5 Customer Behavior Insights From Shopify Discount Data

Discounting should be a strategy that lifts profits while protecting margins, not a blanket tactic that’s on constant rotation. For a discounting strategy to have any chance at success, gut feelings won’t do. Real data and performance metrics must guide decision-making.

New research provides exactly that, shedding light on customer reactions to percentage-off and amount-off promotions. Seguno’s 2026 Shopify Unique Discount Code Benchmark analyzed 182 million unique discount codes from 1,348 Shopify stores.

The report examines redemptions and average order value (AOV), slicing data by industry and use case. While the data stems from Shopify stores, the underlying customer behaviors apply across retailers.

What the Data Shows About Customer Behavior

A few patterns stood out across the full dataset:

1. Percentage-off discounts won on higher cart values, while amount-off promos won on redemptions. Percentage-off discounts correlated with an average AOV of $95.75 (vs. $67.35), a 42 percent difference. Amount-off codes showed a modest yet meaningful advantage in redemption rate (0.87 percent vs. 0.69 percent).
2. Twenty percent off was the sweet spot. As the most popular discount depth in the dataset, 20 percent was best at balancing high AOV with strong redemption rates compared to shallower and deeper offers.
3. Amount-off codes with minimum spend thresholds showed 2.6x higher AOV. Requiring a minimum order to unlock a dollar-off discount correlated with substantially larger carts. Percentage-off codes with minimums also showed higher AOVs, though not by nearly as much.
4. "Insider" discounts outperformed seasonal campaigns 5x on redemptions. Relationship-based codes distributed to employees, friends and family, or student groups not only showed higher redemption rates but also above-average AOV.
5. Codes with limited eligibility correlated with an AOV lift. Just 4 percent of all codes were restricted to a specific customer segment, but they showed a 50 percent AOV lift for percentage-off and 68 percent for amount-off.

How Retailers Can Use the Insights for Better Discounting

The data suggests clear opportunities for retailers that want to advance their discount strategy:

• Match the discount type to the goal. Percentage off is the better bet when you're optimizing for revenue. Amount off may perform better when you want redemptions, such as attracting new customers or re-engaging old ones. A concrete dollar value is easier to evaluate at a glance.
• Add structure to your codes. Incorporate a minimum spend on amount-off codes to raise AOV. Similarly, cap the maximum discount on percentage-off codes or restrict eligible products to prevent deep savings on large orders.
• Invest in relationship-based use cases. Discounts that feel relevant and/or exclusive to the recipient show dramatically higher engagement rates. Retailers running relationship-based perks have a high-performing use case that broad, seasonal promos can’t replicate.
• Narrow your audience more often. The segmentation gap is striking: the AOV lift from targeted codes is significant, yet 96 percent of codes weren’t restricted. This likely reflects who is receiving the offer, such as VIPs. Restricting codes to higher-intent segments means your discounts land with the people most likely to spend.

The Bottom Line for Strategic Discounting

The data from 182 million unique discount codes implies that choices around discount type, depth, structure, and targeting matter. Structural choices can lead to meaningful differences in AOV and redemption rate.

The savviest retailers treat discount codes as configurable levers rather than one-size-fits-all promotions.

Cara Marin is the product owner for Bulk Discount Code Bot at Seguno, helping Shopify brands unlock the full potential of personalized promotions.