Step 3 – Discount Configuration
11 min read
Step 3 of the Campaign Wizard — Discount Configuration — is where you configure your discount type, value, and rules. The page title is “Discount Configuration” with the description “Configure the discount type, value, and rules for your campaign.”
This is the most detailed step in the wizard. The cards appear in this order:
- Choose Your Discount Type
- Configure Discount Details
- Badge Display (Optional)
- Free Shipping (Optional)
- Subscription Discount Settings (only when WooCommerce Subscriptions is active — Pro)
- User Role Targeting (Optional)
- Location Targeting (Optional)
- Delivery
- Configure Discount Rules (Pro)
1. Choose Your Discount Type #
Subtitle: Select the discount strategy that best fits your campaign goals.
Pick one of seven discount strategies:
Percentage Off (Free) #
Take a percentage off the original price.
- Example: 20% off $100 = $80
- Best For: General sales, simple promotions
Fixed Amount Off (Free) #
Subtract a fixed dollar amount from prices.
- Example: $10 off $100 = $90
- Best For: Flat discounts, shipping offset promotions
Note: If the discount exceeds the product price, the product becomes free (price = $0).
BOGO Deals (Free) #
Buy one get one offers.
- Example: Buy 2 Get 1 Free
- Best For: Clearing inventory, encouraging larger purchases
Volume Discounts (Pro) #
Reward bulk purchases with tiered pricing — more items = bigger discounts.
- Example: Buy 2+ save 10%, Buy 5+ save 20%
- Highlights: Set multiple quantity tiers, increase discounts at each tier, perfect for wholesale & B2B
- Best For: Wholesale pricing, bulk-purchase incentives, B2B stores
Spend Threshold (Pro) #
Reward customers who spend more.
- Example: Spend $100 get 10% off
- Highlights: Minimum-purchase triggers, “Spend $X get Y% off” deals, increases average order value
- Best For: Increasing average order value, loyalty rewards
Bundle Deals (Pro) #
Apply a discount when customers add all required products in a bundle set.
- Example: Buy 3 together, get 15% off
- Highlights: Group products into bundles, auto-apply when all items in cart, percentage / fixed / flat-bundle pricing
- Best For: Curated product sets, starter kits, cross-sell packs, seasonal bundles
Buy X Get Y (Pro) #
Buy qualifying products, get different products at a discount — cross-product BOGO with separate buy-side and get-side product pickers.
- Example: Buy 2 shirts, get 1 hat 50% off
- Highlights: Cross-sell with targeted product pairs, reward qualifying purchases automatically, flexible buy-and-get quantities
- Best For: Driving cross-category attach rate, clearing accessory inventory alongside core SKUs
2. Configure Discount Details #
Subtitle: Set specific values and conditions for your selected discount type.
The fields in this card depend on which discount type you picked above. Each section below describes the fields shown for that type.
Percentage #
- Discount Percentage (required) — number with
%prefix, range 1–100, step 1 - Live preview shows the example calculation as you type
Fixed Amount #
- Discount Amount (required) — number with your store currency prefix, step 0.01
- Live preview shows the example calculation
Volume Tiers (Tiered) #
- Apply Discount To (required) — choose:
- Each Item — unit price decreases (volume / bulk pricing)
- Order Total — fixed discount on order total (promotional)
- Discount Type (required) — Percentage (e.g., 10% off, 20% off) or Fixed Amount (e.g., $5 off, $10 off)
- Tiers — add tiers using the Add Percentage Tier or Add Fixed Amount Tier button. Each tier has a minimum quantity and a discount value.
- Inline preview updates as you add tiers
BOGO Configuration #
- Customer Buys — number of items at full price (1–1000)
- Customer Gets — number of discounted items (1–1000)
- At Discount — percentage off the “get” items (0–100%; 100% = free)
- Inline preview shows how the offer reads to customers
Common configurations:
| Setup | Reads as |
|---|---|
| Buy 1, Get 1 at 100% | Classic BOGO Free |
| Buy 2, Get 1 at 100% | Buy 2 Get 1 Free |
| Buy 1, Get 1 at 50% | Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price |
| Buy 3, Get 2 at 75% | Custom BOGO ratio |
Bundle Configuration #
- Bundle Products (required) — multi-select picker. Customers must add all selected products to receive the bundle discount.
- Discount Type (required):
- Percentage Off — e.g., 15% off each item
- Fixed Amount Off — e.g., $5 off each item
- Fixed Bundle Price — e.g., all for $49.99
- Discount Value (required) — number with prefix that flips between
%and the currency symbol depending on type - Inline preview
Buy X Get Y Configuration #
- Preset shortcuts: “Buy 1, get 1 free” / “Buy 2, get 1 half off” / “Buy 1, get 1 50% off”
- Buy side (trigger):
- Buy products — multi-select picker
- Buy quantity (any combination) — 1–100
- Get side (reward):
- Get products — multi-select picker
- Get quantity (per buy set)
- Discount percentage — 0–100% (step 0.1)
- Apply to — Cheapest matching items / Most expensive matching items
- Max applications per cart — Unlimited / 1 / 2 / 3 / 5 / 10
Spending Tiers (Spend Threshold) #
- Threshold mode (required):
- Percentage Discounts — scales with order value
- Fixed Amount Off — best for high-value or fixed-shipping offers
- Thresholds — add thresholds with the Add Percentage Threshold or Add Fixed Amount Threshold button. Each threshold has a minimum spend and a discount value.
- Inline preview
Example thresholds:
| Spend | Discount |
|---|---|
| $50+ | 5% off |
| $100+ | 10% off |
| $200+ | 15% off |
3. Badge Display (Optional) #
Subtitle: Configure how your discount appears on products to attract customer attention.
Campaign-level badge configuration. Final frontend output still respects global settings in SC Discounts → Settings → Display.
Show promotional badges on products #
Master toggle for this campaign. When disabled, your theme’s default sale badge may still show depending on the global overlap strategy.
Badge Text #
- 🤖 Auto-generate — e.g., “20% OFF”, derived from your discount value
- ✏️ Custom Text — type your own (max 50 characters)
When global phase text is enabled, auto mode can switch to Starts Soon or Ends Soon near campaign boundaries.
Template #
Choose the badge shape/style:
- Use global default (inherits Display Settings default template)
- Default, Pill, Ribbon, Outline, Square, Circle, Tag, Dashed, Banner Top, Banner Bottom
Template fallback rule: campaign template first, then global default.
Badge Position #
Where the badge appears on product images:
- Top Left
- Top Right (default)
- Bottom Left
- Bottom Right
Badge Colors #
- Background: default red (
#ff0000) - Text: default white (
#ffffff)
For Outline and Dashed templates, text color follows the border/background color.
Live Preview #
Real-time preview of text, template, colors, and position as you edit. Shows a global-disabled warning banner when the matching context is turned off in Display Settings, plus a small diagnostics list for Shop / Product / Cart contexts.
Context-Specific Visibility #
- BOGO: Badge display is context-limited (not shown on shop / archive cards).
- Spend Threshold: Badge is cart-context focused and not shown on product / shop images.
- Global toggles still apply: if global badge output is disabled for a context (Shop / Product / Cart), the campaign badge is hidden in that context regardless of these settings.
4. Free Shipping (Optional) #
Subtitle: Offer free shipping as an additional incentive for customers.
Include Free Shipping #
Master toggle. When on, customers get free shipping on carts containing products from this campaign.
Apply To #
- All Shipping Methods — make every shipping option free
- Selected Methods Only — pick which methods become free; checkbox list populated from your WooCommerce shipping zones
Note (Spend Threshold campaigns): Free shipping only applies once the spend threshold is met.
5. Subscription Discount Settings (Pro) #
Subtitle: Control how discounts apply to WooCommerce Subscription products.
This card only appears when WooCommerce Subscriptions is active on the site. Free users see a locked Pro promo card; Pro users see the live controls.
These settings only apply to subscription products in your campaign — regular products are unaffected.
Discount Target #
- Recurring price only (default)
- Sign-up fee only
- Both sign-up fee and recurring
Limit to First X Renewals #
Number, 0–999. 0 = unlimited (the discount applies as long as the campaign is active).
6. User Role Targeting (Optional) #
Subtitle: Restrict this discount to specific user roles like wholesalers, subscribers, or VIP customers.
Who can use this discount? #
- All Users — everyone (default)
- Include Only — only selected roles can use this
- Exclude — hide from selected roles
Role Selector #
Appears once mode is set to Include Only or Exclude. Checkbox list of every role available on your site, populated dynamically. The section header and help text flip to match the selected mode (“Select Roles to Include” / “Select Roles to Exclude”).
7. Location Targeting (Optional) #
Subtitle: Restrict discount eligibility by billing/shipping country.
Where can this discount be used? #
- All Countries — no restriction (default)
- Include Countries — only selected countries can use this
- Exclude Countries — selected countries cannot use this
Country Matching Source #
Appears when mode is Include or Exclude. Choose which address the rule checks against:
- Billing or Shipping Country (default)
- Billing Country
- Shipping Country
Select Countries #
Multi-select populated from WooCommerce’s country list.
8. Delivery #
Subtitle: Choose how customers receive this discount.
Two side-by-side cards:
Auto-Apply (Default) #
The discount fires automatically at checkout for matching products and conditions. Customers see badges, sale prices, and savings on product pages and in the cart without doing anything. This is how most discount plugins work and is the right choice for most promotions.
Requires Code #
The discount stays invisible on the storefront until the customer enters a code at checkout. Works on every discount type (percentage, fixed, BOGO, tiered, bundle, spend threshold, Buy X Get Y) — not just percentage / fixed like other coupon plugins.
How customers redeem:
- Type the code into WooCommerce’s native cart/checkout coupon field, or
- Click a link with
?wsscd_code=YOURCODE— the plugin auto-applies it and cleans the URL
Selecting Requires code reveals these fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Discount code | 3–64 characters, letters / numbers / hyphens / underscores. Case-insensitive. |
| Total redemption limit | Cap on global redemptions across all customers (0 = unlimited). |
| Bulk-unique codes (Pro) | Generate up to 50,000 unique codes per campaign for email blasts. Configurable code length (6–20 characters) and optional prefix. |
| Single-use enforcement (Pro) | Lock each code to one redemption (per code) or one redemption per customer (per customer). |
Visibility note: A “Requires code” campaign is invisible on the storefront until the code is entered — no badges, no sale prices, no hint that a discount exists. This is intentional — it’s how private codes work. If you want the discount advertised on product pages, use Auto-apply instead.
Managing codes after launch: the campaigns list shows a tag icon on each code-required campaign. Click View codes in the row actions to see usage stats, redemption history, and a one-click Copy share link button next to each code (paste into emails, social posts, or transactional templates). Pro users also see a Download CSV button.
9. Configure Discount Rules (Pro) #
Subtitle: Fine-tune how your discount works to maximize impact while protecting margins.
This card is hidden until you pick a discount type. Free users see a locked Pro promo card; Pro users see three collapsible sections.
9.1 Usage Limits #
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Per Customer | How many times each customer can use this discount per cycle. Empty = unlimited. |
| Lifetime Usage Cap | Total uses across all campaign cycles. When reached, the campaign stops accepting new redemptions. |
9.2 Application Rules #
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Apply To | 🛒 Each Product Individually or 🧾 Cart Subtotal. Hidden for discount types that have their own application control (Tiered, Fixed, BOGO, Bundle, Buy X Get Y). |
| Single Product Add-on Preview (only when an add-on pricing plugin is active) | Auto (Recommended) / Force Enable / Disable. Controls whether the discount preview reflects add-on adjustments on the product page. |
| Add-on Discount Application (only when an add-on pricing plugin is active) | Configured Total (Base + Add-ons) or Base Product Only. Controls whether the discount applies to the add-on-adjusted total or only the base product price. |
9.3 Combination Policy #
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Campaign Stacking | Allow this discount to be combined with other active campaigns. |
| Allow third-party coupons | When this campaign is winning a product, allow other plugins’ coupons to also apply. Smart Cycle Discounts’ own promo codes are never blocked by this toggle. |
| Sale Items | Apply discount to products already on sale. |
Sidebar Information #
While on Step 3, the sidebar shows:
- Selected discount type summary
- Discount value preview
- Active rules summary
- Badge preview (when enabled)
Validation Requirements #
To proceed to Step 4 (Schedule):
- Select a discount type
- Enter a valid discount value for the selected type
- For Tiered / Spend Threshold: at least one tier or threshold
- For BOGO: valid Customer Buys / Gets / Discount
- For Bundle: at least one bundle product and a discount value
- For Buy X Get Y: at least one buy product and at least one get product, valid quantities and discount
- For Delivery = Requires code: a code value (3–64 characters) or, on Pro, a bulk quantity > 0
Tips for Discount Configuration #
- Start simple: Percentage discounts are easiest to manage when you’re new to the plugin.
- Tiered pricing: Make the jump between tiers meaningful (e.g., 10% → 20%, not 10% → 11%).
- Badge visibility: Keep badge text short for cleaner mobile display.
- Test on a few products first: create a campaign with specific products before rolling out store-wide.
- Auto-apply vs. Requires code: if the offer should be advertised on product pages, use Auto-apply. If it’s a private code (email, influencer, loyalty reward), use Requires code — the discount stays invisible until redeemed.
- Review the intelligence panel on Step 5 before launching — it flags conflicts, sale-stacking risks, and projected redemption velocity for code-gated campaigns.
