The Complete Guide to Creating WooCommerce Coupons

WooCommerce includes built-in tools for creating percentage, fixed-cart, and product-specific coupons. This guide explains how to enable WooCommerce coupons, configure restrictions and usage limits, offer free shipping, and turn automatically generated coupon codes into branded PDF gift cards or vouchers.

• Enable or disable WooCommerce coupons
• Create a WooCommerce coupon code
• Configure coupon settings and discount types
• Set usage restrictions and limits
• Sell PDF gift cards and vouchers
• Go beyond standard WooCommerce coupons
• Key conclusions
• WooCommerce coupon FAQ

How to enable WooCommerce coupons

Before creating your first discount, make sure coupons are enabled. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → General, find the coupon settings, and select the option that enables coupon codes. Save your changes when you are finished.

You can also choose to calculate coupon discounts sequentially. When customers apply multiple compatible coupons, WooCommerce calculates the first discount from the original amount, the second from the already discounted amount, and so on.

Consider this setting carefully. Sequential calculation can change the final discount when several percentage-based coupon codes are used in one order. If coupons should not be combined, you can instead mark an individual coupon for individual use.

How to create a WooCommerce coupon code

After enabling the feature, go to Marketing → Coupons and select Add coupon. Depending on your WooCommerce version and installed extensions, the wording or placement of individual controls may vary slightly.

Start by entering the coupon code and an optional internal description.

• Coupon code—the code customers enter in the cart or during checkout. Use a code that is easy to type but not so predictable that it can be guessed unintentionally.
• Description—an internal note visible to store administrators. It can record the campaign, audience, purpose, or conditions connected with the coupon.

A clear description becomes especially useful when your store manages many seasonal promotions, customer-service credits, influencer campaigns, or single-purpose discount codes.

WooCommerce coupon settings and discount types

The General section defines what the coupon does. Choose the discount type first, then enter its value and configure optional shipping or expiry settings.

Discount type

• Percentage discount—reduces eligible amounts by a percentage, such as 20%.
• Fixed cart discount—deducts a fixed amount from the customer’s cart.
• Fixed product discount—deducts a fixed amount from eligible products rather than from the whole cart.

Coupon amount

Enter the discount as a number. Its meaning depends on the selected discount type: it can represent either a percentage or a fixed monetary value. Do not add a currency or percentage symbol. Use the decimal format supported by your WordPress locale.

Free shipping

Select Allow free shipping if the coupon should activate a qualifying free-shipping method. You must also configure the relevant shipping zone and free-shipping method in WooCommerce. For broader configuration guidance, see this guide to WooCommerce shipping.

Coupon expiry date

An expiry date is optional, but it is helpful for time-limited promotions and campaigns. Make the deadline clear wherever you advertise the offer so customers understand when the code can be redeemed.

WooCommerce coupon usage restrictions

WooCommerce coupon restrictions determine when and where a code can be used. They can help you protect margins, target a particular category, require a suitable order value, or prevent a promotion from applying to products that are already discounted.

• Minimum spend—sets the minimum subtotal a customer must reach before using the code.
• Maximum spend—prevents the coupon from being used above a specified subtotal.
• Individual use only—prevents the coupon from being combined with other coupon codes.
• Exclude sale items—stops the coupon from discounting products that are already on sale.
• Products—limits the discount to selected products.
• Exclude products—prevents selected products from receiving the discount.
• Product categories—makes products from chosen categories eligible.
• Exclude categories—removes selected categories from the promotion.
• Email restrictions—restricts redemption to specified customer email addresses or supported email patterns.

Restrictions should match the purpose of the campaign. For example, a category-specific promotion may need an eligible category, excluded sale items, a minimum spend, and individual use. A customer-service code may instead need an email restriction and a one-time usage limit.

WooCommerce coupon usage limits

Usage limits control how often a code can be redeemed. These settings are optional, but they are particularly important for public promotions and customer-specific coupons.

• Usage limit per coupon—sets the total number of times the code can be redeemed.
• Limit usage to X items—limits the number of eligible items to which a product discount applies.
• Usage limit per user—controls how many times an individual customer can redeem the coupon.

Once the discount, restrictions, and limits are ready, publish the coupon and test it on the storefront before sharing it with customers.

How to sell PDF gift cards and vouchers with WooCommerce coupons

Standard WooCommerce coupons work well for manually managed promotions. However, businesses selling gift cards, service vouchers, experience credits, or event tickets often need a more customer-friendly format and an automated code-generation workflow.

Our Flexible PDF Coupons WooCommerce plugin uses WooCommerce coupons to support sellable PDF gift cards and vouchers. Instead of manually preparing each code and document, you can connect a coupon product with a PDF template and deliver a branded document to the customer.

This approach can be useful for retail stores, salons, spas, gyms, venues, event organizers, and other businesses selling services or experiences. Customers receive a document that can be saved or printed, while the business can manage redemption through WooCommerce coupon codes.

Creating branded PDF coupons

Flexible Coupons lets you prepare a visual PDF template for the product. Depending on the selected version and configuration, templates can use editable content and supported shortcodes to place relevant voucher information in the document. This helps turn a plain coupon code into a practical gift card, printable service voucher, or PDF ticket.

The free and PRO editions do not provide the same feature set. Review the free versus PRO feature comparison before choosing a version. You can also read our guide to using a WooCommerce gift card plugin for more guidance on preparing and optimizing gift cards.

When PRO and add-ons may be useful

More advanced voucher and ticket workflows may require Flexible Coupons PRO or a dedicated add-on. For example, our add-ons can support specific tasks such as scheduled delivery, importing additional order or product data into a template, validating ticket QR codes, creating multiple PDFs in one order, or working with predefined coupon-code lists. Requirements differ between add-ons, so check the product documentation before building the workflow.

Discounts in WooCommerce beyond coupon codes

Built-in coupons require customers to apply a code and are intended for standard percentage, fixed-cart, or fixed-product discounts. They are not a complete dynamic-pricing system and do not natively cover every promotion model, such as role-based pricing, quantity thresholds, or advanced BOGO rules.

If your promotion should activate automatically when cart conditions are met, consider a dedicated WooCommerce dynamic pricing and discounts solution rather than asking customers to enter a coupon.

Depending on its configuration, Flexible Pricing can be used for scenarios such as:

• Percentage, fixed-value, or adjusted-price discounts.
• Discounts for selected products, variations, or categories.
• Promotions based on order totals or category totals.
• Customer-role or customer-group discounts.
• Quantity-based and selected buy-one-get-one promotion models.

The right tool depends on the customer experience you want to create. Use built-in WooCommerce coupons for code-based promotions, Flexible Coupons for sellable PDF vouchers and gift cards, and a pricing plugin when discounts should be calculated automatically from purchasing conditions.

Key conclusions for creating WooCommerce coupons

• Enable coupon codes in the WooCommerce General settings before creating a campaign.
• Choose between percentage, fixed-cart, and fixed-product discounts based on what should be reduced.
• Use minimum spend, exclusions, product categories, and email restrictions to control eligibility.
• Set redemption limits when a coupon should have limited availability or one-time use.
• Test the complete checkout process, including taxes, shipping, expiry, and coupon combinations.
• Use PDF gift cards and vouchers when customers need a branded document rather than only a checkout code.
• Choose dynamic pricing instead of a standard coupon when discounts should apply automatically.

Summary

WooCommerce provides the essential settings needed to create and control coupon-based promotions without custom code. A well-configured coupon combines the correct discount type with practical restrictions, redemption limits, and clear campaign terms.

When you want to sell gift cards, service credits, printable vouchers, or PDF event tickets, our Flexible Coupons plugin can build on the WooCommerce coupon system and provide a more suitable document and delivery workflow. Always compare the free, PRO, and add-on requirements before deciding which features your store needs.

WooCommerce coupon FAQ

How do I create a coupon in WooCommerce?

Go to Marketing → Coupons → Add coupon. Enter a code, choose a percentage, fixed-cart, or fixed-product discount, and configure any required restrictions and usage limits. Publish and test the coupon before distributing it.

Can I limit how many times a WooCommerce coupon is used?

Yes. You can set a total usage limit for the coupon and a separate usage limit per user. For product discounts, you can also limit the number of eligible items to which the coupon applies.

Do WooCommerce coupons support free shipping?

Yes. Enable Allow free shipping in the coupon settings and configure a free-shipping method in the relevant WooCommerce shipping zone with the appropriate coupon requirement.

Can customers combine multiple WooCommerce coupons?

They can combine compatible coupons unless a coupon is configured for individual use or another restriction prevents the combination. Sequential discount calculation can also affect how multiple discounts are calculated.

Can WooCommerce generate gift card coupon codes automatically?

WooCommerce provides the underlying coupon system, while Flexible PDF Coupons WooCommerce can use it to support sellable PDF gift cards and vouchers with generated coupon codes. The available design, personalization, and delivery options depend on the plugin version and any required add-ons.