
to current and prospective customers. To get these people to order, they would
include coupons as an incentive. The coupons generally involved a short code
indicating the mailing and a number indicating a segment. So, you'd get
something like SU95615, which would translate to Spring 1995 segment 615.
Segment 615 could be part of your own list or it might be part of a list you
were renting. When the orders came in the codes would be used to tie back the
promotional mailing spend to the revenue, thus allowing the retailer to score
a list or segment.

So why not use individual codes and then roll up? More sophisticated companies
did that. In fact, some would even have SKUs that had prefixes tied to the
mailing allowing for some very deep analysis. However, most did not and it was
primarily due to the fact that their systems were not designed to handle such
customization. In fact, some would basically choke on that much data.

When these companies moved online, they took the practice of using coupon
codes right along with them. As new companies without the legacy issues came
along, they adopted the old ways and the cycle continued.

This is why these companies do this to their customers. Is it right? Of course
not, but that's the way it is.

That said, there are better ways to handle this need to promote and track
marketing dollars. Lots and lots of ways.

Here are a few I've tried. Each one works pretty well:

1\. Using specific links in email promotions with codes already embedded: This
is probably the best way to go. Customer get the code applied. No need to show
the field at all. This is great for targeted promotions.

2\. Using business logic to apply a discount automatically: In this scenario,
there is no codebox either. The system figures out the right discount based on
the promotion. This is good if you're giving account-based promotions or doing
something site wide.

3\. Single-use, unique codes: This is a special code that can only be used
once (ideally by a specific person). This method has the added benefit of
being a marketing tool in and of itself (i.e. you can tell the customer they
are special because the code is made special just for them). Great for email
and print catalogs.

In each case, there was a measured conversion improvement. In some cases, it
was quite significant. However, I would strongly recommend testing. You're at
the bottom of the conversion funnel here; caution is advised.

You may discover, as JC Penney did, that your customer base has certain
expectations and that changing those learned behaviors is more difficult than
you might expect. You may find that removing the coupon field generates more
customer service requests (i.e. "Where do I put in my coupon?") You may also
discover that your marketing department has no clue about how to tie your
ingenious solution back into their demand generation. You may also discover
that your systems are not well-suited to carrying so much additional data.

It's complicated but from my experience I'd have to say it's worth the effort
to solve. Not only will your customers have a better experience, but you'll
have better data about those customers and the sources you're tapping to bring
new ones in the door.

Of course, be prepared for lots of complaints from the coupon stackers. Those
guys really don't like it when you remove the field.

