How to Give a First Purchase Discount in WooCommerce

Convincing a new customer to buy something is often the hardest part of running an online store.

With millions of companies competing for shoppers’ attention, we recommend providing a strong incentive to get that first sale. For example, offering a first-purchase discount can help you:

• Turn hesitant browsers into happy customers.
• Build an email list of potential repeat buyers.
• Create a sense of urgency that drives sales.

If you want to set up a first-purchase discount for your WooCommerce store, then you have several options. We have tried many of them and narrowed it down to the three best methods that actually work.

But first, we’ll share our proven tips for creating an effective discount program.

Tips to Make Your First Purchase Discount a Success 💡

Before setting up your first purchase discount, let’s talk about what makes these offers work.

First of all, the perfect discount amount depends on what you’re selling.

For everyday products like clothing and accessories, a 10% discount often does the trick. For example, OptinMonster client Sportique.com offered 10% off first purchases and converted nearly 5% of their visitors into subscribers.

But what if you’re selling something people might hesitate to buy? That’s when you need a bigger discount.

Take our partner website, WPForms, for instance. Many people wonder why they should pay for the premium version of the form plugin when there is a free version. That’s why WPForms offers 50% off first purchases.

This gives hesitant customers a chance to see how great the product is at a much lower rate.

Bigger discounts work especially well for subscriptions since many users may find it hard not to renew once they are hooked on a product. It can also help convince buyers to try out an expensive item they are sure to love.

Plus, keep in mind that showing your discount at the right time and place is just as important as the amount.

Sportique shows a full-screen welcome message with a 10% discount after visitors browse for 4 seconds. You can also display offers when someone is about to leave your site or in a simple announcement bar at the top of your page.

To keep your program profitable, we recommend setting some basic rules. Make sure to limit one coupon use per customer and track email addresses to prevent discount abuse.

Also, be transparent about your pricing. It’s a good idea to show the regular price, the discount amount, and the final price without any hidden fees.

Now that you know how to create an effective discount strategy, let’s look at 3 options to give first-purchase discounts in WooCommerce. We’ve highlighted the benefits of each method, so you can figure out which one is the best for your needs.

Feel free to use the quick links below to jump to the method that interests you:

If you’re looking to create a first-purchase coupon code and easily share it with shoppers, then we recommend using Advanced Coupons.

With this powerful coupon plugin, you’re not limited to collecting emails first. You can share your coupon code anywhere – on your website, social media posts, email newsletters, or even print materials. Customers can simply enter the code at checkout to get their discount.

You can check out our detailed Advanced Coupons review to see all its features in action.

Step 1: Setting Up Advanced Coupons

Let’s start by installing Advanced Coupons on your site. After downloading both plugins, head over to your WordPress dashboard to install and activate them.

Need help? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once activated, you’ll need to enter the license for your plugin. Go to Coupons » License in your dashboard.

You’ll find your license key in your Advanced Coupons account dashboard. Just enter this key along with the email address you used when purchasing the plugin, then click ‘Activate Key.’

Step 2: Creating Your First-Time Purchase Coupon

Let’s get to the exciting part: creating your automated discount coupon. Head over to Coupons » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

First, give your coupon a code that’s easy to remember – something like ‘FIRSTORDER’ or ‘WELCOME.’

You can also add a coupon description if you want.

Then, scroll down to the ‘Coupon Data’ section and open the ‘General’ tab. Under ‘Discount Type,’ you’ll see several options:

• Percentage of the total purchase
• Fixed amount discount (cart or product)
• Percentage or fixed cashback in store credits
• Buy-one-get-one deals

Choose the type that makes the most sense for your store.

We usually recommend percentage discounts for first-time buyers because they work well regardless of purchase amount.

After selecting your discount type, you can enter the discount amount.

After that, feel free to allow free shipping with the coupon and enable or disable ‘Force Apply’ (to replace existing coupons with the first-discount coupon).

You can also set a percentage discount cap to set boundaries on the maximum discount amount.

So, for example, you could set a 15% discount with a $30 cap. If a product costs $300, then your customer will get $30 off instead of $45.

Then switch to the ‘Usage Restriction’ section. There are a lot of settings to explore here, but essentially, you can:

• Set minimum and maximum spend requirements. You may want to set a minimum spend requirement to encourage customers to add more items to their cart, increasing the average order value.
• Choose which products the coupon applies to (if needed).
• Exclude certain products or categories from being purchased with the coupon (if necessary).
• Enable individual use to prevent the coupon from being used with other promotions.

With the last option, you can choose which coupons are allowed to be used together with your first-order discount code.

If you switch to the ‘Usage Limits’ tab, you can set how many times the coupon can be used.

We suggest setting the ‘Usage limit per coupon’ and ‘Usage limit per user’ fields to 1 so that the coupon cannot be abused. Also, make sure to choose ‘Never reset’ for the ‘Reset usage count every’ setting.

Want to allow users to just click on a link and have the coupon be auto-applied to their carts? If so, you can navigate to the ‘URL Coupon’ tab.

Then, check out our guide on how to create coupon URLs in WooCommerce for more information on what settings to enable.

Now, if you open the ‘One Click Apply’ tab, you can tell WooCommerce to notify first-time customers that they are eligible for a discount. Should the customer want to claim the discount, they can just click on a button on their cart page.

To do this, just check the ‘Enable one click apply notifications’ box. Then, you can customize the notification message, button, and type.

Step 3: Setting Up First-Time Customer Discount Rules

Here’s where Advanced Coupons really shines. Scroll down to the ‘Cart Conditions’ section. This is where we’ll make sure only first-time customers can use the discount.

In the ‘Rules’ tab, find the dropdown menu and select ‘Number of Customer Orders.’ After that, click ‘Add.’

Then:

• Set the Condition to ‘EXACTLY’
• Enter ‘0’ for the Count
• Set ‘No. of previous days’ to ‘0’

This creates a foolproof way to verify true first-time customers. When someone tries to use the coupon, Advanced Coupons checks their order history.

If they’ve never bought from your store before, the discount applies. If they have any previous orders, then the coupon won’t work.

Step 4: Making Your Coupon Live

Once everything is set to your liking, scroll back up. Then, simply hit ‘Publish.’

It’s as simple as that!

Here is what the one-click coupon application feature looks like on the WooCommerce cart page:

Visitors can just click on it to apply the coupon.

Once they do that, they’ll see a price reduction like this:

Here are other types of WooCommerce coupons you can create with Advanced Coupons:

Option 2: FunnelKit Automations (Giving Coupon Codes After Visitors Become Leads)

If you’re looking to collect leads for your business while encouraging first purchases, then we recommend this method.

FunnelKit Automations allows you to automatically generate unique first-order discounts in WooCommerce. Visitors can submit their information via your online form in exchange for a personalized coupon code.

We love this method because it gives you precise control over who gets the discount. This way, you don’t give coupon codes to just anyone, and you can reduce coupon abuse and fake orders.

To learn more about the plugin, you can see our extensive Funnelkit Automations review.

With that out of the way, let’s walk through the process using FunnelKit Automations.

Step 1: Getting Started with FunnelKit Automations

First things first, you’ll need to install and activate all of the FunnelKit Automations plugins on your WordPress website.

If you’re new to this process, then check out our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for beginners.

Once you’ve installed and activated each plugin, you’ll need to enter your license keys. Go to FunnelKit Automations » Settings.

Simply add the appropriate license keys from your FunnelKit account dashboard to both of the ‘License’ fields.

Then, click on the ‘Activate’ button until it changes to ‘Deactivate.’

Step 2: Connecting FunnelKit With Your Lead-Generation Form

Now, you will need to have a form ready to generate your leads. In later steps, we’ll show you how to connect your form to the automation.

We recommend using OptinMonster to create your lead-generation form. We use it for our own campaigns, and you can check out our full OptinMonster review to learn about our experience.

With OptinMonster, you have to manually integrate it with the FunnelKit Automations plugin. That’s why we asked you to install FunnelKit Automations Connectors before.

That said, you can also use WordPress form plugins like WPForms. These do not need to be manually synced using the FunnelKit Automations Connectors plugin.

Otherwise, you can go back to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to FunnelKit Automations » Connector. Find the OptinMonster section and click on ‘Connect.’

A popup will now appear.

Here, just click ‘Connect’ again.

Once that’s done, make sure to also click ‘Sync.’

This is just to make sure that the OptinMonster and FunnelKit Automations plugins are working together.

Now, you can either create a new lead generation campaign or edit an existing one in OptinMonster.

You can read our guide on how to create WooCommerce popups for step-by-step information.

When creating your lead generation campaign for offering first-purchase discounts, make sure to:

• Keep your form fields minimal – just email and first name work best.
• Set clear expectations about when they’ll receive the discount.
• Include your discount amount in the popup headline.

Here’s what our popup looks like for this campaign:

Step 3: Setting Up Your Form Trigger

At this stage, we need to set up an automation that can make your discount system run by itself.

Think of automation as a series of ‘if-this-then-that’ actions. When something happens (an event), it triggers a specific response (an action).

In this case, when someone fills out your form, the system automatically sends them a discount.

To set this up, head over to FunnelKit Automations » Automations and click the ‘Create Automation’ button.

You’ll see several templates, but for this setup, we recommend starting with a blank template.

So just click on the ‘Start from Scratch’ option.

Give your WooCommerce automation a name like ‘First Purchase Discount’ or ‘First Time Customer Discount’ so you can easily find it later.

After that, click ‘Create.’

This is where we tell FunnelKit to start working its magic.

To start, click on the ‘Select an Event’ button. An event is like a trigger that starts your automation. Think of it as telling your virtual assistant, “When you see this happen, do this.”

Now, look for the ‘Forms’ tab.

Under OptinMonster, select ‘Form Submits’ and click ‘Done.’ You will also find other options like WPForms, Thrive Leads, and Formidable Forms if you use them.

Now, let’s choose the right form to add to the automation system. To do this, choose ‘Specific Campaign(s).’

Then, insert the name of the lead generation campaign you want to use.

After that, look for the ‘Mark Contact as Subscribed’ checkbox and make sure it’s selected. Also, under ‘Runs On Contact,’ choose ‘once.’

This prevents anyone from trying to get multiple first-purchase discounts by submitting the form multiple times.

After you’ve configured everything, click ‘Save’ to lock in the settings.

Now, whenever someone fills out your lead generation form, this trigger will start the discount code process.

Step 4: Creating Your Dynamic Coupon

Now comes the fun part – setting up the personalized discount code that each new subscriber will receive.

Click the ‘+’ icon below the ‘Form Submits’ step and select ‘Action.’

In the WooCommerce tab, look for ‘Create Coupon.’

Then, just click ‘Done.’

Here’s where you’ll customize your discount offer:

In the ‘General’ tab, give your coupon a title under ‘Coupon Title.’ This is just for your reference in the WordPress dashboard, so make it something descriptive like ‘New Customer Discount.’

Under ‘Discount Type,’ you have three options: percentage discount, fixed cart discount, and fixed product discount.

Then, enter your ‘Amount’ – whether that’s a percentage or a fixed amount based on your choice above.

Under ‘Coupon Code Prefix,’ you can add text that will appear at the start of each unique code.

Here’s a cool feature we love: you can make the coupon personalized by using a merge tag. Merge tags are smart placeholders that will automatically get filled with different types of information related to your email.

For example, if you use the merge tag{{contact_first_name}}, this will automatically add the customer’s name to the code. Your customers will feel welcomed and special when they see their name in the discount code.

To create some urgency, go ahead and set a ‘Coupon Expiry’ date. We recommend setting it to expire within 30 days, as it gives plenty of time for the customer to take action but not too long that they might forget it.

If you want to make your offer even more attractive, you can check the ‘Allow Free Shipping’ box. We’ve found that free shipping can boost conversion rates, but only do it if it makes sense for your business.

Under the ‘Restrictions’ tab, you can restrict this coupon usage so that it’s used exactly as intended.

Here, we recommend you at least enable ‘Individual Use Only’ (to prevent the coupon from being combined with other promotions) and ‘Restrict to Customer Email’ settings (to prevent the coupon from being shared on coupon sites and getting abused).

You may also limit the purchase quantity for the coupon code eligibility by setting a minimum and/or maximum spend amount.

Under the ‘Limits’ tab, you can specify the usage limit of your WooCommerce dynamic coupon.

Here, you can set limits per discount coupon and per user. This helps prevent any potential misuse of your discount codes.

Once you’ve set everything up, click ‘Save’ to store your coupon settings.

Step 5: Setting Up Your Welcome Email

Now let’s create a WooCommerce email that delivers the discount code to your new subscribers.

After setting up your coupon, you’ll see a ‘+’ icon right below it.

Just like before, click this icon and select ‘Action’ to start creating your email.

This time, go to the ‘Messaging’ tab, choose ‘Send Email,’ and click ‘Done.’

Now, let’s make your welcome email stand out.

First, craft your subject line. Something like ‘Here’s Your Special Discount, {{contact_first_name}}!’ works well – it’s personal and tells them exactly what to expect.

You also have the option to add a preview text. This is the snippet people see in their inbox before opening the email.

For the email design, you have four WooCommerce email customizer options: Visual Builder, Rich Text, Raw HTML, and Visual Builder.

We recommend using the Visual Builder. It’s the easiest way to create professional-looking emails without any coding knowledge. FunnelKit also comes with pre-built templates that you can easily customize to match your brand.

Once you’ve made your pick, click on the ‘Edit’ button.

You will now see a bunch of WooCommerce email templates to choose from.

To preview how the template looks, just hover over it and click ‘Preview.’

We’ll use the ‘Personalized Coupon’ template since it’s perfectly designed for sending discount codes to new customers.

Like what you see? Click ‘Import Template’ to use it for your email.

At this point, you can start making the template your own. The Visual Builder works similarly to the WordPress block editor.

You can drag and drop elements around and edit them one by one. In our experience, it took very little time to master it.

Let’s start by adding a first name tag to make your email more personal. To do this, just click on any Text block to which you want to add the tag.

Then, click on ‘Merge Tag.’

Now, you will see several merge tags that are available.

Just click on the copy icon on the right for any one that you want to use. In our case, we’ll use the one for the ‘Contact First Name.’

Here’s the important part – adding the actual discount code to your email.

To do this, select the ‘Coupon’ block that’s already in the template. Then choose ‘Automation’ as the ‘Coupon Type’ and pick the coupon code you just created.

You can also make shopping super easy for your customers by using the ‘Shop Now’ button. Simply select the button on the template and click on the ‘Link’ icon.

Then, enter a direct link to your store, so customers can start browsing right away.

You can go ahead and continue customizing your WooCommerce email until you’re happy with how it looks.

Finally, click on the ‘Save’ button at the top right corner, and you’re set! Your automated welcome email with a personalized discount code is ready to go.

Step 6: Testing Your Email

Before going live, let’s make sure everything works perfectly. Click ‘Preview and Test’ at the top of your email editor.

Enter your own email address in the ‘Send Test Email’ field and click on the ‘Send Email’ button to deliver the WooCommerce test email.

This way you can see exactly what your customers will receive.

We recommend checking that:

• Your coupon and personalization tags work correctly.
• The coupon code appears properly.
• All links work.
• The email looks good on both desktop and mobile.

Once done, go back to the Visual Builder, where you can make any necessary changes and then save them again.

After making some tweaks, here’s what our email looks like:

Step 7: Activating Your Automation

Once you’re happy with everything, it’s time to make your automation live. Close the Visual Builder and look for the toggle switch in the top right corner of your automation screen.

You can switch it from ‘Inactive to ‘Active’ to run the automation.

Now your system is ready to capture new subscriber information, generate unique discount codes, and send personalized welcome emails automatically.

That’s it! You’ve just set up an automated first-purchase discount WooCommerce email system.

The best part? Once it’s running, everything happens automatically – no manual work is needed.

Here are other types of workflows you can set up with FunnelKit Automations:

Option 3: First Order Discount WooCommerce (Simple, Free Solution)

Now, we know the plugins we’ve mentioned so far are paid. If you’re just starting your online store or working with a tight budget, then you’ll be happy to know that we’ve also found a free plugin that also works.

It’s called First Order Discount WooCommerce. While it’s not as feature-rich as FunnelKit Automations or Advanced Coupons, it’s perfect for basic first-order discounts in WooCommerce. This plugin simply checks if a customer has ordered before and automatically applies a discount to their first purchase.

First, install and activate the WordPress plugin from your dashboard. Once it’s been activated, go to Woo Extend » First Order Discount.

The setup is surprisingly simple. You’ll see a clean interface with just a few key options.

Start by choosing your discount type. The free version gives you three options: Free Shipping, Fixed Discount, or Percentage Discount.

If you select a percentage discount, simply enter your desired discount amount in the ‘Discount Value’ field.

The ‘Individual use only’ option prevents customers from combining this discount with other coupon codes. This helps protect your profit margins while still offering an attractive first-purchase incentive.

We also recommend enabling ‘Auto apply discounts for guests.’ This automatically applies the first-time customer discount for those who shop as guests, making their purchase journey smoother.

If you use the free version of the plugin, then you can’t activate the ‘Minimum cart value’ setting because it’s reserved for premium users.

Once you’ve made your choices, just click ‘Save’ and you’re done!

On the front end, your customers will see the discount automatically applied to their checkout when they make their first purchase. No need to enter coupon codes or jump through hoops – it just works.

More WooCommerce Tips You’ll Love

Looking for more ways to boost your WooCommerce store’s performance? We’ve handpicked these guides to help you take your online store to the next level:

We hope this article has helped you learn how to give a first-purchase discount in WooCommerce. You may also want to check out our favorite picks of the best WooCommerce plugins for your online store and our ultimate guide to WooCommerce SEO.

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