Create Event Coupons

Topics Covered:

[0:25] - The 4 Types of Coupons
[1:05] - Custom Coupons
[2:18] - Redemption Frequency Options
[3:39] - Discount Value Options
[4:44] - Advanced Options
[5:26] - Importing Coupons
[7:31] - Group Discount

How to Create Event Coupons Video Transcription:

Hello and welcome! Today I am going to show you how to create event coupons in ThunderTix. Coupons allow ticket buyers to receive a discount off individual tickets or the entire order as either a percentage, dollar value, or a free ticket. Coupons are a great sales tool, as discounts can draw more patrons to your event.

To get started, hover over the listings tab and click on Coupons. Then, click "Create New Coupon". That will take us to this page, where we can see the four types of coupons ThunderTix offers.

The first type is the custom coupon code, which allows you to you enter any code, assign a discount value, and how that discount should be applied. The second coupon type offers the same functionality but allows you to import coupons in bulk from an external file. The third type is a group discount, which is automatically applied at checkout when the minimum tickets required for a group discount is met. The final option is the flex pass, which automatically generates a coupon, or voucher code, for the customer at the time of a specified event purchase redeemable for future events. The Flex Pass coupons are covered in another video.

Let's examine the Custom Coupons option.

First, you need to enter in your own unique coupon code in this input box. Bear in mind that unlike passwords, coupon codes are not case sensitive, and while you don't want a coupon to to be guessable, it shouldn't be so difficult to type that your customers are frustrated in attempting to use it. You can also create a helpful name for the coupon here.

Next, we need to select the events for which this coupon can be redeemed. I'm going to select these two. If you wanted to make the coupon valid for all of your events, you can click select all. You also have the option to make the coupon valid for only certain performances, or dates, of an event or only specific ticket types. For example, If you wanted to make a coupon redeemable for only adult tickets for all the performances of Hamlet, then you would click on performances and then click ticket types under one of these performances. Select Adult and then click the option to Apply to all performance tickets with same name. After choosing your events, performances or ticket types, decide if you want the coupon to only be redeemable on certain days of the week. If so, you will select those days here. For organizations that have daily recurring events, like a sightseeing tour, consider creating a coupon to motivate purchases Monday through Wednesday since those may be the lowest selling days.

Now, let's decide how many times the coupon can be redeemed. Single-use means customers can only redeem the coupon once at only one of the events selected above. So you may choose several events, but once it's used, it cannot be used again on any other events or by any other customers. Therefore, single use coupons should be provided to a single customer rather than to many customers. Multi-use coupons have two options. The first option is to make the coupon redeemable at each of the events you have selected for the number of times you enter here. For example, if you put 5 in this box and you have three events, customers can redeem this coupon 5 times per event, for a total of 15 times.

The second option for multi-use is to make the coupon redeemable across all events selected. For example, if you put 5 in this box and you have three events, customers can redeem this coupon for a maximum of 5 times in any combination across the three events selected.

Finally, unlimited use is just as implied, customers can redeem this coupon without limitation for any selected event until the coupon either expires, is inactivated or is deleted from your list. Unlimited use coupons are great for advertising on social media, print, etc. Here, there is an option to make this coupon redeemable for all new events added in the future.

Now, here, depending on the coupon, select the value of the discount. For example, if you want your coupon to give customers $5 off per ticket, enter in the dollar amount here.

Enter the minimum number of tickets required in order for the coupon to be valid. Usually you would leave this as is with a minimum of 1 ticket, unless you're creating a buy one get one free offer or a group discount. Next, decide if you want the coupon to be applied to all tickets in the cart, applicable one ticket at a time or limited to one use per order.

If you want to offer a 10% discount, then you will enter in that percentage here. For a percentage off coupon, enter the percentage here and then decide whether you want that percentage off applied per ticket price or per order.

Finally, you can also make a buy one get one free, or BOGO, coupon here. For a BOGO coupon, select whether you want to only offer just one free ticket per order or one free ticket every time the customer reaches the tickets required. If you want the BOGO to give one free ticket for every 2 tickets in the cart, set the minimum tickets to two here.

Then, let's move on to the advanced options, which are not required. By default, your coupon will be active as soon as it's created. If you want to activate it later, uncheck this box. If you want to set an expiration date, click here and select your desired date. The coupon will expire at midnight Central time on the date you enter.

ThunderTix also allows you to categorize your coupon to easily search for it later on the coupons page. Coupons can have multiple categories. For example, you could categorize coupons as Cast and Crew or Facebook if the coupon code was shared in Facebook ads.

Lastly, don't forget to click the create coupon button or your coupon will not be saved.

Next, let's cover importing coupons.

Let's get started by selecting Import Multiple. First, we should talk about what you will be importing. If you work with Groupon, you'll receive a spreadsheet with customer names and unique Groupon codes per customer. Depending on how successful or popular the deal was, you could receive a file with thousands of codes. This feature saves staff time from manually creating each Groupon sold. Regardless of which "daily deal" service you use, the process is the same.

This process also extends to creating your own spreadsheet of customers. Such as a list of VIPs or staff members for whom you want to offer discounted tickets. Email addresses or member IDs make great coupon codes to save time and are easy to remember.

The first step in importing coupons is uploading a CSV file, which should have one unique code and customer name or email per row. If your external source sent you an XLS file instead of CSV file, you will need to open up that file and save it as a CSV. So, to import your CSV, click here. Navigate to where the CSV is located on your computer and click the file. Then, click this button. You should now see the name of your file right here.

Next, enter a name for the import. Then enter all the same information as discussed previously with individual coupons. We won't cover this section again, but just like individual coupons, you'll assign a value for the discount. For daily deals, this is typically the full value of the ticket. If they purchased a single ticket at 50% off the value, you will need to create the coupon to discount the full value of the ticket to ensure they are not charged further. Enter your remaining details and click create coupon. We'll be directed to this page, which should show a preview of your data. Here, designate which column contains customer names and which column contains the coupon codes. You do this by clicking on the drop down boxes and selecting the correct one. The last step is to click "ignore first row", but only click this if your first row contains column titles. Leave this unchecked if your first row begins with the first valid coupon code and name. Now, to finish, click inspect files.

Finally, let's cover Group Discounts.

If you offer a 10% discount of all tickets for parties of 10 or more people, a Group Discount is the perfect tool allowing groups to book online rather than calling the box office to receive a discount. The main difference between individual coupon codes and a Group Discount is that the group discount is automatically applied when the customer reaches the checkout page. So, there is no need to create a "code" -- just a name. We won't cover the options except for the key differences.

The default minimum number of tickets needed for a group discount is 10, but feel free to change it to what makes sense for your organization. Also, the customer won't need a coupon code when checking out as we will automatically apply a discount when the minimum number of tickets to qualify are met. Make sure you hit the Create Coupon button when you're done.

You've successfully learned how to create individual coupons, group discounts, and import coupons in bulk! Check out our other video on Flex Passes for season subscriptions or multi-event discounts! And if you have any more questions, be sure to take a look at our how-to guides. Thank you for watching!