Sending a discount code to your own list, without a spreadsheet
· 3 min read
A percentage off, a flat amount off, or a fixed one-off price that replaces the listing rate entirely — created in a minute, sent however you already reach people.
Most studios run a discount the same informal way at some point — a friend rate, a first-timer special, a deal texted to someone who asked nicely. It works, until it's three different prices floating around with no record of who got what. Promo codes exist to make that same informal thing trackable, without turning it into paperwork.
What a code can actually do
From Promo codes in your Manager Dashboard, New code asks for three things: a code (uppercased automatically, so HOSTTEST20 and hosttest20 are the same code), a type, and a value. The type is one of:
- Percent off — the standard sale discount, applied to whatever the booking would normally total.
- Dollar off — a flat amount knocked off the total, useful when a percentage would be an oddly specific number.
- Fixed price — this one replaces the total outright with an exact number you set, regardless of what the listing would normally charge.
Set it to apply to one specific listing or your whole catalog, add an optional max number of uses and an expiration date if you want either, and it's live. Leave max uses and expiration blank and the code just keeps working indefinitely.
The fixed-price type is really an invoicing tool
This is the one worth knowing about even if "run a sale" isn't really your goal. Say a client emails you directly, you agree on $450 for a session that would normally run $600, and you just need a clean way to actually charge them that runs through a real payment flow instead of a text with a Venmo handle. Create a Fixed $ code for $450, check "a negotiated rate for one specific customer" — which locks it to a single use automatically — and send it to them. They redeem it, pay exactly $450, and get the same escrow protection, receipt, and payout timing as any other booking. You get to skip building an invoice by hand.
Add their email to the code if you want it locked to that specific account. Leave it blank and it simply works once, for whoever redeems it first — which covers the common case of a client who doesn't have a SESH account yet and will be creating one at checkout.
It never touches SESH's fee, or a roster talent's share
A code only ever discounts your own payout. If you've added roster talent to a booking as an add-on, their share is calculated on their own listed rate, untouched by any code you've applied to your part of the booking — a discount you're offering your own clients isn't something that should ever cut into someone else's pay.
Where it's announced: nowhere, until you say so
A code isn't listed anywhere public on SESH — nothing on your listing page hints that one exists. You control distribution entirely: an email to your list (the same Marketing tab that sends the email can mention the code directly), a story to your followers, a flyer at the front desk, or just telling someone in person. The booking page has a collapsed "Promo code" field right before checkout, so redeeming one takes a guest a few seconds once they have it.
Tracking what it actually did
The Promo codes tab keeps three running numbers at the top: how many codes are active right now, how many times any of them have been redeemed, and the total dollar amount discounted across all of them combined. Each code's own row shows its individual redemption count and total, and expanding it lists every redemption with the exact amount taken off and when.
Deactivating a code (the trash icon) stops it from working for anyone new immediately, but never touches a booking someone already made with it — that booking stands exactly as booked. There's no undo on a deactivation; create a fresh code if you need the same terms again later.
See promo codes and the rest of the Premium tools, or read the full how-to guide for a step-by-step walkthrough.