Creating Advanced WooCommerce Coupons for Free: A Short Guide

This blog post discusses the fast and easy way to create advanced WooCommerce coupons for your online store. In this guide to adding advanced discounts in WooCommerce, we will be using the Smart Coupons plugin from WebToffee to create, customize and manage coupons.

Purpose-specific coupons are crucial elements in any WooCommerce marketing strategy. A vast majority of eCommerce shoppers utilize coupons when making purchases. In fact, 86% of online shoppers are more likely to try a new business when offered a coupon.

Another way of looking at this is; customers expect coupons as part of their shopping journey. That is if you don’t provide competitive discounts and deals, such as coupons, they might leave looking for stores with more suitable offers.

So, how do we implement advanced Woocommerce coupon to your store? Before we get started, here’s a quick overview of the key topics we’ll cover:

Coupons are usually intended as purchase accelerators. Coupons help to catalyze the purchase action by providing the customers ‘something extra’. This value addition combined with satisfactory store experiences is the key factor determining the conversion rate.

This is where advanced WooCommerce coupon plugins really shine. These tools offer powerful features to improve your discount strategies.

You can create customized discounts tailored to customer preferences. This makes their shopping journey more engaging. Automatic coupon application also speeds up the checkout process, reducing friction.

Different Types Of WooCommerce Coupons

Coupons come in many forms, each with unique benefits. A discount coupon offers a price reduction on the subtotal. A decrease in the cart amount, if it is competitive, encourages customers to close the deal faster.

Store credits and gift cards are also effective. Unlike discount coupons, store credit coupons or gift cards do not offer a flat price reduction, but the fundamental idea behind the coupon remains the same (to improve purchase figures). These coupons help retain customers and encourage repeat visits, which are key to building loyalty.

BOGO (Buy One Get One) coupons are a great way to incentivize purchases. They encourage customers to buy more by offering a free or discounted item with a purchase. This can increase average order value and drive sales.

Cart abandonment coupons are user-specific coupons autogenerated by the store to motivate customers to complete the purchase. These coupons will only be created when a preset condition is met. The condition will somewhat look like ‘if the user exists the store after adding products to the cart, create the coupon and send it after 30 minutes of inactivity’. This helps recover nearly lost sales.

You may also set up free shipping coupons. Free shipping is one of the most desirable customer requirements. Most of the customers feel like they are entitled to receive such an offer. In reality, nobody will be excited to pay an extra amount for shipping if they have already paid for the product and taxes. Free shipping coupons are therefore a key discount strategy that is sure to reap benefits.

Sign-up coupons reward new users for joining the store. They promote engagement and drive initial purchases, often converting first-time visitors into loyal customers.

Each has its own distinct advantage—So it is wise to incorporate these advanced discounts and coupons into your eCommerce marketing strategy.

Adding a normal WooCommerce coupon in WordPress doesn’t require any additional tools. The settings and configurations in WooCommerce are sufficient to set up a coupon with limited characteristics.

Take a look at how you can create coupons with default WooCommerce settings.

1. Click on Marketing > Coupons displayed in the navigation bar of your WordPress dashboard.
2. Provide a coupon code and description.
3. Fill in the necessary data such as the coupon type, amount, and more under the Coupon data widget.
4. After filling in the necessary fields, Publish the coupon.

This will add the coupon to your store. However, you will have to inform your users via text, email, or other means about the coupons and coupon codes. This is because the coupons created here will only be visible in the WordPress admin console. You will have to use some advanced WooCommerce coupon plugins to add them to your store’s UI.

In addition to this, the default settings lack several features that are essential in a real case. We will look into the advanced WooCommerce coupons that you will be able to achieve using the free smart coupon plugin.

Advanced Discount Features	WebToffee Smart Coupons for WooCommerce	Advanced Coupons for WooCommerce	Smart Coupons (StoreApps)
Automatic Coupon Application	✔︎	✔︎	✔︎
Gift Cards & Store Credits	✔︎	Gift card features not available	✔︎
Customizable Coupon Designs	✔︎	❌	✔︎
Buy One Get One (BOGO) Deals	✔︎	✔︎	✔︎
URL-Based Coupons	✔︎	✔︎	✔︎
Coupon Scheduling	✔︎	✔︎	✔︎
Advanced Coupon Restrictions	Product, category, payments, user-roles, location and purchase history	✔︎	✔︎
Customer Support	Dedicated customer support and documentation	✔︎	✔︎
Active Installations	30000+	20000+	20000+
Free Version	✔︎	✔︎	❌

We will be using the free Smart Coupons for WooCommerce plugin to create coupons. This advanced coupon plugin is well received and has some of the most required features.

Creating WooCommerce advanced coupons and discounts using a plugin is similar to using the default settings. The only difference is that the plugin offers advanced WooCommerce coupon setup for your store.

Implementing Advanced Coupons Using the Smart Coupons for WooCommerce Plugin

To start, install and activate the Smart Coupons for WooCommerce plugin in your WordPress admin dashboard. You can do so under Plugins > Add New in WordPress. Once the WooCommerce coupon plugin is activated, you can begin creating advanced discounts rules in your store.

Similar to the default settings, you can set up WooCommerce advanced coupons under Smart Coupons> Add Coupon.

• Provide a coupon code and description.
• Under the Coupon data widget, fill in the necessary data such as the coupon type, amount, and more.
• Click Publish.

Using this plugin, you can create advanced WooCommerce coupons with various configurations. Mentioned below are some of the advanced coupon use cases that you can attain by using this free plugin.

Schedule Advanced Discounts and Coupons

WooCommerce coupons can be scheduled instead of publishing it immediately. This enables you to better promote the coupons with coupon banners and other promotion tools. With this plugin, you can provide a coupon start date and an expiry date. Your customers will only be allowed to access this coupon during this scheduled period.

How is this feature beneficial?

Scheduling discounts and coupons is especially beneficial during holiday sales. Additionally, they can offer exclusive, limited-time deals, creating a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

In order to set up limited-time exclusive deals in WooCommerce,

• Navigate to Smart Coupons > Add Coupon from the navigation menu.
• Under the General settings section, set the coupon expiry and start date.
• Click Publish.

Display All Coupons Created in the Store UI

By default, WooCommerce doesn’t display available coupons in the store. You must notify customers via email or text. However, with advanced smart coupons, you can display them on the My Account, Checkout, or Cart page.

How is this advanced coupon feature beneficial?

Displaying active, used, and expired WooCommerce coupons on the storefront helps keep customers aware of available deals. With the free version of this plugin, you can add vouchers to the My Account, My Coupons page (default), as well as the Cart and Checkout pages.

Set Up BOGO (Buy One Get One) Offers

A WooCommerce Buy One Get One (BOGO) coupon is a promotion where customers receive a free product when they purchase another.

How is BOGO feature beneficial?

Buy One Get One (BOGO) is a highly-effective discount strategy. It attracts new customers and encourages repeat purchases helping boost loyalty. The plugin lets you set up flexible BOGO deals like Buy X Get Y. The free version offers control, but the premium version unlocks full customization.

For example, popular F&B brands, like pizza chains, use BOGO deals effectively. They offer promotions like buy one, get one free, increasing sales and satisfaction.

To set up WooCommerce BOGO deals,

• Start by setting the discount type to BOGO.
• Choose the number of times the coupon can be applied at a time. This limits the coupon application to either one time or repeated use by the customer.
• Add user restrictions for advanced discount rules for the BOGO coupon.
• Next, go to Giveaway products section to configure the Y in Buy X and Get Y.
• Click Publish to activate your BOGO deal.

Apply Woocommerce Coupon Automatically

How does auto-apply benefit WooCommerce store owners?

Auto-applying coupons simplifies the checkout process for customers. It automatically applies discounts when cart conditions are met. This eliminates the need for customers to enter a code manually.

Make Coupon Applicable Only If All Specified Products Are Added

With this free advanced smart coupon plugin, you can set cart conditions for coupon eligibility. One such coupon condition is – to apply the coupon only if all products added to the coupon are added to the cart. If this condition is set, even if just one product is missing, the smart coupon won’t apply.

How Does This Feature Benefit?

This feature drives customers to add all items to get the coupon discount. It helps drive larger orders by encouraging customers to complete their cart. This increases average order value and sales.

Payment And Shipment Method Based Coupons

Coupons can be restricted based on the payment and shipment methods selected by the customers. These payment and shipment-based coupons enable you to reward a specific customer set instead of the whole user.

How do advanced user restrictions on payments and shipment methods benefit?

Advanced user restrictions on payment and shipment methods allow you to tailor discounts specifically based on customers’ choices. By setting coupon conditions related to particular payment options or shipping methods, you can create more targeted promotions. To access these settings, go to Checkout options in the Coupon data widget.

Offering Product Giveaways

Offering product giveaways is a powerful way to reward loyal customers. This coupon plugin allows you to offer free products or giveaways, helping to build customer loyalty and enhance engagement. It’s also a great opportunity to promote unique products in your store.

How does this feature benefit store owners?

Using giveaways, you can distribute samples of new items to boost their visibility. It also helps in clearing excess or outdated stock, making room for new products. To access the giveaways settings, go to Giveaway products and add the product.

The scenarios described are possible with the free version of the Smart Coupons for WooCommerce plugin. For advanced control and more customization features, consider upgrading to the premium version. The Smart Coupons Pro plugin allows you to set up advanced BOGO deals, offer first-order coupons, and provide nth-order coupon discounts, among other features.

Advanced WooCommerce coupons created using the free plugin will be available for preview and edits under Marketing > Coupons. You can edit, trash, and duplicate all the coupons that you have created from there.

If you go under the Coupon category tab you will be able to create new categories and assign parent categories.

You can manage the layout of the WooCommerce coupons under the Layout tab. There you can adjust the color codes used for displaying available, used, and expired coupons.

Your customers will be able to view the coupons from their My Account, Cart and Checkout pages (if configured). This is how the coupons will be displayed on the My Account page.

Smart Coupons for WooCommerce Pro is a freemium WooCommerce plugin that you can use to set up advanced WooCommerce coupons in WordPress. Apart from the features listed under the free version of the plugin, the premium version offers several other coupon features that you may require on a day-to-day basis.

Some of the key use-cases that you can achieve with the advanced configurations in the premium smart coupon plugin include,

• Advanced BOGO configurations to create a more restricted BOGO coupon.
• Offer gift cards as a separate product in the store.
• Give customers store credits instead of refunds.
• Auto-generate cart abandonment recovery coupons and email them to customers when a pre-set condition is met.
• Create coupons in bulk with respect to underlying coupon conditions.
• Reward newly signed-up customers with first-purchase discount coupons.
• Reward returning customers with an nth-order purchase discount coupon.
• Offer multiple giveaway products on purchases.

Offering coupons is a smart way to get more sales. However, setting up no restrictions is a recipe for catastrophe. The financial drain from coupons is unnecessary, especially because of the availability of advanced WooCommerce coupons plugins tailored to circumvent such issues. You can achieve a lot of use cases by utilizing the free WooCommerce advanced discount plugin – Smart Coupons for WooCommerce.

You can create even more restrictive and targeted coupons with the premium version of this plugin. Offering coupons helps your store keep your customers engaged, so don’t miss out on that.

Do you have any questions about setting up and managing this plugin? Do let us know in the comments below.