> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://documentation.outpost.pub/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Offers & Discounts
> Create promotional pricing, trial offers, and coupon codes to acquire and retain subscribers.
Offers let you present special pricing to prospective or existing members. They're built on top of [tiers](/features/tiers-and-pricing) — an offer is a discounted or promotional way to access a tier. Ghost provides its own offer system, and so does Outpost. You can use either or both.
Go to **Subscriptions → Ghost Offers** to manage Ghost-side offers, or **Subscriptions → Outpost Promotions** to manage Outpost-side promotions. The two use similar configuration forms but differ in how the checkout flow runs (see [comparison below](#ghost-offers-vs-outpost-promotions)).
## Offer types
| Type | Description | Example |
| ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------- |
| **Percent discount** | A percentage off the tier's standard price | 20% off annual plan |
| **Fixed amount discount** | A flat currency amount off the price | \$10 off monthly plan |
| **Free trial** | A trial period before billing begins | 7-day free trial, then full price |
## Discount duration
When creating a percent or fixed discount, choose how long the discount lasts. The dropdown labels in the form are:
| Dropdown label | Stripe duration | Description |
| ---------------------- | --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **No Discount** | — | No discount applied (use this for trial-only offers). Outpost Promotions only. |
| **One Time Discount** | `once` | Discount applies to the first payment only, then full price on renewal |
| **Multiple Months** | `repeating` | Discount applies for a set number of months (e.g., 3 months at the discounted rate). Only available when the billing period is monthly. |
| **Recurring Discount** | `forever` | Discount applies to every payment, permanently |
## Creating a Ghost Offer
Go to **Subscriptions → Ghost Offers** and click **New Offer**. Configure:
| Field | Description |
| ------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name** | Internal name for the offer (visible to you) |
| **Display Title** | Headline shown on the checkout page |
| **Display Description** | Supporting copy shown on the checkout page |
| **Tier** | Which tier and billing cadence this offer applies to — **Monthly** or **Annual** |
| **Discount / Trial tabs** | Switch between configuring a discount or a free trial |
| **Discount Duration** | **One Time Discount**, **Multiple Months**, or **Recurring Discount** (see table above) |
| **Discount %** or **Discount Amount** | The percent off or the fixed currency amount off |
| **Add Member Labels** | Optional labels to apply to members who redeem this offer |
## Creating an Outpost Promotion
Go to **Subscriptions → Outpost Promotions** and click **New Offer**. Promotions support everything Ghost Offers do, plus quarterly and semi-annual billing, redemption caps, and expiration dates:
| Field | Description |
| ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name** | Internal name for the promotion (visible to you) |
| **Offer Headline** | Headline shown on the sales/checkout page |
| **Description** | Supporting copy shown on the sales/checkout page |
| **Membership Tier** | Which tier this promotion applies to |
| **Billing Period** | Monthly, Yearly, Every 3 Months, or Every 6 Months |
| **Default Amount** | The default amount selected at checkout |
| **Discount / Trial tabs** | Switch between configuring a discount or a free trial |
| **Discount Duration** | No discount, one-time, recurring, or for a set number of months (see table above) |
| **Discount %** or **Discount Amount** | The percent off or the fixed currency amount off |
| **Trial Duration** | For trial offers: the length of the free trial |
| **Add Member Labels** | Optional labels to apply to members who redeem this promotion |
| **Max Members** | Optional cap on total redemptions |
| **Expiration Date** | Optional date after which the promotion can no longer be redeemed. Expired promotions are archived automatically. |
Outpost creates the corresponding Stripe price/coupon automatically. When a member subscribes via an offer or promotion, the discount is applied at checkout.
Each offer is tied to a specific tier and billing interval. If you want to offer the same discount on both monthly and annual plans, create two separate offers.
## Sharing an offer
Each offer has a unique URL. Share it in:
* Newsletters and email campaigns
* Social media posts
* Ad campaigns and landing pages
* [CTAs and paywalls](/features/ctas) via the Auto Display system
* [Manually Added Buttons](/features/manually-added-buttons) on external sites
When a visitor clicks the offer link, the discounted pricing is pre-applied to the subscription checkout page.
## Tracking offer performance
The offer detail page shows performance metrics:
| Metric | Description |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Redemptions** | Total number of members who subscribed using this offer |
| **Revenue** | Total revenue generated from offer redemptions |
## Archiving and restoring offers
* **Archive** an offer to deactivate it. The offer URL will no longer work for new signups, but existing members who redeemed it keep their discount.
* **Unarchive** to reactivate an archived offer and make it available again.
Archived offers are hidden from the main list but can be viewed by filtering for archived offers.
## Offers in autoresponder emails
Offers integrate with the [Autoresponder](/features/basic-autoresponder) — many pre-built email actions include an **Offer** dropdown where you can attach a discount. You can select any existing Ghost Offer or Outpost Promotion rather than creating a new one each time. For example:
* Welcome drip emails can include progressively better offers to convert free members
* Cancellation emails can include a retention offer
* Renewal reminder emails can include a loyalty discount
* The [Nudge action](/features/basic-autoresponder#other-tab) automatically uses the offer a reader originally clicked
Reusing an existing offer across multiple autoresponder actions keeps your Ghost and Outpost offer lists clean, and makes it easier to update a discount in one place and have it apply everywhere.
## Tier vs. Ghost Offer vs. Outpost Promotion
These three terms get conflated a lot. Before comparing offer types, the lay of the land:
| Concept | Where it lives | What it is |
| --------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Tier** | Ghost | The subscription product itself — "Free", "Premium", "Annual" etc. You define tiers and their default prices in Ghost. Outpost reads them. |
| **Ghost Offer** | Ghost | A discount or trial *attached to* a Ghost tier. Created in Ghost Admin and checked out through Ghost Portal. |
| **Outpost Promotion** | Outpost | A discount or trial *attached to* a Ghost tier, but created in Outpost and checked out directly through Stripe. Does things Ghost Offers can't (works for existing paid members, supports subscription schedules, etc.). |
So both an Offer and a Promotion are pricing modifications on top of a tier — they aren't tiers themselves. Pick between them based on the comparison below.
## Ghost Offers vs Outpost Promotions
When attaching an offer to an autoresponder action — or choosing which type of offer to share — you have two options. They behave differently in important ways:
| | Ghost Offers | Outpost Promotions |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| **Checkout flow** | Ghost Portal | Direct Stripe checkout |
| **Works for free members** | Yes | Yes |
| **Works for existing paid members** | Auto-converted | Yes |
| **Works for complimentary members** | Auto-converted | Yes |
| **Trial periods** | No (tier-wide trial only) | Yes |
| **Subscription schedules** | No | Yes (intro rate → standard rate) |
| **Offer codes** | Yes — members can enter at checkout | No |
You don't need to worry about showing the wrong offer type to the wrong member — Outpost automatically ensures any offer shown to a reader is one they can actually use. "Auto-converted" means that when you attach a Ghost Offer to an autoresponder action and the recipient is an existing paid or complimentary member (who can't check out through Ghost Portal), Outpost turns it into an equivalent direct checkout so the discount still applies.
### When to use Ghost Offers
Ghost Offers appear in Ghost Portal and are the natural choice when a free or unknown visitor is converting to a paid subscription for the first time. They stay in sync with Ghost automatically.
**Best for:** free-to-paid conversion, welcome drip sequences, any scenario where the reader doesn't yet have a subscription.
### When to use Outpost Promotions
Outpost Promotions route checkout through Stripe directly, which lets them do things Ghost Offers can't:
* **Existing paid and complimentary subscribers** — Ghost Offers are built for free and signed-out visitors checking out through Ghost Portal. When you attach one to an autoresponder action, Outpost automatically converts it to a direct checkout for paid or complimentary recipients so it still applies — but Outpost Promotions use that direct checkout for everyone natively, which makes them the cleaner choice for retention, upgrades, and plan changes.
* **Trial periods** — offer a free trial before billing starts on a specific, shareable offer. Ghost Offers can't carry a trial of their own; Ghost's only free trial is a tier-wide setting that applies to everyone who subscribes to that tier.
* **Subscription schedules** — set an introductory rate that automatically transitions to a standard renewal price after a set period. This is useful for 3- or 6-month intro plans.
**Best for:** retention flows, upgrade offers, annual-to-monthly or monthly-to-annual switches, any scenario involving an existing subscriber.
***
## Frequently asked questions
An **Offer** (also called a Ghost Offer) is created through Ghost's native offer system — checkout goes through Ghost Portal. An Outpost **Promotion** is Outpost's own offer system — checkout goes through a direct Stripe page. Promotions are more flexible: they work for existing paid and complimentary subscribers, support trial periods, and can use subscription schedules. See the [comparison table above](#ghost-offers-vs-outpost-promotions) for full details.
Not on the offer itself — Ghost Offers can only be a percentage or fixed-amount discount. Ghost does support free trials, but only as a *tier-wide* setting: a trial you switch on for an entire tier, which then applies to everyone who subscribes to it. If you want a trial tied to a specific, shareable offer, use an Outpost Promotion, which supports per-offer trial periods.
Yes — when you attach them to an autoresponder action. Ghost Offers normally check out through Ghost Portal, which only works for free or signed-out visitors. But when Outpost sends an offer to a member it already knows is complimentary or on a paid plan, it automatically converts the Ghost Offer into an equivalent direct checkout so the discount still applies. (A raw Ghost Offer link opened by a signed-out visitor still goes through Ghost Portal.) If you're specifically targeting existing subscribers, an Outpost Promotion skips the conversion and is the better fit.
No. A member can only use one offer when subscribing. If they click a new offer link while already on a discounted plan, they would need to cancel and resubscribe to use the new offer.
When the discount duration ends (e.g., after 3 months), Stripe automatically starts charging the full tier price on the next billing cycle. No action needed from you or the member.
You can update some fields on an existing offer, but certain fields may be locked once members have redeemed it. If you need substantially different terms, create a new offer and archive the old one.
Many autoresponder actions have an **Offer** dropdown. When you attach an offer to an action, the email includes a button or link that takes the member directly to checkout with the discount pre-applied. This is particularly useful for retention emails — you can automatically offer a discount to members who cancel.
Offers themselves don't have audience targeting, but you control distribution. Share the offer URL only with the audience you want (via targeted email campaigns, specific CTAs, or private links). You can also set an expiration date to control usage.
Outpost validates the customer's Stripe currency against the offer before checkout. If a returning customer already has a currency on file (for example, USD) and the offer is priced only in a different currency (for example, EUR), the checkout is blocked and the customer sees "Currency mismatch. Please contact support." This is a safety net — most publications run a single Stripe currency and never see this. If you intentionally run multi-currency offers, configure each offer's prices with `currency_options` for every currency you sell in.
***
## Related features
The subscription products that offers are built on top of
Attach offers to automated emails for conversion and retention
Display offers in conversion popups, slide-ups, and in-post CTAs
Two-phase pricing as an alternative to offer-based discounts