How to set-up a free gift discount code offer? (Non Shopify Plus)
This doc is a guide on how to use Monk to trigger a gift with purchase offer when a buyer enters specific discount codes. You can distribute these codes via SMS/email as well as in influencer/ad campaigns. The free gift can either be automatically added (Free Gift - Auto Add) or you can ask your buyers to choose from a specific set of products/variants (Free Gift - Selection) when they enter the discount code.
For stores not on Shopify Plus the app will embed a discount code widget in the cart step right above the 'checkout' button where a buyer is supposed to enter their gift discount code. The offer won't work if the code is added in the discount code widget at the checkout step due to a Shopify limitation (apps like Monk can only add or remove products at the checkout step if the store is on Shopify Plus, for stores on other plans this can only be done at the cart step).
Content
Click here to see a video tutorial on how to set up a free gift discount code offer.
Here is an example of a code 'HAPPY10' being used to automatically add the 'Gift card' product at the cart:
Here are a couple of 20 sec video walkthroughs of what the ideal customer journey would look like
How to set it up?
Click on Create New Offer > Gifts, shipping and cart goals > General free gifts
After clicking on Next, you can either choose any of the options (Auto Add/Manual Select/Cheapest item) as the display method.
On Step 1 of the offer setup, choose the 'specific discount code' eligibility rule and add all the codes that should trigger this offer. You can enter multiple discount codes in the eligibility rule with comma (,) separator. This will save you the trouble of creating multiple offers with different discount codes.
This can also be combined with other eligibility rules like 'cart value range', 'specific collections' etc.
Then you can move on to choose the specific product that you wish to offer as the gift. Alter all the settings as per the theme you're using and the customer experience you desire and click 'Activate Offer'
Once the offer is activated, the app shall automatically display a discount code widget on the cart step. To customize the design and text of this widget please refer to FAQ 7 of this doc.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) How do these discount codes work with other Shopify discount codes?
The discounts created within Monk are configured to automatically combine with any other available Shopify discounts by default. To ensure that discounts created in Shopify are applied in conjunction with the Monk discount code, you have to set it to combine with other product discounts in your Shopify discount settings . Please refer to this document for more information regarding the same.
2) What happens if I apply the free gift discount code at checkout?
The system will display an error message indicating that the discount code is not valid. This issue arises because apps like Monk cannot add or remove products at the checkout step for non-Shopify Plus stores.
3) How do you set up 2 separate free gifts offers with discount codes?
The above steps remain the same to set up 2 Free Gifts offers with discount codes. However, in Step 1 of both the offers' setup, there is a section called ‘Combinations’, as attached below. This must be enabled for the offers and discount codes to work seamlessly. After enabling the combinations setting, please make sure you save the changes.
4) Is there a way to auto apply the discount code?
If you wish for the discount code to be auto-applied instead of having your buyers manually add it in - you can create a specific URL and add it your SMS/email campaigns. Only customers coming from this specific URL will then be eligible for the gift with purchase offer. Click here on how you can set this up.
5) Why is the discount code widget not visible on the cart step?
The discount code widget should appear above the checkout button on the cart step but if it is not visible, it might be a minor theme compatibility issue. This issue commonly occurs when the theme's display settings override those of the app. To fix this, please reach out to our team via live chat or email and we'll get it fixed right away.
6) How to measure the number of times a discount code has been used?
You can check the number of times the discount code has been viewed and availed on your dashboard under ‘Analytics’, you can go to Offer Type and select the Free Gift offer (as shown below). This section will show the number of gifts that were availed by your buyers using the discount code. So if each customer gets only 1 gift, the number of 'Gifts availed' will be equal to the number of times the code was used. For detailed analytics to see specific orders or customers that used the free gift code, please reach out to us via email or chat support and we'll share them with you through an Excel sheet.
7) How to edit the discount code widget ?
This can be done by going to Monk app > Design and Styling > Global Styling Customization > Discount code widget. From this section, you can update the font/text styles/color as per your requirements.
8 ) I don't want the customer to buy the gift product separately, how to avoid this?
You can hide the gift product by marking it as 'Unlisted' on the Shopify product section. Please refer to this document for more information.
If you have any other questions or queries please reach out to us via chat support or write to us at support@monkcommerce.com
Updated on: 11/11/2025