The title of this thread has been edited by a Square Moderator from the original: Let’s talk coupons - I'd love to hear your ideas on how we might better utilize coupons
Posted in Champions but curious of everyone else as well.
Hey Team,
I’ve been digging into the Square Community and found a lot of users facing similar challenges as us when it comes to coupons.
There seem to be quite a few limitations here, and it feels like this is more than just an idea on a message board. I’d love to get your thoughts on it.
Automatic discounts in Square are pretty robust. Let’s look at how the initial setup of an automatic discount or "discount rule" works:
- You have extensive customization options: customer groups, quantity, item, or even category.
- You can set specific time ranges and dates.
- These rules can be applied as BOGOs, percent-off discounts for specific customer groups, and more.
- If you work with the API, you can even unlock functionality not available in the GUI.
Now, imagine if this same functionality was available for coupons. Sure, Square offers basic options like specific amounts, free items, or percentage discounts, but what if we could take it further and apply the customization available in discounts to specific coupon codes?
Here’s an example:
Our Square Text database is growing fast—it’s already crossed the 10,000 mark in just a few weeks. We’d love to create a weekly or bi-weekly BOGO program exclusively for those customers. The discount module has the restrictions we need, but it can only be applied automatically.
What if we could send out a unique coupon code via Square Marketing, tied to the same restrictions in the discount setup?
Another scenario: a limited-time happy hour special—buy any meal and get a free draft beer. We could technically set this up through automatic discounts, but we’d rather reserve it for our most loyal customers.
Other users have posted similar ideas, like customers earning a coupon for purchasing four items on their website. Automatic discounts can handle part of this, but there’s no way to tie it to a specific coupon code.
It’s also odd that Square’s API has some coupon functionality, but it’s not fully accessible. Coupons show up on customer accounts, but there’s no way to add or modify them easily.
It feels like the teams at Square could collaborate to bridge the gap between these features. Discounts and coupons should work more seamlessly together.
I’d love to hear your ideas on how we might better utilize coupons to mimic the functionality of discounts—just with the added flexibility of codes. Let me know your thoughts!
Eric
