Coupon codes let you offer discounts on products, events, and subscription plans across your site.
Once your offers are set up, you can create coupons to reduce their price and share the codes with existing customers or potential buyers.
Creating a new coupon
Here's how to create a new coupon in Podia:
From your Home Feed, click on your site name and select Admin from the dropdown menu.
From the Admin dashboard, click Sales in the sidebar menu.
Click Coupons in the sidebar menu to get started with creating a coupon on Podia.
Click New coupon in the upper right corner.
Add the coupon details, such as name, amount, discounted items, etc.
After you go through all the details and options, click Create coupon at the bottom of the page to finish creating your coupon code.
Here are all of the available options when creating a new coupon code:
Coupon details
Coupon code
Give your coupon code a name.
If you are using a coupon code for a public event (e.g. Black Friday sales), use a descriptive coupon code like BLACKFRIDAY-2020 or HALLOWEEN-50OFF.
Alternatively, you can also click on Generate unique code to use a unique coupon code that can be shared with your customers to access your site, product and/or subscription plan discounts.
Only alpha-numeric characters are accepted for coupon codes and any special characters will be removed, with spaces converted to dashes (-).
Discounted items
You can choose between different coupon types based on how you want to apply the discounts across your products and subscription plans on your site.
The coupon types you can choose from are listed below:
All products: This coupon type will allow you to discount all available products, events, and plans in your account. All future offers created will also be discounted.
Plans only: This coupon type will apply the specified discount to all available plans on your site.
Specific products: This coupon type lets you choose the specific products, events, and plans the discount applies to. Use the search field to find and add each eligible offer.
If the coupon covers subscriptions or payment plans, you can choose how many payments get the discount. See Subscriptions and payment plans below.
Discount value
There are two types of value you can assign to coupons:
Percentage (%): This is the most popular coupon value (with over 70% of the coupons) used for products, events and plans.
This value type will allow you to discount a percentage of your plans or products, thus providing more control over your discounts.
Amount: An amount discount allows you to specify a specific amount to discount from your products, events, or plans.
If multiple products or subscription plans are selected for a coupon, this amount will apply to all the selected products and plans for that coupon.
📝 When using a coupon with multiple products/events/plans, a percentage (%) value will allow you to have more control over the discount amount for both products and plans.
Amount discounts, on the other hand, work better with specific products where the price is static, and there aren't multiple variants with regard to monthly or annual subscriptions, as in the case of plans.
Subscriptions and payment plans
When a coupon is used on a subscription or a payment plan, you can choose how many payments get the discount:
First payment only: Only the first payment is discounted. Later payments are charged at full price.
First [ ] payments: The number of payments you enter are discounted, then the price goes back to normal. Enter 2 or more.
Every payment: Every payment is discounted for the lifetime of the subscription or the whole payment plan. This is the default.
Example: a 20% coupon on a $20/month membership
First payment only: $16 for the first payment, then $20/month
First 3 payments: $16 for the first 3 payments, then $20/month
Every payment: $16/month
This option only appears when the coupon covers a subscription or payment plan. That means All products, Plans only, or Specific products that include at least one subscription or payment plan. One-time purchases get the discount as usual.
A few things to keep in mind:
Payments are counted, not months. A coupon for the first 2 payments on a yearly plan discounts the first 2 yearly payments, and on a weekly price it discounts the first 2 weeks.
Free trials don't count as a payment. The first paid payment after the trial is the first discounted one.
Switching plans doesn't restart the count. If a customer changes plans, the discount continues for the remaining payments. Once it has ended, it doesn't come back.
On payment plans, a coupon can make the whole payment plan free, but making only the first installment free isn't supported. See how coupons work with payment plans.
Coupon options
Under coupon options, you can limit how many times a coupon can be used, overall or per customer, and set an expiry date.
Usage limits
Coupons in Podia can be set with unlimited usage or with a specific usage limit, depending on how you want to control them.
Limit number of total uses sets the total number of times a coupon can be used on your site.
Without the per-customer limit, the same customer can redeem the coupon across multiple products or plans, so several redemptions can be linked to one customer.
Tick Limit to one use per customer to let each customer use the coupon only once. After they complete a purchase with it, they can't use it again on any product the coupon covers.
Expiry
To set an expiry date on coupons, you can use one of the preset expiry times, or select a date and time from the date and time dropdown.
After a coupon’s expiration date, new customers will no longer be able to redeem it at checkout. However, if the coupon has already been applied, such as to an active subscription, it keeps applying to future payments, up to the number of payments set in Subscriptions and payment plans.
FAQs
Is there any other way to offer discounts in Podia?
Is there any other way to offer discounts in Podia?
At this time, using coupon codes is the only way to create discounts in Podia.
How do coupons work for subscriptions?
How do coupons work for subscriptions?
It depends on the coupon’s Subscriptions and payment plans setting:
Every payment: Every recurring invoice is discounted, whatever the billing interval, for the lifetime of the subscription. For example, a $5-off coupon on a $10/month plan means $5 per month.
First payment only or First [ ] payments: Only those payments are discounted. After that, the customer pays the full price.
Although the discount is applied to every payment, the coupon only counts as one use—the initial redemption at checkout.
Customers will be able to view when the discount expires when checking out for that particular item.
Can I offer a discount just for one month of a subscription/community plan?
Can I offer a discount just for one month of a subscription/community plan?
Yes. When creating the coupon, select First payment only under Subscriptions and payment plans. On a monthly plan, that discounts the first month only.
To discount more than one month, choose First [ ] payments and enter the number of months.
How do I limit coupon usage to one per customer?
How do I limit coupon usage to one per customer?
When creating a new coupon, tick Limit to one use per customer under Usage limits.
Each customer can then use the coupon once. After they complete a purchase with it, they can’t use it again on any product the coupon covers.
A few things to keep in mind:
Failed or abandoned checkouts don’t use it up.
Refunding the purchase doesn’t give the use back.
If a customer tries to use it again, they’ll see You’ve already used this coupon and can still buy at full price.
You can use it on its own or together with a total uses limit.
Coupons can’t be edited. To add this limit to an existing coupon, archive it and create a new one with the same code. The new coupon starts fresh, so customers who used the old one can use the new one once.
This option works even if you’ve selected No limit. The coupon won’t have an overall usage cap, but each customer can use it only once.
Can I use a coupon to offer a free month on my subscription?
Can I use a coupon to offer a free month on my subscription?
Yes. Create a coupon with a 100% discount and select First payment only under Subscriptions and payment plans. The customer’s first month is free, and they pay the full price from the second month on.
You can also add free trial days to your plan, which gives every new subscriber a free period without needing a code.
Are coupon codes case-sensitive?
Are coupon codes case-sensitive?
No. Coupon codes will work regardless of whether they are entered in uppercase or lowercase.
I am receiving an error when trying to save my coupon... Why?
I am receiving an error when trying to save my coupon... Why?
If you receive an error when creating a coupon for a specific product, check that the product is published before creating the coupon. Coupons cannot be tied to products that are still in draft or unpublished.
To publish your product, go to the product in your dashboard and click Publish. Once it's live, return to Sales → Coupons and create your coupon as normal.
How does Podia handle duplicate coupon codes?
How does Podia handle duplicate coupon codes?
Coupon codes must be unique within each coupon type you create.
However, the same coupon code can still be reused across different coupon types, which means there can be overlap between the products or community plans they apply to.
When this happens, Podia uses a coupon hierarchy to decide which discount should apply. Coupons tied to specific products or plans take highest priority, followed by coupons for products/plans only, and then storewide coupons.
Here’s a simple example to show how it works.
Assume a coupon code for BLACKFRIDAY is used for a:
Site-wide with a 10% off discount
Products only with 20% off discount
Selected product with a 50% off discount for a digital download
When a customer visits a site with the coupon code BLACKFRIDAY, the digital download will be at a 50%-off discount because the selected product's coupon will take the highest precedence over the other coupons.
If the selected product's coupon is archived, the digital download will be at 20% off because the products/plan only takes a higher precedence over the storewide coupons.
My customer forgot to use their coupon code at signup. Can it be applied retroactively?
My customer forgot to use their coupon code at signup. Can it be applied retroactively?
No. Coupon codes can only be applied at the moment of signup. They cannot be added to an existing subscription after the fact.
The only workaround is to cancel the customer's current subscription and have them sign up again using the coupon code at checkout.
I clicked Sales on mobile/iPad but can't see the Coupons option... Why?
I clicked Sales on mobile/iPad but can't see the Coupons option... Why?
On mobile and iPad, clicking Sales in the sidebar takes you to the Invoices page and collapses the sidebar at the same time.
To get to Coupons, tap the sidebar icon to expand it again, then select Coupons.
Alternatively, you can go directly to app.podia.com/coupons without navigating through the sidebar at all.