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Create And Send Promotion CodeHow to Create and Send Promotion Codes

How to Create and Send Promotion Codes

Overview

Promotion codes give your buyers a discount they apply themselves at checkout, which makes them a simple way to reward followers or run a sale without lowering your listed prices.

  • Who it’s for — sellers, artists and galleries.
  • Plan required — activating a code requires the Growth plan or higher; on the Free plan codes stay Inactive until your account qualifies.
  • Where you manage it — the Promotion Codes page, where each code carries its discount, validity window, and optional redemption limits.
  • What buyers see — your description on the code’s detail page, and a generated label at checkout (for example “20% off your order”).
  • What you can track — every order that uses a code, recorded in that code’s Transactions history.
  • How sharing works — manually: you copy the code and send it through your own email, messages, or newsletter.

Only some fields can be changed after a code is created — check the code text and discount values before clicking Save.

Before you start

  • A seller account. Promotions sits in the Growth section of your dashboard sidebar.
  • A Growth plan or higher to activate a code. On the Free plan the dialog warns you and the code is saved as Inactive even if you choose Active (see How to Subscribe to a Pro, Growth, or Premier Plan to upgrade).
  • A code only applies to items from your own store. Multi-seller carts cannot use it, and a redemption slot is consumed when a checkout applies the code even if the buyer abandons payment.
  • Prepare the code details in advance — the code text itself (required, up to 20 characters), the buyer-facing description, the discount type (percentage or fixed amount) with its value and currency, an optional maximum discount, the required start and end times, and any optional redemption cap or minimum subtotal.
  • Only the description, start and end times, and the on/off status can be edited after creation. The code text and discount values are fixed, so check them before clicking Save.
  • Viewing a code’s detail page opens a new browser window. Allow pop-ups from the site or View details will appear to do nothing.

Steps

1. Sign in to Cohart

Sign in with your email address and password, or use Google or Apple.

Sign in with your account

2. Open Promotions

In the sidebar on the left, click Promotions (under the Growth section, below Marketing Email).

The Promotion Codes page opens with an Add Code button, a search field, and a table of your existing codes (columns: Code, Description, Amount discount, Percentage discount, Start Time, End Time, Status, Date created).

Open the Promotions page

3. Click Add Code

Click Add Code to open the Add a Promo Code dialog.

Open the Add a Promo Code dialog

4. Fill in the promo code details

  • Code* — the code buyers enter at checkout. Up to 20 characters (a 0/20 counter shows how many you have left).
  • Description (visible to your buyers at checkout) — shown to buyers when they use the code.
  • Active / Inactive — the code’s status. If the dialog warns “To activate, you need to subscribe to the Growth Plan or higher”, the code will be saved as Inactive unless you are on a Growth Plan or higher.
  • Discount Type — choose Discount by percentage of order total (default) or Discount a fixed amount from order total.
  • Percentage off* — required when using the percentage type. A fixed-amount code asks for the discount amount instead.
  • Maximum Discount Amount (optional) — caps how much the discount can be.
  • Currency — the currency of the discount (defaults to USD).
  • Start time* and End time* — when the code is valid. Both are required and pre-filled (one month window).
  • Limit the number of times this code can be redeemed — optional redemption cap.
  • Require a minimum subtotal for this code to be redeemed — optional minimum order value.

Fill in the promo code form

5. Click Save

Click Save. The dialog closes, the message Promo Code created! appears, and your code shows up in the table.

On a free plan the code appears with status Inactive even if you chose Active.

Code appears in the list after saving

6. Send the code to buyers

Click the copy icon next to the code in the Code column. The code is copied — paste it into an email, a direct message, or your newsletter and share it with your buyers. Buyers enter the code at checkout to get the discount.

Copy the code to share with buyers

7. Open the row menu

Each code row has a menu button. Click it to see two actions: View details and Edit.

Open the row menu

8. View code details and redemptions

Click View details. The detail page opens in a new window, showing:

  • The code, its status (VALID: Yes or VALID: No), DESCRIPTION, PERCENTAGE DISCOUNT, START and END dates, REDEMPTIONS, and MINIMUM AMOUNT.
  • Below, the Transactions table (columns: Invoice Code / Order ID, Amount, Collected by, Items, Date) lists every order that used the code.

Promo code detail page opens in a new window

9. Edit a code

Click Edit Code (on the detail page) or Edit (from the row menu). The Edit Promo Code dialog explains: “You can only edit the code’s description and start/end time, or turn off the code below.” Change what you need and click Save.

Edit dialog with limited fields

10. Search your codes

Use the Search by code or description field to filter the table. If nothing matches, the table shows No results.

Search with no matches shows empty state

Tips

  • Code and Percentage off are required. Code is capped at 20 characters, and the dialog shows a “Percentage off is required” message if you try to save a percentage discount without it.
  • Buyers may not see your exact wording. The description is shown on the code’s detail page; at checkout buyers see a generated label such as “20% off your order”.
  • A code applies only to your own items (single-seller checkouts or your invoices), and the redemption cap counts a slot as soon as a checkout applies the code — even if the payment is never completed.
  • Redemption limits and minimum subtotals are optional but can protect your margins.
  • On a free plan the code stays Inactive — upgrading to the Growth Plan or higher is required to activate codes.

Troubleshooting

  • List shows Inactive and the detail page shows VALID: No → the code is switched off, or your plan cannot activate codes → switch the code on, or check your plan under Manage Plan and upgrade to the Growth Plan or higher to activate codes.
  • Save seems unresponsive → a cookie banner or popup may be covering the bottom of the dialog → close or accept the banner and try again.
  • View details does nothing → it opens a separate browser window, which pop-up blockers stop → allow pop-ups from the site and try again.