Promotions and Points: Offers That Do Not Cost You Money
The most expensive promotion in a repair shop is not the one with the biggest discount. It is the one handed to people who would have bought anyway.
You put up “15% off all repairs”. Saturday is packed — but Saturday was always packed. Only one thing changed: every transaction that used to arrive whole now arrives 15% lighter. You work all day, and the till feels thinner by evening.
The problem is not the discount. The problem is that the offer was aimed at nobody.
In Automan you do not pick a promotion off a shelf — you assemble it from two sides. The condition side decides who qualifies and when: nineteen types, from specific hours through product categories to “customers with a birthday this month”. The reward side decides what they receive: seven types, and four of them do not cut your price at all.
Which means you can build something as narrow as “oil discount for returning customers, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons only” — filling hours that were sitting empty without touching your prices on the busy days.
Then there are points, whose job is different. A promotion makes somebody come in today. Points give them a reason to leave and come back. You need both, and this tutorial builds both — while showing you the one calculation you must do before you press activate.
Before you start
- Products and services already registered — a promotion attaches to goods, not to intentions.
- Cost prices filled in. Without them you cannot tell whether your offer still makes money.
Steps
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Decide first what this promotion is meant to fix
Every promotion that works has one target: filling quiet hours, clearing dead stock, raising basket value, or attracting first-time buyers. A promotion with no target simply cuts the price for people who were going to buy anyway.
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Learn the shape of the form: Data Promosi, then Kondisi, then Benefit
Three sections in order. Data Promosi holds the promo code, name, transaction type and validity dates. Kondisi (conditions) decides who qualifies and when. Benefit decides what they get. You are not picking from a list of ready-made offers — you build your own, and that is why an Automan promotion can be as precise as you want it.
The shape never changes: data, then conditions, then benefits. -
Pick time conditions when you want to control when people arrive
There are conditions for particular days, particular hours, and date ranges. Combining day and hour is the most powerful tool for moving traffic: a Tuesday-afternoon discount fills hours that were sitting empty, without cutting prices on a Saturday that was already full.
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Pick spend conditions when you want to raise transaction value
There is a minimum spend and a minimum quantity. This is what turns "buy one" into "buy two". The trick is setting the threshold slightly above your current average — below it, you are only discounting purchases that were already certain.
Spend conditions exist to lift transaction value. -
Pick item conditions when there is stock that needs moving
A promotion can be locked to a specific product, a whole category, a sub-category, or a particular service. There is also a bundle option. This is how you clear dead stock without announcing to the world that the item was not selling.
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Pick people conditions when you want to target a group
You can aim at a customer type, at specific named customers, at those with a birthday this month, at first-time transactors, at first-time buyers, at those with a particular purchase history, or at those whose points have reached a minimum. This is the side people use least, and it is the most profitable.
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Pick payment conditions when there is a cost you want to reduce
There are conditions for payment method and payment channel. The purpose is simple: nudge people towards the way of paying that costs you least in fees, while it feels like a reward to them.
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Only then choose the reward — and a discount is not the only option
There are seven: discount, free product, free service, bonus points, multiplied points, extended warranty, and free delivery. Four of them do not cut your price at all. Extended warranty especially — small cost, large perceived value, and it brings people back to your shop.
The reward does not have to be a price cut. -
Work out the effect on profit before switching it on
Open the cost price of the goods involved, subtract the discount, look at what remains. If the surviving margin is thinner than the cost of serving that transaction, the promotion raises turnover while lowering profit — the most common trap in the trade.
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Now set up points: define how they are earned
An earning rule carries a type and value, a minimum transaction threshold, which transaction types count, and how long points remain valid. Expiry matters — points that never expire pile up into a liability you never recorded.
Settle how points are earned first. -
Then fill the redemption catalogue — the step most often skipped
Points without a catalogue are just a meaningless number. List what can be redeemed and for how many points. Include at least one cheap, easily reached reward, so customers experience redeeming once — after that they will start collecting again.
Points without a redemption catalogue are just dead numbers. -
Set the guardrails: Maks Penggunaan, Prioritas and Butuh Kupon
Three fields that save you from an offer running away with itself. There are two usage caps — Maks Penggunaan (Global) for the whole shop, and (Per Pelanggan) so one person cannot take the lot. Prioritas (1 = tertinggi) decides which offer wins when two both qualify. And with Butuh Kupon switched on, the promotion only applies to whoever holds the code — the tidiest way to limit an offer to a chosen group.
The guardrails live here, not in the cashier’s memory. -
Announce it on WhatsApp, then measure and kill what fails
A promotion nobody knows about will not be used. Send it to the relevant group only, not to every number you hold. After two weeks, look at how often it was actually applied — if it is close to zero, the conditions are too heavy or the news never landed. Stop, change one variable, try again.
What you end up with
Your shop runs promotions aimed at particular people, times and items — instead of blind discounts for everyone — plus a points system with a redemption catalogue that gives customers a reason to return.
If something goes wrong
The promotion is active but never applies at the till
Almost always too many stacked conditions, so hardly any transaction satisfies all of them. Cut back to one or two, test with a real transaction, then tighten again only if needed.
Turnover rose but profit fell after the promotion
The discount ate through the margin. Switch to a reward that does not cut price — bonus points, multiplied points, or an extended warranty all feel generous without costing what a discount costs.
Two promotions overlap on one transaction
You do not have to guess: there is a Bisa Ditumpuk option controlling whether an offer may combine with others, and a Prioritas (1 = tertinggi) field deciding which wins when both qualify. Switch Bisa Ditumpuk off on anything that must not combine, then give them different priority numbers.
Points pile up but nobody redeems them
Two causes: the catalogue is empty, or the cheapest reward is too far out of reach. Add one small reward attainable in two or three transactions.
Customers complain their points expired
That is the result of an expiry nobody announced. State the validity period on receipts and at sign-up, then send a reminder before points lapse. Expiry is not the problem; surprise expiry is.
Related tutorials
- Tutorial
Lead Forms: Catching Customers Before They Drift Away
The front door for the new customers you will later offer points to.
- Tutorial
Auto Sender, Auto Responder and Quick Replies
How to announce an offer without getting the shop number blocked.
- Tutorial
Lite Financial Reports
Where you check whether the promotion added profit or ate it.