Discounts overview
The plugin ships three native discount mechanisms specifically designed for recurring billing. None of them rely on the WooCommerce coupon system, although they coexist with it.
Three mechanisms
| Mechanism | What it does | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Tier-based | Reward customers automatically after N successful renewals. Up to 5 tiers per product. | Retention. Standard SaaS loyalty pattern. |
| First-payment | Discount only the initial order; renewals charge the full price. | Acquisition campaigns ("first month €1"). Promotional landings. |
| Role-based pricing | Different prices per WP user role. | B2B tiers, member-only pricing, employee discounts. |
Why not just coupons?
WooCommerce coupons work fine for one-off purchases. For subscriptions they fall short:
- No retention logic. A coupon either applies forever or once. There's no built-in "after 6 renewals, drop 10%".
- No automatic distribution. Tier-based discounts apply on the next renewal without you sending a code to every customer who qualifies.
- Customer-visible state. The plugin shows the active tier and the next milestone in My Account so the customer knows the discount is coming.
The plugin's discount engine and WooCommerce coupons coexist — you can run a promotional coupon on top of a tier-based discount if you want. You control the stacking order in the settings.
Where the settings live
WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced Subscriptions → Discounts. The master toggle is Enable discount engine; from there you can:
- Define the tier ladder (3 / 6 / 12 renewals → 5% / 10% / 15%).
- Choose one of 5 visual templates for the discount table on the product page.
- Pick colors, columns, position.
- Toggle the role-pricing and coupon add-ons.
Relevant hooks
aswc_discount_enabled— filter the master enable flag per-request.aswc_discount_table_template— override the visual template at runtime.aswc_apply_discount— final filter before a discount lands in a renewal order.