Coupon System

May 16, 2023

The MMS has capabilities for managing member coupons and special offers that appear in the following places:

  • On web/email coupons and offers available to consumers (designated "Web/Email Offers" and "Web")
    • On the web search page and on member traffic catcher pages
    • On emails and web postings
  • In our printed coupon book (Chamber Welcome Book) – (designated "Printed Coupon Book" and "Print")
  • On "member promotions and opportunities" emails (designated "Member to Member" and   "M2M")

  Four basic types of coupons can be created:

  • A coupon composed entirely of text information
  • A coupon composed of text information containing a small graphic image (e.g. a logo or other image) in the upper left hand corner
  • A coupon with a large graphic image at the top and text information underneath
  • A coupon that is entirely a graphic image (no text info).

Using the system...

  •   A member may have multiple coupons/special offers
  •   Adding or deleting a coupon for a member requires opening the member’s record in change mode, scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page to select the “ EcTown Launch Page: click here to edit EcTown info ” option, selecting the “ Traffic Catcher Site Center ” option, then the “ Coupon Creator for Local Directory and Search Engine ” option.

·   Coupons/special offers can be managed from the “Coupon Report” on the Quick Reports menu in the admin interface or from the “ EcTown Launch Page: click here to edit EcTown info ” option in the member’s record

o   The coupon report and the “view coupons” option can be filtered for category of coupon (“web”, “print”, and “M2M”

o   The coupon report and the “view coupons” option can be filtered to show all coupons regardless of start date or expiration date, or just to show currently active coupons

o   A “print version” option strips the “view coupons” display of header and footer information leaving a web display that can be inserted into email messages or a web page.

·   Coupon images are stored in ECTown and can be copied or saved to use for other purposes.

 

Adding a coupon

 

Coupons are sub-records of member records, so must be created from within the context of a member record.   To add a coupon on behalf of a member, log in to the admin interface and open up the member’s record in change mode.   Then:

  • scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to select the “ EcTown Launch Page: click here to edit EcTown info ” option,
  • select the “ Traffic Catcher Site Center ” option,
  • select the “ Coupon Creator for Local Directory and Search Engine ” option
  • click on the “ Add Coupon ” option
  • enter the date that the coupon should become active in the “start date” field
  • Choose one or more publishing options depending on the audience desired for the coupon/offer.

    • choosing “Web/Email Offers”   means that it will be active on web/email coupons and offers available to consumers:
      • On the web search page, in the member directory, and on member traffic catcher pages
      • On emails and web postings
    • choosing “Printed Coupon Book” means it is designated to appear in future editions of our printed coupon book (Chamber Welcome Book)
    • choosing “Member to Member” means it can be used in “member promotions and opportunities” emails and web notices
  • Enter a title for the coupon; best is a brief description of the offer
  • Enter a description of the coupon/offer; for text coupons/offers, this entry will describe what is being offered.   Information about the offer or is not required as that will automatically be inserted from the member record information.
  • Enter disclaimer info as desired.   For instance, “one per customer” or “Valid on weekends only” are examples of disclaimers
  • Checking the “Full Graphic Coupon” box indicates that an uploaded image will serve as the coupon.   This is a requirement for coupons that are desired to be used in the printed coupon book.   If this box is left unchecked, any image that is uploaded will be shrunk to fit in the upper left hand corner of the text coupon.
  • To upload an image, browse for and select the image
  • Click the “Continue” button

The coupon is added to the member’s list of coupons.   From this list it can be edited, deleted, or viewed.

 

Viewing coupons and special offers on the Chamber’s web directory search page, in the member directory, and on member traffic catcher pages

 

 

Only coupons/special offers that have the “web/email” publishing option selected show up on these pages

  • Chamber’s “Search-able Directory” page (“Shop the Chamber” menu on homepage) has a special offer button that brings up a listing of coupons/special offers
  • A member’s directory listing has a “special offer” icon next to it if they have an active coupon or special offer.   Clicking on the icon opens the coupon/offer.
  • A member’s Traffic Catcher page has a link to their coupons/special offers on it.

Publishing

 

The following links are for public use (change [org_id] to your organization id).

 

 

 

Alternately, the following link is a public link to M2M, active coupons in alphabetical order:
http://www.chamberorganizer.com/members/directory/onlinecoupons_list.php?org_id=[org_id]&type=M2M&print=Y

 

 

Using ECTown to Assist in Printing the Coupon Book

 

A webpage with the coupon images that have the “printed coupon book” publishing option selected can be accessed by clicking on “Quick Reports”, then “Coupon Report”, then “View Images”.   The “Print” and “Only Active Coupons” filters need to be clicked to select the appropriate images for the print coupon book.  

 

The coupon report can also be filtered for the active, print coupons.   There is a link from each coupon listing to the original uploaded image (at full resolution).   Using this link, original images can be copied or saved to use in the coupon book layout.

Instructions for Members:   Adding a coupon

 

To add a coupon the member must log in to their member page. Then:

  • Click on the “Manage Website” button
  • select the “ Coupon Creator for Local Directory and Search Engine ” option (note: although you can just add a coupon, it is advisable to complete all of the various applicable steps on this page to optimize your presence on the web
  • click on the “ Add Coupon ” option
  • enter the date that the coupon should become active in the “start date” field
  • Choose one or more publishing options depending on the audience desired for the coupon/offer.

    • choosing “Web/Email Offers”   means that it will be active on web/email coupons and offers available to consumers:
      • On the Chamber’s web directory search page, in the member directory, and on member traffic catcher pages
      • On emails and web postings
    • choosing “Printed Coupon Book” means it will appear in future editions of our printed coupon book (Chamber Welcome Book)
    • choosing “Member to Member” means it can be used in “member promotions and opportunities” emails and web notices
  • Enter a title for the coupon; best is a brief description of the offer
  • Enter a description of the coupon/offer; for text coupons/offers, this entry will describe what is being offered.   Information about the offerer is not required as that will automatically be inserted from the member record information.
  • Enter disclaimer info as desired.   For instance, “one per customer” or “Valid on weekends only” are examples of disclaimers
  • Checking the “Full Graphic Coupon” box indicates that an uploaded image will serve as the coupon.   This is a requirement for coupons that are desired to be used in the printed coupon book.   If this box is left unchecked, any image that is uploaded will be shrunk to fit in the upper left hand corner of the text coupon.
  • To upload an image, browse for and select the image
  • Click the “Continue” button

The coupon is added to the member’s list of coupons.   From this list it can be edited, deleted, or viewed.

 

Member’s should always view their coupon after adding it to proofread and to make sure it looks like they intended it to look.  

 

Help is available by calling the member services coordinator at 855-233-6362.