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Show moreUnderstanding Discount Codes and Their Usage
Business transactions undertaken on e-commerce platforms have many benefits to both the buyer and the seller. One of the realistic benefits that both the buyer and seller can enjoy is the use of discount codes. Discount codes are effective promotional tools that can help a company increase the number of customers seeking its products or services. For the customer, benefits of discount codes come in different forms. The customer can be given cash discounts, get a reduction in shipping costs or even get freebies when they make specific orders attracting such offers. Sometimes a customer can enjoy these offers without their knowledge since they are often made public. Coupons and voucher codes vary depending on their usage. It is important for a customer to know the various types of voucher codes so that they can use them to raise their purchasing power. So, how do voucher codes vary?
Types of Promotional Codes
Online stores issue coupons based on the product or service being promoted. By using vouchers, a customer can save money practically. However, for a customer to enjoy full benefits of vouchers, he or she must understand the different types of coupons. The most attractive and common coupons to any customer are as discussed below.
Percentage Voucher Codes:
These are coupons that offer the customer reduction in prices of goods and services. The reduced price is usually calculated as a percentage of the original price of the product or service. To make it easy for a customer to know how much money they saved by purchasing the coupon, some companies usually show the actual price reduction on the product. This way, the customer does not have to carry out calculations based on percentages to know the exact savings. Generally, a customer who purchases more products ends up making more savings. In the process, the company benefits by selling more products and services as well as retaining its happy customers.
Free Shipping Vouchers:
A customer who buys items online is subjected to shipping costs. The costs depend on the distance to be covered for the products to be delivered to the customer. However, a free shipping coupon can help the customer to avoid or minimize such costs. Many companies usually put a threshold of the minimum amount of commodities that you have to purchase for you to be offered free shipment. If a customer purchases goods whose cost is above this threshold, then there is no need to seek a free shipping coupon. This is because free shipment will be part of the sale agreement for such a purchase order. However, if the customer’s purchases fall below the set threshold, then they will save money by using the free shipping coupon. In both ways, both the company and the customer enjoy benefits for using this voucher. The customer saves money while the company retains customers while attracting many more.
Fixed-Discount Promo Codes:
This is arguably the most common type of coupon the world over. It differs from percentage coupons in that the cash discount granted is set to a fixed amount. Just like percentage coupons, most companies usually set a threshold for the purchases you have to make to enjoy fixed discount promo codes. However, many companies offer this type of promo codes even for smaller purchases. Therefore, the promo code saves the customer more money when used for smaller purchases. This is different from percentage coupons where the more the purchases, the more the savings for the customer. From this observation, it is important to evaluate each of these coupons in relation to the amount of purchases the customer wishes to make. This information will guide the customer on the right voucher to go for so as to maximize on savings.
Freebies Vouchers:
Freebie vouchers enable a customer to get free gifts after purchasing certain products or services. In some cases, the gifts are referred to as free samples. Since most companies usually place freebie free samples on each product, it is possible for a customer to get multiple gifts after buying many different goods or services. Since the goods are essentially products that the customer requires, they end up being savings for the customer. This is because the customer will use this gift at home just like any other product they bought, instead of buying it. To make acquisition of free gifts from freebie vouchers easy, companies usually enable the customer to enter the voucher code while paying for purchases. If each product being paid for has a freebie voucher, then the customer will be given respective gifts for each good bought. This means that with freebie vouchers, a customer can get very many gifts if they purchase many products. This translates to more savings for the customer. To understand exact benefits of a particular freebie voucher, it is important to read rules set by the company on the same. This way, you can know which products or services to purchase in bulk to maximize on free gifts hence saving more money.
Presale Coupon Codes:
During the launch of new products in the market, some companies usually avail presale vouchers. This is more so for companies that sell electronic devices and other technology-related appliances. Basically, the manufacturer of the product offers limited presale vouchers, which are availed through their own marketing channels. Presale coupons actually alter the final price of the product as opposed to being direct discounts. This is how the differ from percentage and fixed coupons. A customer who is lucky to get a presale voucher during the launch of the product will end up buying the product at a price that is lower than the set market price. This translates to saving money on the purchase. Since presale vouchers have huge financial benefits, companies that offer them usually set some limits. For instance, some companies can limit the number of presale vouchers to be offered during the launch of the product. In other instances, the company can decide to offer this voucher code for only a few hours. In most cases, the presale voucher enables the customer to save more for every purchase made using the coupon.
Discount Code with Coupon Refund:
This voucher code offers the customer a discount that varies depending on the amount of goods and services purchased and their corresponding worth. It is generally a new concept in marketing that has largely only been adopted by big stores that are online-based. There are however deadlines for using discount codes with coupon refund. Most online stores require that the customer uses his or her coupon the next time they make purchases after acquiring the voucher. Therefore, they always have an expiry date, after which they are absolutely not usable. To use this coupon, the customer must enter a special alphanumerical code found on the coupon, as he or she pays for products. Sometimes, the company can decide to convert the coupon into credit, to be put into the customer’s account. This credit can then be used by the customer to make payments for products during their next purchase. Generally, both the customer and the company or store benefit by using discount code with coupon refund. The customer makes savings on purchases while the company retains its happy customers.
Categories of promotion codes
Just as discount codes, promo codes can be classified into different categories that are different in several ways. For instance, there are codes that are usually made public so that everyone can have access to them. On the other hand, some promo codes are private and reserved for a specific group of persons. There are also promo codes that have a time span, during which one must acquire them, after which they expire. If a customer gains knowledge about these different classifications of promo codes and their respective applications, they will be able to make the right choices about the coupon to acquire. So, what are the different categories of promo codes?
Public Coupons
Public coupons are arguably the most commonly used promo codes by most businesses and companies. As the name suggests, they are usually displayed publicly for any interested party to see. Most companies will publish public coupons on their respective websites. Within the website, they are mainly found on the homepage, in order to be easily visible. Other companies may use banners to display their public coupons. However, most companies usually put a time limit to their public coupons. This type of coupon is very convenient, not only for the fact that they are publicly displayed, but also they mostly last very long. A good example is the public coupons used by most companies for Winter or Summer sales.
Reserved Discount Codes
There are many types of reserved discount codes. For this reason, they can be termed as macro strategy of marketing. One of the most common categories of reserved discount codes are coupon codes for any new customer. Most online stores offer this incentive to attract potential customers. Additionally, the stores also reserve some coupons exclusively for loyal customers who have been purchasing items from the store for a long time. In most cases, such coupons for long-term customers are attached to subscriptions. Another way in which companies offer reserved discount codes is sending the promo code to a small group of customers. For instance, there are select discount codes given to the first customer or customers to purchase a specific item on offer. Another example is the reservation of special discounts by some stores exclusively for their business partners.
Private Vouchers
As the name suggests, private vouchers are promo codes offered to one specific customer. One way in which companies and online stores offer them is when a customer completes a very important purchase in terms of bulk. Another way they are offered is as a refund when there are promotions packaged to give customers refund after completing important sales. To attract a new customer or retain a loyal one, some companies may publish coupons for their specific special events. For instance, a customer can be offered an enticing discount code for his or her birthday or a private voucher can be extended to customers who visit a website often to entice them to buy the items they were interested in. Generally, private vouchers are targeted at loyal customers. They give the customer more savings than public coupons.
Limited-time Voucher Codes
These types of vouchers are made available to a customer on very special occasions. Examples of such occasions are Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas Day and New Year. For this reason, they are valid for a short time though they can save the customer as much as 70% of cost of goods bought. This makes them more beneficial to a customer than all other voucher codes. Since their validity can be very short, most stores usually publish them accompanied by a timer. This way, a customer can always know how many hours or minutes they have to take advantage of the voucher code. An advantage of limited-time voucher codes is that they are available to everybody, whether a loyal customer or a new one. A customer can ensure they do not miss such offers by subscribing to the newsletter of their favorite stores. This way, they will always know when such limited-time voucher codes are on offer.
Limited Quantity Voucher Codes
As the name suggests, limited quantity voucher codes are usually in small amounts and are offered by companies during the launch of new products. Manufacturers make the vouchers available through their marketing channels to raise awareness about the newly launched product. They basically determine how much the item will finally be sold, which is how the differ from most other voucher codes. The other codes determine money saved as direct discounts while limited quantity vouchers determine how much you will pay for the product. Generally, limited quantity voucher codes guarantee the customer huge savings. This explains why they are offered by companies in limited quantities.
Cashback Discount Codes
These types of coupons are very common among online stores, especially those selling electronic devices. The stores mainly use them during warehouse sale or when launching new products. Since there is usually a small number of items for these coupons, they are often reserved for first users on a first-come first-served basis. As much as discount codes with coupon refund are very rare, they are very beneficial to the customer. This is because customers can save a lot of money if they are first to be picked for such coupon refunds.
How Promo Codes Are Used
As much as promo codes are different, their application is somehow similar. So, how are promo codes used? First of all, most discount codes usually have alphanumeric sequences assigned to them. For a customer to use the discount code, he or she must enter the sequence in the corresponding field in the cart, found on first sales page of online stores. In case the store does not allow the customer to copy the alphanumeric digits in the cart, it can still be used in a different way. You can enter the alphanumeric digits in the second page and still have your promo code validated for you to enjoy the discount offer. Before using any coupon, it is prudent to read instructions related to the usage of the coupon. This particularly applies to validity of the coupon, since most coupons have time limits and are only usable once. So, use them wisely to maximize on savings when you make any purchase order. In addition, a customer cannot restore most types of coupons after returning goods bought. Luckily though, most goods usually have a warranty. It is therefore possible for the customer to invoke warranty so as to have the item replaced, in case it was faulty or not the one ordered. This way, the customer does not lose money on the item bought. In addition, having invoked the warranty of the product, the customer can also proceed to request for reinstallation of the discount coupon. Many stores do not have this provision, but there are those that have it. All in all, if used correctly, promo codes have satisfactory benefits to both the company and the customer. The customer saves money on purchases while the company attracts customers hence widening its customer-base.