If you sell bundles, you need to know which part of the bundle earns loyalty points, the bundle itself or the products inside it. Getting this wrong either double counts points or awards none at all. This article explains how the Advanced Coupons Loyalty Program treats bundles, how to turn off earning on a bundle, and how the way you price a bundle changes what customers earn.
What you need
- The WooCommerce Product Bundles plugin, installed and active. The Loyalty Program only applies the behaviour below while that plugin is running.
- Loyalty Program 1.9.1 or later, which is when the integration was added.
The bundle earns, the bundled items do not
A bundle in the cart is not one line. It is the bundle itself, plus a line for each product inside it. Without any special handling, the Loyalty Program would count both the bundle and its contents, and the customer would earn points twice for the same purchase.
The integration prevents that. Any line that belongs to a bundle is skipped when points are calculated, in the cart and again on the order. Only the bundle line itself is counted.
So when you think about points on a bundle, think about the bundle product, not the products inside it. Point settings on the individual products inside a bundle do not decide what the customer earns.
How to control whether a bundle earns points
Because the bundle line is the one that counts, you control points from the bundle product itself. Open the bundle product and clear the Allow earning points checkbox, in the Loyalty Program section of the General tab. This is the same setting you use on any other product. Setting it on the products inside the bundle has no effect on earning.
For the product and category settings, see How to Disable Loyalty Points per Product.
A non-earning bundle does not affect the rest of the order
When a bundle is set not to earn points, the bundle’s price earns no points. The other items in the same order still earn points as normal.
For example, a customer buys a non-earning bundle and a bag of coffee beans in one order. They earn the usual points for the coffee beans and no points for the bundle’s price.
Product categories work the same way. If the bundle product is in a category that has Allow earning points turned off, the bundle’s price earns no points.
If a non-earning bundle still shows a few points in the cart, those points come from tax. To stop this, go to Coupons > Loyalty Program > Settings > Points Earning and turn off Tax under Points calculation options. Tax is on by default. This option applies to every order, so no product earns points on its tax while it is off. For the other points settings, see the Loyalty Program Getting Started Guide.
This per-bundle behaviour applies from Loyalty Program 1.9.5. If your store runs an older version, update the plugin to get it.
Bundle pricing modes
WooCommerce Product Bundles can price a bundle in two ways, and the choice changes how many points the customer earns. Price the bundle on the bundle itself if loyalty points matter to you.
Bundle priced: points work as expected
When the bundle carries its own price, the bundle line holds the value and the customer earns points on it. In the cart screenshot above, a bundle priced at $120.00 earns 132 points.
Priced individually: points are much lower
When each bundled item is priced individually, the value sits on the bundled item lines instead of the bundle line. Those lines are the ones the integration skips, and the bundle line itself carries $0.00, so the bundle’s price earns no points. The few points the customer still gets come from other parts of the order that count toward points, such as tax.
The difference is large. A priced-individually bundle with a cart value of $134.00 earned 13 points on a test store. The same three products bought separately, at the same $134.00, earned 147 points.
If your store runs a loyalty program, set a price on the bundle product itself rather than pricing the items individually. Check the points figure on the cart page after you set a bundle up, so you can see how many points the bundle earns before you promote it.
Frequently asked questions
Do the products inside a bundle earn points as well?
No. Lines that belong to a bundle are skipped, so the customer earns from the bundle line only. This stops points being counted twice.
I disabled points on a product inside a bundle. Why did nothing change?
Because the bundled lines are skipped either way. Set the option on the bundle product instead.
If I turn off earning on a bundle, do the other items in the order still earn points?
Yes. Only the bundle’s price earns no points. Every other item in the order earns points as normal.
Why does a bundle with earning turned off still show a few points in the cart?
Those points come from tax. To stop this, go to Coupons > Loyalty Program > Settings > Points Earning and turn off Tax under Points calculation options. This applies to every order, not only orders with the bundle.
Why did a bundle earn no points?
Open the bundle product and check that Allow earning points is checked. Then check the product categories the bundle belongs to. If any of those categories has the setting turned off, the bundle’s price earns no points. If the bundle’s items are priced individually, see the bundle pricing modes section above.
Does this work without the Product Bundles plugin?
No. The behaviour only applies while WooCommerce Product Bundles is active.
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