Gift with purchase in WooCommerce: the coupon that adds a product
"Free gift with your order" is a classic promotion - and a classic disappointment when the gift arrives as a note asking the customer to email support. The clean implementation puts the gift IN the cart as a real free line item.
Why the gift must be a real cart line
- Fulfilment honesty - if the gift is not on the order, the warehouse does not pack it. Notes and instructions get missed; a line item cannot.
- Stock truth - the gift is a SKU; it should decrement stock and show in reports like any product.
- Customer clarity - the cart shows what they get, before they pay.
How a gift coupon works
- The rule - coupon X adds gift product Y at price 0.
- Auto-add - when the coupon applies, the gift line appears in the cart automatically.
- Auto-remove - when the coupon stops applying (removed, threshold no longer met), the gift leaves too. No phantom free items.
Threshold gifts work the same way: "orders over €100 get a free tote" is a cart-amount rule that adds and removes the gift as the total crosses the line.
Promo patterns that work
- Signup campaign - a distributed code (email, influencer) that adds a welcome gift.
- Threshold nudge - "€15 more and the gift is yours" moves AOV without a discount.
- Bundle teaser - the gift is a sample of a product line you want discovered.
- Win-back - a lapsed-customer code whose gift makes returning feel rewarding, not discounted.
Pitfalls
- Manual "add a note" fulfilment - the gift gets missed at packing.
- Gift stays after the coupon is removed - free product, no promo.
- Coupon AND threshold fighting - define which rule wins when both could apply.
- Gift out of stock - decide whether the promo still runs when the gift is gone.
Free Gift Coupons implements the auto-add/auto-remove mechanics: the gift is a real SKU, appears when the coupon applies, leaves when it does not.