Coupons

This article goes over the types of coupons available in your school and how to create coupons for your products. Coupons are available for schools on the Basic plan and up.

Overview

Coupons offer the ability to sell your products at a reduced price. These can be used throughout your school or for one specific product.

Within your school, you will find three different levels of multiple-use coupons. These coupons can be used for promotional events or large scale discounts (i.e. holidays). Multiple-use coupons include all product coupons, product type coupons, and pricing plan-specific coupons.

• School coupons apply broadly across your entire school or across product types.
  • All product coupons are coupons that can be applied to every product and pricing plan available within your school.
  • Product type coupons are coupons that can be applied to every product and pricing plan of that specific product type. Within schools, you have five product types available: courses, coaching, digital downloads, membership, and bundle products. For example, coupons that you set for all courses do not apply to coaching, digital download, membership, or bundle products.
• Pricing plan-specific coupons are coupons that apply only to a specific pricing plan within a specific product. These coupons are tied to a single pricing option and do not apply anywhere else inside your school.

You can also create single-use coupons to provide product discounts for specific users or organizations in your school. These are unique, one-time use codes.

You can view all active and archived coupons created for your school in the Site > Coupons area of your admin:

You can also view pricing-plan specific coupons within their specific product:

Multiple-use coupons

Multiple-use coupons can be used by a specified number of users that have access to the coupon code. For example, if you create a multiple-use coupon for all products with the code "HALFOFF" for 500 users , the first 500 users to use that code would receive 50% off their purchase.

There are two locations to create multiple-use coupons: your Site > Coupons area or within a specific product in your school. Multiple use coupons can be created for all products, product types (i.e. courses, coaching, digital download, membership, or bundle products), and pricing plan-specific products.

All products coupons

To create a coupon that can be applied to all products in your school at checkout:

1. Within Site > Coupons, toggle to the School Coupons view.
2. Click the Add New Coupon button in the top right corner of the screen.
3. A pop-up window will appear. Choose the Multiple Use coupon option and click Next.
4. A modal will appear with the options to make a coupon that will apply to All Products in your school, or a specific product type. Choose All Products.
5. Complete the remaining actions in the modal:
   1. Percentage or Amount - The discount rate (i.e. 25% off) in percentage, or the discount amount (i.e. $10 off) in a specified currency. Choose one option. 
   2. Coupon Code - The unique coupon code that users will have to enter to receive the discount (i.e. 25OFF). Coupon codes can only contain alphabetical or numerical characters. Coupon codes cannot contain any special characters (e.g. %, #, etc).
   3. Internal Name - The name that will be used to reference the coupon in your school admin.
   4. Expires - Specify an expiration date. (Note that this date and time will be based on the school owner's local time zone.)
   5. Number Available - The number of times this coupon can be used before it is no longer valid (limit of 10,000).
6. Once completed, click Save.

Product type coupons

To create a coupon that can be applied to a specific product type (course, coaching, digital download, membership, bundle) in your school at checkout:

1. Within Site > Coupons, toggle to the School Coupons view.
2. Click the Add New Coupon button in the top right corner of the screen.
3. A pop-up window will appear. Choose the Multiple Use coupon option and click Next.
4. A modal will appear with the options to make a coupon that will apply to all products in your school, or a specific product type. Choose the specific product type you wish to discount.
5. Complete the remaining actions in the modal:
   1. Percentage or Amount - The discount rate (i.e. 25% off) in percentage, or the discount amount (i.e. $10 off) in a specified currency. Choose one option. 
   2. Coupon Code - The unique coupon code that users will have to enter to receive the discount (i.e. 25OFF). Coupon codes can only contain alphabetical or numerical characters. Coupon codes cannot contain any special characters (e.g. %, #, etc).
   3. Internal Name - The name that will be used to reference the coupon in your school admin.
   4. Expires - Specify an expiration date. (Note that this date and time will be based on the school owner's local time zone.)
   5. Number Available - The number of times this coupon can be used before it is no longer valid.
6. Once completed, click Save.

Pricing Plan-Specific Coupons

The option to make a coupon that is specific for a single pricing option in your school is available within the Site > Coupons area of your admin, as well as within the specific product you wish to discount. Each pricing option you create for a product has a unique checkout page. The coupon created using this option will only apply to that specific checkout.

Read more about setting up pricing options for your products.

To create a coupon that can be applied to a specific pricing plan in your school at checkout:

1. Within Site > Coupons, toggle to the Product Coupons view.
2. Use the drop down menu to select the specific product in your school you wish to discount.
3. Click the Add New Coupon button.
4. A pop-up window will appear. Choose the Multiple Use coupon option and click Next.
5. A modal will appear to complete the required fields.
   1. Percentage or Amount - The discount rate either in percentage or in dollar amount based on the currency of the pricing plan. Choose one option.
   2. Pricing Plan - Use the dropdown to specify which active pricing plan you are creating a coupon for.
   3. Applies to - Select if you would like the coupon to apply to the first payment or all payments of the sale. (Only available for subscription or payment plan pricing options.)
   4. Coupon Code - The unique coupon code that users will have to enter to receive the discount (i.e. 25OFF). Coupon codes can only contain alphabetical or numerical characters. Coupon codes cannot contain any special characters (e.g. %, #, etc).
   5. Internal Name - The name that will be used to reference the coupon in your school admin.
   6. Expires - Specify an expiration date. (Note that this date and time will be based on the school owner's local time zone.)
   7. Number Available - The number of times this coupon can be used before it is no longer valid.
6. Once completed, click Save.

Alternatively, you can generate a pricing plan specific coupon within the product itself. Go to your Products section and navigate to the course, coaching, digital download, or bundle index, click on the specific product, and go to the Coupons tab. From there, you can follow steps 3-6 above to create a pricing plan-specific coupon.

 

Single-use coupons

Single-use coupons are unique, randomly generated codes that can only be used one time per code. For example, if you wanted to give an existing student a coupon for one of your other courses, you could create a single-use coupon that would give them a discounted price on your other course. These coupons are generated into a CSV report and downloaded to your computer.

All Products and Product Type Coupons

To create single-use coupons for all products or product types in your school:

1. Within Site > Coupons, toggle to the School Coupons view.
2. Click the Add New Coupon button.
3. A pop-up window will appear. Choose the Bulk Single Use coupon option and click Next.
4. A modal will appear with the options to make a coupon that will apply to All Products in your school, or a specific product type. Fill in the following info:
   1. Percentage or Amount - The discount rate (i.e. 25% off) in percentage, or the discount amount (i.e. $10 off) in a specified currency. Choose one option. 
   2. Expires - Specify an expiration date. (Note that this date and time will be based on the school owner's local time zone.)
   3. Number Available - The number of unique coupons you would like to generate.
5. Once completed, click Generate CSV.

After clicking the Generate CSV button, a CSV of all randomly generated coupons will automatically download to your computer. Use any spreadsheet application (e.g. Microsoft Excel, Sheets, Google Forms, etc) to open the CSV file; below is an example CSV:

The first column contains the unique single-use coupon code—this is what your students will enter in the Add Coupon field during checkout. The second column contains the parameter which you can add to the end of a sales page URL or checkout URL, to automatically apply the coupon. Read more on sharing coupons with students.

Pricing Plan-Specific Coupons

To create single-use coupons for a specific pricing option inside a product:

1. Within Site > Coupons, toggle to the Product Coupons view.
2. Use the drop down menu to select the specific product in your school you wish to discount.
3. Click the Add New Coupon button.
4. A pop-up window will appear. Choose the Bulk Single Use coupon option and click Next.
5. A modal will appear to complete the required fields.
   1. Percentage or Amount - The discount rate either in percentage or in dollar amount. Choose one option.
   2. Pricing Plan - Use the dropdown to specify which active pricing plan you are creating a coupon for.
   3. Expires - Specify an expiration date/time. (Note that this date and time will be based on the school owner's local time zone.)
   4. Number Available - The number of unique coupons you would like to generate.
6. Once completed, click Generate CSV.

As with multiple-use coupons, you can also generate single-use coupon CSVs inside the specific product in your school. Navigate to the product and click the Coupons tab. From there, follow steps 3-6.

After clicking the Generate CSV button, a CSV of all randomly generated coupons will automatically download to your computer. Use any spreadsheet application (e.g. Microsoft Excel, Sheets, Google Forms, etc) to open the CSV file; below is an example CSV:

The first column contains the unique single-use coupon code—this is what your students will enter in the Add Coupon field during checkout. The second column contains the URL to to sales page where the coupon will be automatically applied at checkout. Read more on sharing coupons with students.

Coupons for organizations/bulk purchasers

To sell your courses to schools, business, or other organizations that want to purchase access to your course in bulk, complete the following steps:

1. Create a new pricing plan for the course that corresponds to the price/licenses that you want to sell it for.
2. Once you’ve seen that an organization has purchased that plan for your course, create the appropriate number of coupons.

From there, one option is to generate a batch of single-use coupons and send the CSV file to the organization. The organization will then distribute the links in order for their members to redeem the offer.

Alternatively, you can create a multiple-use coupon and send the link with the coupon code embedded into the URL to the organization. This option is usually easier for administrators to send out to a team (although they will be responsible if the coupon code is given to the wrong person).

Archive coupons

At any time, you can archive a coupon by clicking the corresponding action menu (three dots) icon next to the active coupon, then choosing the “Archive Coupon” option. Once a coupon is archived, it cannot be undone. To view archived coupons, click on the Show archived coupons button. If you would like to reuse an archived coupon code (i.e. “HALFOFF”), you can create a new coupon using the same code.

Share coupons with students

Once you create the coupon, you can provide the coupon code directly to your students. They will have the opportunity to put in the coupon code on the Checkout page. To add a coupon the student would perform the following steps:

1. From the Checkout page, in the "Order Summary" section, click the Add Coupon text under the course's thumbnail.
2. In the supplied text box, type the name of the coupon exactly as you have given it to them, then click Apply.
3. The discount will be automatically applied to their course or bundle and they can proceed with the rest of the checkout process.

Students can only add one coupon code per purchase—this means that coupons cannot be stacked or combined.

Alternatively, for multiple-use coupons, you can provide a direct coupon URL to your students. To do so, navigate to the sales page of the product you wish to share, and add the following to the end of the URL:

?coupon_code=CODE

If a parameter in the URL already exists, you can add onto it with &coupon_code=CODE

Replace CODE with the specific coupon code you have set in your school. With this url, the coupon will automatically be added to the sales page for checkout. You can also add this parameter to the end of a checkout URL directly (please copy the checkout URL provided in the Pricing Plans page). Your copied checkout URL with a code applied should look something like this (example): https://sarah-schachman-s-school.teachable.com/purchase?product_id=5684369&coupon_code=FIRSTFREE -- this link can be shared with buyers.

Here's a video walkthrough of how to apply All Products coupons automatically at checkout.

Here's a video walkthrough of how to apply pricing pricing plan specific coupons automatically at checkout.

For pricing plan-specific coupons, you can use the Preview button (eye icon) to see the sales page with the specific coupon applied. From there, copy the url with the coupon code included.

Frequently asked questions

Why isn't the coupon code field showing up on my checkout page?

The coupon field will show up at checkout when there is an active coupon for that product and/or specific pricing plan.  

If your checkout page does not have the coupon code field, this means you have not created A) an all products / all courses coupon, or B) a coupon for that specific pricing plan. Each pricing plan has a unique checkout page. If you have multiple pricing options available for your course and want the coupon to apply to all prices/checkouts, you will need to either make the coupon for All Courses, All Products, or make multiple coupons for This Course Only that apply to each pricing option.

You should also check the expiration date of any coupons you have created. If a coupon has expired, you can edit the coupon’s expiration date by clicking the edit button.

Why am I getting an "already in use" error when making a coupon?

If you receive the error "Coupon code is already in use" when generating a new coupon, this may indicate that another product already has this code in use.

Specifically, this occurs when a pricing plan-specific coupon code (e.g. an individual course) has the same code you are trying to use for a Product-type or All product coupon. 

If you want to use an existing pricing plan-specific coupon code for all your products within your school:

1. Archive the existing coupon in that specific pricing plan.
2. Once archived, create a Product-type or All product coupon using the code.

Unlike product-type and all product coupons, multiple pricing-plan specific coupons can share the same code as the code is only linked to that single pricing plan within a single product. For additional assistance or questions, please contact our Customer Support team.

Why am I getting an “invalid code” error when I enter the coupon code at checkout?

This is typically due to a mismatch between the pricing plan of the checkout and the pricing plan of the product-specific coupon. Each pricing plan has a unique checkout page. Check to make sure that the checkout you are on is for the specific pricing plan that the coupon code is associated with. A product-specific coupon code will only successfully apply on the checkout of the pricing plan it is associated with. You can test this by cross-checking the pricing plan on your coupon (first image), with the checkout for that pricing plan (second image), and testing the coupon code on that checkout.

 

Why am I seeing coupon codes that I never created on some transactions?

Student referral codes show up as a type of coupon. The code will typically be randomly generated letters and numbers. You can cross-check these transactions with your referral transactions in Site > Referrals. Learn more about referrals here.