This article will show you how to make a coupon in WooCommerce that auto-applies itself based on the subtotal of the customer’s shopping cart.
It’s a technique that, when executed along with great marketing, can really boost the average order value (AOV) on your store.
Why Should You Try To Boost AOV?
Average Order Value (or AOV for short) is one of the three e-commerce multipliers you should be focusing on in order to grow your store.
If you grow your AOV it means that each order you get will be worth more to you in terms of revenue.
As with all promotions, it’s good to test the before and after result.
To calculate your current AOV, export a batch of your orders (I suggest at least 3 months worth) and sum the total of all the orders. Once you have the total, divide it by how many orders there were. That is your current AOV.
Setting Up Your Coupon
Setting up the coupon is easy when you have the right tools.
Advanced Coupons for WooCommerce lets you restrict coupons based on conditions, one of which is the Cart Subtotal condition.
We call these restrictions “Cart Condition” and there’s a whole bunch of different ones, but we’ll be focusing on the Cart Subtotal one today.
Step 1: Name Your Coupon
Naming your coupon appropriately is good practice and lets you find that coupon easily later and know instantly what the deal is.
Stick to a naming convention for your coupons, you’ll thank me later.
Step 2: Set Your Discount
Have you decided what your discount is for the coupon?
Most people choose to do a percentage off or a fixed amount discount when their customer reaches a certain threshold in their cart subtotal.
There are variations on this though. You could do free shipping when they reach the desired subtotal. Or you could even have it add a gift product. The choice is yours.
Whatever your deal is, set it up now. In the example I’m giving, I chose to give a $10 discount.
Step 3: Set Up The Cart Subtotal Cart Condition
Next, you need to use the Cart Conditions feature of Advanced Coupon plugin, this is how you add the cart subtotal amount restriction.
You only want the coupon to be allowed to be applied when the customer’s cart is over a certain amount.
I suggest putting this amount just above your AOV (Average Order Value).
The effect this will have is amazing. People who want to use the coupon code will actively start adding more to the cart in order to reach the desired subtotal and that will boost your AOV in the long run.
In my example here I used a $50 cart subtotal threshold. But yours might be higher or lower, depending on what you calculated earlier.
Step 4: Auto Apply The Coupon
The final set up step is to auto-apply the coupon.
Since we’re using the Cart Conditions feature in Advanced Coupons we want the system to automatically check that condition and, if it is true, apply the coupon to the cart for the customer.
This is very simple, you just have to check a box:
Step 5: Test!
It’s always a good practice when setting up a deal on your store to test it yourself to make sure it is doing what you think it is going to do.
Publish the coupon and then check on the front end of the coupon is being applied and removed when the subtotal changes.
