How to Add Free Gifts to WooCommerce Subscriptions

Want to encourage your customers to subscribe? This tutorial shows you the easiest way to add free gifts to WooCommerce subscriptions.

In recent years subscriptions have become a standard part of how consumers shop online. In 2025, nearly every product category, from food and beauty to health and tech, has integrated some form of subscription. Numbers look great: the rapid expansion of online shopping is expected to drive the growth of the subscription e-commerce market in the coming years. It will grow to $3.48 trillion in 2029 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59.5%.

If you’re offering subscriptions in your WooCommerce store, you know that customers love them, but they also think carefully before deciding to subscribe.  Whether it’s a monthly coffee delivery, a membership box, or access to premium content, starting a subscription sometimes takes a little nudge.

One effective way to make a subscription more valuable and enticing for customers is by including a gift. It could be a free product with their first subscription order, making subscribing feel more rewarding. Or it could be a small surprise added to a renewal order to show long-term subscribers you appreciate their loyalty.

In this article, we’ll explain why subscription gifts work, explore the available ways to add free gifts to WooCommerce Subscriptions, and show you the easiest way to set everything up using our Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce add-on.

Why Add Free Gifts to WooCommerce Subscriptions?

With subscriptions, customers are committing to ongoing payments and a possible long-term relationship with your brand. So why not reward that commitment with special “thank you” perk for new subscribers? And why not reward your subscribers during renewals?

Free gifts aren’t just fun: they boost conversions, build loyalty, and even give your brand more visibility.  A case study tested free gifts on subscription renewals and found that customers who received a gift converted at an 85% higher rate than those who didn’t. They were 85% more likely to keep their subscription active rather than skip or cancel the upcoming order.

How to Add Free Gifts to WooCommerce Subscriptions

So, if you’re using the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin for your store, you may be asking how to reward subscribers with free products. The answer is that free gift functionality typically requires a combination of coupons and specific plugins, or custom code.

Coupon + Free Gift Plugin

The most common method is combining WooCommerce coupons with free gift plugins like “Free Gifts for WooCommerce” or “Buy One Get One Free.”

You create a coupon that makes a specific product free, then use an auto-apply coupon plugin to trigger it when someone purchases a subscription. This method only works for the first subscription order, not renewals.

Custom Code

You can also attempt custom code by hooking into subscription renewal events, but this requires a developer and ongoing maintenance every time WooCommerce or Subscriptions updates.

Both of these solutions have limitations, and that’s why we created Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce.

Overview of the Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce plugin

Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce is a WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on that lets you reward loyal subscribers by easily adding free gifts to their subscription at signup, and with PRO version you can also add free gifts to subscription renewal.

Like with all of our plugins, we try to make it simple and effective. Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce is trivial to use and setup, and in few clicks you’ll be able to add any type of product as a free gift to user with active subscription.

FREE VERSION
PRO VERSION

Step-by-Step Guide to Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce 

Let’s look at how to efficiently add gifts to subscription:

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Option 1: Install directly from WordPress dashboard

Go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New. Search for “Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce,” then click Install Now and Activate.

Option 2: Upload manually

Download the plugin from WordPress.org, then go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Choose the downloaded .zip file, click Install Now and Activate.

Important note: You also need to have WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin installed!

Step 2: Create Simple Subscription Product and Gift Products

Before adding a gift to subscription, you need to:

  • Create Simple Subscription product, and then choose the subscription price, billing interval and period
  • Create products that are going to serve as gifts (or you can choose among existing products in your store)

Step 3: Add a gift to subscription

With Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce, adding a gift to subscription is really easy.

In WP Edit Product screen, scroll to the Subscription Free Gifts panel. All you have to do is select which products to add as gifts. Free version of Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce enables you to add a free gift on subscription start.

After creating a Simple subscription product, the Subscription Gifts panel appears below

Your customers will see their free gift in order details after placing order.

Order details: free gift with WooCommerce subscription

PRO version features

For store owners who need more advanced functionality, the PRO version includes:

  • The ability to add free gifts both at subscription signup, renewals, or both
  • Control over the quantity of gifted products included in a subscription
  • Premium support: Direct access to our ticket support system at https://wpgenie.org/support/
With PRO version, you can choose when to add gifts to subscription, and also the quantity of gifts

Conclusion

Adding free gifts to WooCommerce Subscriptions doesn’t have to involve coupon setups or custom code. With our Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce, you can reward new subscribers and retain long-term customers with automatic gift products.

Ready to increase signups and reduce churn?  Download Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce from WordPress.org and get started!

FAQ

  1. Does this plugin work with WooCommerce Subscriptions only?

    Yes, Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce is a WooCommerce Subscriptions addon.

  2. With Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce, can you set different gifts for first order vs. renewals? (Like free mug on signup, free sample pack on first renewal?)

    Yes, with PRO version you can set different products as gifts for first order vs. renewals.

  3. What product types work as gifts:  just simple products, or also grouped products, lottery product etc.?

    Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce works with any WooCommerce product type: simple, variable, grouped, virtual, downloadable, and even specialized product types like our Simple Lottery plugin products

  4. Does this plugin handle gift inventory?

    No, the plugin uses WooCommerce’s standard inventory. If a gift product is out of stock, the subscription purchase will be blocked.
    Set up low stock notifications (WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Inventory) so you’re alerted before running out, or disable stock management for gift products entirely so they’re always available.

  5. What’s the difference between free and PRO versions?

    PRO version has all features of the free version, plus option to add gift both on start and on renewal, option to choose quantity for product that is gifted in subscription, and premium support from WPGenie’s developers.

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!

Spending Limits for WooCommerce: Player Protection for Competition Sites

Learn how to enable competition players to set personal spending limits and purchase restrictions on their accounts using the Spending Limits for WooCommerce plugin

If you run a WooCommerce competition or raffle site, you are probably aware that responsible gaming tools aren’t just a good practice: they’re becoming essential. Around the world, many regulators now require online gaming sites to offer player protection features like spending limits and self-exclusion. Even in regions where it’s not yet legally required, payment processors and regulators closely watch sites that accept money for chance-based games.

Spending Limits for WooCommerce is our newest plugin designed specifically for competition site owners. It’s a great addition to our WooCommerce Lottery and WooCommerce Pick Ticket Number Mod plugins. While those plugins handle ticket sales, draws, and winner selection, Spending Limits adds the critical layer of player protection that both modern regulations and responsible operators demand.

In this article, we’ll explain what responsible gaming really means, why spending limits are becoming a must-have for WooCommerce competition sites, and how our plugin works seamlessly with your existing competition setup. You’ll learn how users can control their own spending, discover the key features that help meet regulatory requirements, and see why implementing these tools now keeps both your players and your business safe as gaming rules continue to tighten worldwide.

Responsible gaming & player protection tools

Responsible gaming is about keeping gaming fun, safe, and under control. It means giving players the tools and information they need to make smart choices, understand the risks, and avoid harm. This includes simple features like setting deposit or time limits, taking breaks through self-exclusion, getting reminders about time spent playing, and seeing clear information about odds and potential losses. These tools help people stick to personal boundaries, such as a budget or session length, even when emotions run high.

Player protection tools, often called responsible gaming or safer gaming features, are designed to help players stay in control of their gaming and reduce the risk of harm. By letting users set limits on how much time and money they spend, these tools help prevent issues before they start. An important part of how these tools work is that limits are set by the player but enforced by the platform. Players can lower their limits whenever they want, but increasing or removing them comes with safeguards. This “one-way valve” approach helps stop impulsive decisions, especially in moments of frustration or when it feels tempting to chase losses. For WooCommerce competition or raffle sites, adding these tools is essential. Features like self-exclusion or deposit limits not only protect your players but also help your site meet gaming regulations.

How to implement player protection tools on your WooCommerce site?

Adding player protection tools to a WooCommerce site helps promote responsible gaming, prevent excessive play, and stay compliant with gaming regulations. This is especially important for sites selling competition or raffle entries. Features like self-exclusion and deposit limits give players the ability to stay in control and reduce the risk of harm.

If you run competition or raffle sites using plugins like WooCommerce Lottery or Pick Ticket Number Mod, you’ll need a dedicated extension to provide these important safeguards. That’s where Spending Limits for WooCommerce comes in, giving you the tools to protect your players and meet compliance requirements.

Spending Limits for WooCommerce plugin

Spending Limits for WooCommerce is a specialized plugin designed to add responsible gaming controls to WooCommerce stores, with particular focus on raffle, competition, and other chance-based commerce sites. The plugin enables users to set their own spending restrictions and voluntarily lock themselves out of making purchases, creating the self-regulation framework that modern gaming regulations increasingly require.

From the user’s perspective, the plugin adds a dedicated section to the WooCommerce My Account page where users can manage their spending controls.

Users can set maximum spending amounts for four time periods: daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. Once a user reaches their self-imposed limit for any active period, the plugin blocks checkout until that period resets.

Users can also initiate self-exclusion locks: voluntary account freezes that prevent any purchases for predetermined durations: 1 week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 1 year, or permanently. During a self-exclusion period, the user cannot make any purchases.

Users can extend their exclusion periods or reduce their spending limits at any time, but they cannot shorten lock periods, increase spending caps, or remove limits without administrator approval. This prevents impulsive decisions during moments of frustration or regret.

User Spending Limit and Lock Settings

Only admins can shorten lock length, increase spending limit or remove limits

PRO version features

Spending Limits for WooCommerce plugin is available in both a free version and a premium version with advanced features:

  • Custom limit periods: Configure limits by custom number of weeks or days beyond standard intervals
  • Global spending limits: Administrators can set spending limits and time period limits for all users site-wide
  • Customizable messaging: Administrators can configure custom notifications when limits are reached.
  • User override option: Allow users to set their own limits (higher or lower than defaults)

WP dashboard – Spending Limits Settings  (PRO version)

  • Reports pages where you can see list of users with active limits and locked out users. Along these reports there is audit log page. All pages have option to export data to CSV and date range filter.

User management dashboard: View lists of users on break and their current spending limits and Audit log with searchable history of all limit and lock changes (PRO version)

  • Premium support: Direct access to our ticket support system at https://wpgenie.org/support/
INSTALL AND UPGRADE TO PRO

You can check video tutorial to see how PRO version of plugin works:

Conclusion

Adding responsible gaming features to your WooCommerce competition or raffle site is easier than you might think. With Spending Limits for WooCommerce, you can set up powerful player protection tools in just a few minutes.

Give your users control over their spending, promote safer play, and make sure your site stays compliant with gaming regulations. Installing Spending Limits for WooCommerce helps protect your users, build trust, and future-proof your site.

What Users Are Saying

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent addition to WooCommerce

I’m currently using this free version, this plugin is excellent and a great addition to a Woo based shop that might sell addictive items (competitions, gambling, or even energy drinks etc!) and to have the option to lock or limit users spend makes it look like an ethical practice at the very least. Also, I have to thank Marko at WPGenie, I asked if I could modify this plugin via my child-theme, within 48hrs they modified the plugin so it could, making it very customisable. So now seriously considering the Pro version as I wasn’t expecting such great support on a free plugin (although to be fair it was a feature request to benefit all!).Don’t hesitate to try this, a couple clicks to install and it works well.

By EXo on WordPress.org

FAQ

Does this plugin help meet gaming compliance requirements?

Yes, Spending Limits for WooCommerce provides the core player protection features that gaming regulators and payment processors typically require: user-set spending limits and self-exclusion tools.

How do spending limits reduce chargebacks?

When users set their own spending limits, they’re less likely to overspend and later dispute charges. The audit log (available in PRO version) also provides evidence that users voluntarily set their limits, which can help defend against chargeback claims of unauthorized purchases.

What happens when a user reaches their spending limit?

When a user reaches their self-set limit, they cannot complete checkout. They’ll see a clear message explaining that they’ve reached their limit and when it will reset. Only administrators can override these limits, preventing impulsive decisions during emotional moments.

Can users increase their limits?

No, users can only reduce their limits. Administrators can increase limits when needed. The PRO version (v1.1.6+) includes an option allowing users to override admin-set limits if enabled by the administrator

Can users unlock their own accounts?

No, that is not possible, only Administrators can do that. Users need to contact administrator in order to get help with this.

What is in PRO version?

Option for global spending limit, custom limit period (weeks or days), reports pages where you can see list of users with their limits and locked out users. Along these reports there is audit log page. All pages have option to export data to CSV and date range filter. PRO version also comes with premium support.

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!

Introducing Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce: Reward Subscribers Automatically

We’re excited to announce Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce, a powerful add-on that brings flexible gifting capabilities to your WooCommerce subscription store.

Automatic Gift Products on Subscription Start or Renewal

Unlike coupon-based solutions limited to first purchases, Subscription Gifts for WooCommerce gives you complete control over when customers receive free products. Add gifts automatically at subscription start, during renewals, or both. Perfect for building long-term customer loyalty.

Built for Any Product Type

For our WooCommerce Lottery plugin users: This is a must-have add-on to implement competition and giveaway subscriptions with WooCommerce Lottery plugin and Pick Number Mod add-on. If you’re looking for a tool to create WooCommerce Competition website with subscriptions this plugin is that tool that implements competition subscription features. This add-on seamlessly integrates with your existing lottery / competition setup.

Beyond competition / raffle subscriptions, Subscription Gifts is ideal for subscription boxes, promotional campaigns, and subscriber retention strategies across any industry.

Simple Setup, No Workarounds

Forget complex configurations requiring multiple plugins. This dedicated WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on adds gift products directly to subscription orders through an intuitive interface (see screenshot below).

PRO Features

Upgrade for enhanced capabilities including quantity control for gifted products and the ability to configure gifts for both start AND renewal events simultaneously.

Get Started Today

Download the free version from the WordPress plugin repository or upgrade to PRO for advanced features and start rewarding your subscribers with automated free gifts.

Requires: WooCommerce and WooCommerce Subscriptions plugins

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!

How to Target WooCommerce Customers Based on Products They Ordered

Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are behind us, and if you’re running a WooCommerce store, you now have customer order data that can be incredibly valuable for your future sales strategies.

You might have sold dozens or even hundreds of different products, with some clear bestsellers while others didn’t sell at all. You may also have many newly registered users, though only some of them actually completed a purchase.

In any case, you’re sitting on valuable data you can use to target customers based on the products they have (or haven’t) ordered.

In this article, we’ll explain the importance of product-based customer segmentation, and also show you use cases for targeting customers based on the product they bought. We’ll also talk about use cases for targeting users without orders and transforming them into customers. The plugin we use for extracting this data is our free Simple Customer CSV Exporter for WooCommerce. We’ll also show you how to use the ‘users without orders’ filter to clean your database from inactive accounts.

Why Segment Customers by Product They Bought

Let’s start from the beginning: what is customer segmentation? It’s the process of dividing customers into groups based on shared characteristics, allowing businesses to tailor their marketing, features, and promotions to each group more effectively.

There are many ways to segment customers: by age, gender, location, interests, purchase history, brand loyalty, or even their response to marketing campaigns. Important thing to understand is that you don’t need to send every promotion to every person all the time. Instead, you can craft promotions and campaigns that genuinely resonate with your target audience.

Example: If you’re running a sporting goods store, customer segmentation by product means analyzing which customers bought running shoes, which bought table tennis equipment, and which purchased the most expensive bike in your store. Now that you have this data, you can create targeted offers and send promotions based on previous purchases only to those who are likely to be interested.

Use Cases for Targeting Customers Based on Products They Bought

When you filter by a specific product, you get a list of customers who already ordered it. This opens up several targeted campaign opportunities:

Cross-sell complementary products

Customers who bought one product often need related or complementary products in addition to what they’ve already purchased.

Sports store example: For customers who bought running shoes, you could send an email offering high-performance running socks or discount on smart running watches.

Software store example: If someone purchased one of your plugins, they might need specific add-ons, compatible themes, or tools that extend its functionality.

Upsell to premium versions

With a list of customers who bought some product, you can encourage them to buy a more expensive or upgraded version of the product they’ve already bought.

Sports store example:  For a customer who bought table tennis paddle, you could send offers for premium equipment. “If you’re playing regularly and want better control and spin, it might be time to upgrade to the Pro Competition Paddle.”

Software store example: If you’re selling plugins, you can send offers like: “Upgrade to Pro and get [specific features]. 20% off for existing customers.”

Product-specific announcements and updates

Only notify people who own the product about new arrivals, major updates or new features. This keeps your communication relevant and avoids annoying customers with updates about products they don’t use.

Sports store example: For a customer who bought winter hiking boots, notify them about new waterproofing spray. “New arrivals: Premium waterproofing spray specifically designed for your [Boot Model].”

Software store example: “Version 3.0 released – new features for [Product Name] users.”

Renewal reminders

For products with annual support or subscriptions, send timely reminders before expiration. Include what they’ll lose if they don’t renew and what new features have been added since purchase.

Sports store example: For a customer who has subscription service, send reminder: “Your protein supplement subscription renews in 7 days. Continue receiving 20% off monthly deliveries.”

Software store example: “Your support expires in 30 days. Renew now to keep receiving updates and priority support.”

Feedback and testimonial requests

Ask only actual users for reviews, testimonials, or product feedback. They can give informed opinions and specific use cases that help improve your product and marketing.

Sports store example: To a customer who bought tennis racket, send an email: “How’s your new racket performing? Share your review and get 10% off your next purchase.”

Software store example: “You’ve been using [Plugin name]. Would you share your experience in a quick 2-minute survey?”

In all these examples, the most important thing is that you’re only contacting people who actually own and use the product, making every campaign highly relevant to the recipient.

By the numbers:

  • 6x higher transaction rates with personalized emails
  • 760% increase in revenue from segmented campaigns
  • 89% of marketers report positive ROI from personalization

Sources: Campaign Monitor, Instapage (2024-2025)

Use Cases for Targeting Customers Without Orders

When you filter for users without orders, you get registered users who showed interest but never completed a purchase. This segment represents untapped potential and offers specific campaign opportunities:

First purchase incentive

These users created an account but haven’t bought anything yet. A targeted discount can be the push they need to make that first purchase.

Sports store example: “Welcome back! Complete your first order and get 15% off. Valid for 48 hours only.”

Software store example: “Ready to get started? Use code FIRST20 for 20% off your first plugin purchase. Expires this Friday.”

Re-engagement reminder

Users registered for a reason but may have forgotten about your store. Remind them what you offer and why they signed up in the first place.

Sports store example: “It’s been a while! Explore our new arrivals in running gear. As a registered member, here’s 10% off your first purchase.”

Software store example: “You registered to learn about WooCommerce solutions. Here’s what we offer: [brief product list]. Ready to improve your store?”

Identify barriers

Understanding why customers didn’t buy helps you improve your offering and remove obstacles that prevent conversions.

Sports store example: “We noticed you browsed our store but didn’t make a purchase. Can you tell us what stopped you? Complete this 2-minute survey and get a $10 discount code.”

Software store example: “Quick question: What’s holding you back from trying [Plugin Name]? Your feedback helps us serve you better.”

Educational nurture sequence

Many customers need to understand the value before they’re ready to buy. You can send helpful content that demonstrates how your products solve real problems.

Sports store example: Send an email series over three weeks. Week 1: “How to choose the right running shoes for your foot type.” Week 2: “5 common running injuries and how proper gear prevents them.” Week 3: “Here’s 15% off to get you started.”

Software store example: Send an email series over five days. Day 1: “See how [Plugin] works in 2 minutes (video).” Day 3: “Top 5 ways our customers use [Plugin].” Day 5: “Special offer just for you – 20% off your first purchase.”

The advantage is that these users who made an account but didn’t order anything already showed interest, and with the right approach, you can convert them into paying customers.

Simple Customer CSV Exporter for WooCommerce

There are many plugins that you can use for customer segmentation, with many different features. The reason we decided to create WPGenie’s Simple Customer CSV Exporter for WooCommerce is that we wanted simple and effective tool for exporting customer data based on products they ordered, so we can use it for our targeted email campaigns. Also, we wanted to identify customers with no orders, because we want our database clean and optimized.

Step-by-Step Guide to Simple Customer CSV Exporter

Let’s look at how to efficiently filter customers by specific ordered products or customers who have never placed an order.

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New. Search for “Simple Customer CSV Exporter for WooCommerce,” then click Install Now and Activate.

Simple Customer CSV Exporter for WooCommerce plugin is free for download.

Step 2: Access the Simple Customer CSV Exporter

After activation, go to WC Customers in your WordPress admin menu. You’ll see that our plugin has simple, user-friendly interface, so you’ll filter your customers with no problem.

You can list All Customers, choose to list Users without Orders, or filter Customers by Product.

Step 3: Export to CSV

After filtering customers by specific ordered products, or after identifying customers with no orders, just click Export to CSV.

Your data will be delivered in clean CSV format, ideal for product announcements and updates and other forms of targeted email campaigns.

Check video tutorial to see how easy it is:

How To Bulk Delete Users Without Orders in WooCommerce

If you want to clean your database, the easiest way is to create a list of customers with no orders, and then delete them with WPGenie’s Bulk Delete Users by E-mail plugin. It’s a free plugin available at WordPress.org, check this article to get all the information you need: How to Bulk Delete Users by Email Address

Conclusion

The entire point of targeting customers based on products they bought is to create messaging and offers that resonate with your audience, rather than guessing about their preferences and needs.

With WPGenie’s free Simple Customer CSV Exporter for WooCommerce, you can export customers order data in a few minutes, making it easier to send relevant promotions and recommendations.

Try it: pick your best-selling product from Black Friday, export those customers, and send one targeted email this week.

Check other free plugins on WordPress.org: WPGenie at WordPress.org

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!

How WooCommerce Lottery chooses winner when there are no ticket numbers?

A great way to go viral in a saturated market is implementing online prize draws. Promotional games and contests are considered a great marketing tool since they are often an easy and fun way to gain potential customers’ attention. Whether that’s a competition, a giveaway, or some other kind of prize draw, they add the thrill of possibility, create a sense of urgency, and when promotions are time-sensitive, customers are more likely to take immediate action.

So no wonder that one of our best selling plugins is WPGenie’s WooCommerce Lottery, a simple but effective plugin that extends any WooCommerce store with competition or giveaway features. 

Over the years many of our clients have successfully implemented prize draws in their webstores, but we’ve noticed a common technical question that often comes up: How WooCommerce Lottery plugin chooses winner when there are no ticket numbers?

In this article we’ll explain the mechanism behind WooCommerce Lottery plugin, when customers simply buy entries and prize draw is NOT using ticket number. We’ll also show options for prize draws where ticket numbers are required.

What is WooCommerce Lottery plugin

We’re proud to say that we are the authors of the first WooCommerce Lottery plugin: v1.0 was released on 2nd March 2016.

WPGenie’s WooCommerce Lottery plugin is a powerful prize draw solution that is easy to use and customize. With our plugin you can set up WordPress competition or giveaway  website and start your prize draw in less than 30 minutes (assuming you have payment processor ready if you run competitions, for giveaways you don’t even need payment processor).

Quick Lottery setup: you get new type of WooCommerce product type
Single lottery page with tab “Lottery History”

You can watch our video tutorial to see how easy is to set up WooCommerce Lottery:

How WooCommerce Lottery chooses winner

So: if there are no ticket numbers to draw, how does the plugin know who wins?

This is the technical explanation from our documentation describing the winner-picking mechanism:

After successful order and payment we log user’s ID to a lottery log list – if user purchased 10 entries for a lottery then lottery log will have 10 rows with the user ID and timestamp. So more tickets user purchase more entries are there in lottery log.

Once lottery ends, we create a list of user IDs from that lottery log, the more entries a user purchased, the more chances they will have due to list being filled with more user IDs. Then random function chooses one or more user IDs which are in fact winning IDs. We then send won notification to those users.

Let’s make this simpler: just think of the famous Names in a hat game where people write their names on slips of paper and put them in a hat, and a winner is drawn at random. This is exactly how WooCommerce Lottery plugin chooses winner.

Step 1: Collecting Entries

When someone buys competition tickets on your site and completes payment, the plugin writes their name (well, their user ID) into a lottery log.

Here’s the key part: if a customer buys 10 entries, the plugin creates 10 separate rows in that list, all with the same user ID, but each representing one entry.

So if Customer A buys 5 entries, Customer B buys 2 entries, and Customer C buys 1 entry, the lottery log looks something like this:

Entry 1: User A
Entry 2: User A 
Entry 3: User A
Entry 4: User A
Entry 5: User A
Entry 6: User B
Entry 7: User B
Entry 8: User C

Step 2: Drawing Time

When the lottery ends (based on your set end time), the plugin looks at all those entries in the database and creates a list.

That list looks like:

[Customer A] [Customer A] [Customer A] [Customer A] [Customer A] [Customer B] [Customer B] [Customer C]

Step 3: Random Selection

The plugin then uses a random function to pick one or more positions from that list. Back to our Names in a hat allegory, it’s like closing your eyes and pointing at one slip of paper.

If it picks position 3, that’s Customer A. If it picks position 7, that’s Customer B. If it picks position 8, that’s Customer C

Step 4: Winner Notification

Once the winning user ID(s) are selected, the plugin sends out the win notification emails to those users.

My Account page with Order details
Single Lottery page: user “admin” has purchased 10 lottery tickets

When You Need Ticket Numbers

Of course, a prize draw without ticket numbers isn’t always the right solution.  If you need ticket numbers for your raffles, or you need an option for skill-based competitions with question/answers, we offer Pick Ticket Number addon for WooCommerce Lottery.

With Pick Ticket Number participants can choose specific ticket numbers or have them randomly assigned. The plugin still uses random function to pick winners once lottery is finished, but it’s selecting winning numbers instead of user IDs.

The addon includes an option to manually enter winning number(s) on edit lottery page, and you can set up instant win tickets tied to specific numbers.

Lottery with Pick Ticket Number setup
Single lottery page with Pick Ticket Number addon : options for manually choosing ticket number(s) and question/answer

You can watch our video tutorial to see how easy is to set up WooCommerce Lottery with Pick Ticket Number addon:

When To Use Entry-Based Lotteries (No Numbers)

 Entry-based lotteries work best for:

  • Promotional giveaways aimed at driving quick sales, where a simple entry process helps speed up participation.
  • Email list building campaigns, where collecting entries (such as email signups) is the main goal rather than number selection.
  • Flash contests with tight timeframes that require fast, straightforward entry.
  • Thank-you drawings for existing customers, offering a quick and easy way to show appreciation.
  • Any scenario where speed and simplicity of checkout or entry matter more than allowing users to pick numbers.

When To Consider the Pick Number Addon

Consider adding ticket numbers when:

  • You want maximum transparency: users can see (and choose) their exact numbers
  • You’re running competitions where local regulations require a skill element
  • You’re doing live draws and announcing winning numbers publicly
  • You want instant win functionality tied to specific ticket numbers
Lottery + Pick Ticket Number: My Account page with Order details
Single Lottery page with Pick Ticket Number: option to randomly assign ticket numbers and instant win

Conclusion

Online prize draws without ticket numbers are possible and common. WPGenie’s WooCommerce Lottery plugin simply uses participants’ ID instead of ticket numbers. The selection of winners is done by randomizing over the list of entries without the need for issuing numbered ticket. This approach is typical in  sweepstakes, quick promotional draws or  giveaways, and some fundraising raffles that do not require or use numbered tickets.

If you want participants to choose ticket numbers, run competitions with questions and answers, set up instant wins, or manually select winners, you need the Pick Ticket Number addon.

Lottery plugin with and without Pick Ticket Number uses the same random selection mechanism, and the difference is what kind of promotional games and contests (and with what options) you want to set up in your store. 

Want to see it in action? Until December 15, we’re offering an extended Black Friday discount on our plugins and extensions. Visit codecanyon.net for WooCommerce Lottery plugin and WPGenie store for Pick Ticker Number addon.

What Users are saying

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐for Customer Support

Amazing set of plugins and the extra customisation we have paid for is incredible, highly recommend buying direct from these guys rather than using the theird party companies that are reselling their license without rewarding the original developers

Thank you for the great work and support over the past few weeks

by neil74white on CodeCanyon.net

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐for Feature Availability

By far the best prize draw plugin i have tired. I would highly recommend this plugin along with “WooCommerce Lottery / Competitions Pick Ticket Number Modification” available direct from their site.
I did try other plugins before finding this one and ended up removing the others in favour of this one.
The whole thing works just as you would want it to and the support is very good.
Try it if you want quality, support and decent system. Its worth every penny.

by matthewbird156 on CodeCanyon.net

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐for Feature Availability

This is an excellent plugin and works very well. I asked a couple of questions to the developer via their support network and received great and prompt replies. Highly recommended if you’re looking for a lottery plugin.

by TweedSolutions on CodeCanyon.net

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐for Flexibility

The Plugin works seamlessly with woocommerce and my support experience was awesome.

by OlufemiShield on CodeCanyon.net

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!

WooCommerce Simple Bulk Discounts now at a lower price

We’ve reduced the price of one of our bestselling plugins:  WooCommerce Simple Bulk Discounts. This extension helps you sell more by rewarding customers who buy in larger quantities.

Boost Sales with Smart Pricing

Set up automatic discounts that encourage shoppers to add more items to their cart, like “Buy 3, Get 1 Free” or “$10 off orders of 5 or more items.”

Bulk discounts help you move inventory faster, boost revenue through larger orders, and build customer loyalty by rewarding frequent or high-volume buyers.

Create unlimited discount rules using percentage or fixed amounts, apply them to individual items or total orders, and target specific customer groups like wholesale buyers or VIP members. You can even combine quantity and role-based rules for maximum flexibility.

Simple Setup, Powerful Features

The plugin integrates seamlessly into your WooCommerce product pages with a dedicated “Simple Bulk Discounts” tab. You can set your discount rules, add custom messages to explain offers to shoppers, and enable or disable discounts with a single checkbox.

Setup takes minutes and requires no coding.

Get WooCommerce Simple Bulk Discounts at a lower price!

Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2025 discounts

Hi everyone!

Our BlackFriday / CyberMonday discounts are now active till 15th December.

Addons on WPGenie.org and all PRO upgrades 20% off with code: black2025

Plugins sold via CodeCanyon: WooCommerce Lottery is now $19 (instead od $29) while WooCommerce Group Buy and Deals is $35 (instead of $55). CodeCanyon sale is active till 15th December too.

Running Your Own Black Friday Sale?

If you’re setting up holiday promotions on your WooCommerce store, check out these free plugins:

Both plugins are lightweight, work with your existing setup, and won’t conflict with other discount plugins.

WooCommerce VS Shopify: Control or Convenience?

Shopify nightmare scenario: Getting locked out while sales are still live

If you are in the process of choosing an e-commerce platform, you are probably aware that there’s ongoing debate between two most popular platforms, Shopify and WooCommerce. 

So, which is the best solution for your online store? There are many articles comparing and analyzing these two platforms based on pricing, sales features, marketing integrations, store design, setup, store security, help and support…

But there’s one particular difference that motivated us to join the discussion: who controls your business when things go wrong?

Consider what happened to one Shopify seller:

Established seller on Shopify thinking of switching to WooCommerce because Shopify withheld over 50k payout over 60 days due to “technical error” on Shopify end. In order to fix, Shopify required us to relink our payout account, which triggered a fraud warning and caused Shopify to lock admin account and have been waiting days to fix.

I understand the fraud warning is protection, but they offer no support for “security authentication” besides waiting after uploading documents. It’s really annoying that platform can just lock out admin account because of their own glitch.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only time we’ve heard about Shopify’s fraud detection being overly aggressive and their support in this kind of situation basically non-existent. And we can all agree that getting locked out while sales are still live is super stressful!

This is a perfect example of the control trade-off between these two platforms. In this article, we’ll examine what this means for your business.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns your WordPress website into an online store. WordPress handles your website, while WooCommerce adds shopping cart functionality, product pages, checkout, order management and all the e-commerce basics you need to sell your products online.

WooCommerce was created in 2011 and is now owned by Automattic (the same company behind WordPress.com). Since it’s open-source, you can modify it however you want, and there’s a massive ecosystem of extensions and plugins built around it. According to 2025 data from multiple tracking services, WooCommerce holds approximately 20% market share among e-commerce websites, powering around 4.5 million active stores globally. Its popularity comes from its integration with WordPress, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform that gives you everything you need to run an online store. Founded in 2006, it’s basically an all-in-one solution where Shopify handles web hosting, security, updates, payment processing, and infrastructure.

As a store owner, you simply choose a template, customize it to fit your brand, add products, and start selling. For this, you pay a monthly subscription (starting at $29 / €27 per month for basic plans), and Shopify takes care of all the technical backend stuff. As a leading SaaS solution, data shows that in 2025, Shopify holds approximately 26-30% market share globally, supporting nearly 4.6 million stores worldwide.

Control or Convenience: The Core Trade-off

Here’s the key thing to understand: Shopify offers convenience, while WooCommerce offers control.

With WooCommerce, you own everything, but you also become responsible for everything. You need to find your own hosting, handle your own security, choose your payment processor, and manage updates. Think of it like getting a free toolkit: the tools don’t cost you anything, but you need a workshop to use them in, and you need to know how to use them (or hire someone who does).

For some businesses, that’s perfect because they get complete control without platform fees. For others, it’s more responsibility than they want to deal with. It really depends on whether you value ownership and flexibility over having someone else handle the technical stuff.

With Shopify, it’s the other way around: you get convenience, but you give up control. Shopify decides what features you can use, what you can customize, and how your store operates. If they don’t offer the functionality you need, you’re either stuck or you have to find a third-party app that might work.

You’re also playing by their rules: if their fraud detection flags your account, if they decide to freeze your payouts, or if their system glitches, you can’t fix it yourself. You have to wait for their support team to sort it out. For many businesses, especially those just starting out or those who don’t want to manage technical details, that’s a perfectly acceptable trade-off. But for others who need specific customization or who’ve experienced platform limitations firsthand, it can be a dealbreaker.

The WooCommerce Advantage: Complete Control

When it comes to e-commerce platforms, here is the honest truth: there are trade-offs no matter which route you take. It’s all about aligning your business goals and needs with the platform’s strengths. 

Shopify is great until important functionality like payment processing / admin access becomes an issue. Then support can feel frustratingly unresponsive while your business sits frozen. When you don’t fully control your platform, you’re at their mercy.

That’s where WooCommerce shines. If payment processing stops,  you can enable your backup payment processor. You won’t get locked out of your own admin panel, and if you need help, you can hire any WooCommerce developer.

Just as their slogan says: WooCommerce lets you build the exact store you need, with total control over everything from your data to your profits.

Many businesses we’ve worked with after switching to WooCommerce say the biggest win is control. No platform locking you out; your payments, hosting, and backups remain in your hands. With the right setup, we usually see smoother operations and better long-term scalability since every detail can be fine-tuned.

Should You Switch to WooCommerce?

The answer is not simple, because there’s no universal “best” platform. There’s only the right fit for your business, so the decision comes down to your technical resources, growth plans, and how much control you need over your store.

 Here’s how to decide which platform fits your business:

Criteria and Scenarios for Choosing WooCommerce vs Shopify

Business Type / Need Recommended Platform Rationale
Small Store Wanting Quick Launch Shopify Easy setup, no technical skills needed, predictable monthly fees.
Small Budget-Conscious Store with Technical Skills WooCommerce Free core plugin means lower costs long-term, but requires setup investment.
Established Business Needing Customization WooCommerce Greater control over customization, scalability, and integrations as the business expands.
Business with Complex Product Configurations WooCommerce Flexibility to build bespoke product options and integrations, ideal for niche markets.
Businesses Requiring High Control over Data & Security WooCommerce Full ownership of data, hosting environment, and security measures.
Businesses Lacking Technical Resources Shopify Managed hosting, built-in security, and support reduce technical burdens.
Businesses Prioritizing Fast Launch & Ease of Use Shopify Intuitive interface, quick setup, and built-in payment and marketing features.
Business with Unique or Extensive Integrations WooCommerce Open-source architecture allows deeper customization and third-party integrations.
Large, Established Retailers or Enterprise-Level Businesses WooCommerce Greater scalability, control, and integration capabilities for high-volume operations.

And here are key differences between these two e-commerce platforms:

Quick comparison of key differences:

Feature / Aspect WooCommerce Shopify
Control & Ownership Complete control over data, hosting, and customizations. Limited control; powered by Shopify’s platform.
Ease of Setup & Use Requires technical skills for setup and maintenance. User-friendly, quick setup, no technical skills required.
Cost Free core plugin; hosting $30-100/month, maintenance $100-200/month. Subscription-based; predictable monthly fees, includes hosting.
Customization & Flexibility Highly customizable via plugins and code. Limited to built-in features and app ecosystem.
Security & Maintenance User responsible for security, backups, and updates. Shopify manages security, backups, and updates.
Scalability Excellent for scalable, high-volume stores with technical support. Suitable for small to medium stores; large stores may need Shopify Plus ($2,000+/month) or face transaction fee burden.
Support & Ecosystem Community forums and documentation; hire any developer for direct support. Professional 24/7 support; extensive app marketplace.
Freedom from Platform Lock-in High; you can migrate easily with proper setup. Lower; migrating away can be complex and costly.

Before You Switch to WooCommerce

If you choose WooCommerce as your store platform, here are two key things to be careful about:

  1. Invest in quality hosting.  Don’t go for a cheap option, since your hosting is the foundation of your store. Make sure you can start with small plan and upgrade to proper solution as you grow.
  2. Work with competent developers. If you don’t have technical experience, hire someone competent to set it up for you. With WooCommerce you can really extend your platform to be exactly the functionality you need, but you need a good setup. This is especially important if you’re dealing with migration of all your customer data, order history, and SEO, because that can be tricky!

We’ve managed many WooCommerce websites and spend a lot of time fixing issues that come up over time, not because of WooCommerce itself, but because of how things were built at the start. Many store owners begin by experimenting and installing a lot of plugins and ignore scalability until it becomes a problem. When that happens, troubleshooting can take valuable time that could’ve been avoided with the right setup from day one.

Conclusion

WooCommerce requires more technical knowledge than Shopify, but it offers something valuable in return: complete control over your business.

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!

How to Bulk Delete Users by Email Address

If you’re running a WordPress site with user registration enabled, chances are you’ve faced problems similar to this:

“How can I delete over 10,000 bot accounts who have signed up to my site? “

Or something like this:

“I have over 2,000 email addresses with hard bounces in Mailchimp. How can I upload csv list or copy paste 2k email addresses to be removed from WordPress?“

While the clever answer might be “you need to stop the signups by bots”, that won’t solve your problem.

Maintaining your database  is important, and if you’re stuck with thousands of unwanted accounts (regardless of whether they are spam accounts or inactive users), you need an efficient way to remove them. So what is the best way to manage this problem? In this tutorial, we’ll look into bulk deletion of WordPress user accounts by e-mail, and show you how to automate this task.

What Is Bulk Deletion?

Bulk deletion means removing multiple items at once instead of deleting them one by one.

In WordPress, you can bulk delete users, posts, pages or even installed plugins. It’s a fast and simple way to remove a list of posts that aren’t relevant, plugins you no longer use or user accounts you don’t want in your database. This article focuses on bulk deletion of users by email address.

Instead of searching for each user account individually in your WordPress dashboard, there’s an option to  provide a list of email addresses and delete all matching accounts in one operation.

Video explainer for Bulk Delete Users by Email plugin

When to Bulk Delete Users by Email?

There are several situations where you need to delete multiple users based on their e-mail addresses, and here are the most common:

1. Getting rid of spam accounts

If spam bots have created fake accounts on your WordPress site, you might have thousands of unwanted users.  Once you’ve identified the spam email addresses, you need an efficient way to remove them, preferably all at once.

2. Cleaning up invalid, fake, or closed email accounts

In your database there are lots of  email addresses that permanently fail delivery. These could be typos, fake addresses, or closed accounts. There’s no point keeping these user accounts in your WordPress database if you can’t contact them.

3. Processing GDPR deletion requests

Under GDPR, you’re legally required to delete user data without undue delay when requested. If you receive multiple deletion requests at once, or need to remove users where you no longer have a legal basis to store their data, it’s practical to remove them with bulk deletion.

4. Database consolidation after migration When merging two WordPress sites or cleaning up duplicate accounts during migration, you often have a specific list of email addresses that need removal from one database.

Bulk Deletion of Users via WP Dashboard

Within the list of Users on a WordPress site, there is an option to select all the accounts you want to remove and delete them in a single operation.

While bulk deleting users via the WordPress dashboard is always an option, it may take more time to manage depending on the scale of the project. The problem is you need to manually find each account first. If you have a list of email addresses, you’d need to search for each one individually, select it one by one, then delete.  If you’re working with hundreds or thousands of unwanted user accounts, there will be a lot of time-consuming manual searching and repetitive clicking.

Using a plugin that automates this process may be the preferred route. This is why we recommend our free Bulk Delete Users by Email plugin.

Overview of the Bulk Delete Users by Email plugin

Bulk Delete Users by Email enables bulk deletion by allowing you to input a list of email addresses in plain text format.  It automatically matches email addresses to user accounts and deletes them along with all associated data and metadata.

This plugin provides a simple, effective way for WordPress administrators to remove multiple user accounts using email addresses. Designed for high-volume operations, it employs batch processing to prevent server timeouts and ensure reliable execution.

Step-by-Step Guide to Bulk Delete Users by Email

Let’s look at how to efficiently remove multiple users using their email addresses.

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New. Search for “Bulk Delete Users by Email,” then click Install Now and Activate.

Bulk Delete Users by Email plugin is free for download so there’s no additional cost for your database cleanup.

Step 2: Prepare Your Email List

Before using the plugin, gather the email addresses you want to delete. This could come from:

  • A CSV export based on desired criteria
  • A spreadsheet of spam email addresses you’ve identified
  • Manual collection of accounts to remove

Format your list with one email address per line:

user1@example.com
user2@example.com
spambot123@fakeemail.com

Step 3: Access the Bulk Delete Page

After activation, go to Users → Bulk Delete by Email in your WordPress admin menu.

Step 4: Paste Your Email List

In the “Bulk Delete by Email” screen, you’ll see a text area where you can paste your email addresses.

Copy your list of email addresses and paste them into this field. The plugin accepts any number of addresses.

Step 5: Prepare for Deletion

Click the “Prepare for Deletion” button. The plugin will:

  • Check which email addresses match existing WordPress accounts
  • Display a preview of users that will be deleted
  • Show any email addresses that don’t match accounts (typos or already-deleted users)

Step 6: Confirm Deletion

Review the list of users that will be deleted. Make sure everything looks correct.

When you’re ready, confirm the deletion. The plugin will process the deletion in batches to prevent server timeouts.

Important:

User deletion is permanent and irreversible. The plugin deletes all user data and metadata, and there will be no option for attributing content to another user. Always back up your database before performing bulk deletions, especially for large operations!

Best Practices for Bulk User Deletion

1. Always back up your database first

Before any bulk deletion operation, create a complete database backup. If something goes wrong, you can restore your site to its previous state.

2. Test with a small batch first

If you’re deleting thousands of users, start with a small test batch (10-20 users) to make sure the process works as expected.

3. Clean up in stages

Instead of deleting 10,000 users at once, consider breaking it into smaller batches:

  • Day 1: Delete obvious spam patterns
  • Day 2: Delete bounced email addresses
  • Day 3: Delete inactive users with no content

This gives you time to verify each stage before moving to the next.

4. Document what you’re deleting

Keep a record of which email addresses you deleted and why. This helps if you need to:

  • Restore specific accounts later
  • Explain why certain users were removed
  • Identify patterns in spam registrations

5. Review user roles before deleting

Make sure you’re not accidentally deleting users with important roles (administrators, editors, shop managers). Filter your email list to exclude these roles before bulk deletion.

Conclusion

Bulk deleting WordPress users by email address doesn’t need to be a manual, time-consuming process. With the right plugin, you can efficiently remove spam accounts, clean up bounced email addresses, or delete inactive users in minutes instead of hours.

Whether you’re cleaning up after a spam attack, processing GDPR deletion requests, or removing inactive users, having an efficient bulk deletion method saves significant time and reduces errors.

Install Bulk Delete Users by Email, back up your database, and clean up your user accounts efficiently!

What Users are Saying

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Greatest thing since sliced bread

Too bad this is so hard to find in the ocean of WordPress plugins. At least once per year you should send an email to every registered user and nuke all of the accounts with emails that bounce. Just paste the list in and go!

by seasoned_geek on WordPress.org

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Simple, but impressive

I had a list of inactive email addresses, so this plugin helped me to delete all these addresses out of my WordPress database.

by leenvr76 on WordPress.org

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Awesome plugin, and a tremendous time saver

This plugin does exactly what you expect it to do. I used it, and it saved me at least 5 hours of work. For this reason, I want to thank the developers for this fantastic plugin. This is a plugin that you’ll use once in a while. But if you have an enormous mailing list, you may find yourself using it every day. It’s these small, utility plugins, that are the best.

by charrot1 on WordPress.org

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!

How to Run a WooCommerce Storewide Sale in 5 Minutes

Let’s talk about a well-known scenario that many webstore owners are about to face: Black Friday is just around the corner, and you want to put your entire WooCommerce store on sale.

So, you Google “How to reduce prices for all products in my store?” and “WooCommerce discount plugin” and find an overwhelming number of options, loaded with 100+ features, complicated rules, and documentation so detailed it might take you a year to get through.

And all you wanted was to discount everything by 25%.

There has to be a simpler way. And there is.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to simply and easily set up a storewide sale in your WooCommerce shop, schedule start and end dates, and display sale notices to your customers, all in under 5 minutes.

What is a Storewide Sale?

A storewide sale applies the same discount to every product in your WooCommerce store at once. Instead of setting sale prices for each item manually, you define one global discount that adjusts the prices across your entire catalog.

For example, a 25% storewide discount drops a $100 product to $75. A $50 item becomes $37.50. The discount is applied proportionally across your entire store.

When to Use Storewide Sales

Storewide sales are ideal for short-term, high-impact promotions. Common use cases include:

  • Black Friday and Cyber Monday
    The most popular example. You can offer 25% off everything for a few days to compete with other stores and boost sales.
  • End-of-Season Clearances
    You want to clear out last season’s inventory, so you take 50% off your summer collection to make room for fall.
  • Store Anniversaries
    To celebrate your store’s birthday, you are having a sitewide weekend sale with everything 20% off
  • Flash Sales
    You can create urgency with a 24-hour, all-product sale, which is perfect for a quick revenue boost.
  • Holiday Promotions
    Your customers love discounted prices, and yes, they expect Christmas, New Year’s, or Valentine’s Day sales

When Not to Use Storewide Sales

Storewide discounts aren’t the right tool for every type of promotion. For example, if you need:

  • Product-Specific Offers
    You want to promote certain items with buy-one-get-one deals or product bundles rather than discounting your entire inventory.
  • Role-Based Pricing
    You need different pricing for different customer groups, like offering wholesale prices to business customers while keeping retail prices for regular shoppers.
  • Quantity-Based Discounts
    You want to reward bulk purchases, such as offering 10% off when customers buy 5 or more items.
  • Cart- or Behavior-Based Conditions
    You’re targeting specific shopping behaviors, like giving a discount only on orders over $100 or rewarding repeat customers.
  • Group Buy Discounts
    You want to offer deals that apply when multiple customers commit to purchasing, like offering 20% off a product once 50 people sign up to buy it.

For these, you’ll need a more complex discount plugin with advanced features. There are plenty of discount plugins out there, and you need to choose one that aligns with your needs.

And if you want to keep it simple and just offer a storewide discount, there’s a easy solution.

Options for Applying Storewide Sales in Your WooCommerce Shop

When it comes to running a storewide sale in WooCommerce, you have two options. You can either manually update each product’s sale price, or use a plugin to automate the process. Let’s look at both approaches.

The manual approach

WooCommerce has an option to set sale prices on individual products, but you need to do this product by product, and with hundreds of products, this can take hours, because you’d need to:

  1. Open each product
  2. Enter the sale price
  3. Set start and end dates
  4. Repeat for every product

It’s not practical, especially during a busy promotion period like Black Friday. Or, let’s be honest: it’s not practical, period.

Using discount plugins

The other way is to use one of WooCommerce discount plugins that can handle storewide sales. But the thing is, most of them are designed for much more complex scenarios.

They usually include features like bulk discounts, quantity discounts, product specific discounts, dynamic pricing, buy one and get one free (BOGO) deals, auto-apply coupons, free shipping discounts, bundle offers and more.

These tools are powerful and flexible. But if all you want is a simple discount across your entire store, that level of complexity can get in the way. You’ll spend extra time configuring rules, navigating multiple settings pages, and maintaining a plugin designed for much more than your current need

It’s no wonder that many store owners avoid running storewide sales, not because they don’t want to, but because it’s either too complicated or takes too much time.

Manually updating hundreds of products? That’s hours of work. Installing a complex discount plugin with 50 settings? That’s overwhelming, especially when you just want a simple 25% off everything.

This is exactly why we recommend Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce. It removes the complexity and gives you what you actually need: a way to launch a storewide sale in minutes, not hours. Whether it’s Black Friday or a flash sale, you can set it up quickly and get back to running your business.


Overview of Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce

If you’re only looking to run storewide sale with same percentage discount for all products, you don’t need a feature-heavy discount plugin. What you need is a specialized plugin built for this exact purpose.

This is where Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce comes in.

This simple but effective plugin lets you apply a global percentage discount across your entire product catalog in just a few clicks. It focuses on one task: making it easy to run storewide sales for events like Black Friday, flash sales, and clearances.

Instead of managing individual product prices or complex discount rules, this plugin allows you to set a single percentage discount that applies across your entire catalog.

Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce also offers the option to schedule start and end dates with exact times and to enable a sale notification that attracts and informs your customers.

And what’s most important, the setup is easy, user-friendly, and requires minimal configuration.

How it works

The plugin uses WooCommerce’s price filters to modify product prices on-the-fly. This means:

  • No database updates for individual products
  • Instant activation and deactivation
  • Works with any number of products
  • No performance impact on large catalogs

So, whether you’re running a Black Friday promotion or a quick flash sale, your store updates prices instantly without slowing down your site. This works regardless of catalog size (whether you have 50 products or 50,000).

When you enable a storewide sale, the plugin hooks into WooCommerce’s pricing system and applies the discount percentage at display time. When the sale ends, prices return to normal automatically.

What makes it different

Sale notice

Simple Storewide Sale has an option for sale notice. This allows you to enter a site-wide message shown to everyone visiting your store. You can add and display messages to your customers like: “BLACK FRIDAY: 30% OFF EVERYTHING! Ends Monday!” on your store pages.

Performance approach

The plugin doesn’t update sale prices in your database. It uses filters to modify prices when they’re displayed. This makes activation instant and keeps your database clean.

Focused scope

The plugin does one thing: storewide sales. This makes setup faster and the interface simpler.

Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up Your First Storewide Sale

Setting up your storewide sale takes less than 5 minutes.

For example, this is how to set up a Black Friday sale, 30% off everything, from November 29 to December 2.

Installation

Go to your WordPress dashboard → Plugins → Add New. Search for “Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce,” then click Install Now and Activate.

Configure WooCommerce Settings

Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Simple Storewide Sale tab

Check Enable storewide sale

In the Discount amount field, enter 30 (for 30% off)

Set Sale start date and time: November 29, 2025, 00:00

Set Sale end date and time: December 2, 2025, 23:59

To add and display a sale notice:

Click Enable storewide sale notice and enter a message in the text area: BLACK FRIDAY SALE! 30% OFF EVERYTHING! Ends Monday at Midnight!

Click Save Changes.

The sale is now active and will automatically start and end at the specified time.

When the sale starts, visit your store to verify:

  • Product prices show the discount
  • Original prices display with strikethrough
  • Sale notice appears at the top

Free vs PRO version

Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce plugin is available in both a free version, available in the WordPress plugin repository, and a premium version with advanced features.

PRO version features

For store owners who need advanced features and customization, but still want to keep it simple, the PRO version offers:

Fixed amount discounts

Instead of percentage discounts, you can apply a fixed amount off all products (for example, “$10 off everything”). Fixed amount discounts work best when your products have a wide price range and you want every customer to receive the same monetary value. While percentage discounts are great for most general sales, fixed amounts work well for targeted promotions like loyalty rewards or abandoned cart recovery, hitting specific final price points in clearances, and protecting margins on lower-priced items.

Include/exclude filters

  • Products

Exclude specific products from the storewide sale. Useful when you have low-margin items that shouldn’t be discounted further.

  • Categories

Exclude entire product categories. Example: exclude “New Arrivals” from your Black Friday sale while discounting everything else.

  • SKUs

Target or exclude products by SKU codes for precise control.

  • Tags

Exclude products with specific tags, like “wholesale” or “pre-order.”

Exclude products already on sale

If you already have individual products on sale at 20% off, this option prevents the storewide discount from applying on top of that. Without this option, a product at $100 with a 20% individual sale ($80) would get an additional 30% storewide discount ($56 total). This option keeps the product at $80.

There is also an option “Use regular price for discount price for products that are already on sale.”

Pre-sale notifications

Display a notification before your sale starts: “BLACK FRIDAY SALE STARTS FRIDAY! 30% OFF EVERYTHING!”

This runs for 2-3 days before the sale, automatically switching to your sale notification when the sale begins. It builds anticipation and brings customers back to your store at the right time.

Premium support

PRO users get access to direct ticket support at wpgenie.org/support.

Conclusion

Applying a storewide sale in WooCommerce doesn’t require complex discount plugins with dozens of features you won’t use. For stores running Black Friday sales, flash promotions, and seasonal clearances, a focused plugin handles this specific task more efficiently.

Simple Storewide Sale for WooCommerce provides the core functionality needed for storewide sales: percentage discount, scheduling, and sale notice to inform customers. Setup takes a few minutes and the plugin works with any size catalog without performance issues.

Ready to set up your sale?

Download Simple Storewide Sale and have your storewide promotion running in under 5 minutes!

Want to put just some of your products on sale? Check out our OnSale Page for WooCommerce free plugin. In just a few clicks, you can create a dedicated sales page for your WooCommerce store.

Looking for other ways to improve your WooCommerce store? Check the complete list of our plugins that can help you bring your clients the best online shopping experience!