Applying coupons earlier in the checkout process?

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   I'd like the coupons to be applied at the cart screen, rather than during checkout. All of my competitors allow coupons to apply at the cart, and I feel like I might be losing customers because people don't want to wait until nearly the end of checkout to see their discount. I don't think they want to enter their personal information (even just the addresses) until they see the right item and the right price on the screen.

Has anyone else had this issue and perhaps found a solution?

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Brett Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 22-April-2008 Location: Phoenix, AZ Status: Offline Points: 89	Post Options Post Reply Quote Brett Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Applying coupons earlier in the checkout process? Posted: 14-October-2010 at 1:24pm
	I'd like the coupons to be applied at the cart screen, rather than during checkout. All of my competitors allow coupons to apply at the cart, and I feel like I might be losing customers because people don't want to wait until nearly the end of checkout to see their discount. I don't think they want to enter their personal information (even just the addresses) until they see the right item and the right price on the screen. Has anyone else had this issue and perhaps found a solution?

ProductCart Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group ProductCart Team Joined: 01-October-2003 Status: Offline Points: 135	Post Options Post Reply Quote ProductCart Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14-October-2010 at 1:32pm
	Hi Brett, This is one of those areas where the sophistication of the feature itself - electronic coupons (or "discount codes") - creates some complications :-) Specifically, in ProductCart you can restrict the applicability of a coupon based on who the customer is (e.g. coupon only available to John and Mike), or what type of customer it is (e.g. discount code only applicable to Retail customers). This requires that the customer is logged in (and the customer may not be logged in yet on the shopping cart page). You can also create discount codes that apply to shipping services, which requires that you are going through the checkout process (rather than being on the shopping cart page). Still, this could be done by providing customers meaningful, friendly messages when they try to apply a discount code that cannot be applied on the shopping cart page. So, we'll look at it for a future version.
	The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart shopping cart software

whizzinpc Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 17-January-2006 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 20	Post Options Post Reply Quote whizzinpc Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15-October-2010 at 6:26pm
	I like the idea of a message that acknowledges the customer that the code was accepted... then carries that code to the checkout page and applies it in the order preview.

geoff Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 15-January-2006 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote geoff Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06-November-2010 at 5:55pm
	Also - if coupons are not applied at the checkout page - customers using Google check out or Express PayPal end up with questions on how and where to use the coupon.

Matt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 20-July-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 73	Post Options Post Reply Quote Matt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06-November-2010 at 8:26pm
	geoff, this is another one of those areas where the sophistication of features leads to complications. Google Checkout and PayPal Express Checkout are alternative checkout methods that do not require login, have very specific requirements, and do not generally accommodate a coupon box on the cart page. We'll definitely look at it for a future version. I can say that one of these methods does not support cart coupons at this time, but the other one does (with some limitations).