Common Promotions

This page contains some of the promotions commonly used in the hosting industry and how to achieve them in WHMCS.

Free Domain Name

You are able to offer free domains with your packages when purchased with certain payment terms. For example, you might want to offer a free domain when a package is purchased annually:

1. Go to Configuration () > System Settings > Products/Services or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Products/Services.
2. Click the edit icon next to the desired product or service.
3. Go to the Free Domain tab.
4. Check Free Domain to offer a free domain with this package.
5. Select the payment terms (or billing cycles) that you want to offer the free domain with. Press Ctrl when clicking the options to select more than one.
6. Select the TLDs the free domain offer applies to. This allows you to exclude high-priced TLDs. Press Ctrl when clicking the options to select more than one.
7. Click Save Changes.

Your package will now not charge the user for the domain when ordered with the billing cycle specified. The checkout page will reflect this.

For more information, see Free Domains.

Notes

• The Free Domain promo relies on the Next Due Date and the Payment Gateway of the product and domain name being the same. Therefore it is important this is maintained. If the next due dates were changed, the domain would be renewed automatically at no cost to the client. For this reason we recommend disabling the Configuration () > System Settings > Automation Settings > Domain Sync Settings > Sync Next Due Date or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Automation Settings > Domain Sync Settings > Sync Next Due Date option.
• Free domains are registered for 1 year at a time. If a biennial or triennial product is ordered, the domain will renew automatically after the first and/or second year as appropriate.
• If a client cancels the hosting package then the domain name will automatically revert to your regular pricing.
• Domain renewal reminder emails aren't sent for domains with a 0.00 price to avoid confusion.
• Please ensure that the number of days box for the Domain Settings setting located under the Advanced Settings link at Configuration () > System Settings > Automation Settings > Invoice Generation > Advanced Settings or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Automation Settings > Invoice Generation > Advanced Settings is left blank.
• Please ensure the Separate Invoices option on the client's Profile tab is unticked.

Free Trial

Free Trial functionality is built into WHMCS which will automatically terminate an account x days after ordering and send an email to the client:

1. Edit a product at Configuration () > System Settings > Products/Services or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Products/Services > Products/Services.
2. Click Pricing.
3. Enter the length of your free trial in the Auto Terminate/Fixed Term field (in days)
4. Select the email to be sent to clients when their free trial period ends and the account is terminated using the Termination Email dropdown
   A new Product-type email template can be created via Setup > Email Templates which will appear in the list

This logic can then be used in conjunction with a promo code to offer customers their first month free whilst still taking their payment details for your security checks:

1. Go to Configuration () > System Settings > Promotions or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Payments > Promotions.
2. Click "Add New"
3. Enter the promotion code "freetrial"
4. Change the value to 100.00
5. Select Monthly from the drop down menu
6. Set the remaining settings as you would any regular promotion (maximum uses, expiry date, applicable packages)
7. Click the Create Promotion button

Now you can either have your customers enter the promotion code "freetrial" or use one of the following links to apply the free trial automatically:

http://example.com/whmcs/cart.php?promocode=freetrial  

If you do not wish to collect a client's payment details for a free trial, set the Payment Type value to "Free" under the product's Pricing tab instead.