Offer free addon for first year only

[xtreme416]

Hi,

 

Is there a way to offer a free addon (say Free SSL) only for the first year and then renew at regular price for annual and greater terms? So if someone signs up for hosting for 1,2 or 3 year term, they will get a free SSL in the first year and then the SSL addon renews at regular price.

 

Possible without a promo code?

[brian!]

Possible without a promo code?

aahh, there goes the first suggestion.

 

promotion codes would be the way to go - if you don't want the customer to need to type them in, then add the promo code to the product link... then if the customer adds the addon to the cart, it will be discounted (as per the promo code setup); if they don't, the promo code isn't validated and the order continues without the addon.

 

http://docs.whmcs.com/Linking_to_WHMCS

 

alternatively, you might want to look at the Product Bundles feature... but that wouldn't automatically discount only the first year price, unless you chose to use a promo code with the bundle too.

[xtreme416]

aahh, there goes the first suggestion.

 

promotion codes would be the way to go - if you don't want the customer to need to type them in, then add the promo code to the product link... then if the customer adds the addon to the cart, it will be discounted (as per the promo code setup); if they don't, the promo code isn't validated and the order continues without the addon.

 

http://docs.whmcs.com/Linking_to_WHMCS

 

alternatively, you might want to look at the Product Bundles feature... but that wouldn't automatically discount only the first year price, unless you chose to use a promo code with the bundle too.

 

I've thought of that approach, but promo code has 2 issues:

 

1) It works for people you send the link to. But what about people finding the site on their own through search?

2) The discount only appears once the product is in the cart, not on the product page.

 

You want people to see the discount on the product page as most people are doing price comparisons between various hosting vendors. If you take a look at Godaddy or Hostgator or others, they all have that approach. It's more like a site-wide (or product-line) discount that would apply to all first time members.

 

Perhaps a feature in the next release?

[xtreme416]

I replied to this post earlier but my response is not showing!

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Ok looks like it might work now.

 

I had said...that the promo approach is not ideal for a couple of reasons:

 

1) You need to provide it to potential customers. But what about people who find you through search engines? They are most likely price shopping and won't see your discounted pricing vs the likes of Hostgator, Godaddy and others.

 

2) The promo code only shows the discount on the checkout page. Ideally we want to "entice" customers by showing them the discounted price on the product page.

 

What we need is a site-wide or product-line discount that can be a flash sale. Perhaps a future feature? Hopefully, not too distant future! I can't be the only one asking for this

[brian!]

I had said...that the promo approach is not ideal for a couple of reasons:

the problem is you asked about one specific circumstance (adding a free addon) and now you're expanding the question and wanting to effectively show sale prices on the products page... or to put it another way, promotional pricing without a promotional code!

 

1) You need to provide it to potential customers. But what about people who find you through search engines? They are most likely price shopping and won't see your discounted pricing vs the likes of Hostgator, Godaddy and others.

you don't need to provide it if its already added to the link.

 

2) The promo code only shows the discount on the checkout page. Ideally we want to "entice" customers by showing them the discounted price on the product page.

then change your base prices or alter the products page.

 

there is no built-in method to show/setup discounting product pricing in WHMCS - I can only think of one addon in Marketplace that sort of does it, but even that doesn't do it in the way you want by showing discounted base pricing @ the products page.

 

off the top of my head, I can see a way of showing 2 prices per product - or perhaps even just 1 discounted price if you prefer - with the aid of a promo code... assuming the code was just giving a generic x% discount... but frankly, the easiest way would just be to change the base pricing.

 

What we need is a site-wide or product-line discount that can be a flash sale. Perhaps a future feature? Hopefully, not too distant future! I can't be the only one asking for this

don't hold your breath waiting for features to be added by WHMCS... i've seen good feature requests with lot of votes, still be "Under Consideration" after 3 or 4 years... it's ridiculous!

 

at an absolute best, it might be a couple of months before the next release - I doubt there's any chance of a new feature request being added to it that fast.