Add discounts for Black Friday and Holiday Season
Amrayu78
Max Romanchenko task for you.
Max Romanchenko
Amrayu78 Thanks for the interesting task!
There are two standard ways to implement discounts in e‑commerce:
- Sale price: the discount is shown directly on the product price, visible to all users. The price is set individually for each product/subscription. The discount price can be set for a specific time period.
- Coupon code: users enter a code to receive the discount (or it can be applied automatically if you say so.) Applies to all products globally. The discount can be fixed or percentage-based. The discount price can be set for a specific time period.
Would you prefer the promotion to be visible right away on the price page, or should we set it up with a coupon code on checkout page? Also, should the promotion run for a limited time (Black Friday week), or simply until you decide to turn it off?
My goal is to make this as convenient for you as possible and ensure the process is fully automated.
Amrayu78
Max Romanchenko Let's keep it simple for now and go with 1. Later on, I may request the coupon code option since it's always a fun way to promote using a discount code.
I want the promotion to run whenever there's a holiday, so if possible a scheduler of some type, promo should run until a certain date (date picker).
Max Romanchenko
Amrayu78 I completely agree with you about discounts and coupons. I've implemented the flexible discount management system (Option 1) in the admin panel, please check it out:
https://drama-otaku.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=products-admin
I set a 20% discount for all products/subscriptions and set the date range from November 24 to December 1 (Black Friday week).
The Pricing page now shows discounted pricing with tooltips displaying end dates (see "Extra 5 GB" product).
The system is now fully configured for future discount campaigns as well.
You can change the discount price and discount dates individually for each product/subscription.
Amrayu78
Max Romanchenko Thanks for this! It looks good.
Is it possible to keep a history of these promos?
History of promos, dates, prices, how many users subscribed/purchased data boosts.
It'll be nice to see these numbers to see how effective these promos are.
Max Romanchenko
Amrayu78 Makes total sense, having that data would be really useful.
The current sale system is simple, but it's pretty basic. It just changes the price tag and doesn't actually track anything behind the scenes. It can't tell a promo purchase from a normal one.
To get the history and stats you want, we'd need to switch to the coupon system (option 2). It's built to track all that stuff - how many uses, which products sold, etc.
So we have a choice:
- Keep the current system for its simplicity (but no analytics).
- Switch to the coupon system to get the full tracking.
Let me know which way you want to go.
Amrayu78
Max Romanchenko Please switch to the coupon system.
Amrayu78
For the coupon system, can we make it flexible?
Discount good for x amount of months, after that it switches to the normal full price for subscriptions.
For data boosts, they can't be stacked (one time per user only).
Max Romanchenko
Amrayu78 I've dug into it, and the coupon system is exactly what we need.
Here's the way it works:
The discount from the coupon applies only to the first payment. Every single renewal after that will automatically be at the standard full price.
This is actually the best way to do it. The payment setup for subscriptions is complex, it's created once and then reused. Changing prices later for existing customers is messy and risky. This method is clean and safe.
Plus, it gives us flexibility. You'll be able to create different coupons for specific plans - like a special discount only for the annual subscription, or a one-time promo just on data boosts (Extra GB).
So effectively, we can offer:
Any monthly plan: "First month cheap, then standard price."
Any annual plan: "First year discounted, standard price next year."
This pushes users towards the more valuable annual plan, which is great for us I think.
About the data boosts: Just to confirm I understand correctly- when you say "can't be stacked" and "one time per user only" for a coupon, you mean that a user should only be able to use a specific promo coupon to buy, for example, the "Extra 5 GB" boost once, right? So they can't apply the same coupon multiple times to get multiple discounted boosts.
I think this is doable. I'll build the system so you can set these usage limits on any coupon.
Please let me know what you think.
Amrayu78
Max Romanchenko thanks for all this research. Yes to all your points and questions. You’ve understood the data boost coupons correctly.
Max Romanchenko
Amrayu78 Thank you. I'll start building the coupon system.
To make it more flexible, I can add a setting for each coupon: "Automatically apply discount."
If it's ON, users get the sale price without a code (perfect for holidays).
If it's OFF, they need to enter a promo code (great for tracking ads/partners).
This way we have both options. What do you think?
Amrayu78
Max Romanchenko yup sounds good �
Max Romanchenko
Amrayu78 I've made progress with the coupons, so I'm sharing it with you.
Here is the admin page:
https://drama-otaku.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=products-coupons
Main points:
- All discounts are now located there (I removed Sale Price due to conflicts)
- Coupons have validity periods and can include various products/settings
- When auto-applied, discount and description show on pricing page
- Checkout coupon form is hidden for auto-applied coupons
- Discount and code are automatically displayed in summary
- If not auto-applied, no changes on pricing page, coupon form available
I'll test again tomorrow, but it's basically ready. Please take a look.
Amrayu78
Max Romanchenko This looks great!