This guide explains how to set up a discount, choose how and when to use it, and apply it to a sale on the Purchase screen.
In this Article
What Ways Can Discounts Be Applied?
You can create three types of discounts in Phorest, and each is applied differently.
A manual discount is applied by a staff member during a sale. Nothing happens automatically, and your team decides when to apply it.
An auto-applied discount is added to the sale as soon as it includes a qualifying item, so your team doesn't need to remember which offers are running.
A promo code discount has a code attached. Your client quotes the code, and your team finds the offer and applies it.
Clients cannot use promo codes when booking online right now. We are aiming to make that available in the coming months.
If you're not sure which type of discount to create, check the end of this guide for advice on different use cases.
Creating a Discount
Go to Manager > Discounts > + New Discount.
Name the discount, choose whether to create a Percentage or Fixed Amount discount type, then enter the Discount Amount.
Next, choose how you’d like to apply your discount to sales: Manual, Auto-applied, or Promo Code.
If you choose Auto-applied or Promo Code, you then decide what the discount applies to. You can apply it to all items in a sale, or limit it to services or retail.
When you limit it to services, you can include all services or pick individual services and service categories.
When you limit it to retail, you can include all retail or pick individual products, brands or product categories.
If you are creating an Auto-applied discount, you can also choose the Client Categories the discount applies to. This is useful when an offer is only meant for a particular group of clients, such as your VIPs or new clients. If you do not select any client categories, the discount ignores client categories and is available to everyone.
If you are creating a Promo Code discount, you must enter a Promo Code. This is the code your clients will quote so your team can find and apply the offer.
Availability & Usage
Finally, under Availability & Usage, choose whether you want the discount to be redeemable only during a specific date range. You can also Set rules to limit redemption to certain days of the week and/or specific hours on those days.
If you leave these settings empty, your discount will be available to apply to sales at any time.
Enabling the Single use discount setting also ensures clients can redeem the discount only once.
When you're ready, click Save changes, and your discount will be created.
Managing Discounts Across Multiple Locations
If you have multiple locations in Phorest, you can choose where to offer the discount by going to Manager > Chain Library > Discounts Library > Branches, then selecting the location(s) where you want the discount to be available.
Giving Staff Access to the Discount
After creating your discount, decide which staff can apply it at checkout.
To do this, go to Manager > Access > Select the relevant staff Access Level > Search the name of your new discount > Check the box beside the discount > Save.
Repeat this for each Access Level you want to allow access to the discount.
If a staff member doesn’t have access to a discount, they’ll still see it in the discount list during a sale. However, they’ll be prompted to enter a PIN after selecting it.
If another staff member with access to the discount enters their PIN, the discount will be applied to the sale. However, please note that they’ll then be logged in to Phorest instead of the original staff member.
Which Type of Discount Should I Create?
Manual discounts are best when the decision belongs to the person at the front desk. There is no targeting or automatic behavior, so your team applies the discount to an item or to the whole sale whenever they judge it appropriate. This suits situations such as a goodwill gesture after a service ran late, a friends and family rate, or a staff discount used only now and again.
Auto-applied discounts are best when you want an offer to run consistently without relying on your team to remember it. Because you can target the whole cart, particular services or retail products, and limit the offer to a client category, days and times, it works well for things like a 15% midweek discount on color services, a loyalty rate for clients in your VIP category, or 10% off a retail brand for the month of a supplier promotion.
Promo code discounts work best when you are running a campaign and want to know the right people are being them. The code gives your clients something memorable to quote and gives you something specific to track, which suits an email or social marketing campaign, a launch offer for a new treatment, or a referral card handed out in-house.
Applying a Discount in a Sale
To apply a discount in a sale, click the Discount section beside an item in a sale.
For more information on applying a discount, including details on how to apply a discount in PhorestGo, check out this guide.