Smart Discounts
Smart Discounts are condition-based discounts that can expire automatically (timer) and can show custom promo text on the site. They’re perfect for limited-time offers, “secret” discounts triggered by a link, or one-time promos.
What Smart Discounts do
- Apply a discount method (percent / fixed discount / fixed price)
- Use a price base (regular or sale price)
- Trigger only when conditions are met (products + optional URL tags)
- Optionally expire after X minutes (countdown timer UX)
- Optionally delay the discount activation a few seconds
- Show custom text (with shortcodes) on product pages / promo areas
Global controls (top bar)
Discount limit
Dropdown + value field (e.g. “No discount limit”, 0.0).
This is a global safety rule for Smart Discounts (so discounts don’t exceed a limit, depending on the mode you select).
Add rule / Save this setup
- Add rule creates a new Smart Discount rule.
- Save this setup saves all rules/settings on this screen.
Rule basics
ON/OFF toggle
Turns the Smart Discount rule on or off.
Name + Notes (private)
- Name = internal label for the rule.
- Notes = internal notes (not shown to customers).
Discount logic
Method + value
Choose how the discount is calculated:
- Percent discount (example in screenshot:
10= 10% off) - (Other methods exist in the dropdown depending on your setup.)
Price base
Which price to discount from.
Example shown: “Sale price when it exists” → if a product already has a sale price, the discount is applied on top of that sale price (instead of regular price).
Hide the sale price if it exists
If enabled, the customer won’t see WooCommerce’s original sale pricing presentation, helping the Smart Discount feel like the only discount.
Timing controls
Expiration (Minutes)
This is the timer duration for the offer (example: 5).
After it expires, the Smart Discount stops applying.
Delay (Seconds)
Wait X seconds before applying the discount (example: 3).
Useful for:
- preventing “instant discount flash” on load
- allowing the page to fully render first
- making the offer feel triggered (rather than permanent)
Product targeting
Apply to all products / Add products
- Use Apply to all products for storewide offers.
- Use Add products to pick products/categories (or other selections depending on your selector UI).
Condition (applied to all products): OR
When you add multiple selections, OR means a product only needs to match one selection group to qualify.
URL-based activation (link-triggered discounts)
“Landing URL includes these URL tags”
This is how you create secret / campaign-only discounts.
Example shown:utm_secret=SECRET&utm_secret2=SECRET2
Meaning: the discount activates only if the visitor lands with those URL parameters present.
Typical use:
- email-only promo links
- influencer links
- paid ads links where you don’t want the discount public
One-time / behavior options
Apply only to the first visited product
If enabled, the discount applies only to the first product page the visitor sees (good for “first product you view” offers).
Show the offer only once
If enabled, the promo message/offer is shown a single time (great for “one-time pop-in offer” behavior).
Custom text (the promo message)
You can write the message shown to users and insert dynamic values with shortcodes:
[smart-discount-name]→ rule name[smart-discount-total]→ total discount amount (across discounted products)[smart-discount-product-total]→ discount for the current product (single product page)[smart-discount-products]→ list of products currently discounted[smart-discount-checkout]...[/smart-discount-checkout]→ clickable link to checkout
Single product text (toggle)
Controls whether this message is used on single product pages.
Enable the timer
Shows a visible countdown (based on the Expiration setting).
Text + colors
- Text box = your offer copy (example: “Get a one-time … discount for this product!”)
- Pick text color and background color for the message block.
Quick examples
1) “Secret 10% off for email subscribers (5 minutes)”
- Method: Percent discount = 10
- Expiration: 5 minutes
- URL tags:
utm_secret=EMAIL10 - Timer: ON
- Text: “Your private discount expires in 5 minutes.”
2) “Flash offer after 3 seconds on first product only”
- Delay: 3 seconds
- Apply only to first visited product: ON
- Show offer only once: ON
If you drop the “Add products” selection screen next, I’ll document the exact targeting options (categories, tags, specific products, variations, etc.) in the same style.