Discounts

Discounts are powerful tools for driving growth and rewarding customer loyalty. With Mantle, you can create targeted promotions and time-sensitive campaigns while maintaining full control over your revenue.

Understanding discounts

Discounts in Mantle are more than just price reductions - they’re strategic tools for driving adoption and rewarding loyalty. Each discount can be configured with:

  • Amount or percentage off
  • Duration (one-time, limited period, or permanent)
  • Eligibility criteria
  • Automatic or manual application
  • Plan-specific settings

You can create discounts that apply to all plans or just specific tiers, making it easy to run targeted promotions or create special offers for enterprise customers.

Creating discounts

To create a new discount:

  1. Navigate to Plans in your Mantle dashboard
  2. Select Discounts from the sub-navigation
  3. Click Add discount in the top right
  4. Configure your discount settings:
Add a discount

Key settings to consider:

  • Name & description: Make it clear for both your team and customers
  • Discount type: Choose between percentage or fixed amount
  • Duration: Set how long the discount applies
  • Eligibility: Define which plans can use this discount
  • Application method: Choose automatic or manual application

Duration options

Choose how long your discount should apply:

  • One-time: Applies to a single billing cycle
  • Limited time: Set a specific number of billing cycles
  • Forever: Permanent discount that stays until removed
  • Until date: Discount ends on a specific date

Types of discounts

Mantle supports several discount types to match different business needs:

Percentage-based

Take a fixed percentage off the plan price:

  • Great for consistent discounts across different plan tiers
  • Easy for customers to understand
  • Perfect for promotional campaigns

Fixed amount

Reduce the price by a specific dollar amount:

  • Ideal for hitting specific price points
  • Works well for high-value plans
  • Great for seasonal promotions

Plan-specific

Create discounts that only apply to certain plans:

  • Target specific customer segments
  • Drive upgrades to premium tiers
  • Create special enterprise pricing

Shopify-specific behavior

Working with Shopify’s App Billing API comes with some unique considerations:

Applying discounts to existing subscriptions

Anytime you change a subscription in Shopify (including applying discounts), customers with existing subscriptions need to reauthorize the charge. Here’s what happens:

  1. You apply the discount in Mantle
  2. You need to send the customer back to the subscription authorization page
  3. They need to approve the new discounted amount
  4. If approved, the discount takes effect on their next billing cycle
  5. If declined, they stay on their current plan without the discount

For new subscriptions: Discounts are applied automatically during the initial authorization.

Billing cycle timing

  • New subscriptions: Discount applies immediately
  • Existing subscriptions: Discount starts on the next billing cycle after reauth
  • Mid-cycle changes: Shopify handles proration automatically

Merchant experience

When a merchant needs to reauthorize:

  • They’ll see the new discounted amount clearly displayed
  • The authorization page shows the discount details
  • They can approve or decline the change
  • The discount appears in their Shopify admin billing section

Flex billing vs regular billing

  • Regular billing: Discounts are built into the Shopify subscription
  • Flex billing: Discounts are applied to each usage charge as it’s created
  • Both methods work seamlessly with Mantle’s discount system

Managing discounts

Keep track of your discounts from the main discounts view:

Discounts management

From here you can:

  • Monitor active discounts
  • Edit existing discounts
  • Track discount usage
  • Archive old discounts
  • View discount history

Applying discounts

Discounts can be applied in two ways:

  1. Automatically: Based on criteria you set (like customer tags or segments)
  2. Manually: Applied to specific customers through the customer profile

To manually apply a discount:

  1. Navigate to the customer’s profile
  2. Click “Actions” and select “Apply discount”
  3. Choose the discount and confirm

FAQ

Why isn't my discount applying?

For customers with active subscriptions: The customer needs to reauthorize their subscription. Check if they've completed the reauth flow in their Shopify admin.

For customers subscribing to a plan: Discounts should apply automatically. If not, check that:

  • The discount is active and not expired
  • The customer meets the eligibility criteria
  • The discount applies to the selected plan

What happens if a customer declines to authorize the new charge?

They'll stay on their current plan without the discount. You can:

  • Reach out to explain the discount benefits
  • Try applying the discount again later
  • Offer the discount when they naturally upgrade/downgrade

Can I change a discount after it's applied?

  • Active discounts: You can modify them, but customers with active subscriptions will need to reauthorize
  • Expired discounts: Create a new discount instead
  • Duration changes: Require customer reauthorization for existing subscriptions

Remember: While discounts can be powerful tools for driving growth, they should be used strategically to maintain your pricing integrity and avoid training customers to always expect deals.