A code-based discount is the classic coupon: customer types SUMMER20 at the estimate and gets the discount applied. Different from automatic discounts (no code; applied based on rules — covered in First-time-customer automatic discount).
Creating it
Discounts → Create discount. The first decision is the category — drives which fields you'll see:
- Amount Off Order — flat discount on the whole estimate.
- Amount Off Services — applies only to service line items, not parts.
- Buy X Get Y — bundle deals.
- Free Pickup — drops the pickup fee (forces flat type internally).
- First-time Customer — auto-locks to first-timers; usually paired with automatic, not code.
- Fleet Discount — auto-locks to customers tagged as fleet.
- Bundle Deal, Labor Only, Parts Only — what they sound like.
Discount value
- Type — Percentage or Flat amount.
- Value — the number (e.g.,
20for 20% or ₹500 for flat). - Max discount cap — useful for percentages: "20% but capped at ₹2000". Prevents big-bill surprises.
Code & method
- Method — Code. (For Automatic, see the next article.)
- Code — the string customers type. Case-insensitive. Choose something memorable:
SUMMER20,NEWYEAR,FB10.
Limits & eligibility
- Min purchase amount — only applies if the estimate is at least this much.
- Max uses — total redemptions across all customers (e.g., 100).
- Max per customer — usually 1 — stops a customer chaining the same code.
- Date range — start & end dates. End is enforced strictly.
- Customer eligibility — All / First-time only / Fleet only / Specific customer tags.
- Services to apply — restrict to one or more service templates.
- Stackable — toggle whether this can combine with another discount on the same estimate. Off by default.
- Public / Private — public discounts may be auto-suggested; private codes only work if typed exactly.
Customer applies it
On the estimate approval page (the same one we saw in Send an estimate and collect a digital signature), there's an Apply discount code field. The customer types the code, hits Apply — total updates live.
Common mistake: not setting an end date. Active-forever coupons quietly leak revenue. Always set a sensible end date and revisit.
Reading discount performance
Discounts → click the discount → Usage. Shows redemptions, revenue impact, and which customers used it. Helpful for renewing or killing the campaign.