Sending out (unique) discount codes to visitors

Sending out (unique) discount codes to visitors

In the following text, we explain step by step how to generate discount codes, how to load them into your event, and then to send the (personalized) codes using Mailchimp. This can be useful if you want to let a contact list obtain certain tickets.

1. Generating (unique) discount codes.

Discount codes can be generated with https://www.randomcodegenerator.com/en/generate-codes. Enter the number of codes at "Amount of codes" at the top of the page. Below that, there are several settings that can be checked about how the code will look.

Click on "CSV file" at "Output result to:". This will save the codes in an Excel file. This is essential for later. Now click on the green button with the text: "Generate my codes >>".

Note: The free use of this website has a maximum of 1000 codes at a time. (It is possible to repeat the steps mentioned above, and then add them together to use a longer list of codes, for example by copying the other lists and pasting them under the other codes).

A CSV file has now been downloaded to your device with the name: " ..._unique_codes.csv". This can be opened with Microsoft Excel or Numbers (for Mac) and will be needed later. 

 2.     Adding an audience field to you audience

First log in to your Mailchimp account and make sure you have enough credit to send a mailing. Then, in the main menu on the left side of the screen, click on "Audience" and then "All contacts". This will show an overview of all the contacts in your audience. Click on "settings" at the top of the overview bar, and then on "audience fields and |MERGE| tags". This page will show all the information fields that are linked to your contacts.

To add a new information field, click on "Add A Field" at the bottom of the page. Clicking on "text" will create a new field in the list. You can give this field a name of your choice by clicking on "Untitled" and entering a name (e.g. "discount code"). In the fourth column, you can change the name of your tag. Change "MMERGE" that appears after the row of "discount code" to something of your own choosing (e.g. "DISCOUNT", since "DISCOUNTCODE" is too long). Then, save your changes by clicking on "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.

 3.     Copying all email addresses into an Excel file.

The following steps are about pasting all email addresses into an Excel file at once. You can also enter them manually or in another way if that is easier.

Click on the "Audience" button and then on "All contacts". Click on "Export Audience" in the top right and then on "Export as CSV". A file has now been downloaded with all customer information from your audience. Open this file.

Depending on your computer's settings, it is possible that all of the information in the Excel file was downloaded into a single column. If this is the case, you can follow the steps below to change it. If this is not the case, you can skip these steps.

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To begin, click on column "A" at the top left of the Excel file. Then go to the top bar in Excel and click on "Data" and then on "Text to columns".

Step 1 of 3: In this screen, nothing needs to be changed, simply click on "Next" at the bottom right:

Step 2 of 3: On the left side, only check the box next to "Comma", uncheck the box next to "Tab", and then click on "Next":

Step 3 of 3: Again, nothing needs to be changed in this screen. Simply click on "Finish" at the bottom right:

The Excel file now has been changed, so the columns from Mailchimp now has been separated in the Excel file. 

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To copy column "A" (which contains the email addresses), click on "A" at the top with a right click and then click on "Copy".

Now, create a new Excel file. Paste the previously copied column into column "A" again by clicking on "A" with a right click and then clicking on the first paste option. Now all of the email addresses are in a single column in an Excel file.

4.     Adding the copied discount codes to the email addresses.

Open the previously downloaded file with the discount codes: "…_unique_codes". Copy the (only) column in the same way as described above. Then paste these codes in column "B", next to the email addresses in the other Excel file. Now, in the Excel file in column "A", there is a row with email addresses, with next to it in column "B" a row with discount codes.

Important: Make sure that tab "B1", gets exactly the same name as the added "Field" in Mailchimp (as described in chapter 2 of this manual). In the example, this is "discount code". This is essential for importing the data into Mailchimp later on.

5.     Importing the data into Mailchimp

Click on "All contacts" under the "Audience" heading. Then click on "Add contacts" at the top of the bar and then on "Import contact". Choose the option "Copy and paste" and click on "Continue".

Now go to the Excel file, with the email addresses in column "A" and the discount codes in column "B". Copy column "A" and "B" by selecting both areas completely, then right-click and then on "copy".

Go back to Mailchimp and paste the copied columns in the field on Mailchimp. You do this by right-clicking in the field and then on "paste". All selected data is now in the box. Now press "Continue to Organize".

Then check "Update any existing contacts", so that Mailchimp completes the existing information. The page that comes next, can be skipped by clicking on "Continue To Match".

As an example, you now get the rows with 3 email addresses on the left and 3 codes on the right. If this example looks different than shown below, something has gone wrong and the steps must be followed again. If this example looks the same as shown below, you are doing well and you can click on "Finalize Import". To complete it, press "Complete Import".

To check if it was successful, click on the "View Contacts" box, where you can see that all email addresses now have a unique code under "discount code".

6.     Adding the discount codes in the mail to the audience.

When making an email, it is now very easy to send the corresponding discount code to your audience. By clicking on "Merge Tags" at the top of the page (when building your email), there is an option for "discount code". When you click on this, a code appears in the text, which ensures that each individual customer sees his or her own assigned discount code in the mail.

Tip: In the mail, mention that the code can only be used once and that if someone has used it, but then does not buy a ticket, the discount code cannot be used again.

7.     Adding the discount codes in the Back office of Twelve Ticketing.

To make sure that the discount codes that customers receive actually work, it is important to activate these codes in the Back office of Twelve Ticketing (manager.twelveticketing.eu). You do this by clicking on the correct event under the heading "Events" and then on "Promotions".

Click here on the dark blue box with the text "+ New Promotion". As the first option, choose under "Promotion information" which ticket you want the discount code to apply to (for more information: How do I add tickets/products to an event? : Twelve Ticketing Knowledgebase). This ensures that the ticket you click on is not visible in the shop, but only when someone enters their code.

Tip: When you choose for a “promotion” ticket, make sure that the ticket has the “Show in a specific order” checked on and that the number is as low as possible, this way the ticket will be shown at the top op of the screen when using the promotion code. You can also add the ticket to a ticketgroup

For more information, check How do I add tickets/products to an event?).

On the second part of the page, click on the "Promotion Codes" heading and then on "+ Add promotion code". On the page that appears, it is possible to add the list of codes. Go to the "Browse & select your file" field, click on it, and then choose the file with all the discount codes (in our example, this was ... _unique_codes).

We recommend filling in 1 for the user limit. This ensures that the code can only be used once and cannot be forwarded for further use.

Tip: In the email, mention that the code can only be used once and that if someone uses it but does not buy a ticket, the discount code will be made invalid.

After selecting the file, click on "Upload" and then on "Add". By clicking on "Save" in the top right corner, all discount codes are now in the system and ready to be used.