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Comment by iopq | Hacker News Reader

You have a discount code at your checkout? So basically instead of capturing the sale you're ASKING the buyer to google for discount codes.

Think of a sneakier way to give people discount codes that doesn't show it RIGHT THERE ON THE FORM. It makes me feel like I'm getting ripped off when I see discount code and I don't have one.

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I always thought this about discount code boxes so when I finally had a store checkout of my own to play with I added something like "Got no code? Enter code YAY for a small discount :-)" and it gave 4% off (almost nothing at my margins). Surprisingly, under half of users even bothered to used it :-)

That's a clever customer focused solution.

Great margins … what was your business?

Advertising, job ads, training, screencasts, etc. That is, something which often has a marginal profit margin of 99%+ so 4% off is an easy experiment (unlike for many physical products).

Exactly. The customers are clearly feeling cheated when they don't have a coupon code. Enough to leave the site and start googling around in the hope of not being a sucker. As it is now, even when customers do come back and place a sale, they will never know if they paid a premium because they couldn't find that coupon. Not a good way to treat a customer, I think.

Honest question: when you go to a grocery or department store and they ask if you have any coupons or a rewards card, do you feel like you're getting ripped off? I may feel like I've missed out, but never "ripped off." When I've reached the checkout page it implies this was the best deal I could find.

I do appreciate discounts, but don't feel entitled to them, especially if I'm a first time customer (or opted out of marketing emails). But maybe I'm an outlier and a sense of entitlement is the norm these days.

Yes I do. In that case it's a little harder to turn back but I can't help but feel a little like a chump.

I feel like a bit of a naughty schoolboy when I go off and find vouchers, it just feels a little bit wrong (but I still do it)

The equivalent is when you go to a new store (or one you go to infrequently) and they ask you for a rewards card to get the discounted price. One or two times, I've signed up for one. More than half a dozen times, the cashier is nice enough to use their card for you. At one store, I got grief from the cashier saying you have to sign up for the card at the customer service desk, and that he/she couldn't use theirs. Guess which store I make it a point never to go to?

I understand these discounts are designed to promote frequent patronage in some cases. But it can definitely piss customers off.

FWIW I do my best to completely avoid stores that have loyalty cards. I consider it unfair to expect people to give up their privacy for normal pricing - the rich people get to keep their privacy and the poor people don't have a choice.

And yes I deliberately said normal pricing, the only study that has been done of before and after pricing once loyalty cards were introduced showed that prices are just inflated such that the loyalty card brings them back into line. Best to just shop somewhere without loyalty cards at all.

I've never had anyone directly ask me at the till, but if they did then yes psychologically I probably would feel that I was being ripped off. I realise that vouchers are available for a lot of shops these days, but if you push the fact into someone's face then it's basically reminding them that they could have had it cheaper.

I have exactly the same thing with the £1.50 for one/£2.00 for two type offers. If I don't want two of them, the very fact that they are highlighting that they are happy to sell them at £1 each makes the £1.50 price look like a rip off, especially if they've put the single unit price in smaller text (it says to me "yes, we'll sell you just one if you really, really want - but we're charging you a massive premium for doing it). I sometimes find myself not buying the item at all as a result.

I always get a rewards card the first time I'm there as long as I get a discount for even using it once. 90%+ of the things I buy at stores I usually have discounts on.

His response to this doesnt surprise me at all, completely misses the point of the problem but still manages to blame someone else for it.

What we do as an e-commerce provider is use the label 'Gift Voucher'. This reduces the drop off considerably as customers assume that this is something that would have been sent to them already.

Our clients just have to mention in their marketing material to their customers 'gift voucher code' rather than 'coupon code'.

Anytime I see a coupon box the first thing I do is google "X coupon codes". This is a case of someone not understanding their own checkout process.

But he does understand the process, he just doesnt understand how it's his fault, not the fault of the 'shysters'

When you have paper promos and rewards cards floating around it complicates the usability of the alternatives a bit. You end up with asking people to go to custom URLs etc which results in user confusion

Discount codes shouldn't be highly usable.

edit: downvoted, sigh. ok. I'll elaborate. When you give me a discount code field on your checkout page, I automatically open up a new tab and Google around for "your site name discount code". If I can find one that works, you're just losing money for absolutely no good reason. I would've happily checked out without ever thinking of saving 5% on my $50 purchase. (c'mon, $2.50? That's not even a latte!) But, now, I'm obsessed, and I go back into 'bargain hunter' mode. If you're really unlucky, I'll find another site that undercuts you without a discount field, and just use them.

Save yourself the trouble. Apply a coupon via a cookie from a special landing page. I'll feel excited and grateful if one is applied for me at checkout and I won't even think of shopping around any more if I don't have one.

I take it you've never taken a customer service call with an irate customer who couldn't figure out how to use their discount code correctly. If anything, they need to be the most usable part of the checkout experience, believe me

So don't have a field. Problem solved.

What entitlement does the customer have to the discount - surely as long as it's possible to redeem it simply no one customer has a privilege to acquire it?

You can take that view, often though that will mean the customer will just find a competitor that will work with them.

Customers will call after the sale asking to proactively apply discount codes.

Affiliates will call after the sale asking to proactively apply discount codes (so they get credit).

Customers will complain if a discount code has expired.

Customers will cancel, return and re-buy just to apply discount codes.

Discount codes suck.

(I think you mean retroactively not proactively)

haha yep!

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