Send coupon codes without an integration

In this article, we'll show you how to import and distribute coupon codes to contacts using email. 

Take note

• This solution is for customers who do not use the Shopify or WooCommerce native integrations
• If you're using the Shopify or WooCommerce native integration, you can generate coupon codes in ActiveCampaign with the "Coupon" block

Upload coupon codes

1. From your ActiveCampaign account, export all contacts who should receive a coupon code.
2. Format the export file by deleting all columns except the email address. Next to the email address column, add a Coupon Code column. "Coupon code" will serve as the name of your new custom field when we import this information later.
   
   
   
   
3. Generate your list of coupon codes from your 3rd party application.
4. Copy the coupon codes and paste them into the Coupon Code column in the file you exported from ActiveCampaign. Save your file as a CSV.
5. We must import this file to assign the coupon codes to contacts. To do so, click Contacts on the left-side menu and click “Import" on the top right of the page.
6. Click “Import from file.”
7. Select your file from your hard drive.
8. On the import page, map your coupon code column to your custom field. If this field does not yet exist, click “Add New Field” from the Map into Field dropdown:
   
   
   
   
9. Select the field type that this field should be. In this example, we’re going to click “Text input.” Click “Next.”
10. Type the name of your custom field and click “Save.”
11. In the “Import Options” box, click “Update existing contacts while importing” and click “Import Now.”

Note that you do not need to select a list; you only update contacts in your CSV file with a custom field.

Once the contacts are updated, you will see the new custom field on the contact’s profile record.

In addition, we’ll also generate a personalization tag for your new field that you can use to insert into your outgoing communications.

Insert coupon codes into a campaign

To distribute these codes to your contacts, you’ll need to insert the personalization tag for your coupon code field into your email. Once the contact receives the email, the value for that tag will automatically be inserted, replacing the tag itself.

1. To start, open your direct or automated campaign and click on a text box. You can type some copy to introduce your coupon code.
2. Place your cursor where you want the tag to be inserted. Then click “Personalization Tags” in the toolbar.
3. Click the "Coupon code" field in the “Add a personalization” modal.
   
   The personalization tag for your coupon field will be inserted:
   
   

To test your email before sending this out to your contacts, you will need to send this email to a test contact with a coupon code. Sending a test version of this campaign will not render values for personalization tags.