The Complete Discounts Guide

This guide describes how discounts work in the Voucherify discount configurator. The configurator is used to set up discount campaigns or discount tiers in promotion campaigns. The discount configurator also helps you configure discounts by showing examples of how particular discount effects are applied to a cart.

Contents

  1. Glossary
  2. Discount configurator
  3. Discount types
    1. Amount discount
    2. Percent discount
    3. New price
    4. Free products
    5. Free shipping
    6. Dynamic discount values
  4. Order discount effects
  5. Product discount effects
    1. Amount discount: Apply the discount to item subtotal
    2. Amount discount: Apply the full discount to each item unit
    3. Amount discount: Split the discount proportionally to amount
      1. How to calculate the discount per item?
    4. Amount discount: Split the discount proportionally to quantity
      1. How to calculate the discount per item?
    5. Percent discount: Apply the discount to item subtotal
    6. New price: Apply the discount to item subtotal
    7. Choosing discounted products and effects
  6. Reward effects
    1. Add missing order items to match total discount units count
    2. Always add new units items
    3. Add many order items
    4. Upgrade Bonus: Replace order items
  7. Free shipping
  8. Additional discount limits
    1. Selected products – caps
  9. Application rules
  10. Conditions and validation rules
    1. Validation rules and product discounts

Glossary

Read the listed coupon-related definitions to help you feel comfortable when creating coupon campaigns in the Voucherify dashboard.

Validation rules

Validation rules are limits and rules attached to codes, checked during the redemption. 

Discount category

Voucherify supports order discount, products discount, free products, and free shipping discount categories.

Discount value

The value of a discount defines a discount that is applied to a customer's order during a single code redemption. 

Discount type

The discount type defines how the discount is applied to the customer's cart. Depending on the discount category, different effects are available.


Discount configurator

With the discount configurator, you can set discounts in various Voucherify campaigns.

Discount configurator with the add discount drop down list, consisting of an order discount, product discount, rewards, and free shipping discount categories.

In the first screen of the discount configurator, you can choose a discount category:

  1. Order discount
  2. Product discounts
  3. Rewards
  4. Free shipping

When you select a discount category, the configurator of a particular discount category opens and it includes the following sections; different discount categories will have different sections:

A discount configurator window showing the configuration of a product discount with a discount type, discount amount, build formula, and discounted and excluded product sections

  1. Discount step – configure the discount type and other details.
  2. Conditions step – configure validation rules (optional).
  3. Discount types – different in particular discount categories.
  4. Discount value – static or dynamic; build formula to create a dynamic discount.
  5. Discount maximum limit – available in some discount types; limits how much discount can be applied.
  6. Additional discount configuration – in this case, configuration of a product discount, which covers products or collections, application rules, caps, and excluded products.

Discount types

Campaign Manager supports order discount, products discount, rewards, and free shipping.

Discount category Types
Order Discount Amount discount: Apply to whole cart
Percent discount: Apply to whole cart
New price: Apply to whole cart
Products Discount Amount discount: Apply the discount to item subtotal
Amount discount: Apply the full discount to each item unit
Amount discount: Split the discount proportionally to amount
Amount discount: Split the discount proportionally to quantity
Percent discount: Apply the discount to item subtotal
New price: Apply the discount to item subtotal
Rewards Free products: Add missing order items to match total discount units count
Free products: Always add new units items
Free products: Add many order items
Upgrade bonus: Replace order items
Free Shipping    Free products: Add missing order items to match total discount units count


Amount discount

This discount defines an amount in any currency that will be subtracted from the whole cart or product, for example, $20 or €10 off. You can set the currency in the Project Settings.

The amount can be modified with additional discount limits.

Discount currency

The currency of your incentives is set per project. Currency settings let you display a discount in a proper format. However, note that Voucherify API is currency-agnostic: currency changes do not impact the way the discounts are calculated.

Read the Discount dependable on currency article to learn more about creating different discounts for various currencies.


Percent discount

This discount defines a percentage that will be subtracted from the whole cart or the product, for example, 10% or 50% off. The total discount amount is calculated during the validation, and it is a difference between the initial price and the amount calculated based on the percent value.

The following additional discount limits can be applied to secure the campaign budget:

  • Maximum discount amount
  • Maximum discount amount combined for all order lines

New price

This discount defines a fixed amount for:

  • The whole cart – the discount value is calculated during the validation as a difference between the total amount of the customer's order and the new price.
  • Particular products – the discount is applied to item subtotal. The total discount amount is calculated during the validation and it is a difference between the initial item price and the new item price

Free products

Free products enable you to offer items from your inventory for free. First, you need to decide on the discount effect. 

Then, you need to decide which product you want to add for free and in what quantity. 

Please note that this type of discount is based on the products added to the Products section in your dashboard. If you haven't synced your inventory yet, please follow the Products and Product Collections guide first. 


Free shipping

You can also offer your customers free shipping. The discount is based on the Free products: Add missing order items to match the total discount units count discount type, and it cannot be edited.


Dynamic discount values

For percent, amount, new price, and free products, you can set a fixed discount value or use a formula builder to create a dynamic discount expression. Formulas with mathematical and logical operators assign a dynamic discount value. Discount value will be calculated during redemption based on the provided formula and metadata values. Read more in the Dynamic discount value formula builder section.


Order discount effects

These discounts are applied to the whole cart, which means the sum of all products in the order (total order amount). Three discount types can be applied:


Product discount effects

Product discounts determine how discounts are, or are not, applied to individual products or collections. You can also choose discounted products and their effects and, in some cases, additional caps or limitations.

These product limits are applied as validation rules, which can be reused in the future. In the Conditions step, Use the Configured Options Only option to use only the product limits. To add more validation rules, click With Rules to search for an existing validation rule or create a new one with the plus button. If you are going to reuse an existing rule, Voucherify will clone the rule, so its original configuration will not be overwritten.

Unroll a sample order with a $10 discount coupon applicable to Adventure-branded items. The order will be used in the examples of different effects below:
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure Mug $10 2 $20
Adventure Poster $15 3 $45
Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60
Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50
Order amount before discounts $175
Total discount $0
Total amount $175

Amount discount: Apply the discount to item subtotal

This effect applies the discount to the product order lines.

This effect can be combined with an additional discount limit – Maximum amount combined for all order lines.

Unroll a sample order with a $10 discount coupon applicable to Adventure-branded items 
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure Mug $10 2 $20

-$10

Adventure Poster $15 3 $45

-$10

Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60

-$10

Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

-$0

Order amount before discounts $175
Total discount

-$30

Total amount $145

Amount discount: Apply the full discount to each item unit

This effect applies the discount to each product unit.

If you select individual products or collections for a discount, you can further define additional cap limits.

This effect can be combined with an additional discount limit – Maximum amount combined for all order lines.

Unroll a sample order with a $10 discount coupon applicable to Adventure-branded items 
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure Mug $10 2 $20

-$20

Adventure Poster $15 3 $45

-$30

Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60

-$30

Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

-$0

Order amount before discounts $175
Total discount

-$80

Total amount $95

Amount discount: Split the discount proportionally to amount

This effect splits and applies the discount to the chosen items proportionally to their share in the total discounted items amount.

Unroll a sample order with a $10 discount coupon applicable to Adventure-branded items
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure Mug $10 2 $20

-$1.6

Adventure Poster $15 3 $45

-$3.6

Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60

-$4.8

Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

-$0

Order amount before discounts $175
Total discount

-$10

Total amount $165

How to calculate the discount per item?

This effect splits the discount proportionally among the discounted products per line item. Each product is counted as an individual line item, whether there is one or multiple units of the product. In the example above:

  • The order contains 4 order lines: mug, poster, t-shirt, and thermal bottle.
  • The mug, poster, and t-shirt are discounted.
  • The discount applied to the mug ($1.6):
    • $10 discount value x ($20 total amount for the mugs / ($20 total amount for the mugs + $45 total amount for the posters + $60 total amount for the t-shirts)).
  • The discount applied to the posters ($3.6):
    • $10 discount value x ($45 total amount for the posters / ($20 total amount for the mug + $45 total amount for the poster + $60 total amount for the t-shirts)).
  • The discount applied to the t-shirts ($4.8):
    • $10 discount value x ($60 total amount for the t-shirts / ($20 total amount for the mugs + $45 total amount for the posters + $60 total amount for the t-shirts)).

Amount discount: Split the discount proportionally to quantity

This effect splits and applies the discount to the chosen items proportionally to their share in the total discounted items quantity per line item. Each product unit will be counted as an individual line item. In the case of multiple product units in the line item, the quantity will be higher, and therefore, the proportional discount by quantity will also be higher.

Unroll a sample order with a $10 discount coupon applicable to Adventure-branded items
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure Mug $10 2 $20

-$2.5

Adventure Poster $15 3 $45

-$3.75

Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60

-$3.75

Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

-$0

Order amount before discounts $175
Total discount

-$10

Total amount $165

How to calculate the discount per item?

This effect splits the discount proportionally among the discounted product units per line item. Each product will be counted as an individual line item, whether there is one or multiple units of the product. In the example above:

  • The order contains 4 order lines: mug, poster, beanie, and thermal bottle.
  • The mugs, posters, and t-shirts are discounted.
  • The discount applied to the mugs ($2.5):
    • $10 discount value x (2 as the total quantity of mugs / (2 as the total quantity of mugs + 3 as the total quantity of posters + 3 as the total quantity of t-shirts)).
  • The discount applied to the posters ($3.75):
    • $10 discount value x (3 as the total quantity of posters / (2 as the total quantity of mugs + 3 as the total quantity of posters + 3 as the total quantity of t-shirts)).
  • The discount applied to the t-shirts ($3.75):
    • $10 Discount value x (3 as the total quantity of t-shirts / (2 as the total quantity of mugs + 3 as the total quantity of posters + 3 as the total quantity of t-shirts)).

Percent discount: Apply the discount to item subtotal

This effect applies the discount to the product order lines.

This effect can be combined with additional discount limits– Maximum discount amount and Maximum amount combined for all order lines. For selected products or collections, you can further define additional cap limits.

Unroll a sample order with a 10% discount coupon applicable to Adventure-branded items
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure Mug $10 2 $20

-$2

Adventure Poster $15 3 $45

-$4.5

Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60

-$6

Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

-$0

Order amount before discounts $175
Total discount

-$12.5

Total amount $162.5

New price discount: Apply the discount to item subtotal

This effect applies a new price to products or product collections.

Define which products or collections will have new prices when redeeming the discount. The total discount amount is calculated during the validation, and it is a difference between the initial item price and the item price set in the discount settings.

This effect can be combined with additional discount limits – Max units per order item and Max units combined for all matched order lines.

Unroll a sample order with a new price set to $10 applicable to Adventure-branded items
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure Mug $10 2 $20

-$0

Adventure Poster $15 3 $45

-$15

Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60

-$30

Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

-$0

Order amount before discounts $175
Total discount

-$45

Total amount $130

Choosing discounted products

In the product discounts, you can choose the products covered by the discounts:

  • Each product – apply the discount to all products, except for the products or collections added in the excluded products section.
  • Selected products – add products or collections that are covered by the discount, except for the products or collections added in the excluded products section.
  • Excluded products – add products or collections that are NOT covered by the discount. The discount will not be applied to the selected items even if the item is included in a discounted collection.

You can further define how discounts are applied and limited with:

The defined selected and excluded products are included in validation rules which can be reused in the future.

Product SKUs

If the chosen product has SKUs defined, the new price will be set for the product and all product SKUs that are passed in a redemption request.


Reward effects

Prerequisite

This type of discount is based on the items added to the Products section in the Voucherify Dashboard. If you have not uploaded your inventory yet, follow the Products and Product Collections guide first.

The reward category adds a defined quantity of free items from the product inventory to the customer’s cart for free.

Add missing order items to match total discount units count

This effect adds items to the cart only if a customer has fewer free items than offered by the code (the number of the items in the cart is lower than the unit value).

For example, the code gives two free t-shirts:

  • If the customer does not have the t-shirt in the cart, then free t-shirts will be added to the order and they will be discounted full-price.
  • If the customer has one t-shirt in the cart, then one t-shirt will be added to the order and both t-shirts will be discounted full-price.
  • If a customer already has two t-shirts in their cart, then the number of t-shirts already matches the unit value. After applying the code, no extra t-shirts will be added but both t-shirts will be discounted full-price.

Always add new units items

This effect adds items to the cart in the number defined by the unit quantity.

For example, the code adds two free t-shirts:

  • If the customer does not have the t-shirt in the cart, then two t-shirts will be added to the order and they will be discounted full-price.
  • If the customer has any number of t-shirts in the cart, then two t-shirts will be added to the order but only those two t-shirts will be discounted full-price.

Add many order items

This effect adds multiple items to the cart, each with a custom effect: either Add missing order items to match total discount units count or Always add new units items.

Upgrade Bonus: Replace order items

This effect replaces one order item or an order item from a selected collection with another order item in the defined quantity per replaced unit.

For example, the code can replace a medium-sized coffee with a large coffee.

You can further define additional cap limits:

  • Max units per order item – the minimum value must be 1.
  • Max units combined for all matched order lines – the minimum value must be 1.

You can also add Application Rules.

Unroll a sample order with a replaced one Adventure T-shirt (cheaper product) with one Adventure T-shirt, Limited Edition (more expensive product).
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure T-shirt $20 3 items in the cart
-1 replaced item

2 total quantity
$60
-$20

$40
Adventure T-shirt, Limited Edition $25 0 items in the cart
+1 bonus item


1 total quantity
$0
+$25

$25 - $20 = $5 discount amount
$20
Order amount before discounts $60
Total discount $5 bonus
Total amount $60

The discount is calculated as the difference between the amount of the added order items and the amount of the replaced order items. This makes the discount shown as a bonus while the total amount stays the same.

Unroll a sample order with a replaced one Star Thermal Bottle (more expensive product) with one Adventure Mug (cheaper product).
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Star Thermal Bottle $25 3 items in the cart
-1 replaced item

2 total quantity
$75
-$25

$50
Adventure Mug $10 0 items in the cart
+1 bonus item

1 total quantity
$0
+$10

$10
Order amount before discounts $75
Total discount $0
Total amount $60

Because the price of the Adventure Mug is lower than the price of the Star Thermal Bottle, no discount is calculated. However, the total amount is lower than the order amount before discounts, because the price of the replacement item – Adventure Mug – is lower than the price of the replaced item – Star Thermal Bottle.

Unroll a sample order with a replaced one Star Thermal Bottle (more expensive product) with three Adventure Mugs (cheaper products whose price in total is higher than the price of the replaced item).
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Star Thermal Bottle $25 3 items in the cart
-1 replaced item

2 total quantity
$75
-$25

$50
Adventure Mug $10 0 items in the cart
+3 bonus items


3 total quantity
$0
+$30

$30 - $25 = $5 discount amount
$25
Order amount before discounts $75
Total discount $5 bonus
Total amount $75

The discount is calculated as the difference between the amount of the added order items (three items with a price of $30 in total) and the amount of the replaced order items (one item with a price of $25). This makes the discount shown as a bonus while the total amount stays the same.


Free shipping

This discount category adds a free shipping discount. Shipping is added as a built-in item in the Products section in the dashboard.


Discount value and additional limits

The discount value field specifies the amount or the percent of the discount. The discount value can be static or dynamic.

Static discounts are applied without any additional conditions. Discounts are static by default.

Dynamic discounts change the discount value based on defined conditions. All discount values (except for the shipping discount) can be dynamic. Click Build formula to open the dynamic discount formula builder.

Additional discount limits

Some discount categories, types, and effects have additional discount limits:

Selected products – caps

The following discount types can be further modified with additional caps to secure the campaign budget:



Capped by Description Examples
Maximum discount amount per order line This limits the amount of the discount for one order line or item subtotal.

Applicable to:
If set to $25:

The customer orders five discounted product units in three order lines. A maximum of $25 discount will be applied to each applicable order line.
Maximum discount amount per order This limits the discount amount for the whole cart.

Applicable to:
If set to $100:

The customer orders five discounted product units in three order lines. The maximum discount for all order lines will reach $100.

Max units per order item

This limits the number of item units that can be discounted in one order line or item subtotal.

Applicable to:
If set to 3:

The customer orders five units of a discounted product. However, only three units will be discounted.
Max units combined for all matched order lines This limits the number of item units covered by the discount across all matching order lines or item subtotals.

Applicable to:
If set to 5:

The customer orders two product units in one order line, and four product units in another order line, making six product units in total. The discount applies to all order lines. Only five units are discounted and the remaining unit has a full price.

The order of application of discounts is determined by the order sent in the request.

Note: These limits work together with additional discount limits: Maximum discount amount per order line and Maximum discount amount per order. The lower limit is always applied.


Application rules

With the application rules, you can set the discount effect for the cheapest, most expensive, or all products or product units. Additionally, you can configure the target of the discount, when the discount will be applied (e.g. for every other order line), or if some of the discounts will be skipped.

The application rules can be set for:

Effects:

  • For every – the discount will be applied to every resource as defined in the target, application, and skip settings. The discounts are applied as determined by order set in the request.
  • For the cheapest – the discount will be applied only to the cheapest resource.
  • Starting from the cheapest – the discount will be applied to the cheapest resource and to any other resources as defined in the target, application, and skip settings.
  • For the most expensive – the discount will be applied only to the most expensive resource.
  • Starting from the most expensive – the discount will be applied to the cheapest resource and to any other resources as defined in the target, application, and skip settings.

Target:

  • Order line – The discount will be applied to whole order lines, i.e. products or SKUs sent in the order, but not to the units. For example, if a customer orders 3 Adventure Mugs for $10 each and 2 Adventure T-shirts for $20 each, the discount will be applied to the total amount of $30 and the total amount of $20, not to mug or T-shirt units.
  • Unit – The discount will be applied to units within order lines. For example, if a customer orders 3 Adventure Mugs for $10 each and 2 Adventure t-shirts for $20 each, the discount will be calculated on the basis of the ordered mug and t-shirt units. In combination with the every and skip rules as well as amount, proportional, and percentage discounts, the discounts are calculated and applied to applicable units.

Apply the discount to:

  • All – the discount will be applied to all resources.
  • Every – the discount will be applied to a number of resources as determined in the Repeat field. For example, Repeat 3 means that every third resource will be covered by the discount.

Skipping:

  • None – the discount will be applied to the first resource and then to any other resource as defined in the Apply discount to setting.
  • First – the discount will not be applied to a number of items defined in the Skip field. For example, Skip 3 means that the discount will be applied to the fourth resource.

The application rules can be combined with the Capped by settings to limit the maximum discount amount or the number of resources covered by the discount.

Unroll a sample order where a $5 discount is applied to Adventure-branded products, starting from the most expensive, skipping the first one, and repeating every two order lines.
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60

The most expensive order line from the Adventure brand. It is skipped, as this is the first order line covered by the discount configuration
Adventure Poster $15 5 $75
-$5

The second most expensive order line from the Adventure brand and the first order line to which the discount is applied
Adventure Mug  $10 2 $20

The third most expensive order line from the Adventure brand. It is skipped as the discount is repeated every two order lines
Adventure Socks $5 4 $20
-$5

The fourth most expensive order line from the Adventure brand. It is covered by the discount, because the discount is repeated
Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

Not covered by the discount, because it is from the Star brand
Order amount before discounts $225
Total discount $10
Total amount $215
Unroll a sample order where a $5 amount discount (apply the full discount to each item unit) is applied to Adventure-branded product units, starting from the most expensive, skipping the first one, and repeated every two units.
Product Unit price Quantity Price and discount
Adventure T-shirt $20 3 $60
-$5

The most expensive unit from the Adventure brand from which the skip and repeat settings are calculated is in this order line.
The first unit is skipped, the second unit is discounted, and the third unit is again skipped, because the discount is repeated every two units.
Adventure Poster $15 5 $75
-$15

The second most expensive order line units from the Adventure brand. The counting of discounted units moves to this order line. The first, third, and fifth units are discounted, because the discount is repeated every two units.
Adventure Mug  $10 2 $20
-$5

Third most expensive order line units from the Adventure brand. The discount is skipped for the first unit and applied to the second unit.
Adventure Socks $5 4 $20
-$10

The fourth most expensive order line from the Adventure brand. The discount is skipped for the first and third units and applied to the second and fourth units.
Star Thermal Bottle $25 2 $50

Not covered by the discount, because it is from the Star brand.
Order amount before discounts $225
Total discount $35
Total amount $190

Conditions and validation rules

Optionally, discounts can have conditions defined with validation rules, which limit discount application. The validation rules must be met for the discount to be applied.

Use the search field to find and reuse existing validation rules.

To create a new rule, click the plus button to open the, click the plus button to open the validation rule builder in the Campaign Manager. You can also create validation rules in the Validation Rules section in the dashboard for future use.

Validation rules and product discounts

For product discounts, Voucherify creates a validation rule that includes all discounted products. If you want to include the products only, in the Conditions step, check Configured options only. If you want to add further conditions,click With rules and the plus button. If you want to reuse an existing validation rule, select the rule from the search field. 
The new or cloned rule is assigned to the campaign but you will not be able to remove it in the campaign manager nor in the campaign details. However, you can freely edit the rule to add new or remove old conditions.
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