Creating a Mobile Coupon

You can create your coupons for many purposes. For example, you can use them as an incentive to customers and clients to opt-in to your business list. You can also send out a coupon to customers to drive business. For example, if Wednesday night is your slowest night at your restaurant, send out coupons to everyone on your opt-in list to help get people to the restaurant. "Hey, come on in tonight for half off appetizers!"

Here is a step by step guide on how to create Mobile Coupons through your advertiser dashboard. 

1. Go to the advertiser dashboard and click on "Mobile Coupons":
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. On the next screen, you can access all coupons. Active coupons will expire once they have reached their end date. Pending coupons are coupons with future start and end dates, and coupons that need your attention are coupons that have been screened and rejected or were not fully completed.
   
   
   
   
   
3. To create a Mobile Coupon, click "Create New":
   
   
   
   
   
4. On the next page, you will be presented with the coupon creation wizard. First, you will be asked to choose a coupon type. Our template is a quick and easy way to create a visual coupon to be displayed on the mobile device. An image coupon will use an image you upload as the coupon itself with the expiration date and name of the coupon. You may either upload an image that is 420x200 pixels or select a preloaded image from our gallery.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Enter the name of your coupon - This is for your use only and will not be seen by your customers:
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Select which image you would like to use. Click "Choose File" to find your file on your computer. Once you choose your image, the picture should automatically upload and appear on your coupon preview to the right. If you have no image, you can click on "Select From Gallery" to browse our gallery of thumbnail images.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Give your product or service a name:
   
   
   
   
   
8. Add a subtitle such as a slogan, tagline, or more information regarding your product or service:
   
   
   
    
9. Select your coupon's colors for the title and subtitle by clicking where it says "Select". When you hit "Select," the color slider will appear below. Choose your color, and remember to adjust the slider on the right-hand side to make your color appear in a darker or lighter shade. 
   
   
   
   
   
10. Enter the original price of your product or service in the "Original Price" field. You will also need to add the new discounted price. You can also choose a specific color for the discounted price in the "Discounted Price Color" field.
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. You will have an option to select "Start/End Date" to select a specific start and end date for your coupon along with an option to extend your coupon by a specific time period. 
    
    
    
    
    You can also select "Dynamic Date" which will make a coupon active once the customer receives until a specific date. You will also have an option to extend your coupon by a specific time period. 
    
    
    
    
    
12. In the next section you will have the following options:
    - Redeem Button: Select the text that will appear inside the redeem button
    - URL Name: A button with this URL name will be displayed in the redemption page and will link to a URL address you choose (see the "URL Address" option below)
    - URL Address: Add a URL where customers will be redirected when they click the URL Name link (see the "URL Name" option above)
    
    
    
    
    
13. The next set of parameters create "tap to call" buttons, button to your website and sharing buttons. Click on "Enable Sharing" to enable customers to share the offer with friends via SMS text (The green button) to social media ranging from Twitter (middle) and Facebook (end).
    
    
    
    
    
14. Click "Next" to continue to the next page of the wizard:
    
    
    
    
    
15. On the next page of the coupon wizard, in the "Address" field, you can input the address of where the coupon needs to be redeemed. In the "Terms and conditions" field you can specify the terms and conditions of the coupon. You could enter information such as "Offer only valid until 1/21/2012 and for purchases over $20.00..." You can also mention the address and telephone number of the business to let the customer know where to redeem the coupon.
    
    
    
    
    
16. Choose a barcode type - This barcode can be scanned into the business’ point of sale system so that once scanned during the transaction, the system will automatically apply the discount. These barcodes can be scanned directly from the customer’s phone. IF the business doesn’t use barcodes, you can select "Promotion." Enter a number for the code, this number can be anything you want and is used when for instance, the barcode cannot be scanned. If you're looking to upload your own coupon codes, please click here to follow our guide to upload codes.
    
    
    
    
    In the "Barcode number" field, enter a number for the code - this number can be anything you want and is used when for instance, the barcode cannot be scanned.
    
    
    
    
    
17. Optional: Selecting "Mistery Coupon" will add a top layer covering the content of the coupon once the customer receives it. The customer will then have to "scratch-off" this layer by swiping their finger in order to reveal the coupon’s offer.
    
    
    
    
    
    
18. Optional: "Notify before Expiration" will let you add an option to notify customers before their coupon expires. You can select the number of days before this notification will go out.
    
    
    
    
    
    
19. Optional: Add a minimum offer value and a maximum offer value.
    
    
    
    
    
20. Optional: Select "Branch code required" if you have more than one store. This is a great way to help track each of your stores' offers. Click here to learn more about setting up branch codes.
    
    
    
    
    
21. Optional: Select "Enable SMS Redemption" if you would like to allow your customers to redeem their coupons via text messaging. If you do not select this option, customers will receive a link to click on to get their coupons. In the "SMS Terms & Conditions" field, you can add terms and conditions that will be added to the activation code message that a customer will receive when redeeming a coupon via text message. In the "Redeem message preview" section you will see a preview of the message that your customers will receive when redeeming a coupon via text message - this is based on what you add to the "SMS Terms & Conditions" field.
    
    
    
    
    
    
22. Click "Next' when finished and you'll be directed to the last page in the wizard:
    
    
    
    
    
    
23. On the next page, you will see a review of all the information added to the mobile coupon including a preview to the right of the screen. Click "Finish" to create your coupon:
    
    
    
    
    
24.  A window will pop up asking you to "Confirm,' and upon confirming, the coupon will be available to view in the active coupons section.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
25. You're all set. Have a blast!

Watch our tutorial video below:

 Additional Information

• When you are ready to send a coupon out, click the send button for the desired coupon. For the sending options, please refer to the guide on our simple Text Message feature, as the two are pretty much the same.
• The only differences are that at the top you are given a list of your currently active coupons to select the one you want to send, in which case a preview is available to the right in case you forget which one you wanted.
• Also, there is also an option to include a custom message before and after the coupon message itself, pictured to the right. You may use merge tags to customize the message.
• You are limited to 160 characters.
• View the numbered pictures below in conjunction with the following description of how the coupon is redeemed:
• When the coupon is sent to a  customer's mobile device, they will see this message and can click on the link provided (1), which will take them to their coupon wallet (2). The coupon wallet is a collection of all the coupons they haven’t yet redeemed that have been sent to them via our system. These could be coupons from other businesses that happen to use our services as well. Once they redeem the coupon, it is gone from the wallet and therefore cannot be used again unless they are sent the same coupon again. The customer clicks ‘Redeem’ for the coupon they want to use. They will then be asked to supply a branch code if you had checked ‘Branch code required’. This page will tell them ‘Pressing “Redeem” activates the coupon and it will not be available for a second use. Please ensure you are at your retailer’s checkout location’ (3). Once they press ‘Redeem’, they will be taken to a page with the barcode (if you selected ‘Promotion code’ in the barcode drop-down menu, there will be no barcode) and the code number (4). The cashier may either enter the code number into the POS or scan the code directly from the phone.