Objective

Clearly communicate applied coupon benefits in the cart drawer by:

  • Displaying the active discount code and its value (percentage or fixed amount).
  • Showing users how much they’ve saved alongside the new total.
  • Ensuring that discount feedback is immediate, visible, and user-friendly.

Why Is This Important?

  • Build Customer Trust: Transparency around discounts assures users that the coupon worked and that they’re receiving the intended value.
  • Boost Conversion: Seeing clear savings at the cart level motivates users to complete their purchase.
  • Prevent Confusion or Abandonment: If customers can’t confirm the coupon was applied correctly, they may abandon checkout or retry unnecessarily.
  • Enhance UX Consistency: Consistent coupon behavior across the cart drawer and checkout helps unify the purchasing flow and reduce discrepancies.

Implementation Plan

1. Detect and Display Active Coupons

Use platform-specific logic (e.g., Shopify’s cart.discountApplications) to detect if a coupon is applied.

Liquid Example:

liquid
{% if cart.discountApplications.size > 0 %} <div class="coupon"> Applied: {{ cart.discountApplications[0].code }} – You saved {{ cart.total_discount | money }} </div>{% endif %}

JavaScript Example (using AJAX cart JSON):

js
if (cart.discountApplications && cart.discountApplications.length > 0) { const code = cart.discountApplications[0].code; const discount = (cart.total_discount / 100).toFixed(2); document.querySelector('.coupon-display').textContent = `Applied: ${code} – You saved $${discount}`;
}

2. Recalculate and Display Savings

Position the total savings and updated subtotal clearly within the drawer near cart totals:

html
<div class="cart-summary"> <div class="subtotal">Subtotal: $89.00</div> <div class="savings">You saved: $15.00</div> <div class="total">Total: $74.00</div></div>

Apply styling to make the savings amount stand out (e.g., green text, badge icons, or strikethrough on the original price).

3. Style Coupon Feedback for Clarity

Use visual cues (pills, badges, highlighted backgrounds) to make the coupon feedback noticeable:

html
<div class="coupon-pill"> Coupon Applied: <strong>FALL15</strong> ✕
</div>

CSS Suggestion:

css
.coupon-pill { background: #e6f7ec; color: #218739; padding: 6px 12px; border-radius: 20px; font-size: 0.9rem; display: inline-block;
}

4. Provide Option to Remove Coupon (Optional but Ideal)

Let users easily remove the applied coupon without navigating away:

html
<button class="remove-coupon" onclick="removeCoupon()">Remove</button>
js
function removeCoupon() { fetch('/cart/update.js', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify({ discount_code: '' }) }).then(() => refreshCartDrawer());
}

5. Handle Coupon Edge Cases Gracefully

If the coupon is invalid or expired, show a message explaining the issue:

js
if (couponError) { showToast("Coupon expired or not applicable to this cart.");
}

Liquid fallback:

liquid
{% unless cart.discountApplications.size > 0 %} <div class="coupon-error">No active coupon. Add one to save!</div>{% endunless %}

Backend/API Considerations

  • Ensure real-time coupon validation on the backend (Shopify handles this automatically; for custom carts, implement rules server-side).
  • Include discountApplications and total_discount in your cart JSON response.
  • Enforce coupon rules (single use, exclusions, date-based) and return user-friendly error messages for invalid codes.