Early bird discount for your workshop: a price or a code

Your watercolour workshop on Saturday 23 January has ten places. In November nobody thinks about January, and in the final week everyone wants in at once. An early bird discount solves that: whoever decides now pays less, and you know in December whether the workshop goes ahead. The problem is rarely the discount itself, it is the end of it. Someone who still gets the discount on 1 December because you forgot to switch it off is right to count on it.

This article shows two ways to set up an early bird discount that ends by itself: an early bird price that applies to everyone, and a discount code that only works for people who know it.

Early bird price or discount code: what is the difference?

Rule of thumb: if you want every visitor to see the discount, use a price. If you want to reward someone or measure a campaign, use a code.

An early bird price that ends by itself

A ticket type can have more than one price, each with a Valid from and a Valid up to and including. Your workshop costs 65 euros, and anyone who books up to and including 30 November pays 55.

1. Create your workshop as an event, with Seats in total set to 10 and a price of 65. How that works is explained in the article about a workshop with twelve participants.
2. Open the ticket type and scroll to the Prices block.
3. Click Add a price, choose the Online channel, enter 55 and set the Label to "early bird". Only you see that label.
4. Leave Valid from empty and set Valid up to and including to 30 November, 23:59.
5. Click Create.

When two prices are valid at the same time, your ticket shop uses the one with the most recent Valid from. So give the normal price of 65 a Valid from of 1 December, 00:00, and the two follow each other neatly. At midnight on 1 December the workshop costs 65 euros without you doing anything. Whoever booked on 28 November keeps their 55 euros: the amount on an order is a copy and does not change with the price.

Watch the time. Valid up to and including is a moment, not a date. If you set only 30 November without 23:59, your early bird price stops halfway through that day, which is exactly the day most people rush to book. Every field is described in the manual under Products and prices.

A discount code for your newsletter

If you only want to give the discount to people who read your newsletter, create a discount code.

1. Go to Sales → Discount codes and click New discount code.
2. Enter EARLY27 as the Code and choose Fixed amount as the Type: 10.
3. Set Valid up to and including to 30 November, 23:59.
4. Set Maximum number of times to 6.
5. Under Only for these products, choose your watercolour workshop, so the code does not also come off your other workshops.
6. Click Create and test the code once yourself in your ticket shop.

A fixed amount comes off per order, not per ticket: someone booking for two gets 10 euros off in total. If you want the discount per place, choose Percentage.

Your visitor types the code at checkout, in the field for a discount code or gift voucher. The counter only goes up once someone has actually paid; anyone who types the code and then leaves does not use up your maximum. A leaked code can be switched off with Active, without deleting it. The full explanation, including Per visitor and a minimum amount, is in Discount codes and vouchers.

How much can an early bird discount cost you?

Work it out in advance, because a discount is money you do not receive. With ten places at 65 euros, a full workshop brings in 650 euros.

• Everyone early, with an early bird price: ten times 55 is 550 euros. You give away at most 100 euros.
• Six participants each booking separately with the code, four at the normal price: six times 55 plus four times 65 is 590 euros. The code costs you at most 60 euros, and you know that up front, because the maximum is six.

What you get in return: in December you know whether the workshop goes ahead, you buy paper and paint for the right number of people, and you do not have to advertise empty places in the last week. What it costs to sell your workshop online is covered in what it costs to sell your workshops online.

Five things that make an early bird discount work

1. Put the end date in your text. "55 euros until 30 November" sells better than "early bird discount", because readers know how long they can hesitate.
2. End the discount well before the workshop. Six to eight weeks ahead gives you time to adjust.
3. Choose one approach per workshop. An early bird price and a code together make the numbers hard to follow.
4. Put a year in your code, such as EARLY27. Next year you create a new one and this year's figures stay readable.
5. Watch the Used column. If it says 6 / 6 in the first week, your discount may have been too generous, or your workshop is simply popular.

It works at the counter too

If you also sell at the counter of your studio, the same discount code works there with the same rules. An early bird price applies per channel: if you want it at the counter as well, add a second price for the Desk channel. Which plan includes the counter till is shown on the pricing page.