After you have set custom prices for prints, you may wish to create coupons to reward certain customers, issue print credits, or allow some people to order your prints at cost.
All of that can be done by visiting your Control Panel, Pros tab, and clicking on the word "Manage" next to Coupons.
There is no charge for creating coupons, and you may create as many as you'd like. To get started, you must have a valid credit card on file. That means if you are in your free trial period, you will need to pay for your account before creating a coupon.
We require a valid credit card because you have the power to create coupons that drop your customer's order total below cost. In that situation, your own card will be charged for the remainder of the base price of the prints, and in the case of a print credit, for SmugMug's 15% share of the markup. Learn more.
Four types of coupons
Amount off - This simply discounts your customer's order a certain dollar amount off the pre-shipping total. You can optionally set a maximum number of uses, a start and end date, and a minimum purchase.
Percent off - This discounts a percent of the pre-shipping total. You can optionally set a maximum number of uses, a start and end date, a minimum purchase, and a maximum discount amount.
At Cost - This allows the lucky person who wields the code to order the images on your site at cost. You can optionally set a maximum number of uses, and a start and end date.
Print Credit - This functions just like a gift card. If a customer does not use it up in an order, the balance will remain to use on future orders. You can optionally set a start and end date for its use.
Example
A customer orders $10.00 worth of prints (default price), which you have priced at $110.00 for a markup of $100 . Shipping is $4.95. Without a coupon, the customer would pay $114.95, and you would keep $85.00 profit. That is 85% of the $100 markup.
If that customer had a $10 off coupon, they would pay $104.95. The markup would then be $90, and your profit would be 85% percent of that, or $76.50.
If that customer had a 10% off coupon, they would pay $99 for the prints and $4.95 for the shipping for a total of $103.95. The markup would then be $89 and your profit would be $75.65.
If the customer had a $200 print credit, they would only have to pay for the shipping on the order, $4.95. They would have $90 left for future orders. Rather than charge your card $110 and then add $85 to your profits, we charge your card $25.00. That covers the $10 worth of prints and the $15 that is SmugMug's 15% share of the markup.
Your customer's experience
On step three of the cart, when asked for payment info, your customers will be presented with a Coupon Code field if you have at least one active coupon on your account. The code is not case-sensitive. If their cart contains items from multiple pros offering coupons, they will be able to select the pro and enter a code for each pro. The discount will be applied immediately and will be visible to them as they complete their order.
If an order drops below cost
Every type of coupon, with the exception of the at cost coupon, could be created such that a customer is able to order prints below cost.
- A 50% off coupon used on products where the markup is less than 50%
- A $20 off coupon used on an order where your profit would have come to only $10
- A $110 print credit used to place a $110 order
In the first two examples, there is no pro profit so only the overage in the base cost of prints will be charged to your credit card. In the case of a print credit, the base cost of the prints as well as SmugMug's 15% share of any markup would be charged to your card on file.
Editing coupons
You can always return to your Managing Coupons page and click on any coupon to edit it. The only thing you may not change after creating a coupon is its type.
Answers to common requests
Currently coupons apply to all prints, merchandise, and downloads for all printable images on your site and are not gallery or product specific.
Currently coupons do not apply to shipping. So even if your customer has a print credit that more than covers the cost of prints, the shipping charge will still have to be paid for via credit card in the shopping cart.
Coupons used wisely can be a great promotional tool. We created a thread for pros to swap tips on our message forum.
We are ready and willing to improve this feature, so please let us know what is important to you.