Smart Cycle Discounts – Automated Sale Campaigns for WooCommerce
The WooCommerce discount rules plugin that runs your sales on autopilot.
Stop manually editing sale prices. Smart Cycle Discounts automates your WooCommerce discounts so you can schedule bulk discounts, BOGO deals, tiered pricing, and flash sales – then forget about them. Sale prices activate and deactivate automatically on schedule.
Tired of midnight price edits on Black Friday?
You know the drill. It’s 11:58 PM on Black Friday eve. You’re clicking through hundreds of products, setting sale prices one by one. Tomorrow morning, you’ll do it all again to remove them. Next week, you’ll repeat the process for Cyber Monday.
Smart Cycle Discounts eliminates this completely.
Create a discount campaign, set your schedule, walk away. Your WooCommerce sale prices activate automatically, deactivate when the promotion ends, and you never touch a single product page again.
Discount rules made simple: Percentage off, fixed amount, quantity-based bulk discounts, BOGO offers, spend thresholds, and tiered pricing – all managed from one intuitive campaign wizard.
How It Works: The 5-Step Campaign Wizard
No documentation needed. No settings buried in submenus. Just answer five simple questions and your WooCommerce discount campaign is ready to go:
- What’s it called? Name your campaign and set its priority level
- Which products? Pick all products, specific ones, or let us choose randomly
- What discount? Percentage off, fixed amount, or advanced discount types like BOGO and tiered pricing (Pro)
- When does it run? Set exact start and end dates with timezone support
- Ready to launch? Review everything, check smart recommendations, and go live
Your first discount campaign takes under 2 minutes. Your hundredth takes the same.
The Problem With Managing WooCommerce Sale Prices Manually
Manually updating sale prices takes hours, forgetting to remove them costs money, and WooCommerce’s built-in per-product sale dates make campaign management nearly impossible. Smart Cycle Discounts solves this with automated campaign-based discount management.
What You Get For Free
Unlimited discount campaigns – No artificial limits. Create 5 campaigns or 500. Run them simultaneously.
Three ways to select products for your discount:
- All Products – Store-wide sale in one click. Perfect for Black Friday, clearance events, or seasonal promotions
- Specific Products – Hand-pick items by name, SKU, or product ID. Great for targeted promotions on select inventory
- Random Products – Automatically rotate which products go on sale each day. Creates a “deal of the day” experience that drives repeat visits
Two core discount types:
- Percentage Off – “25% off everything this weekend” – The most popular WooCommerce discount type, scales proportionally with product price
- Fixed Amount Off – “$10 off every item” – Clear, tangible savings that work best on higher-priced products
Automatic scheduling with precision:
- Set exact start and end dates down to the minute
- Automatic activation and deactivation – no manual intervention required
- Draft mode to prepare campaigns days or weeks in advance
- Full timezone support so your sale starts when your customers expect it
Free shipping campaigns:
- Enable free shipping for any discount campaign with a single toggle
- Apply to all shipping methods or select specific methods
- Stack free shipping with any discount type for powerful promotions
User role targeting:
- Restrict discounts to specific WordPress user roles (wholesalers, subscribers, members)
- Include mode: “Only these roles get the discount”
- Exclude mode: “Everyone except these roles gets the discount”
- Perfect for B2B pricing, membership sites, and wholesale stores
Campaign health monitoring:
- Real-time validation catches mistakes before discounts go live
- Priority system (1-5) prevents conflicts when multiple campaigns overlap on the same product
- Bulk actions to pause, activate, duplicate, or delete multiple campaigns at once
- Health score dashboard widget shows all campaign statuses at a glance
Campaign intelligence:
- Smart recommendations in the wizard suggest improvements before you launch
- Seasonal campaign suggestions for upcoming holidays and events
- Built-in campaign planner helps you prepare promotions ahead of time
Calculator Import:
- Import discount presets from the WooCommerce Discount Calculator directly into the plugin
- One-click campaign creation from imported presets – no manual setup needed
- Supports percentage, fixed, tiered, BOGO, and spend threshold presets
Pro: Advanced WooCommerce Discount Types
Tiered Quantity Discounts (Dynamic Pricing)
Set quantity-based pricing breaks that encourage larger orders:
- Buy 5+ get 10% off
- Buy 10+ get 20% off
- Buy 25+ get 30% off
Perfect for wholesale, B2B stores, consumable products, and any store that wants to increase average order value through volume-based dynamic pricing.
Buy One Get One (BOGO Deals)
Create flexible BOGO offers with custom quantities and discount percentages:
- Buy 1 Get 1 Free (classic BOGO)
- Buy 2 Get 1 at 50% off
- Buy 3 Get 1 Free
BOGO deals are psychologically powerful – the word “free” drives action faster than any percentage discount.
Spend Threshold Discounts
Unlock discounts when customers reach a minimum cart value:
- Spend $50 get 10% off
- Spend $100 get 15% off
- Spend $200 get 25% off
Proven to increase average order value by 20-45%. Customers add more to their cart to unlock the next discount tier.
WooCommerce Subscriptions Support
Subscription products work with campaigns out of the box – recurring prices are discounted automatically on the free tier. Pro unlocks advanced subscription controls:
- Discount target selection – Choose to discount the recurring price, the sign-up fee, or both independently
- Renewal limits – Limit discounts to the first X renewal payments (e.g., “20% off for 3 months, then full price”)
- Automatic tracking – Renewal count tracked per subscription, discount removed automatically when limit is reached
No other discount plugin offers automated campaign-based subscription discounts with renewal tracking.
Also included in Pro:
- Per-customer usage limits (prevent abuse)
- Auto-select best-selling products for promotions
- Auto-select low-stock items for clearance
- Performance analytics and revenue tracking
- Email notifications when campaigns start, end, or hit milestones
- CSV and JSON export for reporting
- Application rules: minimum quantity, minimum order value, exclude sale items
- Combination policies: control how discounts stack with WooCommerce coupons
Real-World Discount Scenarios
“I need a Black Friday sale across my entire WooCommerce store” Use: All Products + 25% Percentage Off + Schedule Nov 29 12:00 AM to Dec 2 11:59 PM. Create the campaign in October, forget about it. It activates automatically on Black Friday and removes all sale prices on Cyber Monday night.
“I want daily deals that rotate automatically” Use: Random Products (5 items) + Fixed $15 off + Daily schedule. Every day, 5 different products go on sale. Customers come back daily to see what’s new. Creates a treasure hunt shopping experience.
“Buy 3 get 10% off, buy 5 get 20% off” Use: Tiered pricing with quantity breaks (Pro). Set up once and it applies automatically to every qualifying order. Ideal for encouraging bulk purchases.
“Flash sale for the next 4 hours only” Use: Specific products + 30% off + End time 4 hours from now. Create urgency with time-limited discounts. Works great with email campaigns and social media announcements.
“Clear out slow-moving inventory before new stock arrives” Use: Auto-select Low Stock items + 40% off (Pro). The plugin identifies products with fewer than 10 units in stock and automatically discounts them. Set it and forget it.
“Spend $50, get 10% off + free shipping” Use: Spend threshold (Pro) + Free Shipping toggle. Combine a minimum spend discount with free shipping to reduce cart abandonment and increase average order value. Customers see the discount and shipping savings at checkout.
“I run a wholesale store and need quantity-based pricing” Use: Tiered Quantity Discounts (Pro). Create volume breaks that reward larger orders. Perfect for B2B WooCommerce stores, distributors, and any business selling in bulk.
“Weekend flash sale every Saturday and Sunday” Use: All Products + 15% off + Schedule Saturday 12:00 AM to Sunday 11:59 PM. Create a single campaign that handles every weekend automatically.
“Wholesale pricing for registered dealers only” Use: User Role Targeting (include “Wholesale Customer” role) + Tiered Bulk Discounts. Only users with the wholesale role see the discounted prices. Perfect for B2B stores that serve both retail and wholesale customers from the same WooCommerce store.
“Valentine’s Day promotion on specific gift items” Use: Specific Products + 20% off + Schedule Feb 7 to Feb 14. Select your gift-worthy products, set the dates, and the promotion runs itself while you focus on marketing.
“20% off subscription boxes for the first 3 months” Use: Subscription products + 20% percentage off + Renewal limit 3 (Pro). New subscribers get a discounted recurring price for their first 3 billing cycles, then automatically return to full price. Great for acquisition campaigns.
“Waive the sign-up fee during a launch promotion” Use: Subscription products + Sign-up fee discount target + 100% percentage off (Pro). The one-time sign-up fee is removed during your campaign period while the recurring price stays unchanged. Perfect for reducing friction on new subscriptions.
Want to know how discounts affect your margins? Use our free WooCommerce Discount Calculator to calculate profit before running a campaign.
Who Is Smart Cycle Discounts For?
Perfect for WooCommerce store owners, e-commerce managers, agencies, wholesale/B2B stores, and seasonal businesses who want automated discount management without manual price updates. Take the Capability Score Calculator to find out if Free or Pro is right for you.
Works With Your Existing Setup
- Any WordPress theme – Backend plugin that uses WooCommerce’s native sale price system. Your theme’s sale styling works automatically.
- WooCommerce 8.0+ – Built for modern WooCommerce with full HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage) compatibility
- Block-based cart and checkout – Full support for WooCommerce block cart/checkout pages (WooCommerce 8.3+). Strikethrough pricing displays correctly in both classic and block-based templates.
- Variable products – All product variations receive discounts automatically
- WooCommerce Subscriptions – Discount campaigns work on subscription products. Recurring prices show strikethrough discounts automatically. Pro users can target sign-up fees separately and limit discounts to a set number of renewals.
- WooCommerce coupons – Works independently alongside existing coupons. Customers can use both campaign discounts and coupon codes together.
- Large catalogs – Optimized database queries handle thousands of products without slowing down your store
- Multisite compatible – Works on WordPress multisite installations
Technical Details For Developers
- WooCommerce HPOS Compatible – Full support for High-Performance Order Storage
- WooCommerce Blocks Integration – Store API extension and checkout filters for block-based cart/checkout
- Developer Friendly – Actions and filters for custom integrations, clean code following WordPress standards
Getting Started
Quick Start
- Go to Campaigns > Create Campaign in your WordPress admin
- Follow the 5-step wizard: Basic Info > Products > Discounts > Schedule > Review
- Click Create Campaign to launch your discount
Example: 25% Off Flash Sale
- Basic Info: Name it “Flash Sale” with priority 5
- Products: Select “All Products” or pick specific items
- Discounts: Choose “Percentage” and enter 25
- Schedule: Set start date/time and end date/time
- Review: Verify settings and click Create
Your WooCommerce discounts will activate and deactivate automatically on schedule.
Managing Campaigns
Access Campaigns in your admin menu to view, edit, duplicate, or delete campaigns. Use bulk actions to manage multiple campaigns at once.
Need Help?
External services
This plugin connects to external services for licensing, updates, and optional email delivery. Below is a complete list of all external services used, including the specific domains contacted.
Freemius (License Management)
This plugin uses Freemius for license management, plugin updates, and optional usage analytics.
- Service provider: Freemius, Inc.
- Domains contacted: api.freemius.com, wp.freemius.com, checkout.freemius.com, users.freemius.com
- What it does: Handles Pro license activation/deactivation, delivers plugin updates, processes payments via secure checkout, and collects anonymous usage data (if opted-in)
- When data is sent: On plugin activation, license validation, update checks, Pro checkout, and if you opt-in to usage tracking
- What data is sent: Site URL, plugin version, license key (if Pro), WordPress version, PHP version, and anonymous usage statistics (only if opted-in)
- Terms of Service: https://freemius.com/terms/
- Privacy Policy: https://freemius.com/privacy/
Plugin Feedback API (Optional)
When deactivating the plugin, you may optionally provide feedback to help us improve.
- Service provider: Webstepper
- Domain contacted: api.smartcyclediscounts.com
- What it does: Collects optional deactivation feedback to improve the plugin
- When data is sent: Only when you choose to submit the optional deactivation feedback form during plugin deactivation
- What data is sent: Feedback reason, site URL, WordPress version, WooCommerce version, PHP version, plugin version, and basic usage statistics (number of campaigns created)
- Terms of Service: https://webstepper.io/terms-of-service/
- Privacy Policy: https://webstepper.io/privacy-policy/
SendGrid Email API (Optional)
This plugin can optionally connect to the SendGrid API to send email notifications about your discount campaigns.
- Service provider: Twilio SendGrid
- Domain contacted: api.sendgrid.com
- What it does: Delivers email notifications (campaign started, campaign ended, performance alerts)
- When data is sent: Only when you configure SendGrid as your email provider in Settings > Email Notifications AND an email notification is triggered by campaign events
- What data is sent: Recipient email address, email subject, and email body content (campaign status information only – no customer personal data is transmitted)
- Terms of Service: https://www.twilio.com/legal/tos
- Privacy Policy: https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy
Amazon SES Email API (Optional)
This plugin can optionally connect to Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) to send email notifications about your discount campaigns.
- Service provider: Amazon Web Services
- Domain contacted: email.[region].amazonaws.com (where [region] is your configured AWS region, e.g., email.us-east-1.amazonaws.com)
- What it does: Delivers email notifications (campaign started, campaign ended, performance alerts)
- When data is sent: Only when you configure Amazon SES as your email provider in Settings > Email Notifications AND an email notification is triggered by campaign events
- What data is sent: Recipient email address, email subject, and email body content (campaign status information only – no customer personal data is transmitted)
- Terms of Service: https://aws.amazon.com/service-terms/
- Privacy Policy: https://aws.amazon.com/privacy/
Important: All external services except Freemius (required for licensing) are completely optional. The plugin works fully without configuring SendGrid or Amazon SES. The Plugin Feedback API is only contacted if you explicitly choose to submit feedback during deactivation. No email data is transmitted unless you explicitly enable and configure email integrations in Settings > Email Notifications.
Additional Information
Support
Privacy
Campaign data is stored locally in your WordPress database. The plugin does not collect or transmit customer personal data. See the “External services” section for details about third-party integrations.