SimplyCodes · 2024–2025 Data

The Promo Code Failure Report

78.8M live checkout tests · 500K+ retailers · 2.2M user votes
Metric Value Context
Scale
Live Checkout Tests Run 78.8M Real purchase flows with real carts across 2024 & 2025 — not simulated.
Retailers Covered 500K+ Breadth of merchant coverage across live test executions.
System-Measured Failure
Overall Failure Rate 26.2% Codes rejected at point of transaction. Measured by expert code testers familiar with retailer-specific restrictions.
Codes Rejected at Checkout ~21M Approximate count of failed codes out of 78.8M tests. est.
Consumer Perception
Total User Votes Cast 2.2M SimplyCodes users voting on promo code listings across the same period.
User-Reported Failure Rate 87.6% Share of votes that were downvotes ("code didn't work"). Inflated by selection bias — shoppers vote more after failures.
The Perception Gap
Gap: System vs. Consumer 61.4 pts Difference between the 26.2% measured failure rate and the 87.6% user-reported rate — showing how disproportionately failure shapes perception.