Yesterday, 28th September 2022, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld an interesting complaint relating to something we all love... discount codes. The upheld ruling followed an investigation against Screen With Envy (SWE), a furniture and accessories retailer. 

Complaint

The first email provided an "Exclusive offer - 20% OFF SITEWIDE on all orders over £200". Further below, the email also stated "Now on, use our code SWE20 at checkout to secure 20% off all orders over £200!". The email also had a button which stated "Shop 20% off". 

The second email consisted the same information, but also included further text which stated that "As a Club Envy favourite, you can enjoy 20% of all orders over £200 for a limited time only - using the code SWE20 at checkout!"

One customer complained to the ASA that the ad was misleading, as she was told that her order was not eligible for the discount.  

Investigation

SWE said that the order was not eligible for a discount because the items were part of a bundle that had already been discounted. According to their terms and conditions, only one discount can be applied per order. 

However, the retailer acknowledged that a link to the terms and conditions was not included in the email communications. 

Decision

Despite the response by SWE, the ASA upheld the complaint and ruled that the ad was misleading, contrary to rules 3.1, 3.3 (misleading advertising) and 3.9 (qualification) of the CAP Code. 

The ASA reasoned that consumers were likely to interpret the ad to mean that the 20% discount applied to all orders over £200, particularly because of the use of the words "SITEWIDE" and "all orders". 

In conclusion, the ads were misleading because they suggested that any order over £200 were eligible for the offer, whereas the retailer's terms and conditions stipulated that this was not the case. 

Take-home

Brands have to be very careful when offering discount codes and, specifically, when making blanket claims such as "all orders" or "sitewide". From a customer perspective, being ineligible for a site wide promotion can come across as deceitful, manipulative and downright annoying. 

The first take-home here is that brands need to be unequivocally clear about their offers. 20% of "all items" is different from 20% of "almost all items" or even of "all full price items". Today, most online shoppers understand that usually only one discount can be applied at a time. However, as the ASA stated, 20% of "all orders" meant all orders. There are many online retailers who are equally as creative with their almost site wide discounts without being misleading. 

It is always advisable for brands to refer customers to terms and conditions at the time of marketing communications, although this may not automatically remove any chance of an upheld complaint. However, referring customers to terms and conditions makes them more likely to be aware of any limitations to advertised promotions. A further step forward would be to link the discount offer with the terms and conditions; for example "20% off all orders - terms apply". In this retailer's scenario, part of the problem was that their marketing communications did not make a reference to exclusions found in terms and conditions.