Tutorial: How to create Coupons and Codes Follow
The "Distribute Coupon Codes" application will allow you to configure a registration form so that participants leave their personal data and in return offer them a promotional code for a gift or discount to be exchanged at the store or point of sale.
The content of the tutorial is as follows:
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General description
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Set up of the promotion
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Activate the Validation Portal (optional)
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Customize the design and finish the settings
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Verify the codes redeemed on the Validation Portal
1. General description
The "Distribute coupon and codes" application allows you to distribute unique alphanumeric codes to users, which you will have previously uploaded in the tool. To obtain the promotional code or coupon, the user must complete a registration form that you can fully customize. In this way, in addition to having an organized coupon distribution system, you will be able to obtain the contact details of the users who register.
The application provides all the tools so that the distribution of the code or coupon among the participants is complete:
- Instructions of use and coupon download options to ensure an optimal user experience.
- Automatically send the promotional code or coupon by email.
- Export registered user data to an Excel/CSV file.
- Possibility to show the code in barcode or QR format in order to speed up and automate the coupon redemption.
- Possibility of using the Validation Portal to automatically verify the codes or QR at the point of sale.
2. Set up of the promotion
Here we explain all the steps to create your promotion.
Step 1. Create the promotion
1. Access the Easypromos Control Panel and log in with your email address and password to manage and create your promotions.
2. Create a new promotion with the green button.
3. You'll see a list of the products available. Choose ‘Distribute Coupon Codes’ to create a promotion with a registration form for personal data, and a final page where the coupon or code is awarded.
4. As a next step, set up the following options:
- Organizing brand. As a first step, you should select or create an organizing brand for your promotion. This organizing brand is independent of any social network and works as a folder within your Easypromos account, in order to help organize the promotions that you create.
- Template version. Select which template you want to use to create your promotion: Premium or White Label.
Note: You can distribute a unique code to each participant. You can choose to assign a code to all users that register, or to a specific segment of participants. You can also use the Validation Portal to verify codes in real time, and the email platform to send participants their codes. Learn more about the different platform versions here.
5. After clicking on "Continue" button, you'll get access to the promotion management page, where you'll find all the options to configure the promotion. Below, we outline the most relevant sections:
- Header. The header displays the title of the promotion, the platform (Premium or White Label), and other relevant information such as the promotion ID number. You'll also see the Promotion status: Draft, Active or Expired, as well as if the promotion is about to start. Once the promotion has ended, this field will be marked in red saying: Status: Expired. You can choose what to show on an expired promotion page.
- Link to the promotion. Use this URL whenever you share the promotion. Learn more about sharing here. You'll also see the Copy link button: this helps you to copy and share the link instantly.
- Activate Promotion. When you have the promotion prepared and ready to launch, click this button to activate it. You'll be taken to the activation page, where you can review billing information and make payments.
- Test mode. This tool will allow you to carry out a real test of the promotion before activating it, in order to participate in it as users will when it is activated and thus be able to check that the promotion works as expected before launching it. More information.
- Side menu. All your promotion settings, in one place.
- View tutorial. This tutorial guides you step by step through the creation and management of your promotion.
- Dates and timezone of the promotion.
Languages indicates the default language of the promotion. You can change it if you wish.
Localization allows you to limit participation to one or several countries. (This option is included by default). More information here. - Next steps: Practical recommendations that will guide you in the creation and management of your campaign.
Top tip: The promotion ID number (#) is a unique identifier for each promotion. Quote this number if you need to contact the Easypromos support team with any issues. This will make it easier for us to review your settings and fix the problem.
Step 2. Create the prize
The next step is to create the coupon that you will be giving away. Decide how you're going to assign coupons, and design how they will be displayed to users.
In Coupon Codes promotions, the assignment of the prize is usually set to “On participating”. This means that prizes are instantly awarded when users register for the promotion.
We’ll divide the creation of your prize into two steps, explained in more detail below:
Step 1: Creating the prize
1. Access the Editor of the promotion:
2. Next, go to General > Prizes and click the button “Create my first prize”:
3. Next you will see a window with the different types of prizes that you can create. Select “On Participating”:
4. Then a new window will open, where you can edit the basic details of the prize:
In this example, the prize is a 50% discount on a trip to Andorra. The details are outlined in the field “Short description”. The prize will be assigned on registration, and there are a total of 25 units of this prize (so there will be up to 25 winners).
5. When you click “Create”, the prize will be created and you will be directed to a page with a list of all the prizes. Continue to step 2.
Step 2: Editing the features of the prize
Once you have created a prize, it will be displayed on the prizes page within the Editor. Click on the pencil icon to edit more details of the prize:
Then you’ll find the following tabs:
A. “Message to winner” tab. For promotions with automatic prizes on participating, the prize is displayed directly on the "Thank you" page, which appears when the user has completed the registration process. By default, the prize will be shown in a pop-up over the "Thank you" page.
This tab sets out the options for personalizing the design of the pop-up. You can set up the following options:
1. Message to winner: you can write a message to the user. This will be displayed in the pop-up window.
2. Image to winner: you can add an image to make the pop-up more attractive. You could also use an animated GIF, or even a video.
3. Short description: this is the description which you wrote when you first created the prize. You can edit it at this point, if you wish.
4. Instructions: if you need to add more details about the prize - for example, how to redeem the promotional code, or an expiry date - use this field.
5. Text to encourage winner to share: you can edit the text which accompanies the social Share buttons.
6. Open pop-up automatically when accessing the Thank you page: when a user wins a prize upon registration, this pop-up can be automatically displayed over the Thank you page. You can disable the pop-up so it doesn’t open automatically.
In the “Layout” section, you’ll find options for customizing the layout of the pop-up:
1. Background image: Upload a background image that will be shown underneath the winner's pop-up. We recommend dimensions of 1200px by 630px, and an image that makes the pop-up stand out!
2. Background color: you can define a background color to be shown underneath the pop-up. Use the sliding scale to make it more or less opaque.
3. Text alignment: configure the layout of different elements of the pop-up.
Finally, in the “Viral content” section, you can define the viral message. This is the content that will be shown when winners share their prizes on social media. You can customize the messages that will be shared on Facebook, Twitter and instant message applications.
Note: You can add “Download” and “Send” buttons to the winner's pop-up.These enable the user to download the coupon or code in PDF format, or receive it by email. See the next step for how to enable the option “downloadable content”.
B. “Options” tab: In this tab, you'll see options to define the characteristics of the prize:
1. Name of prize: This field will be used as internal reference for the prize when you're managing the promotion. It will also appear as the title on the winners page.
2. Short description: This will appear as the description of the prize on the winners page. You can outline the main characteristics of the prize here.
3. Units: Indicate how many units of this prize you are offering. You must indicate the number of coupons or codes you want to distribute among participants. If you want to give every participant a coupon, you can set the units to "unlimited".
4. Do you want this prize to be a promotional code?: This option allows you to convert the prize into a promotional code. Users will receive the code automatically by participating in the promotion.
The possibility of converting the prize into a promotional code serves two purposes:
a) To be able to assign each participant an alphanumeric code that you have generated through your own code generation system. This code can be the same for everyone or different and unique for each participant. You can enable the "Validation Portal" if you want a tool to validate the codes in your points of sale.
Example: You have an online store and you have your own system of discount codes. In this way, when registering in the promotion, each participant will be assigned a different discount code that can be used and redeemed at the time of making your purchase in your online store to apply the discount.
b) Validate prizes at the point of sale. Do you need to be able to validate the prizes physically in a shop or store with guarantees? With this option, the system will automatically encode each prize in alphanumeric code format and also in QR format, so that you can use the "Validation Portal" to validate prizes in a safe, reliable, agile way and without fraud at the point of sale.
Example: You want to distribute a coupon to all users who register online in your promotion. Users can redeem this coupon for a free entry in your store, presenting the printed coupon. With the "Validation Portal" you can scan the QR with a scanner or insert the prize code, and the system will show you the information of the prize and the participant, and the system will automatically validate the prize.
Below we detail how you can configure the field "Do you want this prize to be a promotional code?" Depending on your specific purpose:
- Yes, use same code for everyone (Example: SpringDiscount20). In this case, you must enter the code in the field that will appear below:
- Yes, I will upload a list of custom codes. Do you have your own list of codes and you want to distribute them among the participants? This option will allow you to upload your own code list by creating a "codeset" to assign a different and unique code to each participant. Click on create a set of codes to upload the list of codes you want to distribute. In the next step, we explain how to create and upload a set of unique alphanumeric codes. You can enable the Validation Portal if you want a tool to validate the codes at your points of sale. Check here to see all the steps to set up the Validation Portal.
- Yes, generate automatic uniques codes with QR. If you do not have a system to generate codes externally, this option will allow the system to code each prize in alphanumeric code format and QR code. This option will allow you to use the "Validation Portal" to validate the prizes at the point of sale in a safe and agile way. When selecting this option, the system will ask you to enable the Validation Portal. Check here to see all the steps to set up the Validation Portal.
5. Does this prize have downloadable content?: Enable this option so that users can download the coupon as a PDF, or receive it as an email. You can upload your own PDF, link to an external source where the file is saved, or use Easypromos to generate a PDF automatically.
Premium users can completely customize the PDF, including unique alphanumeric codes, QR code validation, and customizable layout, texts, images, rectangles and lines.
In the "Statistics" section, you can check how many times each prize PDF has been downloaded. The system automatically records each time a user downloads the prize. More information about prize download statistics.
Note: Prize download statistics are available for Premium and White Label promotions only.
In the following video, we explain how to use the coupon editor to create downloadable coupons:
C. “Conditions” tab (prizes "On Participating" only)
By default, the prize is automatically assigned to all users who register in the promotion. But the Conditions setting allows you to assign prizes based on specific criteria. For example, you could give the prize only to users who choose a specific option in a drop-down list in the entry form. Here are some examples of conditions that you can apply:
- Create a range of prizes, each related to a different option in a drop-down list in the entry form.
- Make the prize dependent on answering quiz questions correctly.
Step 3. Upload and configure the codes
If you want to distribute your own unique alphanumeric codes, you'll need to upload them as a codeset, and link it to the prize. This feature is available for Premium and White Label promotions only.
Follow this simple 3-step process to set up your unique codes:
- Step 1: Create a codeset
- Step 2: Set up code distribution options
- Step 3: Link the codeset to the prize
Step 1: Create a codeset
First of all, you’ll need to create a codeset which includes all the codes that you want to distribute. If you want to create a very large codeset, you must add codes in batches of 20,000 (with a maximum limit of 2 million).
In order to create the codeset, follow the steps below:
1. Access the section Tools > Codeset. Next, click the button “New codeset” to begin loading the codes:
2. In the “Codeset options” screen, you’ll be able to create your codeset and upload all the codes that you want to distribute. Add the codes by copying and pasting them directly into the corresponding field, one code per line.
Keep in mind:
- The codes will be assigned in the same order they have been inserted into this field.
- You can load codes in batches of up to 20,000 (with a maximum limit of 2 million codes).
- You can add more codes at any time by accessing the Codeset options screen.
Step 2: Set up code distribution options
Once you have created the codeset, the next step is to configure the distribution of codes. In the “Codeset” section, click on the pencil icon to edit the codeset:
Here you will find the following options:
1. If the codes finish: Decide what you want the system to do once all the codes have been distributed:
- Do not assign any other code: New users will not be assigned any code.
- Repeat the codes: The same codes will be distributed, starting again from the beginning of the codeset.
2. Type of barcode: The application automatically presents the code in the same format in which it was pre-loaded. However, you can choose to display codes in other formats too. The formats currently supported are:
- QR Codes
- EAN-13 Barcodes
- CODE 128 Barcodes
- CODE 39 Barcodes
3. Do codes expire? This option allows you to set an expiration date for the codes you will give in the promotion. This date will be taken into account in the validation through the Validation Portal.
Step 3: Link the codeset to the prize
Once you have configured the codeset, the next step is to link it to the prize.
Go to Pages > Prizes. Then click on the “Options” tab within the prize you want to link to the codeset. Select the codeset that you've just created. The system will now be able to distribute the prize codes among participants:
Important! If you don’t select a codeset, the system will not distribute any codes among users.
Step 4. Participant registration system
In order to participate in the promotion, users must register by filling in the registration form with the requested data.
To do this, go to the Editor > Pages > Registration Form, to customize the fields that you want to ask users to be able to participate:
Check the tutorial where we explain how to configure the promotion registration form.
In addition, you can enable the Login system, which has the following features:
- It allows to require the users to register first before participating in the promotion. It's possible to identify with a Facebook profile, a Google account or an email address. If it's the first time the user registers, they will have to complete the registration form and accept the terms & conditions and privacy policy of the promotion.
- It gives the option of enabling multi-participation, by deciding the number of participations you want to grant to each user, in the entire promotion, per day, or per hour.
Check in this tutorial how to enable Login and how to configure multi-participation.
When is it recommended to enable the Login system?
- When we want to enable multi-participation to give a new coupon every day. Example: Check-in every day and get a new coupon every day.
- When we want to limit the promotion to users who have validated the email.
- When we want to limit participation in the promotion to users that are registered in the client's systems. Example: Limit the campaign to users registered in your website or users of your mobile app. This option requires using the Autologin system.
Note: In order to be able to activate the Login system, it’s necessary to have an account with an active Premium or White Label plan.
3. Activate the Validation Portal (optional)
The Validation Portal enables quick and easy code verification when participants use their coupons.
A link to the Validation Portal is provided to the administrator when you set up your promotion. It can then be used by sales outlets, to check that promotional codes provided by customers are valid.
Learn how to enable and customize the Validation Portal for your promotion.
4. Customize the design and finish the settings
Once you have configured the promotion, the next step is to finish the configuration of the other options of the promotion, such as customizing the design template with your own colors and texts, introducing the legal bases, the viral content settings, etc. Check the tutorial to finish the configuration and customization of your promotion.
5. Verify the codes redeemed on the Validation Portal
If you have used the Validation Portal to verify the promotional codes in the point of sale, from the "Users" section of the promotion you can check at any time the codes that are being redeemed on the store, as well as download the list of users who have already redeemed their code. In this tutorial we explain in detail how you can obtain this information.
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