Coupons & Gift Certificates

SimplePhoto has Coupons and Gift Certificates capability.
  • Like Discounts, you can offer your customers a percentage or dollar amount off of the total purchase with Coupons.
  • Gift Certificates are good only for dollar ($) amounts.
  • You can set up Coupons and Gift Certificates to last indefinitely, expire on a specific date or make valid for a certain number of days.
  • Coupons are one-time use only, unlike Discounts.
  • Gift Certificates are the same as Coupons, except they can carry a balance and can be used until the balance runs out.
  • With each, you generate and distribute a each unique code to customers.
  • Multiple Coupon and Gift Certificate codes can be used in conjunction with one another and can also be used in conjunction with a Discount.
All applicable Coupons or Gift Certificates will be deducted from a customer's sales total on the Checkout screen. Any applicable SimplePhoto transaction fees will apply to Coupon amounts. For example, if a $100 order has a $20 Coupon or Gift Certificate applied, the customer will pay $80. The SimplePhoto transaction fee for this order will be based on the full $100. 

Create a Coupon/Gift Certificate

  1. Login to your SimplePhoto account and click on Discounts/Coupons/Gift Certificates under the Price Lists pane from your Dashboard.
  2. To make a Coupon/Gift Certificate, click the Add Coupon Type or Add Gift Certificate Type button.
  3. Enter a Coupon/Gift Certificate Name (ex: $25 Portrait Sitting Fee Coupon).
  4. Add a description that explains your Coupon/Gift Certificate (optional).
  5. Select what Type of Coupon/Gift Certificate it will be. The options are either dollar amount or percentage off for coupons and dollar amount for gift certificates.
  6. Select the Duration. Note: A Coupon/Gift Certificate may be applied indefinitely, end on a specific date, or may be valid for a certain number of days after a gallery's Creation Date.
  7. Specify a Minimum Sales Total amount if you would like this Coupon/Gift Certificate to take effect only when a customer's sales total reaches a minimum amount. Select No Minimum Sales Total if a minimum sales total is not required.
  8. Determine whether or not this Coupon may be applied to sales tax and shipping charges and select the corresponding box next to Sales Tax and Shipping. Not applicable to Gift Certificates.
  9. This Coupon/Gift Certificate will apply only to galleries or events that are associated with selected price lists. Next to Applies to Price Lists, choose the "All Price Lists" option to make this Coupon/Gift Certificate apply to all current and future price lists. Hold the command key to select multiple price lists. Note: For a Coupon/Gift Certificate to be used on a gallery by gallery (or event by event) basis, select the None option, and apply the Coupon/Gift Certificate under "Gallery/Prepay Event Information" on the Gallery Control Panel.
  10. Click Submit when all Coupon/Gift Certificate information is correct.
Now that you have created your Coupon/Gift Certificate, you must Generate Coupon/Gift Certificate Codes.

Generate Coupon/Gift Certificate Codes

  1. Inside the Discounts/Coupons/Gift Certificates screen, click on the Manage Codes button next to the applicable Coupon or Gift Certificate.
  2. Click on the Generate Codes link. To Import Codes, skip to the corresponding section below.
  3. Select how many codes to generate.
  4. Select how many characters they will be in length.
  5. Insert any text/characters you want to add, to insert before the code (optional - ex: For a Senior Coupon, you might want to add "SR" before the generated code or the High School abbreviation "WHS”).
  6. Click on the Generate Codes button.

Import Codes

  1. If you would like to use your own codes, select the Import Codes link.
  2. Paste a comma-separated list of codes into the box provided.
  3. Click Import Codes.
Underneath the Coupon/Gift Certificate Codes heading, you will see a list of the computer-generated coupon codes. There is a checkbox next to each code which you can select to Deactivate a code after it has been used.
Note: If a customer loses a code, we suggest you Deactivate the code to prevent its use and re-issue them a newly generated code. 

Export Codes

To keep track of which codes were assigned to whom,  utilize the Export Codes feature.

  1. Click on the Export Codes link, located near the top of the Manage Codes screen.
  2. Select how you want to codes to be separated. (Options include: Comma, Tab, or Line Feed)
  3. Choose the Export File Type. (Options include: Text File, Spreadsheet - Excel, Spreadsheet - OpenOffice)

Example Workflow/Use-case

A common workflow where a coupon is given to a student towards future orders, such as a refund of session fee, is as follows.
  1. Create coupon code(s) inside of SimplePhoto.
  2. If multiple amounts are needed, generate a set of codes for each (ex: 500x - $25 cards, 300x - $50 cards, 250x - $99 cards)
  3. Export the codes out of SimplePhoto.
  4. Some photographers will print the codes off on labels and stick the label on the student's receipt when they pay. Others will print off business cards that have ordering information, studio information, etc with the codes on there. Since the codes are not student-specific yet, you can keep unused cards and use them at future shoots.
  5. Keep the exported spreadsheet of the codes with the cards or labels. As the code is given to the student, someone will write the students name next to the code in the spreadsheet.

Keeping track of students' codes will help if they lose their code and the parent calls the studio. It will also let you "deactivate" the code if it gets lost so that others can not find and redeem it.

 

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