So, you’ve decided to run an APPSUMO deal and now you need to implement their guidelines on how users should redeem their codes.
Ideally, you’d like to do this with as little work as possible.
If you’re using Easy Digital Downloads and the Software Licensing add-on for your store, you’re in luck. There’s now an easy way to implement the APPSUMO redemption workflow!
If you’re not familiar with the APPSUMO redemption process, check out this video:
Some of the key points made are:
- A clean landing page with only registration and a field for the code
- Redirect directly to the product with a clear indicator for how the user can redeem and download their purchase
- No request for credit cards or other payment details
Additionally, you need to generate at least 10,000 RANDOM discount codes and deliver them in a spreadsheet to APPSUMO. These are the codes that will be used by the end user to redeem their purchase from your site.
Implementing The APPSUMO Redemption Flow
Assuming that you have EDD and EDD SOFTWARE LICENSING installed, you can download and install the EDDSUMO plugin from github.
Once installed and activated, you can enable the APPSUMO workflow for a download by editing a download. There, under the DOWNLOAD PRICES metabox, click the ADVANCED SETTINGS field:
Next, select YES from the APPSUMO settings area:
Enter the number of discount codes that need to be generated (usually 10,000) and then save the download.
It will likely take a while to save the download since 10,000 codes are being generated. But, once saved, you’ll see a new link in the APPSUMO area:
Click the link to get a download of the codes that you can send on to your AppSumo contact(s).
Redeeming Codes
In the above image you’ll notice that there is a link to an APPSUMO LANDING PAGE. You will need to provide this link to the APPSUMO folks – they will send customers there to redeem their purchases for your product.
If you go to that link (using a separate browser where you’re not logged in as admin) you’ll see a simple redemption page:
When a purchase is completed on the APPSUMO website, the user will be directed to this link to redeem their code on your site. Usually APPSUMO will embed the discount code as part of the URL – in which case the APPSUMO code field will be automatically filled in.
Once logged in, your user will be taken to the standard EDD page that they see upon completion of a purchase. And you will see the order for zero dollars in your Payment History screen.
Customizing the Landing Page
The landing page for your site is simply a regular WordPress page with a special short-code embedded in it. While you cannot change the page ID, you can add or remove elements from the page as long as the short-code remains on the page. In the image below I’ve change the page title and added two paragraphs of text using the standard WordPress page editor (Gutenberg).
And I’ve used two columns with an image in this one:
Limitations
There is one limitation with the EDDSUMO plugin – it does not handle code stacking. But, if you’re selling a WordPress plugin, there’s a good chance that you don’t need code stacking anyway.
Wrap Up
With the EDDSUMO plugin on github you can now easily implement an APPSUMO promotion for your products. And, you can even implement different promotions for different products!
Was This Article Useful? Or do you have questions or comments about it (or our products & services)? We'd love to hear from you!
Automatic Notification Of New Articles
Sign up to get automatic notifications of new articles. This is a different list than our standard list - you only get new articles once a week (usually on Mondays). No other emails will be sent unless you sign up for our general list as well.
Follow us on Twitter! We post a lot of cool things there first. To keep up, click the "X" below!