How do I create a promotion?

Build an offer step by step — type, code, trigger, limits and validity — including the free-ticket cap and the under-30p free-order rule.

You build offers on the Promotions page (sidebar → Grow). Click New promotion and the builder opens full-screen, asking one question per screen — a You're building panel alongside narrates exactly what the offer will do as you answer, and only a name and a type are truly required; everything else has safe defaults. Leaving part-way is always safe: the exit button says Exit — saved as draft, and re-opening the builder picks up where you left off (with a Start afresh link if you'd rather not).

• Type. Percentage off or Amount off (money off event tickets or Order & Pay table orders), Free tickets, Buy one, get one free, Perk, or Showcase. Choose carefully: the type can't be changed once a promotion exists — you'd delete it and create a new one (the edit flow says exactly that).
• The offer. The type's own value — the percentage, the amount off, the free-ticket cap, the buy/get quantities or the perk text.
• Name and description. The name is what customers see when the offer applies.
• Where it works. Tick Ticket checkout, Table bookings, Order & Pay table orders and/or At the venue. Some types lock this automatically — free tickets and buy-one-get-one show "Event ticket checkout only — set automatically for this type", and money-off types remind you that "Money-off offers never discount table-booking deposits — use a perk for bookings. On Order & Pay table orders the discount applies to the dishes only, never the tip."
• How customers get it. No code, A shared code (4–24 characters — letters, numbers and hyphens, e.g. SUMMER-20) or One-per-person codes (the code generator opens by itself when you save, pre-filled from your total-use limit).
• When it applies (optional — skippable). No trigger, around the customer's birthday (within a number of days — 7 by default), the customer's first visit, certain days of the week, off-peak times, or What's in the basket (Order & Pay table orders only). A basket-condition promotion switches itself on the moment a customer's table order qualifies — set a minimum number of qualifying items, a minimum spend on them, or both — and the customer's basket shows the discount live as qualifying items are added. It's how you build "buy two cocktails, get 20% off cocktails": scope the discount to cocktails (under More options) and both conditions then count only the cocktails in the order. Basket-condition promotions must be a money discount (percentage or amount off), use No code, and have Order & Pay table orders as their only place.
• More options (optional — the skip link says "Skip the optional extras — use the defaults"). Everything optional lives here, grouped: Start date and End date, Total uses (blank = unlimited), Uses per customer (blank = unlimited), Minimum tickets in the order (ticket-checkout offers only), Minimum spend (£) (ticket-checkout and Order & Pay table-order offers — on table orders you choose what it measures: the whole order's dish subtotal, or qualifying items only; either way it's checked before any tip), the What it discounts on table orders scope for money-off Order & Pay offers — Whole order (the default), Only these or Everything except these, picking categories and/or individual dishes (ticking a category covers every dish in it automatically, marked "Included via" or "Left out via" that category) plus a required short Customer-facing label (e.g. "food" or "cocktails") that customers see in the discount label ("20% off food") — for ticket offers Which events? (none selected = all events), and the saving & membership toggles below. Set menu & deal prices are never discounted either way, and if the scope leaves any alcohol-marked dish discountable a neutral licensing note appears (it never blocks saving).
• Check & create. The final screen restates the whole promotion in plain English — the same sentences the narration panel has been building — with the Set live immediately toggle. Click Create promotion. (A live promotion can't be saved with an end date that's already passed — pick a future date or save it paused.)

The free-ticket cap (required)

A Free tickets promotion cannot be created without a Maximum free tickets value — the builder asks "How many free tickets can it ever give away?" and explains that "A cap is required — even a leaked code can never empty an event." It must be a whole number between 1 and 10,000.

Orders under 30p become free

For the money-off types the builder shows this note, and it's worth knowing: "If a code brings an order under 30p, the customer pays nothing." Card payments can't collect tiny amounts, so a discount that leaves 1p–29p to pay rounds the whole order down to free — the customer skips the card step entirely. Size your discounts with that in mind.

The licensing notice for drinks offers

If your title, description or perk text looks like a free or discounted alcohol deal (including happy-hour or multi-buy shapes), an amber notice appears: "Check your local licensing rules — in Scotland, multi-buy and short-term alcohol price offers are prohibited for licensed venues." It never blocks saving — you can dismiss it — but as the licence holder you're responsible for making sure any alcohol-shaped offer is lawful in your area, so do check before going live.

Two extra toggles (under More options)

• Customers can save this to their account — a saved offer appears in the staff scan result for one-tap redemption at the venue, and when you attach the offer to a marketing campaign, loyalty members get an Add to my account button in the email. It also unlocks a Send to members action on the promotion's card, which banks the offer straight into members' accounts yourself — quietly, with no email needed. Switching it on reveals a nested toggle, Customers can claim it again after using it — off by default (claiming is normally once per member per offer, ever); on, a member whose saved offer has been used can claim a fresh one, though a cancelled saved offer never comes back. Leave Uses per customer blank with it on and the builder shows an amber warning, because with no per-customer limit a customer could claim and use the offer on every visit. See How do saved offers work?.
• Loyalty members only — restricts the offer to confirmed loyalty scheme members.

Related: What can Promotions do? · How do promo codes and automatic offers work? · How do promo codes work on event tickets?