It triggers immediate loss-aversion and sends your buyers searching Google for relief.
Here’s why you need to delete that field today: 👇

If your website has a high checkout abandonment rate, give some thought to that innocent-looking 100-pixel box labeled something like “Got a promo code?  Enter it here.”  Years of CRO audits tell me that this basic, out-of-the-box feature on many e-commerce platforms is just asking for trouble.  Here’s why.

This 100-Pixel Field Is Sabotaging Your Sales.

Think about what you do when you’re at checkout and see a box suggesting there may be a code that will instantly lower your price.  

Whether it’s labeled “promo,” “coupon,” or “discount,” it implies that a secret “password” exists to pay less, and you don’t have it.  

You were about to click “Buy Now,” but instead, if you’re like 93% of buyers, you’re opening a new browser tab and searching for something like “Brand” + “Discount Code.”  

That’s when the fun begins.

Because Your Customer Will Immediately Exit to Google

If you’re a small or newer brand, when a consumer searches for you on Google to find a coupon code, they may find nothing and realize they have never heard of you. If your search results are empty, it screams “risk”.  

Or maybe you’ve been around a while, and a search on your brand surfaces various comments and reviews, positive and negative.  Which ones do you think the buyer will focus on?  

Where Your Competitors Are Waiting to Hijack Them

If you’re a larger brand, the buyer’s search may display PPC ads from competitors targeting your brand.  Typical headlines in this situation: “Don’t buy from them, look at us instead.”  

Or maybe you’ve offered discount codes in the past, and there are coupon scraping sites claiming “Latest Discount Codes for Your Brand.”  My thesis on what happens next:

  • Your buyer tries 5 expired or fake codes;
  • The codes fail;
  • The buyer rage quits.

Now, recall how we got here.  Your buyer was on the checkout screen, ready to click “Buy Now.”  But seeing your coupon field sent them off on a search to avoid the loss.  

Why are we displaying coupon fields?  I think in virtually all cases you shouldn’t be.  If you don’t have an active email and coupon campaign, then you don’t want this field in your checkout – delete it if you can.  And if you do have an active coupon campaign, you’d be better off handling it differently.

Get Rid of the Box—Use These 3 Alternatives Instead

Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce build the coupon field into their basic checkout screens.   WooCommerce and Squarespace allow you to toggle the field on or off, or automatically hide it if no code is active.  This is the ideal situation.  Shopify will always display the box if there is any code in the system.  Unless you’re on their $2,000+ per-month Shopify Plus plan, you can’t remove it if you’ve got a code in the system, active or not.

Your best options are to remove the coupon field or use a different method to implement the code.  Here are three alternatives that solve the problem:

Auto-Apply the Code through a URL Link > instead of the buyer copying and pasting the code, the subscriber clicks a link in your marketing materials (newsletter, email, socials).  When the subscriber clicks the link, a backend cookie is set and automatically applied at checkout.  

  • Benefit:  No coupon field required, no distractions.

Identity Connected through Login or Email > tie the code to the subscriber’s digital identity, and apply the code when they either log in to your site as a VIP member or through their email entered during checkout.  

  • Benefit: No box required; automatically rewards your core audience.

Platform Work-Around with Dummy Code > If you’re trapped on a site where you can’t remove the coupon field, don’t let it just sit there.  Use the store’s language settings to set a placeholder.

Change the field’s background text from “Discount Code” to an instruction like:  “Enter DISCOUNT10.” >

Then align it with your storefront.  Show the discount on your product pages, using the difference between the “Compare-At” price and the “Final Price.”  

Then set up an identical Automatic Discount in your backend.  Whether the customer types the code into the box or not, they get the same exact final price at checkout.  

  • Benefit:  This satisfies the buyer’s urge to enter a code and “win” the discount, removing any motivation to leave the site and search Google.

Calling It a “Discount” Code Is Your Worst Choice

If you insist on keeping the coupon field, consider how you label it.  “Coupon,” “promo,” “discount” (or “voucher” in the UK and Europe) are the most common keywords.  

My money’s on “discount” being the worst choice by far.  

Whereas “coupon” and “promo” are abstract ideas, “discount”  has a tangible financial value.  In my experience, it triggers loss aversion and FOMO (fear of missing out), sending the message to the buyer that if they press the “Buy Button” now, they’re agreeing to be overcharged.

If you’re wondering whether your site’s checkout has conversion leaks, let me look at it for you.  Click this link and I’ll send you a free, 8-minute custom Loom video walkthrough of your site’s friction points.

E-commerce Founders: Have you removed your coupon fields entirely?
Marketers: Am I overestimating the buyer-psychology damage of the “Discount” label?
Let’s debate in the comments below. (And if you want that free checkout video audit, click here to claim it now!)