This guide helps you to create discount rules and activate them using a coupon code, instead of automatically applying.
By default, Discount Rules for Woocommerce plugin will apply matching rules automatically, which is the preferred method for most store owners who offer dynamic pricing discounts.
However, there may be times when you'd like to activate these discounts only after customers have entered a valid coupon code.
There are three methods to activate discounts using coupon code:
Create your own coupon
Create URL coupons - You can share the URL to customers and if they click on the URL, coupon and discount will be automatically applied.
Create coupon via Woocommerce - The default feature... You need this to create a dummy coupon code.
Example scenarios:
Get storewide 10% off using a coupon code (create your own coupon)
Get 5% off from cart (using URL coupon)
30% off on a specific category (using Woocommerce coupon)
Let’s take a look at an example scenario for each method.
Before proceeding further, please make sure that you have installed and activated the Discount Rules for Woocommerce PRO plugin. NOTE: You will need the PRO version for this feature.
Scenario 1 : Get storewide 10% off using a coupon code (create your own coupon)
The following is a simple example of how you can offer a 10% discount with a coupon code using the Discount Rules for Woocommerce PRO plugin.
Let’s get started by creating a discount rule.
Creating a Discount Rule:
Go to WordPress dashboard -> Woocommerce -> Discount Rules -> Click on “Add New Rule” button
Choose the “Product Adjustment” as the discount type.
Then configure the discount rule as seen in the following screenshot:
Here's how you do it:
Step 1: Choose "All Products" (storewide) from the filter options. You also have options like specific Categories, selected Products, Attributes, Tags, Sku’s and so on… You can choose the option depending upon your requirement.
Step 2: Set the discount type to a 10% percentage discount.
Step 3: Include “Coupons” as additional conditions and enter the coupon/discount code.
Step 4: Click on “SAVE” once we have successfully created the rule
Now, let’s see how the above rule works.
When a customer applies the coupon code “SUMMER” at the cart page, the discount rule is applied, giving 10% discount on all the products in the cart.
Since this is a “product adjustment rule”, the discount applies directly to the item’s price (just like how a regular price - sale price works in WooCommerce)
The following screenshot shows how the discount is applied on the cart page:
Checkout this video showing how to activate discount rules using coupon code:
Scenario 2 : Get 5% off from cart (using URL coupon)
In this example, we are going to create a rule that offers a 5% discount on all the products in the cart. The discount automatically applies when a customer visits using url.
This will be useful when you would like to send our promotions directly to the customer. It saves time as it applies the coupon automatically upon visiting the url.
Creating the Discount Rule
Go to WordPress dashboard -> Woocommerce -> Discount Rules -> Click on “Add New Rule” button
For this scenario I’m selecting Cart Adjustment as a discount type.
To enable this, you need to check the “URL Coupons” checkbox in the rule setup. Once enabled, you can share the URL with your customers. When they click on the link, they will be taken directly to your website and the discount/coupon will be automatically applied to their cart.
Screenshots showing how URL coupon works:
When the customer clicks on the URL, they will be redirected to your website and the coupon will be automatically applied.
Cart page showing 5% off applied in cart via URL coupon.
Scenario 3 : 30% off on a specific category (using WooCommerce coupon)
Let's first create a coupon code with a 0 discount in Woocommerce. Since the discount rules plugin will dynamically apply the discount amount, the coupon code should be created with a 0 discount. Otherwise, customers would end up getting more discounts!
Steps for creating Woocommerce coupon:
Step 1: Go to WordPress dashboard -> WooCommerce -> Marketing -> Coupons -> click on “Add coupon” button
See the below screenshot:
Step 2: Enter the coupon code as title, set coupon amount as “0” and save the coupon.
Step 3: Now, you can select the coupon code in discount rules.
Creating a Discount:
Go to WordPress dashboard -> Woocommerce -> Discount Rules -> Click on “Add New Rule” button
For this scenario also, I’m selecting Cart Adjustment as a discount type.
Note: You need to follow any one of the above methods and not all three.
Frequently asked scenario:
How to apply coupon-based discounts only once per customer ?
Simply create a "0" WooCommerce coupon and set the "Usage Limit Per User" to 1. You can then integrate the coupon in discount rules for further customization.
Step 1: Go to Woocommerce -> Marketing -> Coupons, and create your coupon code.
Step 2: Set the percentage discount to 0 value.
Step 3: In Usage Limits, set the usage limit to 1 time per user
Step 4: Then, you can use this coupon code in Discount rules plugin and create your discount rules.
Creating a Discount:
Go to WordPress dashboard -> Woocommerce -> Discount Rules -> Click on “Add New Rule” button
For this scenario also, I’m selecting Cart Adjustment as a discount type.
Here is a screenshot of rule setup :
Refer this video to know more about coupon based discounts:
The above discussed coupon based discount scenarios require a PRO version.
Next Steps:
You may also want to check out these helpful guides:
Still unclear ?
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