A WHMCS promotion should express a specific commercial offer: who qualifies, which products and cycles qualify, how much is discounted and how long the discount lasts. Configure those rules before publishing a coupon.
IN THIS ARTICLE
01 Create the coupon
- Open System Settings and Promotions and Coupons, then choose Add New.
- Enter the code and choose Percentage, Fixed Amount, Price Override or Free Setup. For a fixed amount, use the base-currency value required by WHMCS.
- Select the applicable products, addons or domain extensions and the qualifying cycles or other requirements.
- Choose whether the discount applies only initially or recurs. If using Set Recur For, remember that its count includes the initial invoice.
- Set dates, total usage limits and customer eligibility. Review the distinction between a total usage cap, applying once in a cart and applying once per client.
- Add internal notes explaining the offer, save and test eligible and ineligible carts before advertising it.
02 Example: verify a discount that lasts for three invoices
For an illustrative monthly product priced at NGN 10,000 before tax, assume there are no setup charges, addons or other discounts. Configure a 10% recurring promotion with Set Recur For = 3, restricted to the intended product and monthly cycle.
| Invoice | Expected product charge | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Initial invoice | NGN 9,000 | First discounted invoice. |
| First renewal | NGN 9,000 | Second discounted invoice. |
| Second renewal | NGN 9,000 | Third discounted invoice. |
| Third renewal | NGN 10,000 | The three-invoice allowance has ended, assuming the standard price is unchanged. |
Check the generated invoice amounts in an isolated test. Do not describe this as three discounted renewals: the initial invoice consumes one of the three applications. When the campaign closes to new orders, expire the code instead of deleting the promotion records needed to track its remaining uses.
How do I verify whether a promotion affects renewal charges?
Build examples for a new customer, an existing customer, a mixed cart and each advertised billing cycle. Record the initial total and expected renewal price. Test upgrades separately if the offer mentions retaining a discount after a plan change.
Do not describe a first-payment discount as a permanent reduction. Likewise, a recurring promotion must retain enough configuration history for later renewals to behave as promised. Give support staff the eligibility rules and a customer-friendly explanation for a rejected code.
03 Close or change a promotion
Expire a promotion when you want to stop new use while preserving existing relationships. Deleting it can remove its association from services and interfere with intended recurring behavior, so review active usage before removal.
Changing an existing recurring promotion can affect services that already use it. For a new campaign with different terms, creating a distinct code is often easier to audit. Check the resulting invoice and service record after the first live use, then compare actual usage with the authorised campaign limits.