Manage Discount Codes

Unique discounts generate individual codes to send to customers. Discount codes can enhance many campaigns. Include discounts in welcome emails to encourage sign-ups, in abandoned cart automations to encourage purchasing, and to re-engage contacts that haven’t purchased in a while.

In this article, you’ll learn how to create and manage discount codes.

Before You Start

• Unique discount codes require a connected Shopify store.
• Unique discount codes are available in popup forms, email automations, and SMS automations. They are not available in bulk emails and bulk SMS messages.
• Unique discount codes are available in our new email builder. For more information, check out About Mailchimp's Email Builders.
• Discount codes generated in Mailchimp will appear in both Shopify and Mailchimp. Use Mailchimp to manage your codes. Use Shopify to view reporting.

How it works

With a connected Shopify store, you can create discounts in Mailchimp and add unique codes to campaigns. Then, see how the discount performs in Shopify. Mailchimp and Shopify work together behind the scenes to make sure this process functions seamlessly.

• Create a unique discount and set rules for how the discount will function.
  Mailchimp and Shopify regularly sync so that the discount automatically appears in Shopify, and Mailchimp has access to the unique codes Shopify generates.
  For every discount created in Mailchimp, 2 will appear in Shopify. The first discount contains all of the unique codes that will send to customers. The second “FALLBACK” discount is a static backup code that ensures your customers are always able to redeem their discount.
• Add your discount to an email automation, SMS automation, or a popup form.
  We assign a unique code to each contact you send a campaign to. We keep track of the assigned codes to help with tracking and reporting.
  After we've assigned a unique code to a contact, they’ll continue to receive that same code in any additional campaigns they receive. If a code expires, or if a customer redeems their code, that unique code is invalid and the customer would be eligible to receive a new unique code. This ensures that a contact only has one active code at all times.
• View discount reports in Shopify.
  When a customer redeems a unique code in your store, Shopify tracks the activity. View reports of discount activity in your Shopify account.

Create a unique discount code

To create a unique discount code, follow these steps.

1. Click Content, then click Discounts.
   Note: The Discounts option is only available if you have a connected Shopify store.
2. Click Create discount.
3. If prompted, use the drop-down to select a connected Shopify store, or Connect a new store. Click Next.

4. In the Create unique discount pop-up, set the rules of your discount.

   • Discount type
     Choose if your discount is a fixed amount, a percentage, or for free shipping. For fixed amount or percentage discounts, enter the Discount value. For free shipping, select the countries the discount Applies to.
   • Minimum purchase amount (optional)
     The discount won’t be applied if a purchase is lower than the amount entered here.
   • Expiration (optional)
     To set an expiration date, select the After a certain number of days radio button. Then enter the number of Days until the discount expires. Expirations are based on when an email is sent. For example, if the expiration is set to expire after 5 days, it will expire 5 days after Mailchimp sends the email containing the unique discount code.
   • Code prefix
     A code prefix can contain up to 7 characters. It’s applied to the beginning of all generated codes for this discount. Use unique code prefixes to help identify and track your discounts.
   • Internal discount name
     This is the name you’ll use to identify and manage the discount within your Mailchimp and Shopify accounts.
5. When your discount rules are set, click Create discount.

That’s it! Now you’re ready to add your new discount to campaigns.

Use Discount Content Blocks in the New Builder
Use Unique Discount Codes in SMS Automations
Design Your Popup Form

When you preview or test a campaign, we won't generate a real discount code. Instead, we insert an example code or placeholder text so you can preview style and formatting.

Manage discount codes

To access the Discounts page in Mailchimp, click Content, then click Discounts. From here, you can create new discounts, search existing discounts, and view archived discounts.

To view reporting in Shopify, click the Actions drop-down for the discount you want to work with, then select View in Shopify.

Archive discounts

Shopify can hold up to 20 million codes per store. If you reach this threshold, you’ll need to remove unused discounts to generate more codes. Mailchimp recommends archiving discounts instead of deleting them in Shopify. When you delete a discount in Shopify, it invalidates all associated codes, whether or not customers have redeemed them.

To archive a discount, follow these steps.

1. Make sure the discount doesn’t appear in any active automation or popup form.
2. Click Content, then click Discounts.
3. Click the Actions drop-down for the discount you want to work with, then select Archive.

Disconnect Shopify

If you need to disconnect Shopify, pause any automations that contain discount codes. When you reconnect your store, your discounts will be available and you can unpause your automations. If you uninstall Shopify, the discount codes in Mailchimp will be deleted. To learn more, check out Connect or Disconnect Mailchimp for Shopify.