Promotions: Qualifications

Overview

A qualification is what determines if a promotion applies to a customer's order in some way.  Without the qualification, it would be unknown if something specific should be done with a coupon code, if the customer can be rewarded with free shipping, or if all hats are on sale.  All promotions require at least one qualification, but they can also have many.  It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish with the promotion.

Requirements

The following prerequisites will be necessary to accomplish the goals of this article:

• Have access to your Hotcakes store administration
• Understand how promotions work

Getting Started

If you haven't already worked with promotions in the past or haven't read the promotions documentation, you should do that first.

Working with Qualifications

You'll find qualifications on the left side of any promotion you're working with, like shown below.

Qualifications help you to set the "rules" for when and how a customer might be rewarded with things like free items or discounts.  

In order for the customer to be the recipient of any action in the promotion, they must first successfully match all qualifications in the promotion.  Essentially, it's a true/false result... if the qualification is "true," then the customer qualifies.  If you have more than one qualification listed, then all qualifications must be "true" before the promotion can apply.

Qualifications

Depending on the kind of promotion you're working with, the qualifications you see may be different.  For example, if you're creating a sale, you'll see much different options versus a promotion for shipping.  

The various qualifications you might see are discussed below.  Each qualification is discussed as if it were the only qualification in the promotion.

Sales

Sales are a bit different from all other promotions.  They usually don't require that the customer do anything before the promotion can be applied.  These are useful for things like black friday or other holiday sales, where you're just discounting one or many products without having the customer do much.

In general, you'd want to use at least two of these qualifications to get the sale you're intending to have.

Qualification	Description
Any Product...	When used, this will discount all products in the store.
Product Is...	This qualification allows you to use the product picker to manually select one or many products that should be discounted.
Product Category Is...	You can choose to specify an entire category to discount all at the same time, such as putting all shoes on clearance.
When Product Type Is/Is Not...	If you're using product types, this will allow you to choose all products of a specific type to be discounted.  As you might imagine, this could be a much more inclusive discount compared to categories, since a product type will often span across many categories.  You can also do a reverse qualification here, by specifying that any product that is "NOT" the selected product type being on sale.
User Is...	Whether you're implementing a B2B strategy or just trying to treat a specific customer as being special, you can choose the customer here and if they'll get the specified discount once they login.
User Is In Role...	Customers on your site will likely be added to one or more security roles.  You can use these security roles to group the customers together for a multitude of purposes.  In this case, they'll also receive a discount.  Again, they'll need to first login.
User Price Group Is...	As an alternative to the previous two qualifications, you might be grouping customers together using price groups.  This will allow you to select the price group instead, and all customers in that price group will get the specified discount.

Offers for Order Items

If you're wanting to conditionally discount specific line items in an order, this offer allows you to do that.  If you don't specify specific products in some way, all products in the order will be discounted.

Qualification	Description
Any Order...	When specified, all orders will qualify for this discount.
Order Has Coupon Code...	This qualification allows you to specify one or more discount codes that may be used to qualify for this promotion.  You may also hear these referred to as coupon codes.
Order Has Products...	This qualification will allow you to choose one or many products using the product picker control.  When you select them, you may also specify whether only one of the selected items are in the cart, or all of them must be.
Order Does Not Have Product(s)...	This qualification would be the reverse of the previous one.  Choose one or more products that will prevent the discount from applying if they're added to the cart.
Order Subtotal Before Discount >=	You can apply a discount using this qualification, but only if the shopping cart subtotal  reaches a specific subtotal.  This is great for "Spend X and receive X discount."
User Is...	Whether you're implementing a B2B strategy or just trying to treat a specific customer as being special, you can choose the customer here and if they'll get the specified discount once they login.
User Price Group Is...	As an alternative to the previous qualification, you might be grouping customers together using price groups.  This will allow you to select the price group instead, and all customers in that price group will get the specified discount.
Any Shipping Method...	This qualification is usually only used if you want to discount based upon there being at least one shippable product in the shopping cart.
Shipping Method Is...	If you want to apply a discount based upon the customer choosing a specific shipping method, you can use this qualification.
Product Category Is/Is Not...	You can choose to specify an entire category to discount all at the same time, such as putting all shoes on clearance.  Alternatively, you can specify that only products that are NOT in a specific category get discounted.
When Vendor/Manufacturer Is/Is Not...	In many stores, there are vendors and manufacturers created and applied to various products in the catalog.  This qualification will discount line items if they match the selected vendor or category.  You can also do the opposite, to discount line items if they DON'T match the selected vendor or manufacturer.
Order Line Item Is...	It's very common to want to discount a specific line item when it's added to the cart only.  This qualification allows you to do that.
When Product Type Is/Is Not...	If you're using product types, this will allow you to choose all products of a specific type to be discounted.  As you might imagine, this could be a much more inclusive discount compared to categories, since a product type will often span across many categories.  You can also do a reverse qualification here, by specifying that any product that is "NOT" the selected product type being on sale.

Offers for Free Items

You've heard it countless times, "Buy X and get X for free!"  This is the promotion type that allows you to do this in your store.  

Qualification	Description
Any Order...	When specified, all orders will qualify for this discount.
Order Has Coupon Code...	This qualification allows you to specify one or more discount codes that may be used to qualify for this promotion.  You may also hear these referred to as coupon codes.
Order Has Products...	This qualification will allow you to choose one or many products using the product picker control.  When you select them, you may also specify whether only one of the selected items are in the cart, or all of them must be.
Order Does Not Have Product(s)...	This qualification would be the reverse of the previous one.  Choose one or more products that will prevent the discount from applying if they're added to the cart.
Order Subtotal Before Discount >=	You can apply a discount using this qualification, but only if the shopping cart subtotal  reaches a specific subtotal.  This is great for "Spend X and receive X discount."
Product Category Is/Is Not...	You can choose to specify an entire category to discount all at the same time, such as putting all shoes on clearance.  Alternatively, you can specify that only products that are NOT in a specific category get discounted.
Order Line Item Is...	It's very common to want to apply a discount only when a specific line item is added to the cart.  This qualification allows you to do that.
When Product Type Is/Is Not...	If you're using product types, this will allow you to choose all products of a specific type to be discounted.  As you might imagine, this could be a much more inclusive discount compared to categories, since a product type will often span across many categories.  You can also do a reverse qualification here, by specifying that any product that is "NOT" the selected product type being on sale.

Offers for Order Subtotal

These qualifications will be available when you're working on an offer that performs actions that will modify the order amount.

Qualification	Description
Any Order...	When specified, all orders will qualify for this discount.
Order Has Coupon Code...	This qualification allows you to specify one or more discount codes that may be used to qualify for this promotion.  You may also hear these referred to as coupon codes.
Order Has Products...	This qualification will allow you to choose one or many products using the product picker control.  When you select them, you may also specify whether only one of the selected items are in the cart, or all of them must be.
When Order Does Not Have Product(s)...	This qualification would be the reverse of the previous one.  Choose one or more products that will prevent the discount from applying if they're added to the cart.
Order Subtotal Before Discount >=	You can apply a discount using this qualification, but only if the shopping cart subtotal  reaches a specific subtotal.  This is great for "Spend X and receive X discount."
User Is...	Whether you're implementing a B2B strategy or just trying to treat a specific customer as being special, you can choose the customer here and if they'll get the specified discount once they login.
User Price Group Is...	As an alternative to the previous qualification, you might be grouping customers together using price groups.  This will allow you to select the price group instead, and all customers in that price group will get the specified discount.
Any Shipping Method...	This qualification is usually only used if you want to discount based upon there being at least one shippable product in the shopping cart.
Shipping Method Is...	If you want to apply a discount based upon the customer choosing a specific shipping method, you can use this qualification.
Product Category Is/Is Not...	You can choose to specify an entire category to discount all at the same time, such as putting all shoes on clearance.  Alternatively, you can specify that only products that are NOT in a specific category get discounted.
When Vendor/Manufacturer Is/Is Not...	In many stores, there are vendors and manufacturers created and applied to various products in the catalog.  This qualification will discount line items if they match the selected vendor or category.  You can also do the opposite, to discount line items if they DON'T match the selected vendor or manufacturer.
Order Line Item Is...	It's very common to want to apply a discount only when a specific line item is added to the cart.  This qualification allows you to do that.
When Product Type Is/Is Not...	If you're using product types, this will allow you to choose all products of a specific type to be discounted.  As you might imagine, this could be a much more inclusive discount compared to categories, since a product type will often span across many categories.  You can also do a reverse qualification here, by specifying that any product that is "NOT" the selected product type being on sale.
When Product Within Specified Categories Are...	This qualification allows you to specify that the promotion only applies when the total price or quantity of products in a specific category reach the threshold you specify.

Offers for Shipping

This promotion type allows you to take action on the shipping aspect of an order, but only when the qualifications listed below are "true."

Qualification	Description
Any Order...	When specified, all orders will qualify for this discount.
Order Has Coupon Code...	This qualification allows you to specify one or more discount codes that may be used to qualify for this promotion.  You may also hear these referred to as coupon codes.
Order Has Products...	This qualification will allow you to choose one or many products using the product picker control.  When you select them, you may also specify whether only one of the selected items are in the cart, or all of them must be.
Order Does Not Have Product(s)...	This qualification would be the reverse of the previous one.  Choose one or more products that will prevent the discount from applying if they're added to the cart.
Order Subtotal Before Discount >=	You can apply a discount using this qualification, but only if the shopping cart subtotal  reaches a specific subtotal.  This is great for "Spend X and receive X discount."
User Is...	Whether you're implementing a B2B strategy or just trying to treat a specific customer as being special, you can choose the customer here and if they'll get the specified discount once they login.
User Price Group Is...	As an alternative to the previous qualification, you might be grouping customers together using price groups.  This will allow you to select the price group instead, and all customers in that price group will get the specified discount.
Any Shipping Method...	This qualification is usually only used if you want to discount based upon there being at least one shippable product in the shopping cart.
Shipping Method Is...	If you want to apply a discount based upon the customer choosing a specific shipping method, you can use this qualification.
Product Category Is/Is Not...	You can choose to specify an entire category to discount all at the same time, such as putting all shoes on clearance.  Alternatively, you can specify that only products that are NOT in a specific category get discounted.
When Vendor/Manufacturer Is/Is Not...	In many stores, there are vendors and manufacturers created and applied to various products in the catalog.  This qualification will discount line items if they match the selected vendor or category.  You can also do the opposite, to discount line items if they DON'T match the selected vendor or manufacturer.
Order Line Item Is...	It's very common to want to apply a discount only when a specific line item is added to the cart.  This qualification allows you to do that.
When Product Type Is/Is Not...	If you're using product types, this will allow you to choose all products of a specific type to be discounted.  As you might imagine, this could be a much more inclusive discount compared to categories, since a product type will often span across many categories.  You can also do a reverse qualification here, by specifying that any product that is "NOT" the selected product type being on sale.

Affiliate Promotions

Affiliate promotions allow you to reward existing or new affiliates for joining the affiliate program.

Qualification	Description
When Affiliate Is Approved...	This qualification will allow the promotion to apply when an affiliate is approved.  In addition, you can first specify that the affiliate must first have at least one referral affiliate before the promotion is applied.