Using stacking rules and categories

Stacking rules and categories help you control how incentives behave when more than one campaign is applied in the same order. Read the following scenarios to learn what you can achieve with these settings.

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Change incentive eligibility with incentive application order

The Stacking settings are set as follows:

• Incentive application order is set to Requested order, which means incentives are applied in the same sequence as they are sent in the API request.
• Discount calculation mode is set to Based on discounted amount, so each discount is calculated from the previous discount, not the original order value.

A store runs two campaigns:

• Campaign 1: 10% off everything
• Campaign 2: 20% off orders with total amount above $100

A customer adds products worth $105 to the cart. In Scenario A, the 10% discount is sent first. In Scenario B, the 20% discount is sent first.

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Scenario A: 10% applies first

The incentives are applied as follows:

1. 10% discount is applied.
   $105 → $94.50
2. The order total is now below $100.
3. The 20% campaign no longer meets its validation condition to exceed $100 order value.

As a result, only the 10% discount applies.

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Scenario B: 20% applies first

The incentives are applied as follows:

1. 20% discount is applied.
   $105 → $84
2. The 10% discount is then calculated. $84 → $75.6

In this scenario, the customer receives a larger total discount.

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Partial and all-or-nothing behavior

This scenario shows differences between All and Partial settings in Redemption stack validation policy. A customer tries to apply incentives from two campaigns:

• Incentive A: Valid welcome campaign incentive
• Incentive B: Expired incentive from a seasonal campaign

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Scenario A: All

The process goes as follows:

1. Voucherify validates both incentives.
2. Incentive A is validated successfully, while Incentive B is inapplicable.
3. The entire validation fails.

The customer receives no discount. In this mode, even valid incentives are not applied if any other incentive in the stack fails validation.

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Scenario B: Partial

The process goes as follows:

1. Voucherify validates both incentives.
2. Incentive A is validated successfully, while Incentive B is inapplicable.
3. The validation is successful, Incentive A applies.

The customer receives the available discount. This setup prevents a single invalid incentive from blocking checkout.

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Exclusive incentive with Never stackable category

Never stackable categories prevent other Common categories from being applied in one stack. A store runs two campaigns:

• 50% VIP campaign with a category set to Stacking eligibility: Never stackable
• 10% newsletter campaign with a category set to Stacking eligibility: Common

The Never stackable campaign blocks Common campaigns from application in the same stack:

1. Both campaigns are valid.
2. The VIP campaign applies.
3. The newsletter campaign does not apply.

This is useful for high-value or limited offers that you don’t want to combine with other incentives.

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Combining Never stackable and Always stackable

Always stackable categories are always applied in a stack, even those with Never stackable categories. A store runs two campaigns:

• An exclusive incentive that’s set to a Never stackable category.
• A campaign that should always apply if valid, so it’s set to Stacking eligibility: Always stackable.

The incentives from the campaigns are applied as follows:

1. The exclusive incentive is validated successfully.
2. The incentive from the Always stackable campaign is also validated successfully.
3. Both incentives apply together.

Incentives with an Always stackable category apply in the redemption stack even when a Never stackable incentive is also used. Always stackable is useful for incentives that should not be blocked by exclusivity, like small giveaways or other low-value promotions.

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Category stacking limit

The category stacking limit adds an additional limit on how many incentives from a given category can be stacked. A store runs three flash sale campaigns in one category, which has the category stacking limit set to 2. A customer wants to use incentives from each of those campaigns and they’re all valid. Voucherify checks the incentives:

1. All three incentives are checked.
2. However, only two incentives are applicable.
3. The third incentive is skipped because the category limit is reached.

In this case, the incentives are applied based on the application order as they share the same category and, as a result, hierarchy. The final number of applied campaigns also depends on the global stacking limit. This scenario helps prevent too many similar discounts from stacking.

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No-effect incentive: Force and prevent redemption

No effect determines how Voucherify handles incentives that produce no effect. In this example, a single-use incentive is valid, but it produces no effect like the discount value is 0.

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Scenario A: Prevent redemption

Voucherify works as follows:

1. The incentive is checked.
2. No discount value is calculated.
3. The incentive is not redeemed.

The incentive remains available for later use.

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Scenario B. Force redemption

Voucherify works as follows:

1. The incentive is checked.
2. No discount value is calculated.
3. The incentive is redeemed nonetheless.

The incentive counts as used even though it didn’t apply any discounts. Because it was a single-use incentive, it can’t be used again.

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Discount calculation mode: Initial and discounted

Discount calculation mode determines if a discount is calculated based on the initial amount, before any other discounts have been applied, or on the already discounted amount. In this example, two incentives are applied in the following sequence:

• 10% off the whole cart
• 20% off the whole cart

The cart value is $100.

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Scenario A. Initial calculation

The discounts are calculated as follows:

1. 10% of $100 = $10
2. 20% of $100 = $20

Total discount = $30

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Scenario B. Discounted calculation

The discounts are calculated as follows:

1. 10% of $100 = $10; this brings the amount to $90
2. 20% of $90 = $18

Total discount = $28 This scenario shows how calculation mode changes the final result. This behavior depends on the discount calculation mode set in stacking settings or category configuration.