Offer discounts to customers on your website

All you need to do is select a template, change the copy, and decide when and where to display your offer. For instance, you can display it a few seconds after a visitor arrives on your website, once they start heading to the exit, or while they’re viewing a specific page.

You can also just add a sitewide sticky bar featuring a coupon code, your current promo announcement, or offering a discount in exchange for an email subscription 👇

If you’d like to use this approach to start offering discounts on your website, below, we’ll show you how to do that using Getsitecontrol – an easy-to-use popup builder. There’s no need for you to be tech-savvy or deal with the code: just select a template from the gallery below and follow the instructions.

How to create a popup in Getsitecontrol

Before you get started, consider creating a Getsitecontrol account. Getsitecontrol works on any platform: all you need to do is connect it to your website by following easy steps. The free plan allows you to publish non-targeted discount promo offers on your website at no cost.

If you’re on Shopify, read this guide to offering discounts on Shopify.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

Step 1. Select a template from the built-in gallery

To get started, log into your Getsitecontrol account, click Create widget and select Premade widgets. Then pick the pop-up coupon offer as illustrated below:

Feel free to pick any other template from the gallery. You’ll be able to tailor the offer and the popup’s design during the next steps, and the setup process will be identical.

Step 2. Type the discount offer

Once in the dashboard, you can easily customize the popup in terms of the copy and design.

To change the text, just click on it and type the details of your offer. In the example below, we’re setting up a welcome offer for first-time customers:

When a visitor clicks on the button, the coupon code will be automatically copied to their clipboard.

If you’re using a premade widget, the button-click parameters are already preset, so all you need to do is paste the code of your coupon to the corresponding field.

To do this, click on the popup button, select Copy to clipboard from the list of actions, and paste your code to the first field:

When a customer clicks on the button, they’ll see a default pop-up message saying “Copied!”. From there, all they need to do is paste the code at checkout.

💡 Notice that in our example, the coupon code and the text on the button are the same, but they don’t have to be. For instance, on the button you may want to place a call to action, such as COPY COUPON, whereas the coupon code can be any word or combination. Here is an example 👇

In this case, the button text says ‘COPY COUPON’, but the coupon code in the button-click settings is SHIPFREE. So, when a customer hits the button, they will copy ‘SHIPFREE’ to the clipboard.

Step 3. Customize the appearance of the popup

When the content of your popup is ready, you may want to adjust its design to harmonize it with your website. To change the color theme, font, and overall style of the popup, go to the Theme section:

If you’ve selected a popup template that contains an image, you can replace it. Click on the image and proceed to Change image. Then upload your own picture or visit the built-in image and GIF gallery:

To check the mobile version of the popup, switch to the mobile preview mode at the bottom of the screen. (If you don’t want a picture in the mobile version, unflag this checkbox in the image settings for mobile):

When you have finished working on the appearance of your popup, move on to the Targeting tab.

Step 4. Adjust targeting settings (optional premium feature)

The template we are using for our popup is a discount promo. By default, it appears as soon as a visitor lands on your website, regardless of the page:

If you want, however, you can tailor the targeting settings more to your goals. For example, you can choose to display the popup on selected pages, change the timing triggers and audience targeting rules.

Most controls in the Targeting tab are self-explanatory, but feel free to check our instructions on targeting if you need guidance.

At this point, the popup is ready. Hit Save & close in the top right corner and activate the discount offer on your website.

How to check the popup performance once it’s live

To check the performance of the popup, open the Statistics report in your Getsitecontrol dashboard, and select this popup in the widgets filter.

On the high level, you’ll be able to see how many times your website visitors have viewed the popup and copied the coupon. However, you can also see on which pages the popup is performing better, or if it’s performing especially well for certain traffic channels, devices, or countries.

💡 If you’re on Shopify, you’ll also see the list of purchases completed by visitors after using the discount.

How to offer discounts to customers in an online store: common practices

Now that you know the basics of creating a popup in Getsitecontrol, let’s review three common practices for offering discounts on a website. If you like any of the templates from the examples below, feel free to use them in your store.

1. Offer a discount to customers in exchange for an email

Another common practice is offering a discount in exchange for an email address:

If you’re trying to grow your email list, this tactic is like killing two birds with one stone: you get a new subscriber and increase the chances of purchase by providing a discount.

If you decide to implement this tactic, select a premade widget that has an email capture form, like this one:

The setup process for this widget will be similar to what we’ve described earlier in the article. However, in this case, you can deliver the discount code using a follow-up email – an automated message sent to the new subscriber’s inbox.

If you’ve selected a popup from the premade gallery, it already comes with a premade follow-up email. To edit the text of the email and its appearance, go to the Follow-up tab and click Edit.

In the email editor, check and adjust the content of the fields on the right side of the screen:

• subject,
• pre-header (a brief description of the content of your email),
• sender,
• email contact,
• and unsubscribe link text.

Once that is done, edit the body of your email, add design it using images, buttons, and coupon boxes.

Click Done to save your follow-up email. Then choose whether you want to send it right away or delay it.

2. Offer a discount to customers who are leaving

Shopping cart abandonment is a huge problem in ecommerce. One way you can try to prevent abandonment on your website is by offering a discount right before visitors leave using an exit-intent popup.

Here is an example of an exit-intent popup:

In the Targeting tab, you’ll need to select the exit-intent trigger to make sure the offer is only displayed when a visitor is about to leave. Also, you may want to add your shopping cart or product page URLs to the field indicating where to display the offer:

Sometimes, displaying a discount code right on the popup may encourage customers to go back and finalize the purchase. However, for some items, the purchase decision cycle is longer and a discount will not be an incentive for immediate checkout. In this case, it’s more efficient to deliver the coupon code to the customer’s email and send a gentle reminder after some time.

💡 Need inspiration? See how these brands are using exit-intent popups to save sales.

3. Offer a time-limited discount (create a sense of urgency)

We talk about limited-time offers a lot on our blog, and the truth is, they work very well for ecommerce. Whether you’re running a flash sale or a seasonal clearance, the offer will be more efficient if you add a sense of urgency to it.

In the example below, the sense of urgency is achieved through the date 👇

To recreate this example, you can either type a date of your choice or display the current date of the customer’s visit by adding a variable to the copy:

You can find more templates like this one in the template gallery.

Increase online sales with timely customer offers

Discounts are the engine of ecommerce sales. They’re also unparalleled when it comes to converting first-time visitors – the most challenging step in the marketing funnel.

Eliminate the guesswork, and start offering them on your website using discount promo popups. With Getsitecontrol, it’s fast and simple. There’s no commitment or credit card information required to get started, so you’re not risking anything either. Go ahead and try it for yourself.