Controlling Promotions by Product with Product Eligibility Introduction

Product Eligibility gives you precise control over which products a promotion applies to, and which products stop it from running at all. It lets you state that a basket must include certain products before a promotion will qualify, and that a basket must not include certain products if it is to qualify.

Previously, product conditions lived inside the qualification rule alongside everything else. That made product control blunt: a product condition was treated as met if it matched any product in the basket, which left little room to be specific. Product Eligibility separates product conditions out into their own settings so you can be explicit about what must, or must not, be in an order for a promotion to apply.

This is part of the Validation Settings step of setting up a promotion, and it can be used with any reward type.

Where Product Eligibility sits in promotion setup

You set up a promotion as usual: the main details, Distribution Settings, Reward Settings and Code Settings. The change appears when you reach Validation Settings, which now has three tabs:

1. Qualification Rule for order-level conditions: customer, shipping, booking, payment, and order or booking subtotals. For example, a customer segment must be a particular value, or an order subtotal must be above a set amount. This is unchanged, other than that product conditions have moved out of it.
2. Product Eligibility for product-level conditions: the products that must be included in a purchase, and the products that must not be included.
3. Error Messages for the messages a customer sees when they do not qualify, now split so each rule type can have its own message.

Understanding inclusion and exclusion

Product Eligibility is built from two separate rule types, each in its own container on the Product Eligibility tab.

Product Inclusion specifies products that must be in the basket for the promotion to qualify. If the products named in an inclusion rule are not present, the promotion will not qualify.

Product Exclusion specifies products that must not count towards the promotion. 

You can build each rule from a range of product attributes, including product ID, product name, product category, product group, and product subtotals. Product ID, product name and product category are the most commonly used.

You can also combine inclusion and exclusion on the same promotion. For example, you might require that the basket includes an item from a particular category while also requiring that a different category is absent.

Building a product inclusion rule

1. On the Product Eligibility tab, select Product Inclusion Rule.
2. An overlay opens where you build the rule. Use the dropdown to choose an attribute, such as product category or product ID.
3. Set the requirement for that attribute, for example a specific category or a specific product.
4. To add further conditions, combine them using And.
5. Select Save to store the inclusion rule.

Building a product exclusion rule

The process is the same as inclusion, but the rule sits in its own container.

1. On the Product Eligibility tab, select Product Exclusion Rule.
2. In the overlay, choose an attribute from the dropdown and set the products to exclude.
3. Combine conditions with And if needed.
4. Select Save to store the exclusion rule.

Choosing what happens when an excluded product is in the basket

When you save a Product Exclusion rule, you can decide how the promotion should respond if an excluded product is present in the purchase.

Allow reward (the default). The customer still receives the reward if every other promotion requirement is met. Excluded products simply do not count towards the promotion, so for example they will not contribute to a minimum spend requirement.

Block reward. If any excluded product is present, the purchase is disqualified entirely and the customer receives no reward, even if all other requirements are met.

Choose Allow reward when you simply want certain products left out of the promotion's calculations, and Block reward when the presence of those products should stop the promotion running at all.

Worked examples

Order discount with an excluded category. You want to give 20% off an order, but not when gift cards are in the basket. Leave the inclusion rule empty and build an exclusion rule on product category set to gift cards. Set the exclusion behaviour to Block reward so the promotion does not qualify at all when a gift card is present.

Reward tied to a required product. You want a promotion to apply only when the basket contains an item from the footwear category. Build an inclusion rule on product category set to footwear. If no footwear is present, the promotion will not qualify.

Inclusion and exclusion together. You want a discount when the basket includes footwear, but not when it also includes any clearance items. Build an inclusion rule on category set to footwear, and an exclusion rule on category set to clearance. Both conditions must be satisfied for the promotion to qualify.

Setting error messages

Because product conditions are now separate from the qualification rule, the Error Messages tab lets you write a distinct message for the qualification rule, for product inclusion, and for product exclusion.

This matters because the reason a customer fails to qualify is different in each case, and the wording that helps them put it right is different too. A customer who is missing a required product needs different guidance from one who needs to remove an excluded product. Customising each message means customers understand why they are not receiving the reward and what to change.

Continuing setup

Once your eligibility rules and error messages are set, continue as standard. Select next to move on to redemption settings and carry on to make your promotion live.

Summary

Product Eligibility moves product conditions out of the qualification rule into their own settings, giving you explicit control over which products must be present for a promotion to qualify and which products will stop it qualifying. Inclusion requires named products to be in the basket; exclusion blocks the promotion if named products are present. It works with any reward type, and each rule type can carry its own error message.