How to Set Up a Discount Coupon on Blinko

The Discount Coupon is Blinko's most flexible campaign type. Four discount structures. A targeting system that lets you reach all customers or a specific segment. A date window you control. Whether you're running a seasonal promotion, launching a new menu item, or trying to fill seats during your quietest shift — this is the tool that gives you the most precision. Here's how to use it.

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What is a Discount Coupon?

A Discount Coupon is a promotional offer you send directly to your Blinko customers — no email list, no phone number required. Followers get the coupon as a push notification and redeem it in-store by showing the Blinko app.

Unlike Today's Special, which is a same-day impulse tool, a Discount Coupon runs over a date range you define — a week, a weekend, a full month. It's the right campaign for planned promotions where customers need enough time to actually act.

The four discount types:

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When to use it

A Discount Coupon is the right choice when:

• You have a planned promotional period — a holiday, a seasonal event, a new menu launch
• You want to drive traffic during specific times — a slow weekday lunch, a quiet afternoon slot
• You want to segment your audience — reward loyal regulars with a better offer than general customers
• You're launching something new and want existing customers to try it first
• You want to run a BOGO to double the number of people through the door

If the urgency is today only, use Today's Special instead.

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What you'll get

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How to set it up

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Option 1: Mobile App

Time to complete: ~3 minutes

Step 1 — Open Campaigns and tap +

Tap Campaigns in the bottom navigation bar, then tap the + icon. Select Discount Coupon.

Step 2 — Choose your discount type

Select from:

• % off — enter the percentage
• Fixed amount — enter the dollar value
• BOGO — configure what's bought and what's free
• Tiered — configure two spend tiers and their corresponding discounts

Step 3 — Write the offer and set the date range

• Offer title: A short, punchy headline the customer sees ("Weekend Deal: 15% Off")
• Offer description: What exactly they get and any conditions ("Valid on all menu items, dine-in only")
• Start date: When the coupon becomes active. Leave as today for immediate activation.
• End date: When it expires. A specific end date creates urgency — use it.

Step 4 — Choose your audience

Select who receives the coupon:

• All customers — your entire Blinko audience
• Active customers — those who visited within the last N days
• Inactive customers — those who haven't visited recently (overlaps with Win-Back, but gives you more offer control)

Step 5 — Publish

Tap Publish. Followers receive a push notification and can access the coupon in their Blinko app until the expiry date.

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Option 2: Web Portal

Time to complete: ~4 minutes

Step 1 — Go to Campaigns → New Campaign → Discount Coupon

Log in at local.blinko.ai, click Campaigns, then New Campaign, then Discount Coupon.

Step 2 — Select discount type and configure

Choose your discount structure and fill in the relevant fields. The web portal shows a live preview of how the coupon will appear to customers.

Step 3 — Set offer details, date range, and audience

• Offer title and description: What the customer sees
• Validity window: Start and end dates
• Target audience: All customers, recent visitors, or lapsed visitors

Step 4 — Publish Campaign

Click Publish Campaign to send the coupon immediately, or set a future start date to schedule it.

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Option 3: AI Copilot

The Copilot handles Discount Coupon campaigns well. Just describe what you want and it takes care of the mechanics:

"Create a 20% off coupon for all customers, valid this weekend only."

"Send a BOGO offer on lattes to everyone who visited in the last 30 days."

"Launch a summer promotion — 15% off orders over $30, running for the next two weeks."

"Give inactive customers a $5 off coupon to bring them back — expires in 10 days."

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What your staff need to do

Discount Coupons need the most careful staff handling of any campaign type. The discount hits the transaction amount directly, so validating before applying it matters.

At redemption — staff action required

1. Customer shows the active coupon in their Blinko app — it displays the offer title, discount value, and expiry date
2. Staff open the Blinko Business app → tap Redeem
3. Customer holds up their in-app QR code
4. Staff scan it — the app confirms whether the coupon is valid, expired, or already redeemed
5. If valid: staff apply the discount at the POS exactly as shown in the app, then complete the transaction
6. The coupon marks as redeemed automatically — it can't be used again

What the app tells staff at the scan

When staff scan the customer's QR code, the Blinko Business app shows the full coupon details:

• Offer title and discount value (e.g., "15% off — all menu items")
• Validity status — green for valid, red for already redeemed or expired
• Any conditions set when the campaign was created

Staff should apply the discount exactly as shown in the app — not as the customer describes it. If a coupon shows as already redeemed, don't re-honour it regardless of what the customer says.

Don't apply discounts without scanning first

The QR scan is the validation step. Applying a discount because a customer showed the Blinko app screen without scanning creates a gap customers can exploit — showing an expired or already-redeemed coupon from their screenshots. The scan is the proof. That's why it's non-negotiable.

Brief your team: "If a customer shows a coupon in their Blinko app, always scan their QR code first. The app will tell you exactly what discount to apply. Don't apply anything until the scan confirms it's valid."

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Tips for better results

Match the discount type to the outcome you want

Use percentage off when you want customers to try your best or highest-margin item — 15% off a $40 service feels more substantial than $6 off. Use fixed amount off when you want to increase basket size — "$5 off orders over $25" reliably lifts average transaction value because customers add items to hit the threshold. Use BOGO when you want to bring in groups. Couples, coworkers, friends. It doubles the number of bodies in the room.

Set an end date — always

A coupon with no expiry is a standing discount, not a promotion. A 7–14 day window gives customers a real reason to act now rather than "sometime." The last 2 days before expiry consistently generate the highest redemption rates — so run a follow-up Today's Special on the final day as a reminder.

Don't discount the same category twice in a row

Run a 20% off coffee deal this month, then run it again next month — and you start training customers to wait for the discount instead of paying full price. Rotate the offer category. Coffee one month, food items the next, service upgrades after that.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I limit how many times a single customer can redeem the coupon? By default, each coupon is single-use per customer — once redeemed, they can't redeem the same campaign again. If you want to allow multiple redemptions within the validity window, you can configure this in the campaign settings.

Can multiple coupons be active at the same time? Yes. You can run multiple Discount Coupon campaigns simultaneously — for example, a general promotion for all customers and a better deal targeted at lapsed customers. Customers see all active coupons they're eligible for in their Blinko app.

What's the difference between a Discount Coupon and a Win-Back campaign? The mechanics overlap, but the intent isn't the same. A Win-Back campaign is a permanent automated rule that fires whenever a customer crosses a lapse threshold — it runs forever without manual input. A Discount Coupon is a deliberate, date-bounded promotion you create for a specific purpose. For targeting lapsed customers with a planned seasonal push, use a Discount Coupon. For continuous, always-on lapse recovery, use Win-Back.

How do staff know whether to honour a coupon? Staff tap Verify & Redeem in the Blinko business app when a customer shows the coupon. The app confirms the coupon is valid and marks it as redeemed. No manual judgement required.