Overview

Brainerce gives you two complementary promotion tools: Coupons (code-based, customer-entered) and Discount Rules (automatic, no code needed). Use them independently or stack them for layered campaigns. This page explains the difference and maps out the rest of the section.

Gift cards live in this section too, and they are neither of those. A gift card is a means of payment with a real balance, not a discount: the order total does not move, tax is charged on the full amount, and what is left stays on the card. Note that a customer cannot buy one on your website. You issue every card by hand from the dashboard.

Coupons vs Discount Rules

The two do not stack by default. A discount rule only applies alongside a coupon when that rule's Combines with coupons toggle is on, and it is off on every new rule, so a shopper who enters a coupon code gets the coupon alone unless you opted the rule in. Turn it on per rule when you want both. Each discount that does apply shows as its own line in the order summary (see Stacking & priority).

Which one to use

What's in this section

Coupons: code-based discounts

• Coupons create and manage codes: usage limits, validity windows, product targeting, and stacking.
• Coupon recipes are ready-made coupon campaigns to copy.

Discount rules: automatic discounts

• Discount rules cover what automatic rules are, plus a step-by-step walkthrough of building one (filters, conditions, discount config, display).
• Rule types list the 7 types (Product, Order, Buy X Get Y, Buy X Get X, Volume, Shipping, Bundle) and the exact config each accepts.
• Conditions are the 15 ways to control when a rule fires: cart value, customer segment, shipping location, time of day.
• Stacking & priority explain how coupons and rules combine, the store-wide Stacking Mode, and why a rule didn't fire.
• Recipes are ready-made discount-rule patterns to copy.

Gift cards: stored value, not a discount

• Gift cards cover what a gift voucher is, what it does to your books, and what it still cannot do.
• Issue a gift card mints a card by hand, including the code that is shown only once.
• Manage gift cards covers adjusting a balance, disabling, re-issuing a lost code, and the CSV export.
• Gift card liability and refunds cover the month-end number and where refunded money goes.

Email campaigns: under Customers in the menu

• Email campaigns sit under Customers in your dashboard, not in this Marketing menu, because the audience comes from your customer list. A campaign is a one-off marketing email and nothing else: it has no field to attach a promo code or a voucher (type the code into the message instead), no send scheduling (it goes out the moment you confirm), and no open tracking anywhere.

Getting found: free traffic

• Get found on Google covers what runs automatically (sitemap, structured data, instant indexing) and the three things only you can do.
• Your store in ChatGPT and AI search explains how AI assistants see your store and what makes them recommend it.

Where to start

• Want a code customers type? → Coupons.
• Want a discount that applies on its own? → Discount rules.
• Just want a proven setup to copy? → Coupon recipes or discount-rule recipes.
• Want to give someone real money to spend with you? → Gift cards. Remember you issue each one by hand; customers cannot buy them.
• Want to email your customers about a promotion? → Email campaigns. Make the coupon first, then type its code into the email: a campaign cannot carry one as a setting.