Share promo codes with your customers to encourage them to place an order.
You can offer different types of discounts in your store, including discounts for:
- Entire orders
- Orders over a set amount
- Orders that meet a set quantity of products
- Individual products
- Product categories
- Digital Products pricing plans
This guide walks you through the options for creating discounts to encourage spending and drive sales. For help with discount exceptions, tracking discount use, and editing discounts, visit Managing discounts.
If you use Squarespace Email Campaigns, you can also create a discount directly in your campaign.
You can create discounts on Business, Commerce, and Digital Product plans, but some discount settings are only available on Commerce Advanced and Digital Product plans. When that's the case, we'll note it in this guide.
Tip: To create a sale, use sale pricing instead. This adds a Sale badge to products and shows the original price with a strikethrough.
Only store Owners and Administrators can access discounts. Learn more about permissions in Squarespace permissions explained.
Watch a video
Add a new discount
To add a new discount:
- Open the Discounts panel.
- Click Add Discount in the top-right corner.
- Complete the fields to customize the discount, and click Save.
Customize your discount
You can customize these settings for the discount. For details on each setting, scroll down or click a link:
- Discount type
- Details
- Name (this appears to customers at checkout)
- Trigger type and Discount code
- Offer
-
Rules and limitations (optional)
- Limit total orders
- Limit per customer
- Limit subscription discounts
- Start and expiration date
- In the Commerce tab, tap + in the top-right corner.
- Tap Create discount code.
- Complete the fields to customize the discount.
- Tap Save or ✓ to save the discount.
You can customize these settings for the discount. For details on each setting, scroll down or click a link:
- Name (this appears to customers at checkout)
- Discount type
- Which orders the discount applies to
- Limit total usage
- Trigger type and Promo code
- Limit subscription discounts
- Start and expiration date
Tip: You can also use the Home tab shortcut to skip directly to the New discount page. In the Home tab, tap +, then tap Create a discount code.
Select a discount type
Select from these discount types:
Percent off
Offer a percentage off a product, order, or pricing plan. The percentage needs to be a whole number. Percent off discounts don't apply to shipping.
Amount off
Offer a flat amount off a product, order, or pricing plan. Amount off discounts don't apply to shipping, or orders less than the amount off discount.
Buy X get Y
Offer discounts or free products when the quantity of products in a shopper’s order meets your requirements. This discount type is available on the Commerce Advanced plan.
Free shipping or local delivery
Remove shipping costs for an order. You can limit the discount to a specific shipping option, like free two-day shipping, or apply the discount to any shipping option you offer. Free Shipping can only apply to Any Order or Orders Over discounts. When you have an automatic, free shipping discount, it displays at checkout after customers select the shipping option the discount applies to.
Note: Apple Pay checkout doesn't support free shipping discounts that are limited to certain shipping options.
Select a trigger type and discount code
You can require customers use a promo code to apply the discount. Or, if you're on either the Commerce Advanced or Digital Products plan, you can automatically apply the discount if the order meets certain conditions, no code required.
Create a promo code
Select Promo Code to create a code that customers need to enter to apply the discount. You can also select Generate to create a random promo code.
Promo codes appear in uppercase, but aren't case-sensitive. We recommend using short codes to make it easier for customers to remember. For example, PROMO10 or SUMMER.
Note: Use a new, unique code for each promotion. If you use the same promo code as an expired discount, the new code won't work.
If you have discounts in the Active, Scheduled, or Inactive tabs of the Discounts panel, the Discount Code field is shown to customers during checkout. However, if all discounts are removed, the Discount Code field won't be displayed. To learn more, visit Managing discounts.
Create an automatic discount
Automatic discounts are only available on the Commerce Advanced or Digital Product plans. For help upgrading, visit Changing your billing plan.
Select Automatic Discount to automatically apply the discount if the customer’s order meets the criteria you selected without requiring a promo code. If the Applies to conditions are met, the discount will appear to customers at checkout. A maximum of 100 auto-triggered discounts are allowed.
Offer
From the Applies to dropdown menu, choose where the discount applies. You can apply discounts to entire orders or limit them to a single product or pricing plan. This setting helps you target promotions and create exceptions.
Note: Discounts won't apply to purchasing gift cards, but can apply to purchases made using a gift card.
Any order
Applies to any order of products or pricing plans with no restrictions. For example, $10 off any order. Discounts won’t exceed the order subtotal. For example, if the order subtotal is $40, a customer can use a $40 off any order discount, but not $41 off any order.
Orders over
Applies to orders with a subtotal equal to or over a certain price. The subtotal is the cost of all products, before tax and shipping, or the cost of all memberships, before tax. This is a great way to encourage more spending. For example, 15% off orders over $100 discount.
Single product
Applies to one product. Keep in mind:
- If a customer checks out with more than one of the same discounted product, the discount only applies to one of them.
- The discount can't exceed the order total.
In the search bar, search for a product on your site by:
- Product name
- Product description
- Content in the product's additional information
For example, 5% off Polka Dot Dress.
Products by category
You can create category discounts that apply to each product in the selected category from a selected Store Page. You can select one or more categories to receive the discount, but only from a single Store Page. For example, $20 off each item in the “Summer” and “Swimwear” categories. If a customer checks out with multiple products in a discounted category, each item is discounted. The discount can't exceed the order total. Category discounts don't display in the Squarespace app. To manage category discounts, visit the Discounts panel on the computer.
For help adding categories, visit Organizing products.
Digital Products
Applies to a pricing plan for one of your Digital Products. Visitors to your site can only use this discount when purchasing a pricing plan for the specified digital product. For example, 20% off a membership to Yoga 101. Pricing plan discounts don't display in the Squarespace app.
In the Digital Products drop-down menu, select which pricing plan the discount applies to. If the selected product has multiple pricing plans, use the Price options drop-down menu to select which option the discount applies to. Click All price options to apply the discount to both options.
For pricing plans with recurring subscriptions, or fixed-amount plans paid in installments, use Limit Subscription Discounts to set how the discount applies to recurring payments. Limit Subscription Discounts require a Commerce Advanced or Digital Products plan.
Customer buys and Customer gets
These sections appear when setting up a Buy X get Y discount:
- Customer buys: sets the requirements for an order to qualify for the discount.
- Customer gets: sets the discount the shopper receives for a qualifying order.
This type of discount can be used with physical, service, and download products that are one-time purchases. The Buy X get Y discount can’t be set up to work with the purchase of gift cards, subscription products, or for Digital Products like courses, Member Sites, etc.
Quantity
Sets the number of items you need to add to an order to get a discount, or the number of items that will be discounted in a qualifying order.
Specific products
Sets the specific products a shopper needs to add to their order to get the discount, or the specific products that will be discounted when a shopper’s order meets the requirements. Up to 200 different specific products can be selected. When multiple specific products in an order qualify for the discount, the cheapest ones are discounted first.
Products by category
Sets which product categories are counted to qualify for the discount, or which product categories will be discounted if the order meets the requirements. Up to 200 different categories can be selected. When multiple products in an order match a discounted category, the cheapest ones are discounted first.
At discounted value
For qualifying orders, set the order discount to:
- Free: items in "Customer gets" are free.
- Amount off: items in "Customer gets" have the specified amount deducted from the order total.
- Percent off: items in "Customer gets" are discounted by the specified percent off.
Maximum uses per order
If this option is checked, you can set the maximum number of times the discount can apply in one order from a shopper.
For example, if the discount is set up as “Buy 3 shirts, get 2 stickers free,” enabling a maximum number of two uses per order means shoppers can purchase six shirts to get up to four stickers free in one single order. However, purchasing more than six shirts in that order wouldn't apply the discount any more times.
Rules and limitations
Limiting total discount use is only available on the Commerce Advanced or Digital Product plans. For help upgrading, visit Changing your billing plan.
To avoid the risk of overused discounts, review the Limit orders section below to learn how to limit the number of times a discount can be applied. When a customer enters a discount code at checkout, it counts as one use. Keep in mind, the discount may apply to multiple products in a single order.
If you sell subscription products or Digital Products with subscription pricing plans, use these limits in combination with subscription discount limits.
Unlimited
Customers can apply the discount unlimited times. You can set an expiration date and create custom rules for recurring payments. Your discount will default to unlimited unless you select a limit.
Limit orders
Check the box next to Limit total number of orders this discount can be used on to enter a maximum number of uses for the discount. This limit applies to the discount itself, not the maximum number of times an individual customer can use the discount. This is a good option for offering the discount on a first-come, first-served basis.
If you sell subscription products or subscription pricing plans, the first order counts as a single use, and renewal payments don’t count toward this limit.
Limit per customer
Limiting discount use per customer is only available on the Commerce Advanced or Digital Product plans. For help upgrading, visit Changing your billing plan.
Check the box next to Limit one per customer to limit the discount to one use per email address. Keep in mind, the discount may apply to multiple items in a single order. You can use this setting in combination with Limit total orders to further limit discount use. For example:
- Limiting the total number of orders to 10 and limiting the discount to one per customer means the discount can be used 10 times total, but only once per customer.
- Leaving the number of orders as unlimited and limiting the discount to one per customer means the discount can be used an unlimited number of times, but only once per customer.
When you select a pricing plan in the Applies to dropdown menu, the Limit one per customer box doesn't appear. This is because pricing plans can only be sold one at a time, it's not possible for a customer to purchase the pricing plan twice.
Limit subscription discounts
It's not possible to apply discounts to subscription products from the Squarespace app. Use a computer instead.
Use the Limit Subscription Discounts setting to create the rules for how a discount applies to recurring payments. You can only use this setting if you're on the Commerce Advanced or Digital Productsplan.
With this setting, you can apply a discount to the first payment or to all recurring payments. You can also exclude subscription products from the discount entirely.
First payment
The discount can be applied to the first subscription or membership payment but not future renewals.
All payments
The discount can be applied to all subscription or membership renewal payments, including the first payment.
Exclude Subscription Products
The discount can’t be applied to subscription products or subscription pricing plans.
Tip: If you apply a discount to Digital Products, and then select a product with a subscription pricing plan, you won't see the Exclude Subscription Products option.
Examples: Combining total usage and subscription limits
These example discounts combine total order limits and subscription discount limits. Use this as a reference when creating more restrictive discounts.
10% off all orders of a specific subscription product, available to the first 10 subscribers.
- Promotion: Percent off
- Applies to: Single product
- Limit total orders: Limit Usage - 10
- Limit Subscription Discounts: Unlimited
$15 off single-purchase products in a certain category, which can be used an unlimited number of times.
- Promotion: Fixed amount - $15.00
- Applies to: Products by category
- Limit total orders: Unlimited
- Limit Subscription Discounts: Exclude Subscription Products
20% off the first payment of the recurring membership for the Yoga 101 member site.
- Promotion: Percent off
- Applies to: Member site
- Member Site: Yoga 101
- Limit Subscription Discounts: First Payments
Set a date range
Set a start and expiration date to plan for future promotions, or add a sense of urgency to your promotions. By default, all discounts start on the date you create them. Start and end times follow your device's time zone setting.
- In the Start date field, edit the start date to schedule the promotion for the future.
- In the Expires field, select an expiration date and time. If a customer tries to apply an expired discount at checkout, an error message will appear.
- Check Never expires to extend the discount indefinitely.
By default, discounts apply to all subscription renewals, even if they have an end date. To limit the number of times a discount can apply to a subscription, visit limit subscription discounts.
Next steps
- Visit Managing discounts for help organizing your active, scheduled, and expired discounts.
- Add a product to your cart or start a member site pricing plan purchase, then go to checkout to review what the discount looks like to a customer.
- Promote the discount with an email campaign or an announcement bar.