# Promo codes (/en/businesses/marketing/promo-codes)

A promo code is a discount a customer enters at checkout. It lowers a price for a campaign or a group without touching your normal pricing. A first-timer offer, a campaign for lapsed customers, a partner's staff discount and an apology to one unhappy customer are all promo codes with different settings. To give value that customers spend later, give [credits](/businesses/shop/credits) instead.

---

## Codes for common campaigns [#codes-for-common-campaigns]

| Code                                 | Setup                                                                                                           |
| ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| First booking at half price          | A 50% **Reservation discount**, **Limit usage based on customer history** with reservations and a maximum of 0  |
| Spring campaign for lapsed customers | **Who can use the code** set to your lapsed customers list, an active period of two weeks, one use per customer |
| Off-peak price                       | A **Reservation discount** limited to weekday mornings                                                          |
| Discount for a partner's staff       | **Generate promo codes** makes 50 unique codes, one use each, and you send the list to the partner              |
| Sorry for the broken shower          | **Selected customers** with the one customer, one use, a fixed amount off                                       |
| Cheaper first month of a membership  | A **Membership discount** on the membership                                                                     |
| A class for 10 euros                 | An **Event discount** with a fixed price, for the events that match a rule such as a category                   |

A [workflow](/businesses/marketing/workflows) can also create a code for each customer, such as a birthday discount valid for 30 days.

---

## Name, code and venues [#name-code-and-venues]

- **Name** is shown to customers when they pay. Write it for them: "Spring campaign", not "SPR-25 test".
- **Code** is what customers type.
- **This promo code is available in all venues** makes the code work at every active venue of your company.

### Who can use the code [#who-can-use-the-code]

| Choice                 | Who                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Every customer**     | Anyone who has the code                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| **Customer lists**     | Customers on any of the chosen [lists](/businesses/marketing/customer-lists). A static list stays linked. People you add to it later can use the code. A dynamic list is copied when you save, and the code keeps that group |
| **Selected customers** | Customers you pick by name, email or phone                                                                                                                                                                                   |

**Maximum total uses** caps uses across everybody, such as the first 50. **Maximum uses per customer** caps each customer. **Limit usage based on customer history** keeps the code for newcomers. Check reservation history, event history or both, and set the maximum to 0, and only customers with no earlier reservations or events can use it.

---

## Benefits [#benefits]

A code has one or more benefits, and each benefit discounts one kind of purchase: reservations, events and tournaments, courses, [service bookings](/businesses/services), the first payment of a membership, session cards, shop products and rentals, or leagues. A reservation benefit can also set prices of its own, like a membership's [custom pricing](/businesses/shop/memberships/benefits).

A discount is a percentage, an amount off or, for most kinds, a fixed price the customer pays. An item that already costs the fixed price or less gets nothing. An amount off or a fixed price applies to each item: three drinks get the discount three times.

Event, course, membership, session card, product and league discounts pick their items in one of three ways: all of them, the ones that match rules such as a category, a sport, a price range or dates, or only the ones you pick. Picking an event series covers the occurrences it adds later. Exclusions keep chosen items out even when a rule matches them.

A membership discount covers the first payment, for a customer new to the membership. When the membership has an intro price, the customer gets the intro price.

When a customer books a service online, the code's service discount replaces their membership discount, even a bigger one. At the POS, the code comes off on top of the membership discount.

---

## Using a code [#using-a-code]

Customers enter the code at checkout on the web and in the app. A cashier can enter it in [POS](/businesses/pos), where it discounts every item in the cart that its benefits cover.

The code's **Applies to** tab shows why an item gets no discount.

---

## Many codes at once [#many-codes-at-once]

**Generate promo codes** makes unique codes with one configuration, for a partner, a prize draw or a printed flyer. You can download the codes as a file, and edit or delete them together.
