How to have discount code field appear before the checkout?

Question, for our new register customer we will give them 10% off on their first order. We create the Coupon Code and apply at the GV Coupons -> New Signup Discount but the user will not know the coupon ID number until they check their email. Is there a way to automatically apply the coupon at their first purchase without user enter the coupon code?

Thanks in advance,

Is there a way to automatically apply the coupon at their first purchase without user enter the coupon code?

Not built-in.

i think the coupon code should be seen in the cart before the patron has to enter their information.

I lost a sale the other day since the person was comparison shopping and looking at discounts...

The only reason I know this, is the individual contacts us after ordering the same from a different vender and emailed us asking where the confirmation email was.. after trading emails i found out it was due to the person not being able to enter a coupon code in the cart area.

has anyone any idea on making a mod so the discount coupon could be entered on the cart page? that way those who have not logged in can enter the coupon.

I think this would increase conversion of sales. :cheers:

Fortunately we do not suffer from loss of first sales from buyers not seeing the coupon email before purchase, neither due to this cart flow that V2.0 is apparently going to cover better.

However same as the question raised earlier, it is frustrating for customers to buy an item using the PayPal Express button, therefore its not sending out the voucher code email as a first time buyer at all ! Its mentioned to the customer to remind them to look for the email before ending the checkout but only those who go through the Zen-Cart create account does this send one. All others by express are not getting the email.
This does not stop the first sale, but could be denying us repeat sales as they havent the voucher to come back again.

I totally agree its a great cart system to work with. ZC 1.3

bigtheory:

i absolutely love zen cart and am so impressed with how everything i have wanted to with my cart so far is achievable.

tinoy2k:

Question, for our new register customer we will give them 10% off on their first order. We create the Coupon Code and apply at the GV Coupons -> New Signup Discount but the user will not know the coupon ID number until they check their email...

DrByte:

Fortunately, Zen Cart v2.0 has significantly reworked how the checkout pages flow, and will be able to show such discounts more intuitively, akin to much of the discussion above.

You could write your own custom code to automatically redeem the New Customer coupon on the customer's first order.
Or even to display the coupon code in big bold flashing text on the checkout_payment screen.

Granted, that doesn't encourage them to come back ... it only encourages to create a new account using a different email address if they want to exploit the new-customer coupon on a future purchase.

If it's repeat customers you're after and you think that sending them a coupon code is the solution, then you can always send them a coupon a month or two after the sale to encourage/invite them to come back again.

There's all kinds of things you can do, both with existing addons, and by writing your own custom code to do the things you want. Just be sure they're actually beneficial to your business before you go changing the way things work today.