How to Set Up Automatic Discounts For Appointment Booking

Looking to boost prepaid bookings or reduce no-shows using appointment scheduling software?

In this article, we’re offering you a super powerful way to do so with a 5 minute setup of BookingPress and its Advanced Discount add-on!

What is Automatic Discount?

As its name suggests, this is an appointment discount that is applied automatically when certain conditions are met.

BookingPress allows you to easily customize those conditions via a dedicated Advanced Discount add-on and start earning more from each appointment.

When Are Automatic Discounts Most Beneficial?

If you want to create more attractive conditions for customers that apply when specific requirements are met, for example, when a client books a private yoga session and adds at least two extra services like a yoga mat rental and post-session massage (think of possible examples for your business), this is the right choice.

How to Create Automatic Discounts in BookingPress?

To make discounts automatically applied to your booking form, firstly activate the Advanced Discount add-on by going to:

BookingPress > Add-ons > Advanced Discount > Click “Activate”.

Note: Professional Plan or Enterprise Plan is required.

What Types of Discount Are Available in BookingPress Add-on?

There are two types of incentive discounts you can add:

1. Online Payment Discount:

A discount given only when the client chooses to pay online. It’s applied at checkout, after selecting an online payment method (like credit card, Mollie, or Stripe).

It is shown on the payment step of the booking, added on top of the service price.

2. Offer Discount:

This discount applies based on custom rules you define (e.g., service type, number of people, total amount, etc.).

It is also applied automatically during the booking process if the conditions match that set by you (e.g., booking a specific service, booking multiple sessions, meeting a minimum amount, etc.). It is shown up on the booking summary page, applied to the service price.

Let’s visualize the difference:

Specifics	Offer Discount	Online Payment Discount
Trigger	Based on booking conditions	Based on payment method
When Applied	During booking summary	During payment selection
Customization	Highly customizable (rules)	Simple % or fixed discount
Payment Type	Applies regardless of payment method	Only applies to online payments
Use Case	Incentivize bulk bookings or certain services	Encourage prepaid bookings

Now, let’s create an advanced discount for your services using BookingPress!

Create Online Payment Discount

To enable online payment discount, go to BookingPress > Settings > Payments.

Here, you can enable an Online Payment Discount, either a percentage or fixed amount, to encourage customers to pay online.

This ‘Online Payment Discount’ discount is called so because it does not apply to local (pay-on-site) or deposit payments.

That’s it!

Create Offer Discounts

To add an advanced discount rule, go to BookingPress > Discounts > Advanced Discount > Click ‘Add New’.

The settings allow you to set:

• Discount Period: Choose a specific date range, or set it to never expire for ongoing offers.
• Discount Type: Fixed amount or percentage.
• Services: Select which services the discount applies to.

To create even more flexible rules, add optional rule conditions (all must match to apply the discount).

• Minimum people per appointment – useful for encouraging group bookings.

For instance, if you offer team coaching sessions, you could set a discount rule that applies only when at least 3 team members are booked for the same session.

• Minimum appointments (recurring or in cart) – promote long-term coaching packages.

You can offer a 10% discount when a client books at least 4 recurring business coaching sessions (e.g., weekly leadership coaching).

• Minimum total amount for the appointment – upsell premium service bundles.

If a client’s total coaching package (including add-ons like personality assessments or follow-up reports) exceeds $X, a discount is automatically applied.

Discount messages matter! You can easily adjust how discounts appear on the booking form to better highlight your offer:

Go to BookingPress > Customize and edit:

• Online payment label
• Offer label
• Discount messages and texts

You can also display applied discounts in appointment invoices in your invoice templates or show discounts in emails, SMS, or WhatsApp messages. All can be added with shortcodes you can copy and paste using add-on docs.

Conclusion – What Goals Can Be Achieved with Automatic Discounts?

Using the Advanced Discount add-on by BookingPress is one of the easiest ways to increase conversions for any service based business by using popular incentives:

• Automatic discounts based on your rules (‘offer discounts’).
• Online payment discounts.

Why is the add-on a great chance to improve conversions?

• Target group bookings or larger orders.
• Encourage pre-paid bookings.
• Decrease no-shows.

Try Add-on

Related articles:

• Top 7 BookingPress Addons to Increase Business Revenue
• How to Create Dynamic Discounts (Happy Hours) for Services
• How to Increase Retention Rate for Appointment Business?