How to Distribute E-commerce Coupons With Capture Bars
Learn how you can use Capture Bars to distribute coupon codes and drive sales.
• Keep discount codes visible without interrupting the shopping flow
• Swap coupons for valuable email signups
• Redirect shoppers straight to checkout with codes pre-applied
• Run seasonal or flash sale campaigns with urgency messaging
• Recover carts and reward loyal customers with subtle reminders
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 coupon code while they shop.
Coupons are one of the most effective tools in e-commerce and direct-to-consumer marketing.
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, success depends on timing and visibility.
Popups can interrupt the shopping flow, banners often go unnoticed, and emails don’t always reach users while they’re actively browsing.
Gleam Capture Bars solve this problem by keeping coupon codes visible in a subtle, non-intrusive way that complements the shopping experience.
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
- Promote flash sales or seasonal launches without disrupting navigation
Saleduck used Gleam Captures to generate over 28,000 entries during a 30-day campaign.
Read the full story to see how high-visibility offers drive growth.
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
In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Capture Bars to distribute coupons effectively, when to use each approach, and how to optimise your 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.
• Open the Capture App
• Choose the Coupon Bar template
• Add your coupon text and configure the CTA button
• Customise the Design tab to match your site branding
• Use Behaviour Rules to control who sees the bar and when (e.g. new visitors, exit intent, specific pages)
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.
• Open your Capture campaign in Gleam
• Go to the Post Capture tab
• Select 'Display Thank You Message'
• Add your coupon code in the text area
• Save and preview to confirm the code appears after signup
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.
• Open your Capture campaign
• Go to the Setup tab
• Toggle 'Two Step Capture' ON
• Customise your First Step (CTA) and Second Step (email form)
Set up a Post Capture Redirect so users go straight to your store with the discount applied.
If you’re on Shopify, you can use a discount’s shareable link to automatically apply the coupon code at checkout.
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.
• Open your Capture campaign
• Go to the Design tab
• Add your coupon code directly into the bar text or button so it’s visible on the page
• You can still include an email field to collect signups alongside the visible code
• Save and launch your Capture so the coupon displays to all visitors
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
• Use A/B testing to trial different coupon text
• Add urgency with countdown timers
• Create audience rules for first-time vs returning visitors
• Track conversions in your Gleam dashboard
- 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.
Want to go beyond Capture Bars?
Read our guide on How to Grow Your Business Using Discount Codes to explore creative ways to use discounts to attract, convert, and retain customers.
A pop up banner is a discreet bar that promotes offers or collects leads without interrupting the page. Click to learn how to create one using Gleam's capture tools.
Yes — with Gleam Capture, you can collect email signups and automatically deliver a coupon in the same flow to grow your list and drive loyalty.
Gleam uses exit intent rules to detect when a user is leaving—perfect for showing coupon popups. Click to see how to configure exit popups and reduce cart abandonment.
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