If you haven’t learned how to make coupons on your membership site yet, it’s time you did. Nowadays, using discount coupon codes to generate leads and attract new customers is common practice – and a smart move. Luckily, MemberPress offers this very feature.

Easy to set up and manage, MemberPress coupons enable you to attract new members and retain old ones, in turn boosting sign-up numbers and increasing recurring subscriptions.

By the end of this article, you’ll have a clear picture of how to make coupons and how to get them work to your advantage.

Using MemberPress Coupons

Setting up a MemberPress coupon is a snap.  To get started, simply go to your WordPress dashboard and under MemberPress Coupons, click the Add New button.

MemberPress automatically generates a coupon code name, but you can rename it to reflect your promotion if you wish. You can then select the discount to be a percentage or a monetary amount.

When creating your coupons with MemberPress, you can choose from other options, including whether you want the discount to be for a trial period only or throughout a customer’s membership.

You can also select how many people can use the coupon, add an expiration date for the code, and decide what packages you’d like to apply the discount to.

For detailed instructions, check out our MemberPress Coupons Guide.

Now that you know how to make coupons with MemberPress coupons, let’s look at some of the ways you can use them and the benefits of doing so.

How and Why You Should Offer a Discount Coupon

Discount coupon codes can be used in a number of ways and places. They can be used to collect emails, attract new visitors, and/or encourage current members to renew their subscriptions. Following are some of the different ways you can use membership coupons to achieve these goals.

Coupon Codes as Lead Magnets

Using a coupon code as a lead magnet is a great way to collect email addresses. Consider offering a free trial or discounted subscription or product to encourage visitors to submit their emails and join your list.

Whether they sign up or not, you’ll have collected their email addresses, and they can be included in future email marketing campaigns, promoting your site and encouraging registrations.

Use a Discount Coupon Code in an Email or Newsletter

Since visitors who join your mailing list are expressing an interest in your membership site, it’s important to focus on this group, as they are now part of your target audience and likely to become members.

Try sending coupon codes in emails or monthly newsletters to your mailing list. A discount may be the final nudge your subscribers need to become members.

Offer Free Trials Instead of a Discount

A coupon code doesn’t always have to involve a discount on fees. It can also be used to provide a free trial for a day, a week, or a month. And once a user has signed up, explored your site, and accessed your content, they may be more interested in becoming a full-paying member.

Time Sensitive Discounts

Another popular option is to create codes that are active for a limited time only. You could also use a countdown timer to show that time’s running out on a particular promotion. Under pressure and fearing they may miss out on a good deal, visitors are more likely to take you up on your offer.

Discount Upgrades to Premium Plans

If your membership site offers a variety of plans and packages, a discount coupon code is a great way to encourage members to upgrade. Select a specific plan you’re trying to promote and offer new and current members a discounted rate.

You could also create a coupon code exclusively for current members, reducing the cost of all plans by a percentage. It's an effective way to encourage your audience to upgrade to premium plans and thus increase your revenue.

Offer a Discount on Memberships Renewals

Member retention one of the most important aspects of running a membership site. If your members renew on a yearly basis, send them a discount coupon code when their membership is due to expire.

They can claim the discount against their membership fee, which may be the extra incentive they need to stick around. You can also use the MemberPress reminders feature to send automated emails to members after their subscriptions have expired. Include a coupon code in this email and you could see them coming back to your site to take advantage of your offer.

If members pay on a monthly basis, you can send out a discount coupon if someone tries to cancel their membership. Since attracting new members is time-consuming, holding on to the ones you have is a high priority.

Although offering a discount may mean your profits take a hit, the retention of existing members is more valuable long-term.

Create Coupon Codes For Your Affiliates

If you’ve purchased MemberPress, you can take advantage of seamless integration with the Easy Affiliate plugin. This plugin makes it easy to create and manage your own affiliate program and to incentivize and reward others for sending new members to your site.

In addition to offering affiliates a commission for successfully promoting your site, you can create coupon codes for them to share with and encourage their audience members to sign up to your membership site.

This approach helps create a win-win-win situation – you gain more members, your affiliates generate more commissions, and their audiences get a discount on your membership site.

And don’t forget webinars and podcasts with affiliates. They’re a great opportunity to help get coupon codes in front of your target audience.

Issue Single-Use Coupon Codes for Individuals

Another option is to issue single-use coupon codes for individuals. Since single-issue coupon codes can only be used once, there’s no need to worry about numerous discounts being generated.

Individualized codes can be used for all kinds of scenarios:

• As an apology if there’s been a problem with a customer joining up
• As a prize for a competition winner
• For a member of the public who's emailed you with a specific inquiry about your site
• For just about anything else!

Individualized codes are a great way to provide a personalized customer-service experience.

Final Thoughts

Once you’ve set up a coupon code, make sure you promote it. Advertise it on your site, on landing pages, in pop-ups, or on a hello bar.

Email marketing, social media, and setting up an affiliate program are also effective ways of letting others know about the coupons you’re offering.

Lastly, it’s always a good idea to monitor your stats and analytics to see whether the discount you’ve offered is helping increase memberships on your site.

What are your thoughts on using a discount code on your WordPress membership site? Please share in the comments below.

If you liked this article, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn! And don't forget to subscribe in the box below.

Joe Fylan

Joe is a certified WordPress whiz who stays busy creating WordPress websites, including MemberPress sites, on the regular. Joe loves sharing his expertise with other users out there. Check out all his latest WordPress news and reviews at Get Web Tips.

Ver biografía completa