A coupon is a discount rule. It defines what gets discounted, how much the discount is, and which code shoppers enter. People do not enter the coupon itself; they enter a coupon code that points to it. An event coupon belongs to one event. A global coupon belongs to your Rhythm account and can discount several events at once, either all events or only the events and event types you choose. An event coupon discounts that event’s own registration items, not an unrelated purchase such as a membership join or renewal.
What It Controls
A coupon can discount any combination of registration packages, session fees, function fees, registration add-on products, exhibitor booth fees, and exhibitor add-on products. Exhibitor booth fees and exhibitor add-on products are available only on an event coupon. For each kind of purchase you discount, you choose a fixed amount or a percentage. You can also limit the discount to specific types, such as certain session types.
A fixed-amount discount takes exactly the dollar amount you configure off each eligible line. It is not a percentage of the order, and it does not take more than that amount off the same line. A percentage discount uses the item’s current price, including any deadline-tier price in effect, so it rises or falls as deadline pricing changes. A fixed amount stays the same dollar figure no matter which tier is active. Because a coupon discounts by either a fixed amount or a percentage, it cannot force a registration to one flat final total across different deadline prices. If you need a guaranteed final price, build it into the package’s own deadline pricing instead of using a coupon.
Bundled or included products on a registration package do not prevent a coupon from discounting the package. A coupon that targets registration packages discounts the package price the same way whether or not the package includes other items at no extra cost.
A coupon discounts every eligible line it matches on an order, so it cannot single out one registrant in a multi-person order. If only one person should receive a discount, such as one comp registration among several paid registrations, a coupon is not the right tool for that targeting. Use a coupon only when every eligible line should receive the same discount. Many associations use this approach for exhibitors, sponsors, or speakers by creating a restricted coupon, often for 100% off, and sharing the code only with that group.
Prerequisites
You need the permission your Rhythm account grants for coupon setup. For an event coupon, you also need access to that event’s setup.
Where to Find It
- Event coupons: Meetings & Shows › Events › (the event) › Setup › Coupons. Create Coupon opens a blank form. Select a coupon’s name to open its page, where you create the codes people enter at checkout.
- Global coupons: Meetings & Shows › Setup › Coupons.
Both lists show each coupon’s name, status, and last changed date. Active rows also show icons to clone, edit, and delete the coupon.
Cloning a coupon carries over the package and type restrictions from the coupon you cloned. If codes stop working after you clone an event, check whether the cloned coupon still points to the previous event’s specific packages or types. Clear or update those fields, or create a new coupon with new codes in the cloned event instead.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name:, ID:, Status: | Text; identifier from the name; Active/Inactive | Active | Sets the coupon’s name and whether people can currently use it |
| How should discounts from this coupon be applied to the order? | Inline, or a separate discount line item | Inline | Inline reduces each discounted line directly. A separate line adds a negative line to the order and requires a discount product below. This choice changes only how the discount appears. It does not change the discount amount or whether the discount applies once or to every eligible line; the discount groups and maximum discount control that |
| Select the Discount Product | One of your account’s discount products | None | Required only when the coupon uses a separate discount line |
| What is the maximum discount this coupon can yield? | A dollar amount | No maximum | Limits the total discount on an order, regardless of what the other settings would otherwise add up to. The cap is used across every use of the coupon, even one set to 100% off, so once part of it is used, later registrations receive only what is left. In a group registration with several eligible packages, this same order-level cap can make the coupon look like it stopped after the first eligible line. To discount every eligible package in the same order instead, leave this blank and set the discount amount at the registration-package level |
| Which types of events are eligible…?, Which specific events are eligible…? | Global coupon only: event types, or named events | Blank (all events) | Limits a global coupon to the event types or events you choose. If you leave both blank, the coupon applies to all events. Moving a coupon from one event to the global level broadens its scope immediately, so review these lists before you move it to avoid making it valid for an unintended event |
| Registration Packages, Session Fees, Function Fees, Registration Add Ons (each a switch card) | On or off, with a method (fixed amount or percentage) and an amount | Registration Packages on for a new coupon; the others off | Turns on the discount for that kind of purchase, with an optional limit to certain types |
| Exhibitor Booth Fees, Exhibitor Add-On Products (event coupons only) | Same as above | Off | Discounts booth fees or exhibitor add-ons purchased at this event |
Warning
A coupon does not discount anything when no discount group is switched on, or when a group is switched on without an amount. If a buyer’s order summary says the coupon could not be applied to anything in the order, check that at least one group is on with an amount, and that the items you intended to discount are eligible.
A percentage discount is not capped at 100, so Rhythm accepts very high percentages that can discount more than you intended. Double-check the number before you save.
A function coupon discounts the whole function you choose. There is no way to limit it to just one fee when that function offers several fees side by side. If you need to discount only one fee within a multi-fee function, consider modeling that fee as its own function instead.
A coupon applies to a group registration order the same way it applies to any other order. It discounts every eligible line in that order, and the whole order counts as a single use of the coupon, not one use per registrant. There is no setting that activates a coupon only after a group reaches a minimum number of registrants. A fixed-amount coupon also behaves the same as a percentage coupon here: without a maximum discount or another restriction, it discounts every eligible registrant in the order, not just one. If the discount should affect only one registrant, such as a single speaker discount in an otherwise paid group, set the maximum discount to that one amount rather than relying on the discount method alone.
A code’s own usage limits add another layer, separate from the coupon’s maximum dollar discount. A limit on how many individuals from one organization may use a code restricts individual registrations within that organization. An overall limit on total uses is enforced once per order rather than once per registrant, so a code limited to one total use can still discount every registrant in one group order because the whole order counts as that one use. You can combine an organization limit with an overall customer-use limit, but avoid using every available restriction field together because they can conflict with or cancel each other out. There is also no setting that limits an order to only one coupon code, or that caps how many registrants within one order receive a coupon’s discount. Rhythm also cannot target a coupon’s usage limit to just one registration package within a larger multi-person or guest registration. An entitlement that needs that level of control, such as a free-registration count that varies by an exhibitor’s booth size, is not something coupon settings alone can enforce and would require a feature request rather than a configuration change. A single-use code entered manually before payment can work as a manual stand-in for granting one free spot, but it depends on someone remembering to use it and does not replace a setting that does not exist.
Some coupons also use Eligibility Criteria to limit who can use them, separately from which items the coupon discounts. Leave Eligibility Criteria blank and the coupon is available to anyone who is otherwise eligible, including every registrant in a group order. Set it when the discount should go only to certain registrants, such as speakers. When the qualifying condition belongs to an organization instead of the individual, build the criteria against the organization’s membership and add-on fields rather than the individual’s. For example, use the organization’s fields for a season-ticket-style membership add-on your account tracks at the organization level. Checking the individual’s own membership can wrongly fail people whose organization holds the qualifying membership or add-on. A custom eligibility expression that filters on a contact’s preferred address state has also been seen to miss an otherwise matching contact. If a state-based custom rule rejects someone who should qualify, check the field the rule reads, or use a different criterion.
If you grant a fixed number of complimentary registrations rather than a discount, set the registration package discount to 100% and use the maximum discount amount to cap the total. For example, to cover four registrations at a $200 base price, set the maximum discount to $800, so the coupon applies the full discount only until that amount is reached. Setting the discount to a fixed dollar amount per registration does not produce this result. This same maximum-discount approach can also approximate a “first N registrations free” outcome, but only roughly. It works cleanly when registration pricing is stable, and it can under- or over-match the intended benefit when prices vary, such as under early-bird deadline pricing.
When you apply a coupon to an order after the original checkout, Rhythm recalculates the order as it would have priced on its original order date. For example, if you add a percentage-off coupon to an event registration order that was already placed, Rhythm works out the coupon’s discount from that recalculated amount. The discount is not based on the amount the buyer already paid, whether the order has one registration or several. The charge-type limits you configure on the coupon, such as discounting only registration packages while leaving add-ons and function fees off, apply the same way whether the coupon is used at checkout or added to an order afterward. If you expect to apply this kind of coupon after checkout, use a separate discount line item rather than an inline discount for that coupon.
Dependencies and Precedence
- A coupon that discounts with a separate line needs a discount product from your account’s product catalog, so choose that discount product when you use this method.
- Global coupons are stored separately from one event’s coupons, so an event’s own coupon list never shows global coupons. To find them, use the account-wide Coupons page.
- A coupon can also unlock a coupon-gated registration type. That unlock check does not look at whether the coupon is active, so a code from a deactivated coupon can still unlock the type even though it does not discount anything. Do not use a coupon, especially one with a $0 discount, as a substitute for restricting who can register for a type. Use the registration type’s own access-restriction setting for that, and reserve coupons for discounting. If the same coupon that unlocks a gated type is also configured to discount that type’s package by $0, checkout can fail with an error that the coupon cannot be applied to any item in the order, even though the code correctly unlocked the type. To avoid this, give the coupon an amount above $0 for that package, or use a separate coupon just to gate access.
- The same code value cannot be reused across two different event-level coupons. If you need the same code to work at a second event, delete it from the first event’s coupon and recreate it there, or move the coupon to the global level so one code can serve every event you choose.
- A registration package can be configured to automatically generate and send a unique coupon code to each person who registers under it. If a coupon shows random-looking codes you never created, check that setting on the registration package. Turning it off limits the coupon to the codes you created yourself.
- An event’s exhibitor fees have their own Coupon Codes option, separate from any event coupon. When it is switched on, Rhythm emails registration coupon codes are enclosed to anyone who buys that fee. Deleting old codes does not stop that email if the setting is still on, so turn off the Coupon Codes option on the exhibitor fee instead.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Deactivating a coupon stops it from discounting anything the next time an order is priced. It does not affect anyone who already checked out with it.
- Narrowing a coupon to fewer events, types, or items changes only what it discounts on future orders. It does not undo a discount that was already applied.
- Deleting a coupon removes it outright. If codes were created for it, deleting the coupon can leave those codes pointing at nothing. Deactivate a coupon instead of deleting it if its codes might still be in use.
- Canceling one registration from an order does not restore a coupon’s usage that was consumed when the order completed. The usage is tied to completing the order, not to any single registration in it. If you need to reissue the same use, cancel the whole order instead of one registration from it.
Permissions
You need the permission your Rhythm account grants for coupon setup.
Validation and Errors
Rhythm will not save a coupon that uses a separate discount line until you choose a discount product. Rhythm also refuses the save when a discount group is switched on with no amount entered. If a buyer’s order summary says the coupon could not be applied, the coupon most likely has no group switched on with an amount, or none of the items in the order match what it discounts.
A coupon can also fail to discount for reasons beyond its own setup. If the registrant is not eligible for the specific registration package the coupon targets, the coupon does not apply even when the coupon is configured correctly and the person otherwise qualifies for the discount. For example, an active member cannot use a coupon meant for a non-member package. The coupon’s registration-package association also has to be set. If that link is undefined, Rhythm can accept the code during registration with no error, but the price does not change because the coupon does not know which package to discount. Setting the package on the coupon resolves it. A coupon limited to certain registration types can fail the same way when you apply it retroactively to an existing registration, for the same reason it would fail at checkout: the registration’s type is not one the coupon covers.
If you enter a coupon code in the wrong context, such as an event-specific code during a membership purchase, Rhythm may still report that the code was applied successfully even though the order total does not change. Check the total itself, not just the confirmation message, to confirm that Rhythm applied a discount.
If a registrant reports an unexpected email saying a coupon code is enclosed, that is not necessarily a mistake. The registration package they used can be configured to automatically issue a valid coupon code after someone registers under it.