💬 Prashant’s Note
When I set this up for a restaurant client in Sydney, the part that confused her most was the difference between a ‘Fixed Cart Discount’ and a ‘Fixed Product Discount’ — she kept applying the wrong one and wondering why the numbers looked off. Here is how I explain it to every client: if you want to take $10 off the whole order, use Fixed Cart; if you want $10 off a specific item in that order, use Fixed Product. Keep that one rule in mind and the whole coupon system clicks into place.
Watch detailed video instructions:
Table of Contents
What Are WooCommerce Coupons and Why Should You Use Them?
WooCommerce coupons are discount codes that customers enter at checkout to reduce what they pay. They are one of the most widely used promotional tools in eCommerce, and for very good reason — most online shoppers actively look for a discount before completing a purchase, so showing up with the right offer at the right moment can make a real difference to your conversion rate. For store owners, coupons serve several practical purposes: – Drive more sales during slow periods – Reward returning customers and build loyalty – Recover abandoned carts by sending a discount code via email – Clear out old or slow-moving inventory – Attract first-time buyers with a welcome discount The built-in WooCommerce coupon system is flexible enough to handle all of these use cases without needing to install a separate plugin. Once you know how to configure them properly, you can create targeted, time-limited, customer-specific promotions in just a few minutes.
How to Enable Coupons in WooCommerce Settings
Before you can create your first coupon, you need to make sure coupons are switched on in your WooCommerce settings. By default they may already be enabled, but it is worth confirming. Here is how to do it: 1. Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to WooCommerce > Settings. 2. Click on the General tab. 3. Scroll down to find the ‘Enable the use of coupon codes’ checkbox and make sure it is ticked. 4. You will also see an option called ‘Calculate coupon discounts sequentially.’ If you check this box, WooCommerce will apply the first coupon to the full price and then apply any second coupon to the already-discounted price. If you leave it unchecked, all coupons apply to the original full price. For most small stores, leaving it unchecked is the simpler approach. 5. Click Save Changes. That is all there is to it. With coupons enabled, a new Coupons menu item will appear under your Marketing section in the WordPress admin.
The 4 Types of WooCommerce Discounts Explained
WooCommerce gives you four main coupon types out of the box. Knowing which one to use for each situation is the key to running promotions that actually make sense for your store. – Percentage Discount: Takes a set percentage off the cart total or eligible products. This is great for storewide sales or first-order incentives because the discount scales with the order size. For example, ‘20% off your entire order.’ – Fixed Cart Discount: Removes a flat dollar (or currency) amount from the entire cart, regardless of what is in it. This works well for campaigns like ‘$10 off orders over $50’ — simple, easy to communicate, and very motivating for customers who are close to the threshold. – Fixed Product Discount: Applies a flat discount to specific products rather than the whole cart. If you want to discount one particular item — say, a popular product you want to push — this is the right type to use. – Free Shipping: Eliminates the shipping cost when the coupon is applied, either storewide or based on specific conditions you set. This one is surprisingly effective — many shoppers abandon their cart specifically because of shipping fees, so a free shipping coupon can recover a lot of lost sales. Choose the type that matches your promotion goal before you start filling in the coupon details.
Step-by-Step: How to Create a WooCommerce Coupon
Once coupons are enabled, creating one is straightforward. Here is the full process: 1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Marketing > Coupons (or WooCommerce > Coupons in older versions). 2. Click ‘Add Coupon’ at the top of the page. 3. In the Coupon Code field at the top, type the code you want customers to use — something memorable like SUMMER20 or WELCOME10. You can also click ‘Generate coupon code’ if you want WooCommerce to create a random alphanumeric code for you. 4. Add an optional description for your own reference. Customers will not see this. 5. Under the General tab in the Coupon Data section, choose your Discount Type from the dropdown. 6. Enter the Coupon Amount. Do not include a currency symbol or percent sign — just the number. So for 20% off, enter 20. For $15 off, enter 15. 7. Tick the ‘Allow free shipping’ box if you want this coupon to also remove shipping costs. 8. Set a Coupon Expiry Date if you want the code to stop working after a certain date. Coupons expire and cannot be used on or after the date you set here. 9. When you are done with the General tab, move on to Usage Restrictions and Usage Limits (covered in the next two sections). 10. When all settings look good, click Publish on the right side of the screen.
Setting Up Usage Restrictions
The Usage Restrictions tab is where you control who can use the coupon and under what conditions. This is important — if you do not set any restrictions, anyone can apply your coupon at any time, which can hurt your margins fast. Here is what each option does: – Minimum Spend: Define the minimum cart subtotal required before the coupon is valid. Great for incentivising larger orders, e.g., ‘Spend $50 to unlock 15% off.’ – Maximum Spend: Sets a ceiling on the order value the coupon can apply to — useful if you do not want high-value purchases getting heavy discounts. – Individual Use Only: When checked, the customer cannot combine this coupon with any other coupon in the same order. – Exclude Sale Items: Prevents the coupon from applying to products that are already on sale. – Products: Restrict the coupon to apply only to specific products you select. – Exclude Products: Choose specific products that should be excluded from the discount. – Product Categories: Limit the coupon to one or more specific product categories. – Allowed Emails: Enter one or more email addresses to restrict the coupon to particular customers only. This is perfect for personalised offers or VIP promotions.
Configuring Usage Limits
The Usage Limits tab lets you control how many times a coupon can be redeemed in total and how many times each individual customer can use it. – Usage Limit Per Coupon: Sets the total number of times this coupon can be used across all customers. Once that number is reached, the coupon automatically becomes void. This is very useful for limited flash sales — for example, ‘First 50 customers only.’ – Limit Usage to X Items: Restricts the coupon so it only applies to a certain number of items in the cart. Note that this setting only works when you have specified particular products in the Usage Restrictions tab. – Usage Limit Per User: Limits how many times a single customer can use the coupon. Setting this to 1 ensures each customer can only claim the discount once, which is essential for welcome-discount or new-customer promotions. Think carefully about these limits before publishing your coupon. I have seen clients forget to set a usage limit on a big percentage-off code, share it on social media, and then find it was applied to hundreds of orders they did not expect. A simple limit prevents that headache entirely.
How Customers Apply a Coupon at Checkout
From the customer’s side, using a coupon is simple. There is a coupon code field visible on the cart page and the checkout page. The customer types in the coupon code and clicks ‘Apply Coupon.’ If the code is valid and all restrictions are met, the discount is applied immediately and the order total updates. One important thing to know: WooCommerce does not automatically apply coupon codes for customers. There is no built-in functionality to auto-apply a code without the customer entering it. This means you need to actively share your coupon codes — via email newsletters, social media posts, your website banner, or SMS campaigns — to make sure customers actually use them. By default, WooCommerce allows only one coupon per order. If you need customers to be able to stack coupons, that requires a code customisation or a third-party plugin.
How to Track Coupon Usage in Your Dashboard
Once your coupons are live, you can monitor how they are performing directly from the WooCommerce admin. Go to Marketing > Coupons (or WooCommerce > Coupons) and you will see a list of all the coupons you have created. For each coupon you can see: – The coupon code and discount type – The coupon amount – The expiry date – The usage count — how many times the coupon has been used in total This usage count updates in real time, so you can quickly see which promotions are getting traction and which ones are not. If a coupon is approaching its usage limit, you will be able to see that here and decide whether to extend it or let it expire. For more detailed reporting — such as revenue generated per coupon — you can use WooCommerce Analytics, which gives you a Coupons report under Analytics > Coupons in your dashboard.
Best Practices for Running WooCommerce Promotions
After setting up coupons for hundreds of online stores, here are the tips that actually make a difference: – Always set an expiry date. Open-ended coupons get shared around the internet and used long after your promotion was meant to end. Even if the campaign is ongoing, set a date and renew it — it keeps things tidy and prevents abuse. – Use meaningful coupon codes. Codes like WELCOME10 or SUMMER25 are easier for customers to remember and type correctly than random strings. They also communicate the offer at a glance. – Set a usage limit per user for any new-customer or first-purchase coupons. This stops the same person from repeatedly using a ‘first-order’ discount. – Combine minimum spend with percentage discounts to increase average order value. A coupon that gives 15% off orders over $75 encourages customers to add more to their cart before applying the code. – Always test your coupon before you announce it publicly. Create a test order on your own store to make sure the code works as expected and the discount amount looks right. – Consider using the ‘Exclude Sale Items’ option so that customers cannot double-dip on products that are already discounted.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I enable coupons in WooCommerce?
Go to WooCommerce > Settings > General and check the box next to ‘Enable the use of coupon codes,’ then save your changes. Once enabled, a Coupons menu will appear under the Marketing section of your WordPress dashboard.
What is the difference between a fixed cart discount and a fixed product discount in WooCommerce?
A fixed cart discount removes a set dollar amount from the entire cart total, no matter which products are in it. A fixed product discount applies a set dollar amount off the price of specific products you choose — the rest of the cart is unaffected.
Can I offer free shipping with a WooCommerce coupon?
Yes. When creating or editing a coupon, tick the ‘Allow Free Shipping’ checkbox under the General tab. When a customer applies that coupon at checkout, their shipping cost is waived automatically.
How do I check how many times a coupon has been used?
Go to Marketing > Coupons in your WordPress dashboard. Each coupon in the list shows a usage count column that tells you the total number of times it has been redeemed. This updates in real time.
Can customers use more than one coupon on a single order in WooCommerce?
By default, WooCommerce only allows one coupon per order. You can also enforce this explicitly by checking the ‘Individual Use Only’ box on any coupon. Allowing multiple coupons to stack requires custom code or a third-party plugin.
How do I stop a coupon from being used after it expires?
Set a Coupon Expiry Date in the General tab when creating your coupon. Once that date passes, WooCommerce will automatically block the coupon from being applied at checkout — you do not need to delete it manually.
Can I restrict a WooCommerce coupon to specific customers?
Yes. In the Usage Restrictions tab, enter one or more email addresses in the ‘Allowed Emails’ field. Only customers whose billing email matches those addresses will be able to use the coupon — great for personalised or VIP offers.
Final Thoughts
And that is a complete walkthrough of WooCommerce coupons and discounts — from enabling the feature in your settings all the way through to tracking usage and running your promotions smartly. If you take one thing away from this guide, let it be this: always set an expiry date and a usage limit. Those two settings alone will save you from most of the coupon headaches I have seen store owners deal with. I have also put together a full video tutorial that walks through all of these steps visually — if you are more of a watch-and-follow type, go ahead and check that out on my YouTube channel. It is a lot easier to see where everything is in the WooCommerce dashboard when you can watch someone do it in real time. If you have a question about something specific in your store’s setup, drop it in the comments below — I read every one and do my best to help. And if you would rather have someone just set this up for you properly, feel free to reach out to me directly at paramfreelance.com. I have been building WooCommerce stores for over 15 years and I am always happy to help a fellow store owner get things running the right way.
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I hope that this article on WooCommerce Coupons and discounts will help you. In the upcoming WooCommerce Tutorial article and videos, I will show you how to add different types of products in WooCommerce such as digital products, service products, variable products, Bookings, and accommodations products.
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