A coupon discounts an award application fee by a fixed amount or a percentage. It also controls how that discount appears on the applicant’s order. Use this article for Awards-specific coupon rules; it replaces the older, general coupon guidance.
What It Controls
A coupon is the discount rule, not the code an applicant enters. It defines:
- The amount it takes off, either as a fixed amount or a percentage.
- An optional maximum total discount.
- The award types and specific awards that qualify.
- How the discount appears on the applicant’s order.
- Whether the discount is active.
The codes applicants enter at checkout are separate records that point to a coupon. See Coupon Codes for those. Creating the coupon record is not enough on its own; you must create at least one coupon code that points to it before applicants have anything to enter and use.
Where to Find It
Go to Awards & Nominations › Setup › Coupons. Rhythm opens Manage Coupons, where you can review the coupons in your account.
Warning
This list shows only coupons that are not attached directly to one specific award. If a coupon was assigned to a particular award through the API instead of this Console, it will not appear here, but it still gives its discount at checkout.
- Create Coupon opens a blank coupon form.
- A row’s clone icon opens a new coupon with that row’s settings already filled in.
- A row’s name opens that coupon’s page.
- A row’s edit or delete icon changes that coupon directly.
Prerequisites
You need the Awards Administrator policy, or a custom role with the coupon permission, to open this screen. Deleting a coupon requires a separate permission.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Any text | Empty | Required |
| ID: | Letters, digits, underscore, colon, vertical bar, hyphen | Suggested from the name | Required. You cannot change it after the first save |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | An inactive coupon does not give a discount, no matter how its codes are set up |
| How should discounts from this coupon be applied to the order? | Inline, or Separate Discount Line Item | Inline | Chooses whether the discount reduces the fee line directly or appears as its own negative line with the discount product you choose |
| Select the Discount Product | Any Commerce discount product | None | Required only when you choose Separate Discount Line Item |
| What is the maximum discount this coupon can yield? | Any number | No maximum | Caps the total amount this coupon can take off one order |
| Which types of awards are eligible? | Your active award types | Blank (every type) | Limits the coupon to application fees for awards in the selected types |
| Which specific awards are eligible? | Your account’s awards | Blank (every award) | Limits the coupon to application fees for the selected awards |
| Application Fees switch | On, off | On for a new coupon | Controls whether the coupon discounts application fees. Leave this on for the coupon to do anything |
| How should this coupon discount application fees? | By a Fixed Amount, or By a Percentage | By a Fixed Amount | Chooses which of the next two fields applies |
| Amount or percentage | Any number 0 or higher | Empty | Required while Application Fees is on |
| Description | Rich text | Empty | Merged into the confirmation email for any coupon codes generated automatically from a linked product |
Warning
Amounts and the maximum discount are always labeled in US dollars, regardless of the currency your account uses. Rhythm does not block percentages above 100, so double-check the number before you save.
Dependencies and Precedence
- If you fill in both the award types list and the specific awards list, an award must match both lists to qualify. If you choose an award but its type is not also in your types list, the coupon will not apply to that award. The form does not warn you when this happens, so check both lists together.
- Leaving an eligibility list blank means “every type” or “every award,” not “none.”
- Switching Application Fees off disables the fee discount fields. Rhythm keeps the values you entered, and they reappear if you switch it back on.
- Deletion Protection appears only to Rhythm staff and blocks deletion outright. Your own staff cannot set it.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Switching a coupon to Inactive stops it from discounting anything right away. Its codes keep their own settings, but they do not give a discount while the coupon is inactive. Switch the coupon back on to restore them.
- Changing the amount, percentage, or maximum affects only future orders. Orders already placed keep the discount that was calculated at checkout.
- Cloning a coupon creates a new coupon with the source coupon’s settings, so you can adjust only the amount or eligible awards for a similar discount next year.
- Deleting a coupon is permanent. If Rhythm refuses the delete, look for coupon codes that still point to the coupon, then remove or reassign those codes first.
Warning
You cannot delete an award type or a Commerce discount product that a coupon still names. Remove the coupon’s reference to it, or delete the coupon, before you delete the type or product.
Permissions
Only staff with the coupon permission, usually through the Awards Administrator policy, can create, edit, or view coupons in the Console. A separate permission controls whether someone can delete a coupon. Portal members cannot read or change a coupon directly; they receive the discount only through the code they enter at checkout.
Validation and Errors
- A coupon needs a name, a discount method, and, when the separate discount line method requires one, a discount product before it will save. Rhythm lists all missing fields at once.
- Rhythm refuses a discount product or award type that does not exist in your account.
- Rhythm refuses an identifier that another coupon already uses when you try to save.
Related
- Coupon Codes
- Application Fees
- Award Types