Budgets

You can set restrictions in your campaign to limit the total amount you want to spend when running different promotions. Budget limits are useful as a security measure to avoid overspending, prevent fraud or control the behaviour of your campaign. 

You can see and manage all the budgets set for a given campaign on the Budgets page of the campaign. 

Note: This feature is not retroactive. It is only possible to track campaign behaviour and limit spending once budgets are created.

Budget types

There are different budget types to match the scope of the restriction you need. They can refer to the entire campaign or to different entities.

Creating coupon and referral budgets is only possible if coupon and referral features are enabled in your campaign.

Budget type	Description	Example
Campaign budgets	Applied to the entire campaign. These budgets can be tracked in the Performance & Budget section of your campaign dashboard. We recommend you always set a Campaign budget.	You can define the total amount you want to spend on a certain campaign, including discounts provided as referrals, giveaways, coupons and loyalty points.
Profile budgets	Applied to each customer profile. These budgets can be tracked in the customer's profile, in the Budgets tab.	You can limit how much discount and how many coupons, referrals, giveaways and loyalty points a single customer can obtain.
Unique identifier budgets	Applied to each unique identifier.  Learn more about identifiers in the Developer Docs.	You can limit how much discount and how many coupons, referrals, giveaways and loyalty points can be issued for a unique identifier such as an IP address. This helps you prevent customers from obtaining more discounts by creating several profiles.
Coupon budgets	Applied to each coupon code.	You can define how much discount and other benefits a single coupon can provide. For example, you can set how many discount effects each coupon code can trigger.
Referral budgets	Applied to each referral code.	You can limit how much discount and other benefits a single referral code can provide.

Default budgets

You can define a budget for all new campaigns within the same Application. Default budgets are useful to ensure that your campaigns are limited without having to set budgets individually. 

You can also find them in the Budgets section of every individual campaign within the Application, and you can modify them directly there for each campaign.

Note: Default budgets do not affect previously-created campaigns. 

Limits

For each budget type, you can define limits on:

• Discounts
• Referrals
• Coupons
• Loyalty programs
• Giveaways

Setting limits for coupons, loyalty programs, giveaways and referrals is only possible if the respective feature is enabled in your campaign.

Reaching a limit is reflected on the integration API. A reached limit generates a failed effect with a special rejection reason that you can check in the integration layer. See the list of effects in the Developer Docs.

Discount limits

Limit	Use	Available for (scope)
Discount total	Set the maximum amount that can be discounted.  For example, you can use this limit within a Campaign budget to set a total discount of $100,000 to be awarded in any way possible.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral
Discount effects	Set the maximum number of discount effects (including per-item discounts) that can be triggered.  Once this limit is reached, other effects in different rules can still be triggered if limits that may affect them have not yet been reached. All other effects in rules where there is a Discount effect fail to trigger.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral

Referral limits

Limit	Use	Available for (scope)
Referral redemptions	Set the maximum number of referral code redemptions that can take place.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon
Referral creations	Set the maximum number of referrals that can be created.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral

Note: You can limit referral redemptions for individual referral codes by setting a limit directly when creating a referral code as an effect, or on the Referrals page after creation. Limits set for the entire campaign override those of individual referral codes.

Coupon limits

Limit	Use	Available for (scope)
Coupon redemptions	Set the maximum number of coupon code redemptions that can take place.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Referral
Coupon creations	Set the maximum number of coupon codes that can be created.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral

Note: You can limit coupon redemptions for individual coupon codes by setting a limit directly when creating a coupon code as an effect, or on the Coupons page after creation. 

You can also set how much discount a code can give by creating a limited discount budget for an individual coupon. Limits set for the entire campaign override those of individual coupons.

Loyalty limits

Limit	Use	Available for (scope)
Loyalty points total	Set the maximum number of loyalty points that can be collected by customers.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral
Add loyalty point effects	Set the maximum number of add loyalty points effects that can be triggered. Once this limit is reached, other effects in different rules can still be triggered if limits that may affect them have not yet been reached. All other effects in rules where there is an Add loyalty points effect fail to trigger.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral
Loyalty points redeemed	Set the maximum number of loyalty points that can be redeemed by customers.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral
Redeem loyalty point effects	Set the maximum number of redeem loyalty points effects that can be triggered. Once this limit is reached, other effects in different rules can still be triggered if limits that may affect them have not yet been reached. All other effects in rules where there is a Redeem loyalty point effect fail to trigger.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral

Giveaway limits

Limit	Use	Available for (scope)
Award giveaways	Set the maximum number of giveaways that can be awarded.	Campaign Profile Unique identifier Coupon Referral

Recurrence

You can create recurring budgets by adding a recurrence period when you create a budget. The following periods are available:

• Every day
• Every week
• Every month
• Every year

For example, you can create campaigns with daily discount limits or set the number of coupons that each customer can redeem per week. 

Important: Recurrence refers to calendar dates, regardless of when you launch your campaigns. For example, weekly budgets are always reset on Mondays. The time zone is the same as that of your Application.

Use cases

For example, you can use budgets to limit: 

• Coupon redemptions within a campaign: use a Campaign budget and set a limit on Coupon redemptions.
• The number of coupons that each customer can redeem: use a Profile budget and set a limit on Coupon redemptions. 
• The maximum amount that can be discounted per coupon: use a Coupon budget and set a limit on Discount total.
• The number of times a coupon code can be considered valid to trigger discount effects: use a Coupon budget and set a limit on Discount effects.
• The number of times a referral code can be considered valid to trigger discount effects: use a Referral budget and set a limit on Discount effects.
• The number of loyalty points each customer can collect: use a Profile budget and set a limit on Loyalty points total.
• The number of giveaways provided for a given IP address: use a Unique identifier budget and set a limit on Award giveaways. 

Adding a budget

1. Click Settings > Budgets in the left-side menu of your campaign.
2. In Campaign Budgets, click Add <budget type>.
3. In Action, use the drop-down menu to select what you want to limit.
4. In Limit, type the value of your budget.
5. In Period, choose the desired recurrence. 
6. Click Create Budget.

A notification pops up, indicating that your campaign has been updated.

Note: To add a default budget, click Settings > Default budgets in the left-side menu of your Application and follow the rest of the steps listed above.

Editing a budget

You can modify the budget limit at any time:

1. Click Settings > Budgets in the left-side menu of your campaign.
2. Click the pen symbol to the right of the budget you want to delete.
3. Edit the budget limit. 
4. Click Save Changes.

A notification pops up, indicating that your campaign has been updated.

Note: To edit a default budget, click Settings > Default budgets in the left-side menu of your Application and follow the rest of the steps listed above. 

Deleting a budget

Deleting campaign-wide limits erases the maximum limit permanently but preserves the current counters. Deleting per-entity limits removes both the maximum limit and the counters.

1. Click Settings > Budgets in the left-side menu of your campaign.
2. Click the trash bin symbol to the right of the budget you want to delete.
3. Click Delete Budget in the pop-up.

A notification pops up, indicating that your campaign or Application has been updated.

Note: To delete a default budget, click Settings > Default budgets in the left-side menu of your Application and follow the rest of the steps listed above.

Related pages

• Learn how to use per-coupon limited discount budgets.
• Learn more about setting campaigns.