In today’s WeChat Essential Tip we will show you step by step how to get discounts in McDonald’s through using WeChat Coupons (卡券). Actually this method of using WeChat Coupons works for many large chain businesses in China. KFC for example has a similar coupon system, Starbucks uses WeChat coupons, Carrefour, Walmart, the list goes on and on. We chose McDonald’s as the case study because everyone can relate to this and their use of WeChat Coupons is relatively easy. We are going to cover:
- What are WeChat Coupons?
- Where do I find WeChat Coupons?
- How do you use them when I’m in the store?
What are WeChat Coupons?
For a customer WeChat Coupons work basically the same as a normal discount offer or promotional coupon like you would see in a newspaper or magazine. Like this one below:
The difference is that WeChat coupons are virtual not physical. It’s really that simple.
Where do I find WeChat Coupons?
Usually a company will use coupons to incentivise or reward you to do something, common examples:
- Follow their WeChat Official Account
- Buy something in their store using WeChat
- Play their WeChat promotional game
- Forward something to a friend that promotes their business
In the case of McDonald’s currently, it’s very simple. All you have to do is follow their WeChat Official Account. So let’s do that. First select ‘Contacts’ at the bottom and then ‘Official Accounts’
Now select the + icon in the top right corner to add a new official account to your list
Type ‘mcdonalds’ and press the green search button
Several options will come up. In this case we will choose the first one
Select the big green ‘follow’ button
Now you’ve added the official account, click the middle button on the menu 优惠福利 (you hui fu li – Discounts) and then choose 优惠券 (you hui juan – Discount Coupons)
You’ll be taken to this page which has a list of different kinds of discounts. We’re going to choose the bottom one ‘限时优惠组合’ (Limited Time Discount Combos) but actually the yellow and green ones are also fine to choose from if you want.
2 Triple layer hamburgers for 25 yuan! God I love China! Okay, let’s go for that one.
Selecting that brings up the coupon. I can see it’s only valid for a limited period of around a month. That’s not too much of a problem, I’m hungry now. Reedem please.
Okay, I got it. Now there’s a code added and a message has popped up saying it’s been ‘Added to WeChat Card Pack’. Now I’m ready to hit the store.
How do you use them when I’m in the store?
So now you’re in line in McDonald’s. Time to whip out your phone and head over to ‘Me’ and then select ‘Card Pack’
In here you can see all your discount coupons. Let’s bring up the McDonald’s one again
You can see there’s a little option in the corner there to ‘Send’, which if I was feeling generous I could do and send the coupon to a friend just like you would with a picture or an article. But I’m too hungry for that.
When you’re at the counter, all you need to do is show the cashier your phone. She’ll input the code into the system and you’re done. It’s that simple!
Want more hot tips on how to use WeChat like this one? This article is part of the China Channel WeChat Essential Tips series where we are giving away more free info on WeChat. Follow us on WeChat by scanning the QR code to follow our official account.
China Channel is in no way associated with McDonald’s (but we must confess our love of their double cheeseburger)
This article was based on WeChat Android Version 6.2.4
