What Is A Promotion Code?

Although the term has become generically used, a promotion code is a string of characters used to redeem a discount on an online purchase.

With so many terms thrown about in the coupon industry, we thought it would be useful to define each one of them so that you know exactly what you're getting. Although these are our wonderings, the definitions provided below are standard throughout the couponing industry, and we created this page to codify these definitions as there can be minor differences between them.

What Is A Coupon?

A coupon is a paper voucher that can be used to redeem a discount on a particular purchase. A coupon contains a description of the discount it provides, any terms of that discount, and a trackable code--typically a UPC or QR--that allows it to be tracked when physically scanned.

Promotion Codes or Coupon Codes

A promotion code is a string of characters used to redeem a discount on an online purchase. Typically paired with a description and terms, the strict definition of a promotion/coupon code is only the set of characters themselves. For example, a consumer seeing a "Redeem Offer" or "No Code Needed" would *not* be encountering a promotion/coupon code regardless of how it was touted. Promotion/Coupon codes may or may not be unique but are typically tied to particular campaigns so a store can track its effectiveness or originating website.

Keycodes

A keycode is an online coupon and was the original term to describe a promotion code. Keycode is a trademarked term owned by Quick-Save, LLC. Although the term is frequently used synonymously for promotion or coupon code, its use is protected (in the United States) by the trademark holder.

For further disambiguation, a key code (note the space) is an alphanumeric string used to represent a character or command in computer programming.

Mobile Coupon / Mobile Offer

Mobile coupons are digital discount-providing vouchers only available to customers directly through a mobile device. Mobile coupons do not include promotion codes sent by email and, also unlike promotion codes, are used exclusively at the point of sale.

Click To Redeem or Clickable Offers

Clickable Offers are a variation of online coupons that are activated by the clicking of a link and the subsequent setting of cookie (instead of the entry of a string of characters). Clickable Offers will, like most online transactions, set a cookie on the machine of its user to indicate to the store some information about the potential customer and their previous interactions with the store's site.