Pipelines (Use Case): Automated discounts for returning clients

If you want apply discounts for a subset of your clients (e.g. our returning clients), you don't need to do so manually or to create a new pipeline. Here, we will tell you how to use conditional logic inside pipelines to deal with discounts.

Covered here:

• Before you start: how conditional automations work
• Step-by-step pipeline setup for automated discounts

Before you start: how conditional automations work

What is conditional logic in pipelines, though? Basically:

If a is true, then b happens.

Inside a pipeline, it means that if a client account has specific tags ( New client, for example), then specific actions are triggered for that job as it moves through the pipeline. So in order for conditional logic to work, you’ll need to create tags to apply to your client accounts.

This way, different automations will trigger for different types of clients.

You can read more about conditional stages and automations or jump right to the example below. 

Step-by-step pipeline setup for automated discounts

To set your 1040 pipeline for applying different discounts, follow these steps:

Step 1. Create tags

Since conditional logic in pipelines is based on tags, you will need to create a New Client tag to mark new clients to be charged a regular price and a Returning Client tag for clients with a discount.

Step 2. Create invoice templates

Create two invoice templates: one with your regular price (1) and another one with a discount added as a line item (2).

Step 3. Add an invoicing stage

Set up an invoicing stage in your pipeline and toggle on Automove jobs. This way, your jobs will automatically move to the next stage once the invoice has been paid.

Step 4. Add an automation with regular prices for new clients

Now, we can add automations for the stage using tags and templates you created before.

1. Add the Create invoice automation and select an Invoice template with the regular price.
2. Apply the New Client tag for making the automation conditional.

Step 5. Add an automation with a discount for returning clients

Now, add one more automation - this time for the returning clients. Use the template with a discount added:

1. Add the Create invoice automation and select an Invoice template with discount.
2. Apply the Returning Client tag for making the automation conditional.

Tip! You can also use the Update account tags automation in the last stage to remove the New Client tag and apply the Returning Client.

Step 6. Test the process with your test clients

Let's make sure your automated discounts work as intended by adding jobs for your test clients:

1. Apply the New Client tag to the first test client and the Returning Client tag to the other.
2. Create a job for each client and move it to the invoicing stage.
3. Go to the Billing > Invoices from the left menu bar and check, whether your test clients were invoiced with the right amount.
4. Optional: check how automove works. Manually create an offline payment by clicking New on the top left and selecting Payment from the slide-out. Choose the invoice you created in the previous step, type in the same amount for your test payment, and click Save. The job will be auto moved to the next stage.