Discount Codes in Disguise

[FreeMan]

I noticed an interesting workflow when I was buying some tickets using a coupon code yesterday.

I found a coupon to a basketball game on the back of a shopping receipt (http://www.shopadocket.com.au/kings). So I went to the ticketing site and went through the checkout process but couldn't find an area to enter the coupon code to get the discounted tickets.

So I went back to the online coupon and saw the important wording (underlined):


The first time you get to the ticket page, this is what you see.


Initially, I ignored the Password field above the Get Tickets button as I didn't think it applied to me.

But as per the coupon instructions, when you enter the coupon code in the Password field, it actually hides it like a password.


Then when you click Get Tickets, you will see the discounted tickets. On my first attempt to buy the tickets, that ticket type option wasn't available.


This hidden/obscured coupon code could be useful when you want to give people discounts but don't want to people to Google discount codes when they're on your checkout page as you can have cart abandonment issues as well as giving people discounts when they would've been happy paying full price.

I'm not sure if many of the eCommerce platforms allow you to apply codes before adding items to the cart, but I think this is a pretty clever way of approaching coupon codes.

 

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[Phones]

Clever, but if people are registered to your website it could cause more harm than good.

I use "gift card" instead of coupon/discount code and I only display a small phrase "Have a gift card? Click here" , and the input box only shows if the user clicks

 

[FreeMan]

Clever, but if people are registered to your website it could cause more harm than good.

The coupon code (password) you enter doesn't log you in. You login after you get to the checkout page.

 

[Phones]

The coupon code (password) you enter doesn't log you in. You login after you get to the checkout page.

I knew that, but a regular customer might not.

My point was, it is clever, but it might cause confusion with an actual password, so I would advise thinking about it and using other expression.

If you had an account on that website, you were most likely going to enter your account password there.

If you didn't had an account, but were not sure, you might stop to think about it, and in the process go check something else because you lost the buying momentum.

Any extra-step the user has to take impacts the conversion rate.

 

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[Digamma]

When I read the title I thought you were talking of picking up people to use their employer discounts. I heard someone speak of a woman as a "discount in disguise" once.

Just to add something to the thread, I think it sounds very confusing.
I know I decided not to buy in the past when I didn't find a way to use my coupons easily. It just turns customers off.