How to offer free gifts with coupons in WooCommerce

Decide whether the offer is a named gift, a variable product such as a shirt with selectable size, or several gifts. Also choose the minimum spend, expiry date, number of gifts per order, and whether the customer pays shipping.

For a specific buy-one-get-one condition, write down both the item the customer must buy and the item they receive. WooCommerce’s standard coupon editor can restrict products, categories, cart totals, email addresses, and usage limits, but it does not add a separate gift product by itself.

Create the gift as a normal WooCommerce product and make sure it has stock, a valid tax status, and the correct shipping settings. If customers should not find it through your catalogue, set its catalogue visibility to Hidden. That hides it from shop and category pages, although it does not create a separate access restriction.

For a variable gift, check that customers can select the required attributes. If the promotion includes a physical item, decide whether the gift should use normal shipping or a free-shipping method.

First enable coupons under WooCommerce > Settings > General. Then go to Marketing > Coupons, choose Add coupon, and enter a code.

Choose a percentage discount and enter 100. In Usage restrictions, select the gift product under Products, then add a minimum spend if the customer must buy something else. Set an expiry date, choose Individual use only when appropriate, and use Usage limits to restrict total uses or uses per customer. WooCommerce supports these coupon restrictions and limits in its core editor.

Explain that the customer must add the gift product to the cart before entering the coupon code. They then apply the code from the cart or checkout page, and the 100% product discount reduces the gift price to zero. Core WooCommerce requires customers to enter coupon codes themselves and does not automatically apply them.

This manual route is fine for a small, clearly explained campaign. Its drawback is that customers can forget to add the gift, choose the wrong variation, or remove the gift before paying. A standard coupon also does not automatically enforce a separate “buy product A, receive product B” rule.

Place test orders as a guest and as a logged-in customer. Check the coupon with an order below the minimum spend, with an ineligible product, after the expiry date, and after the usage limit has been reached.

Check tax, shipping, stock reduction, mobile checkout, the mini-cart, and order emails. A common Friday-afternoon failure is a gift that is discounted to zero but still adds an unexpected delivery charge, so test the shipping method as well as the coupon.

For the faster route, install and activate WooCommerce Free Gift Coupons, then create the coupon from Marketing > Coupons. Select the product to give away, set its quantity, and publish the coupon. When a customer applies the code, the gift is automatically added to the cart.

You can apply the normal coupon restrictions, including minimum cart total, product or category rules, email restrictions, expiry dates, and usage limits. If the gift quantity should match a required product, configure quantity syncing and add that product to the coupon’s Usage Restrictions product list so it is required for the coupon to be valid. Free shipping for the gift also requires a free-shipping method to be enabled.