How to apply discount in WooCommerce based in shipping address - featured image

How to Offer Discounts Based on Shipping Address in WooCommerce? (Free Plugin)

The blog post offers a tutorial on how to provide WooCommerce discounts based on shipping address with the default WooCommerce plugin settings. The blog also covers creating discounts based on shipping location using WooCommerce coupon extended features.

Shipping is an essential component of an eCommerce business with the potential to create an impact on your sales. While many brands start with basic shipping strategies like free shipping or faster delivery, successful brands adopt a more strategic approach.

In fact, high shipping costs are one of the leading reasons for cart abandonment. You can effectively lower cart abandonment rates and drive more sales by offering shipping coupons and discounts.

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Key Takeaways

  • Explore how to set up WooCommerce shipping discounts using the inbuilt features.
  • Learn how to apply discounts in WooCommerce based on the shipping address using the Smart Coupons plugin.

An Overview of WooCommerce Shipping Methods (Default)

WooCommerce offers three core shipping methods that allow store owners to meet customers’ diverse needs. These can be easily configured within the plugin’s settings. The shipping options are:

  • Flat Rate: Allows you to charge a fixed rate for shipping. This gives you control over basic shipping fees.
  • Free Shipping: Offer customers free shipping based on well-defined conditions, such as requiring a minimum order amount or using a coupon code.
  • Local Pickup: Let customers collect their orders in person from the store. In this case, store-based taxes automatically apply regardless of the customer’s address.

WooCommerce’s built-in features also make it easy to create and offer free shipping coupons. Below is a quick guide.

How To Create Free Shipping Coupons In WooCommerce? (No Plugin Required)

  • Go to Marketing > Coupons > Add Coupon to create a new shipping-based coupon.
  • Next, generate a coupon code and provide a coupon description
  • In the Product data widget, under the general tab, choose the Discount type and set the Coupon amount.
  • Enable the Allow free shipping option. This allows customers to skip shipping fees when they apply it.
  • Once reviewed, click Publish to generate the free shipping coupon. To get a complete idea of the same, refer to our article linked below.

Imagine your WooCommerce store’s sales are low in a specific country, like the United States, due to tight competition. How would you address this? One effective approach is to offer special discounts and incentives exclusively to customers from that region.

However, the default WooCommerce system doesn’t allow you to restrict discounts to a particular country. Even basic coupons apply to all countries if the specified conditions are met.

While WooCommerce alone falls short, you can easily create these customized shipping coupons with the Smart Coupons for WooCommerce extension. Let’s see how it works.

How To Set Up WooCommerce Discounts for Shipping Addresses?

The WebToffee WooCommerce Smart Coupons is a free plugin that is perfect for this scenario. To apply discounts in WooCommerce based on shipping address, follow these steps:

A video guide on how to set up discounts in WooCommerce based on shipping address using a free plugin.

Install and Activate the WebToffee’s WooCommerce Smart Coupons Plugin

  • Go to Plugins > Add New.
  • Search for the plugin ‘Smart Coupons for WooCommerce’
  • Install and then activate the plugin

Now, we’ll explain how to create discounts based on shipping address using advanced WooCommerce coupon features with examples.

Use Case 1: 15% Off For Customers in the US Location

Let’s say you want to offer a 15% discount to all customers whose shipping address is within the United States. Here’s how,

apply coupon to selected countries
  • Go to Smart Coupons > Add coupon and provide a coupon code.
  • Choose the Discount type as Percentage discount and set the Coupon amount as 15.
  • Enable the checkbox Apply coupon automatically to automate the discount code application.
  • Select where you want the coupons to be displayed in the store in the Display coupon in field.
  • Under the Restrict by country option, choose whether to apply the restriction based on the billing or shipping address. For this use case, choose the Shipping address.
  • Select the country as United States (US) under the field Country.
  • Publish the shipping coupon.
restrict coupon by country in WooCommerce

When a customer with a United States shipping address makes a purchase, the cart appears as shown below. This demonstrates how you can create location-based shipping coupons and discounts in WooCommerce using the Smart Coupon plugin.

country based restricted WooCommerce coupon

Use Case 2: Get 25% Discount Everywhere In Switzerland For Flat Rate Shipping Method

Let’s walk through how to create a WooCommerce coupon that offers 25% off on all purchases, but only for customers shipping to Switzerland using the flat rate shipping method.

Step 1: Create A Coupon

  • Go to Marketing > Coupons from your dashboard.
  • From the Coupons window, click on the Add Coupon button.
  • Enter the Coupon code and add an optional Description of what the code does.

Step 2: Configuring WooCommerce Coupon General Settings

  • From the General panel, select your preferred discount type (Percentage discount).
  • Enter a coupon amount (25).
  • If you want to display the coupon in the customer’s cart, select cart from the dropdown Display coupon in (optional).
Configure the WooCommerce coupon general settings

Step 3: Setting WooCommerce Conditional Discount Based on Shipping Address

  • Navigate to the Checkout options tab.
  • Select Shipping methods from the list (Flat rate).
  • Select Shipping Address under the option Restrict by country.
  • Select the Country from the list. Here, we selected Switzerland.

Step 4: Set Up Flat Rate Settings

  • Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Shipping zones.
  • Click on Add shipping zone.
  • Provide a Zone name and select the Zone regions. Here let’s select Switzerland.
  • Click on Add shipping method and choose Flat rate.
create a shipping zone with flat rate
  • Now proceed to edit the Flat rate method, and a new pop-up window will appear.
  • Select the tax status and specify how to calculate the flat rate cost. Here, we have chosen to charge the customers $10 for every item in the cart.
flat rate settings in WooCommerce
  • Click on Save to update the changes.

We have done all the essential configurations to create a WooCommerce discount based on shipping zones – Get a 25% discount Everywhere in Switzerland for flat rate shipping. If you have made the coupon available in the cart, it will display on the cart page as illustrated below.

flat rate coupon displayed on the woocommerce cart

So, when the customer specifies the shipping address as Switzerland, the flat rate shipping will be automatically associated with the cart. Per our configuration, $20 ($10 for each item) will be added as the shipping cost.

Customers can enter the coupon code displayed in the cart in the APPLY COUPON field to associate the shipping discount. When done, 25% of the cart subtotal will be deducted from the payable.

cart with coupon applied

Use Case 3: Get a 10% Discount With PayPal For Shipping To Spain

To create a PayPal-exclusive 10% discount for shipping to Spain, follow these few steps:

  • After adding the Coupon code and Description according to your requirement, select the discount type as Percentage discount and enter a Coupon amount as 10.
payment method based shipping discount coupon
  • Now navigate to the Checkout options panel, select the Payment method as PayPal, and select the shipping Country as Spain.
  • Publish the coupon for your customers.

Customers can redeem it by choosing PayPal as their payment method and shipping their orders to Spain.

Advanced WooCommerce Coupons- A Plugin Overview

This Woo discount rules plugin from WebToffee offers a range of advanced coupon features. While the free version allows you to create basic shipping coupons, the dedicated premium version opens up even more possibilities.

You can experiment with various coupon usage restrictions and shipping methods to strategically offer discounts without impacting your profit margins. At the same time, you can motivate customers to purchase more by making the offer enticing and valuable.

To know more about our coupon plugin, check out the article Smart Coupons for WooCommerce: Features, Benefits, and Why You Need Them.

Top Ways To Promote WooCommerce Shipping Discounts Within Your Store

  • Put up a limited-time shipping coupon banner on your website

The FOMO effect (Fear Of Missing Out) has its way of getting people into doing what they want. Therefore, a limited-time offer will persuade your customers to hurry the decision-making process. Plus, adding promotions in coupon banners captures your website visitors’ attention quickly.

With the advanced WooCommerce coupon plugin, you can easily customize and create countdown timer banners to promote your WooCommerce shipping discounts.

  • Display the coupons in different locations of your store

Make your customers aware of the available free shipping coupons by strategically placing them in high-visibility locations. You can use the same WooCommerce coupon plugin mentioned above to set this up easily.

With the WooCommerce smart coupons plugin, you can add coupons under your customers’ Cart, Checkout, and My Accounts pages. For example, making the coupon visible on the Cart page can help reduce cart abandonment and increase customer satisfaction. When customers see the cart total, they become aware of shipping charges. Offering an easy solution to offset these extra charges through coupons can create a lasting impact.

  • Leverage the popularity of your social media followers

Social media is a great platform to get the word out, whether it’s about coupons or deals. You can send coupons to your social media followers and let them spread the word.

You can use the URL coupon plugin for WooCommerce from WebToffee to create social media sharable coupon URLs and QR codes for your coupons.

  • Make the most out of your email subscribers

Email marketing campaigns can also be used to promote your WooCommerce coupon campaigns. You can add coupons to your newsletters and bring potential customers to your store.

You may also attract customers who have abandoned your cart by offering them WooCommerce shipping coupons via email. The cart abandonment recovery settings in the WooCommerce smart coupons plugin will let you set it up with minimal effort.

Wrap Up

Now that you know how to set up shipping coupons using both the built-in features and the Smart Coupons for WooCommerce plugin, you can easily generate shipping coupons and enhance customers’ shopping experience.

Do check out the premium WooCommerce coupon plugin, which includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, along with one year of updates and support.

That’s it, folks! We hope you found this article helpful. Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Frequently Asked Questions on WooCommerce Shipping Discounts

How to automate WooCommerce shipping address discount offers?

You can automate the application of WooCommerce discounts based on the customer’s shipping address by enabling the Apply coupon automatically option in the Smart Coupons plugin. When a customer meets all cart and shipping conditions, the discount coupon is applied automatically.

Does WooCommerce offer shipping discounts?

Yes, WooCommerce offers options for free shipping. However, for more advanced shipping-based discounts or customer-address-based discounts, you’ll need a third-party plugin, such as Woo Discount Rules from WebToffee.

What is flat rate shipping in WooCommerce?

In WooCommerce, flat rate shipping is a fixed shipping cost you can set for orders, regardless of order quantity, weight, or delivery location. You can define a flat rate per item, per order, or per shipping class, allowing you to charge a consistent amount for shipping on all qualifying orders.

Article by

Associate Product Manager @ WebToffee

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