Ian Grainger
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

I wouldn’t say this is the biggest ecommerce mistake out there, I would still argue that hidden fees is probably the biggest turn off.

Data will give companies the answer here. When people are going through the checkout process where are they dropping out? Most people will have some sort of journey like Product landing page > basket > checkout > complete checkout. If people are dropping out at the basket then it might be price, if it’s the checkout then it can be a number of things like delivery time, extra fees, etc

If you do have a voucher code box then most likely your company has voucher codes out there somewhere and I’ve found that sites like dealscove and vouchercloud will find them. If people leave your site and then come back via these sites then you could be onto something.

As another use pointed out, removing it will be hard to do and have more of a negative impact on your current user base. If you have a constant stream of new users and no returning old users then it could work (although you might have other business issues if that is the case!)

We have a voucher code on our site and I have no doubt that people have left to go and find a voucher, but when they do they will find one. This then leads to them coming back and completing the purchase. Imagine their faces “haha I didn’t have a voucher code, but I went and found one! I’m so smart, I’ve beaten the system. Time to buy this item and save all this money!”

Or what about all those people we’ve captured from google in the first place “voucher code for X”, “discount codes for X” etc etc. These voucher sites have links to your site on their site and I can’t quote direct numbers but this will help referrals and SEO.

Being able to create vouchers that apply across a range of products is also helpful. If you sold shoes and wanted to do 10% off Nike would you create a special landing page with a discount URL just for those shoes? It would lead to excess maintenance.

I think you’ve made some great points about keeping the checkout flow as clean and simple as possible, but for certain businesses and customer bases vouchers do have a place.

    Ian Grainger

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    Education Umbrella. Basketball. Friends and family.