Where does someone type the code?

On your membership’s join page, under ‘Have a discount code?’ just above the join buttons. The saving is on the card screen before they pay, so nothing comes as a surprise.

How long does the saving last?

You choose: the first payment only, every payment in the first few months, or every payment for as long as they stay a member. Counted in months, so on a yearly price a code for up to 12 months comes off the first year’s payment only.

Do I need to approve a code before it works?

No. A code works the moment it is made and stops the moment you end it. If your join page is older and has no code box yet, the refreshed page waits for your approval like any page change.

Does a code work with join and buy, or on free months that come with a course?

No. Joining at the member price while buying a course is already the discount, and codes never add up. On a course that includes free months of your membership, a code comes off the course, not the membership.

Prices and offers3 min read

Give people a discount code when they join my membership

A welcome offer for new members should be one sentence. Tell Bernard the code, what it is worth, which membership it is for and how long the saving lasts, and it works on that membership’s join page.

The prompt

“Make a discount code [the code, e.g. JOIN20] for [a percentage or an amount off] my membership [membership name], taking it off [the first payment / every payment for the first 3 months / every payment], ending on [date].”

Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).

How it works

Say what the code does. “JOIN20 takes 20% off the first month of the Studio Club.” A percentage or a fixed amount off, for one membership or for everything you sell.
Say how long it lasts. Off the first payment only (the usual welcome offer), off every payment for the first few months (“£5 off each month for 3 months”), or off every payment for as long as they stay (“half price for founding members”). The months are counted from the day they join, so on a yearly price anything up to 12 months comes off the first year’s payment only.
Add limits if you want them. The first 50 people, once per person, one person’s own code, or first-time buyers only. Joining counts as a use, just like buying a course.
Share it. In an email, on social, or in a message to one person.
They type it on the join page. It works on every price of the membership: monthly and yearly. A code that has ended, been used up, or belongs to something else is refused with a plain reason next to the box, so nobody reaches the card screen expecting a saving they won’t get.

The saving is taken by your own Stripe account, on the member’s subscription, for exactly the payments you chose. After that they pay the normal price, and they can cancel as usual.

Where a code does not work

Codes never add up: one code per join. A code is not taken on join and buy, where someone joins and buys a course at the member price in one go, because the member price is already the saving (Give my members a better price on my courses). On a course that includes free months of your membership, a code comes off the course and the free months stay free (Give a few months of my membership with a course). The full set of rules is in What rules does bernard apply so my prices stay fair?.

If the box isn’t on your join page

Join pages made before membership codes arrived need refreshing once. Ask Bernard to refresh your course and membership pages, then approve and publish them as usual; the box appears above the join buttons.

Seeing and ending codes

Ask “show me my discount codes” for every code, what it takes off, how long it lasts on a membership, and how many times it has been used (joins included). To stop a code, ask for it to be ended; people who already joined with it keep the saving they were given.

Codes for courses work the same way (Let people use a discount code on a course), and every pricing option is in Every way I can price my courses, memberships and workshops.

Questions people ask

Where does someone type the code?: On your membership’s join page, under ‘Have a discount code?’ just above the join buttons. The saving is on the card screen before they pay, so nothing comes as a surprise.
How long does the saving last?: You choose: the first payment only, every payment in the first few months, or every payment for as long as they stay a member. Counted in months, so on a yearly price a code for up to 12 months comes off the first year’s payment only.
Do I need to approve a code before it works?: No. A code works the moment it is made and stops the moment you end it. If your join page is older and has no code box yet, the refreshed page waits for your approval like any page change.
Does a code work with join and buy, or on free months that come with a course?: No. Joining at the member price while buying a course is already the discount, and codes never add up. On a course that includes free months of your membership, a code comes off the course, not the membership.