How to Distribute E-commerce Coupons With Capture Bars

A coupon capture bar is a floating banner that promotes a discount or offer across your site.

It can stay pinned to the top of the page, giving visitors access to a unique coupon code or limited-time offer while they shop.

In e-commerce, coupons are one of the most effective digital marketing tools for boosting engagement and conversions.

They help convert first-time visitors, recover abandoned carts, and reward repeat customers, often lifting conversion rates by double digits during key retail periods.

However, the success of any coupon campaign depends on timing, visibility, and overall customer experience.

Popups can interrupt the shopping flow, banners often go unnoticed, and emails don’t always reach users while they’re actively browsing or ready to redeem.

Gleam Capture Bars solve this problem by keeping coupon codes visible in a subtle, non-intrusive way that complements the shopping experience and supports your wider marketing strategy.

They’re ideal for retailers, fashion brands, subscription services, and lifestyle stores looking to:

• Reduce cart abandonment during checkout
• Increase average order value with upsell discounts
• Capture emails from high-intent visitors to grow your email list
• Promote flash sales or seasonal launches with urgency messaging and clear expiration dates
• Integrate coupon redemption directly into landing pages and social media promotions

With Capture Bars you can:

• Keep coupon codes visible while customers shop
• Trade discounts for email signups or newsletter growth
• Redirect shoppers straight to checkout with pre-applied discounts
• Highlight seasonal or limited-time promotions with urgency messaging

By distributing digital coupons directly on-site rather than relying solely on emails or ads, you can strengthen your marketing efforts, increase coupon redemption rates, and deliver a smoother experience from discovery to checkout.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Capture Bars to design and distribute coupons effectively, when to use each approach, and how to optimise your marketing campaigns for measurable results like higher sales, stronger engagement, and sustained customer growth.

Capture Bars are ideal when you want to:

• Grow your mailing list → offer discounts in exchange for signups
• Recover abandoned carts → trigger a coupon offer before customers leave
• Run seasonal promotions → highlight limited-time discounts for sales campaigns
• Boost average order value → incentivise upsells or cross-sells with special offers

Unlike popups, Capture Bars stay on the page as a gentle but constant reminder of your offer.

This makes them a perfect tool for driving conversions without disrupting the customer experience.

There are three main approaches you can take with Capture Bars:

• Display Your Coupon Code in a Thank You Message
• Create a Two Step Capture
• Display Your Coupon Code to Everyone

Each method has its own advantages depending on whether your priority is growing your email list, engaging customers, or maximising reach.

If your goal is to grow your mailing list while driving sales, this method is ideal.
Customers enter their email address first, then receive the coupon code in a thank you message.

This method works best when you want to build long-term customer relationships while still offering an immediate reward.

Two Step Captures are designed to increase engagement and commitment.
Customers first accept the offer, then enter their email to unlock the coupon.

This method performs well because users actively choose to unlock the coupon before being asked for their email.
That small moment of commitment often leads to higher signup and redemption rates.

If you’re on Shopify, you can use a discount’s shareable link to automatically apply the coupon code at checkout.

Want to Use Shopify Discount Codes?

Find out everything you need to know about creating and giving out Shopify discount codes and shareable links with our helpful guide.

If your goal is maximum reach and speed, you can simply display the coupon code to all visitors without requiring signups.
This works well for seasonal campaigns or flash sales.

If you are using Shopify to set up your discount codes, you can easily generate a shareable link that redirects users to your store with the code automatically applied to their cart.

To get the shareable link: open your discount’s page, click Promote, then select Get a shareable link.

Grow Your Mailing List with Capture

Check out our helpful documentation for step by step instructions on setting up your own Capture Coupons or get started right away!

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can optimise your Capture Bars with advanced tactics:

• Urgency Messaging → add “Expires tonight” or countdown timers to drive faster action
• Shopify Auto-Apply → use shareable links so customers don’t need to copy codes
• Segmentation → show first-time visitors one offer and returning customers another
• A/B Testing → compare bar placement (top vs bottom) or different messages to see which converts best

• Keep coupon codes short and memorable
• Match your Capture Bar design to your site branding
• Use clear CTA buttons with strong action words
• Test across mobile and desktop to ensure visibility
• Comply with regional promotion rules and disclosure requirements

Coupon distribution doesn’t have to be complicated.

With Gleam, you can launch Capture Bars in minutes, customise them to your brand, and connect them directly to your store.

Start building your Capture Bar today and turn more visitors into buyers.