How to Set up Coupon Codes

Stripe provides you with the option to create coupon codes for your members to use, which is great if you are running a promotion! Here's how to set these up.

 

At Disciple we know that monetising through subscriptions is a great way to earn money from your Community. We have seen lots of our hosts using this business model, but sometimes converting new or returning members to subscribers can be difficult. 

Coupon codes are a great way to encourage members to subscribe to your Community at a discounted price. Share your coupon code with your members and they will be able to use them at the checkout page to receive a discounted subscription price, whether that be forever or a limited period of time.

 

Coupon codes are created in Stripe, this means that they will work seamlessly with any subscriptions you currently have set up on the web. However, coupon codes are not currently supported on iOS & Android platforms.

 

If you haven't set up your web subscriptions for your Community, then take a look at this article first

Creating your Coupon Codes:

Let's start off by logging in to your Stripe dashboard

To the left of your dashboard, you will want to select More and then Product Catalogue

From the menu that appears at the top of the page, select Coupons

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To create a new coupon code select + New in the top right corner, which will take you through to the coupon creation page. 

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Naming Your Coupon Code

Start out by naming your coupon. This name will appear on your members receipts and invoices and is not the coupon code itself.

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In the same way that Stripe do, we recommend keeping ID blank as this will be used to identify the coupon in the API. Stripe will generate an ID for you if you keep this section blank.

Defining the Discount

Now you will be defining the Discount amount that you want the coupon to apply. This can be defined either through a Percentage discount or a Fixed amount. 

A percentage discount allows you to define your discount with a percentage. For example if you put 50 into this field, the coupon will give the member a 50% discount on the subscription price.

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Stripe also gives you the option to have a fixed amount discount. This means that you can define the exact amount that you want the coupon to discount. For example if you put 5 into the input field, then a fixed amount of £5 will be discounted from the subscription. You can also change the defined currency for this discount.

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Defining the Product

Stripe also gives you the option to apply a discount code to a single product. This is great if you only wanted your coupon to apply to a yearly subscription for example.

If you decide not to do this then by default the coupon code will apply to all subscriptions.

To use this feature you simply need to turn on the apply to specific products toggle and search for the product that you want the coupon to apply to.

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Setting the Duration

Here you can select the duration of your coupon code. Stripe gives you three options, Forever, Once and Multiple Months. This is great if your intention is to have a short promotion to coincide with a specific event for example. 

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  • Forever: This means that the applied discount will last forever once applied by the member. For example, if they use a coupon code giving 50% off with the duration set to forever, then they will receive the subscription at a 50% discount until cancelled.
  • Once: This means that the coupon code can only be used once and will only apply to the first month of subscription. For example, If they use a coupon code giving 50% off with the duration set to once, then they will receive the subscription at a 50% discount for the first pay period. After this period they will pay the full subscription price.
  • Multiple Months: This means that the applied discount will only be applied for the specific amount of months. For example, if they use a coupon code giving 50% off with the duration set to 6 months, then they will receive the subscription at a 50% discount for 6 months. After this period they will pay the full subscription price.

Setting Redemption Limits

Here you have the option to define redemption limits. These are limits that can be applied to the coupon such as the date range that the coupon can be used and the number of times the coupon can be used.

This is helpful if you want it to be available for the first 200 users for example, or if you are running a promotion for 1 week only. 

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If you decide to Limit the Date range, then you will basically be applying an expiration date onto the coupon. For example, setting a limited date range for the 25th of December means that the coupon has to be claimed by this date. Once this date passes the coupon will no longer work.

 

Limiting the total number of coupon redemptions means the total amount that the coupon can be claimed in total. For example, If you set the redemption limit to 200, then the coupon can only be used 200 times in total.

However, it's good to know this number does not actually stop members from claiming a coupon code multiple times.

Enabling 'Customer Facing Coupon Codes'

The next step allows you to toggle the feature use customer facing coupon codes on.

This is set to off by default but at Disciple we recommend turning this toggle ON to enable your coupon codes to work as expected. Doing this, will allow you to:

  • Customise the actual code itself (what a member would type in to the redemption field during checkout).
  • Make the code only eligible for first time purchasers. 
  • Limit the code for a specific customer (maybe a competition winner for example). 
  • Limit the number of times a coupon can be used by a single member.  
  • Add an expiration date to the coupon.
  • Require a minimum order value (although this will likely not apply for your web subscription).

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Now that you have set up your code, press Create Coupon at the bottom of the page! 

Redeeming the Code

Now that your new coupon code has been created, you will be able to decide how you share this to members and who you want to share it to. 

 

Once a member has been provided with a code, they will need to add it to the add promotion code section of the checkout. 

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Once your member has clicked add promotion code and applied it, then they need to input their card details and simply Subscribe!

 

Top Tip:

  • We always suggest trying out your new coupon code before sharing it with your members. This way, you know exactly how this journey will work.