Build Your Own Discount
The rule editor lets you build any kind of discount from scratch — automatic discounts that apply to qualifying carts, or coupon-activated discounts that require a customer to enter a code. Every recipe template is built on the same editor, so every discount you create follows the same structure.
Starting from the recipe gallery
Section titled “Starting from the recipe gallery”When you click + Create Discount, the recipe gallery opens first. Pick a recipe (Spend & Save, Spend gift, BOGOF, and so on) and Dino opens the editor pre-filled with sensible defaults for that pattern. The recipe name appears as a coloured type pill at the top of the editor so you always know what shape you’re working in. The pill stays on the recipe you picked; if your edits move the rule away from that recipe’s shape, the pill adds — Modified. Changing the Reward type in Rewards detaches the rule from its recipe and makes it a Build any discount rule.
If none of the recipes fit, pick the dashed Build any discount tile and you’ll land in the same editor with everything set to its empty defaults.
The six-section spine
Section titled “The six-section spine”Every discount has the same six sections, presented as a single scrollable page with a sticky mini-nav that tracks your position. The first four sections — Who, When, Where, What triggers it — are the targeting axes; Rewards is the reward itself; Messaging controls shopper-facing copy. Rewards is always required, and a recipe can mark other fields required too (for example a currency or a coupon code); everything else has sensible defaults and can be left as-is.
| Section | What it controls | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Who is this for? | First-time customers, past-order count, days since last order, lifetime spend, logged-in or guest, user roles | No — defaults to Anyone |
| When does it apply? | Date window, days of the week, hours of the day | No — defaults to Always |
| Where does it apply? | Zones and currency | No — defaults to Anywhere |
| What triggers it? | Spend, weight or item-count thresholds, a coupon code, and Cart contains matching items (item sets by category, tag, attribute or a list of SKUs) — plus Allow stacking with WooCommerce coupons and Limit Uses | No — defaults to Auto-applied |
| Rewards | Reward type, amounts, tier table, and What the discount applies to | Yes — required |
| Messaging | Cart label, checkout notice, product-page message, spend-more nudge, doesn’t-qualify message | No — recipe defaults |
Where messages appear on the storefront is set once for the whole store on the Message Settings tab; the Messaging section holds this discount’s words.
The mini-nav doubles as a status indicator — each tab shows a one-line summary of its section, and a warm highlight with a required marker shows where the recipe still needs a value.
The Controls panel
Section titled “The Controls panel”Above the six-section spine sits a Controls panel (status, combining & actions) that acts on the whole rule rather than on a targeting axis (so it’s intentionally not part of the mini-nav). It starts collapsed when you open a rule and expands on demand, keeping the editor tidy. Its rows include:
- Enabled — whether the rule is live or off (mirrors the run-state in the discounts table). New discounts start enabled.
- Promotion — groups this discount under a promotion for shared stacking and priority. Picking one is the same as dragging the row into that promotion in the discounts table.
- Exclusive — applies on its own — when ticked, no other discount applies to the cart while this one does. See Discount Priority & Stacking.
- Allow shoppers to remove this discount — default on. Controls whether a shopper can take this reward off their own cart at checkout. See Removing & Restoring Rewards for the shopper experience; turn it off and the reward always applies with no Remove link.
- Duplicate discount / Delete discount — whole-rule actions, pinned so they stay reachable even while the panel is collapsed. Duplicate discount appears once the discount has been saved.
The Summary box
Section titled “The Summary box”At the top of the editor, above Controls, sits the green Summary box — a plain-English description of every setting in the editor that you can read out loud. As you tick conditions, change zones, or adjust tiers, the sentence updates in real time so you always know exactly what the discount will do.
It’s the fastest sanity-check in the editor: if the sentence reads wrong, the configuration is wrong.
The Cart Preview right rail
Section titled “The Cart Preview right rail”The Cart Preview lives in the right rail of the editor. It runs the real discount engine against a simulated cart, so you can see exactly how your discount applies as you build it — no save-and-reload, and the simulated cart stays in view as you scroll through the section spine.
See Testing with Cart Preview for how to drive it.
Reward types
Section titled “Reward types”You choose the reward in the Rewards section’s Reward type dropdown. It offers eleven types, grouped under the same headings as the recipe gallery:
| Group | Reward types |
|---|---|
| % / £ discounts | % off cart · % off matching items · Amount off cart · Amount off matching items · Free shipping |
| Spend & save / tiers | Tiered % off the cart · Tiered amount off the cart · Tiered free shipping · Tiered (mixed) · Volume discount |
| BOGO / bundle | Free item |
- % off and amount off take a single value — off the whole cart, or off the items picked under What the discount applies to. An amount off is capped at the value of what it applies to.
- Tiered types show a tier table: each row is a threshold (Spend at least, or Min total quantity if you switch the Tier metric to cart items) and the reward for that tier. Tiered (mixed) lets each tier use a different reward type.
- Volume discount is a quantity ladder — for example 5+ items for 10% off, 10+ for 20% off.
- Free item adds a gift product to the cart at £0.
- Free shipping unlocks your store’s WooCommerce Free shipping method that accepts a coupon — that method must exist in your shipping zones. See Free shipping.
BOGO, bundle and meal-deal discounts aren’t in this dropdown. Start them from the BOGOF, Mix BOGOF, Bundle or Meal deal tiles in the gallery: those open a set-based editor where you define the item sets that must be in the cart, the reward (bundle price, % off, amount off, free items, free shipping or a free gift), what it applies to (the whole matched set, a named set, or the cheapest N items), and whether it repeats for every full bundle.
Coupon-activated discounts
Section titled “Coupon-activated discounts”Any discount can be made coupon-activated by ticking Type a coupon code at checkout in the What triggers it? section and picking a coupon. When you do this, the discount only applies when the customer enters the code at checkout.
This is how the coupon recipes (Coupon %, Coupon amount, Coupon shipping, Free gift with coupon code) work — they use the same reward types above, but with a coupon code as the activation condition.
You can also combine coupon activation with other conditions — for example, a discount that requires both a coupon code and a minimum spend.
See Targeting for how to configure coupon activation alongside other conditions.
Archiving a discount
Section titled “Archiving a discount”To retire a discount without losing it, choose Archive from its row menu on the Discounts tab. An archived discount never applies at checkout and moves to the collapsed Archived Discounts section at the bottom of the table, which shows how many times each one was used. From there, Unarchive brings it back to the table and Delete discount removes it.
What’s next
Section titled “What’s next”- Targeting — the four targeting sections in detail
- Cart Label — customise what the customer sees in their cart
- Upsell Messages — nudge customers toward the deal
- Scheduling — set start and end dates
- Testing with Cart Preview — verify your discount before publishing