bottomless cup of coffee

[Michael De Tomaso]

How do other websites handle coupons ...

Q: I've a client with a resturant website: http://www.pappyscoffeeshop.com
.... who would like visitors to sign their guestbook, in return a free cup of
coffee would be offered via coupon in the Thank you page or Email, any
thought on how to administrate, as to not give away the farm on an
bottomless cup of coffee ???

- Thanks & take care M.D.

 

[Fat Sam]

How do other websites handle coupons ...

Q: I've a client with a resturant website: http://www.pappyscoffeeshop.com
... who would like visitors to sign their guestbook, in return a free cup of
coffee would be offered via coupon in the Thank you page or Email, any
thought on how to administrate, as to not give away the farm on an
bottomless cup of coffee ???

- Thanks & take care M.D.

I don't think there's any truly foolproof methods...At least none that I
can think of....
But an idea that will work to certain extent is to place a cookie on the
users system....

When they print out a woucher, they set a cookie on their system.... So
long as this cookie is present, they can't print out another....

Of course, they may have cookies disabled, or they may just clear the
cookies and print a second one....


Another thought occurs to me....You could send the vouchers out by email
rather than allowing customers to print them directly from the
webpage....You could easily configure it so that it will only allow one
voucher to be emailed to a particular address, after that, the email
addy gets blocked....

Each voucher would have a unique, randomly generated 10-digit serial
code printed on it....

Now you tell your client to keep a cheap computer in his
restaurant....Every time he's given a voucher, he enters the code into a
database, and it runs a quick check through the rest of it's records to
make sure the same number has not previously been entered....If it has
been, it rejects the voucher....

 

[Hywel Jenkins]

I don't think there's any truly foolproof methods...At least none that I
can think of....
But an idea that will work to certain extent is to place a cookie on the
users system....

When they print out a woucher, they set a cookie on their system.... So
long as this cookie is present, they can't print out another....

Of course, they may have cookies disabled, or they may just clear the
cookies and print a second one....


Another thought occurs to me....You could send the vouchers out by email
rather than allowing customers to print them directly from the
webpage....You could easily configure it so that it will only allow one
voucher to be emailed to a particular address, after that, the email
addy gets blocked....

I can receive mail to anything @mydomain. Millions of email addresses
waiting for their free cup of coffee.

 

[Fat Sam]

I can receive mail to anything @mydomain. Millions of email addresses
waiting for their free cup of coffee.

True...Like I said, I don't think there's a truly foolproof solution to
this one....Only methods of minimising the damage....

 

[Travis Newbury]

How do other websites handle coupons ...

Q: I've a client with a resturant website: http://www.pappyscoffeeshop.com
... who would like visitors to sign their guestbook, in return a free cup of
coffee would be offered via coupon in the Thank you page or Email, any
thought on how to administrate, as to not give away the farm on an
bottomless cup of coffee ???

- Thanks & take care M.D.

I've have pappy's coffee. He doesn't have to worry about people abusing
this...

 

[Wizard of Draws]

How do other websites handle coupons ...

Q: I've a client with a resturant website: http://www.pappyscoffeeshop.com
... who would like visitors to sign their guestbook, in return a free cup of
coffee would be offered via coupon in the Thank you page or Email, any
thought on how to administrate, as to not give away the farm on an
bottomless cup of coffee ???

- Thanks & take care M.D.

I'd be interested to know why it's so important to the restaurant for people
to sign their guestbook.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

Cartoons with a Touch of Magic
http://www.wizardofdraws.com

More Cartoons with a Touch of Magic
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

 

[Blinky the Shark]

On 4/13/05 2:29 PM, in article [email protected],
"Michael De Tomaso" <[email protected]> spewed:

I'd be interested to know why it's so important to the restaurant for people
to sign their guestbook.

"...and would you like some nice thick slices of delicious spam with that
coffee"?

 

[Lauri Raittila]

How do other websites handle coupons ...

Q: I've a client with a resturant website: http://www.pappyscoffeeshop.com
... who would like visitors to sign their guestbook, in return a free cup of
coffee would be offered via coupon in the Thank you page or Email, any
thought on how to administrate, as to not give away the farm on an
bottomless cup of coffee ???

Require some (e.g. last five numbers) individual id number of
passport/drivers licence etc, and only give one voucher for one number.
To be sure, maybe first name as well (in case some numbers are identical,
you don't leave someone out of coffee...)

Or perhaps date of issue of identification paper with first or last
name...

Still not too likely to be liked, but perhaps... Or you can send it to
mobile phone (I don't know anyone with more than 6 numbers, and most
people only have 1 or 2). OTOH, people may be afraid of mobile spamming.

Easier solution: trust people... If someone comes to restaurant with
voucher every day, you might remind that only one per customer is
allowed...

Whatever you decide, don't make email required...

 

[SpaceGirl]

How do other websites handle coupons ...

Q: I've a client with a resturant website: http://www.pappyscoffeeshop.com
... who would like visitors to sign their guestbook, in return a free cup of
coffee would be offered via coupon in the Thank you page or Email, any
thought on how to administrate, as to not give away the farm on an
bottomless cup of coffee ???

- Thanks & take care M.D.

Lace the coffee with poison? That'd stop people claiming more than one



--


x theSpaceGirl (miranda)

# lead designer @ http://www.dhnewmedia.com #
# remove NO SPAM to email, or use form on website #

 

[Fat Sam]

Lace the coffee with poison? That'd stop people claiming more than one

LOL...Typical of a Scottish lassie to think of the violent solution....
;-)

 

[Wizard of Draws]

"...and would you like some nice thick slices of delicious spam with that
coffee"?

You might think so, but from what I've heard, it takes millions of spam
messages to make it worth the return on investment and I'd think it highly
unlikely a coffee shop will attract that much business through their
website. Somebody isn't thinking this through IMHO.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

Cartoons with a Touch of Magic
http://www.wizardofdraws.com

More Cartoons with a Touch of Magic
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

 

[Blinky the Shark]

On 4/13/05 10:20 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Blinky the Shark"
<[email protected]> spewed:

You might think so, but from what I've heard, it takes millions of
spam messages to make it worth the return on investment and I'd think
it highly
Sure...

unlikely a coffee shop will attract that much business through their
website. Somebody isn't thinking this through IMHO.

....but this case isn't like Joe No-Marketable-Skils, spamming for
V**gra. It's 1. a local establishment, that's 2. offering a legitimate
premium/gift/spiff, to 3. people who have intentionally given them their
email addresses and 4. shown an actual interest in their products, and
5. by virtue of being a small local business would benefit if this offer
got them even a handful of new customers.

But my "spam" call might be a little harsh, insofar as people are
volluntarily giving their email addresses. On the other hand, they're
probably not *specifically* agreeing to promotional mail, as in a
real opt-in situation, so it's at least spammISH.