Coupons are versatile and useful tools that you can use to promote your business or to offer special discounts to existing clients. Once you have created your coupons, you can easily share them with clients through direct messaging or Announcements. vCita's coupon management features enable you to quickly view, update and track your coupons.

Note: Coupons are available for subscriptions of Business and higher.

To get a quick overview of how to make coupons work for you, watch this short video:

Getting Started

To view, create and manage coupons, navigate to the Settings menu and select Coupons.

The following topics present everything you need to know to use coupons effectively:

• Creating Coupons
• Redeeming Coupons: Client Experience
• Managing and Tracking Your Coupons
• Sharing and Applying Coupons

Creating Coupons

Follow the steps below to create a new coupon.

To create a coupon: 

1. From the Settings menu, select Coupons. Then, at the top of the page that opens, click Create Coupon.
   
   
   The Create Coupon dialog opens
   Note: Fields that are marked with an asterisk * (such as Display name) are required fields
2. At the top of the dialog, fill out the following General information:
   * Display Name: The unique title of the coupon. You cannot create more than one coupon with the same name.
   * Code: This is the code the client will enter when redeeming the coupon. You can change the auto-generated code to any combination of 5-15 letters and numbers (no spaces or special characters are allowed). Multiple coupons may share the same code, but only ONE of them can be active at any given time.
3. Set the discount type and amount:
   From the Type drop-down list, select Percentage or Fixed amount.
   In the How much field, enter the amount of the discount. For example:
   
   
4. Under Time Frame, specify the time period for which the coupon will be active (valid). By default, a new coupon is active immediately and remains valid for one year. To change the time frame, click the calendar icons and select the starting and ending dates.
   
   
5. Under How many times can this coupon be redeemed, specify coupon redemption limits. You can set one or both of these options:
   * Max redemptions per client: By default, a client may redeem a coupon only once. To change this, enter the number of redemptions allowed. Leaving this field blank allows an unlimited number of redemptions.
   * Max redemptions: Generally, a coupon can be redeemed an unlimited number of times (by different clients) unless you specify the total number of redemptions allowed.
6. Upon creation, the coupon will apply to all your services and to any staff member. To limit the coupon to only specific services or staff members, select the appropriate checkbox. Then, open the list and select the services / staff members to which the coupon will apply. For example:
   
   
7. Click Save.
   The Share Your Coupon dialog opens, displaying the code of the newly created coupon. You can copy this code and share it on your social media. You can also share the coupon from within vCita by choosing one of the options described in Step 8.
   
   
8. Click one of the following buttons:
   * Send a direct message: Opens the Send an email invitation dialog, where you can compose an email message (including the coupon) and send it to selected clients. For details, refer to Sharing and Applying Coupons.
   * Create a campaign: Open the New Announcement dialog, where you can create an Announcement promotion.
   * Maybe Later: Saves the coupon and closes the dialog.

Redeeming Coupons: Client Experience

If there is an active coupon that can be applied to the service that a client is scheduling, a coupon link will appear in the Payment section during online booking. For example:

Note: Coupons can be used only for services that require payment. Clients cannot redeem a coupon when paying an invoice.

When the client clicks the I have a coupon link, a field appears in which to enter the coupon code. In order to receive the discount, the client needs to click APPLY after entering the code.

Note: After applying a coupon, the coupon will be redeemed even if the appointment is later cancelled or if the payment is still pending.

You can redeem a coupon on behalf of a client by applying it to a specific pending payment. This is done from the Invoices & Bookings page of your account. For more information, refer to Applying a Coupon to Pending Payments.