Promotions in Salesforce Revenue Cloud allow you to create granular discounts on products and product categories, boosting sales and influencing buying decisions. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the complete setup process—from enabling prerequisites to designing and applying promotions on transactions.
What Are Promotions?
Promotions are discounts that can be applied automatically or manually (via coupon codes) to products on quotes and orders. Key features include:
- Granular discounts on individual products or entire product categories
- Eligibility rules based on product selling models, channels, and customer segments
- Multiple promotion stacking options for combining discounts
- Price waterfall visibility to see how promotions affect pricing
Promotions are available in Enterprise, Unlimited, and Developer Editions with a Revenue Cloud Advanced license.
Setup Overview: 7 Steps to Enable Promotions
- Prerequisites – Enable required settings
- Rule Library – Create context mappings
- Pricing Procedure – Add the promotion execution element
- Turn On – Enable in Revenue Settings
- Configurator Flow – Show promotions in the UI
- User Access – Assign permission sets
- Design – Create and activate promotions
Step 1: Prerequisites
Before creating promotions, enable these settings in Setup:
- Context Service – Should already be enabled if you’re using Revenue Cloud
- Global Promotions Management – Turn this on (note: cannot be turned off once enabled)
- Promotion Evaluation and Execution – Enable within Global Promotions Management
- Product Catalog Management – Required for running promotions on bundles
You’ll also need Price Waterfall and Price Waterfall Persistence enabled under Pricing Settings to see promotion details in the UI. For more on the price waterfall, see our guide on the default price waterfall in Revenue Cloud.
Important: Promotions work with the Transaction Line Editor component on quotes and orders. They do not currently work with the new Sales Transaction Line Editor.
Step 2: Create a Rule Library
The rule library maps context definition tags to promotion fields. Here’s how to create one:
- Go to App Launcher → Rule Libraries
- Click New and enter a name (e.g., “Promotions”)
- Set Usage Type to “Promotions with Revenue Management”
- Enter your active Context Definition Name (from Setup → Context Definitions)
- Save and open the Rule Library Version
Required Context Mappings
Create these custom tag mappings in your rule library version:
| Mapping Name | Context Tag |
|---|---|
| productSellingModel | ProductSellingModel |
| accountId | Quote Account |
| cartLineItemId | LineItem |
| cartLineProductId | Product |
| currencyISOCode | CurrencyIsoCode |
| cartLineProductCategoryId | ProductCategory |
| activityStartDate | StartDate |
| cartLineCouponCode | SalesTransactionItemCouponCode |
| productBundleRootId | RootItemProduct |
| engagementChannelId | Channel (optional) |
After mapping all fields, click Activate on the Rule Library Version.
Step 3: Configure the Pricing Procedure
You need to add a promotion execution element to your pricing procedure. Here’s how:
- Go to App Launcher → Pricing Procedures
- Open your active pricing procedure and deactivate it
- Find the Bundle-Based Adjustment element and add a new element after it
- Add a List Group element with these filter conditions:
- IsContracted IS NULL or IsContracted = false
- ItemPricingSource != LastTransaction
- Inside the List Group, add a Promotion Execution element
Promotion Execution Configuration
Configure the Promotion Execution element with these mappings:
Input Variables:
- Subtotal → ItemNetTotalPrice
- Quantity → LineItemQuantity
- Input Unit Price → NetUnitPrice
Output Variables:
- Net Unit Price → NetUnitPrice
- Subtotal → ItemNetTotalPrice
Important: Promotions cannot be used with derived pricing. If you have any derived pricing elements in your pricing procedure, you must remove them before enabling promotions.
Save and reactivate your pricing procedure.
Step 4: Turn On Promotions
Enable promotions in Revenue Settings:
- Go to Setup → Revenue Settings
- Turn on Promotions for Transactions
- Select your newly created Rule Library
- Save
If you need channel-based promotions, also configure the Promotion Context Mapping in Setup → Product Discovery Settings.
Step 5: Modify the Product Configurator Flow
To display promotions in the product configurator, update the Default Product Configurator Flow:
- Go to Setup → Flows
- Open the Default Product Configurator Flow
- In the S01_Header component, set Eligible Promotions to:
{!S01_DataManager.eligiblePromotions} - In the S01_Summary component, also set Eligible Promotions to:
{!S01_DataManager.eligiblePromotions} - Save the flow
Step 6: Set Up User Access
Assign these permission sets to users who need access to promotions:
- Apply Promotions on Sales Transactions – For sales reps
- Promotions Viewer – For viewing promotions
- Promotion Designer Basic – For users who create promotions
Also assign these permission set licenses:
- Global Promotions Management Basic
- Revenue Management Promotions Runtime
Step 7: Design Promotions
Now you’re ready to create promotions:
- Go to App Launcher → Promotions and Offers
- Click New Promotion
- Enter name, display name, priority, and promotion code (optional)
- Set start and end dates
- Select your Rule Library
- Define eligibility (channels, customer segments, coupons)
- Choose a template (e.g., “Get Discount + Rewards on X Based on Selling Model”)
- Configure rewards (product/category, selling model, discount type and value)
- Save and activate
Promotion Scope Options
- Simple Products – Apply discount to a specific product and selling model
- Categories – Apply discount to all products in a category
- Bundled Products – Apply discounts to root products, child products, or both. For more on bundles, see our guide on creating bundle products in Revenue Cloud
Evaluation Methods
When multiple promotions are eligible, Revenue Cloud offers two evaluation methods:
Stacked: All eligible promotions are calculated independently and then aggregated. Use this when you want customers to receive maximum savings.
First Eligible Promotion: Only the highest priority promotion applies. Use this for exclusive promotions that shouldn’t combine.
Configure this in Promotions & Offers → Configure Evaluation and Execution.
Where Users See Promotions
Once configured, promotions appear in multiple places:
- Browse Catalogs – Shows eligible promotions on products and categories (up to 5 per product)
- Product Configurator – Button shows available promotions count; users can toggle to apply/remove
- Transaction Line Editor – Click a product to open the side panel and see the Promotions tab; hover over Net Unit Price to see the price waterfall
Considerations and Limitations
Not Supported
- Usage-based products (directly)—though they can inherit category promotions
- Products with derived pricing
- Ramp deals for groups
- Sales Transaction Line Editor
- Cross-line rewards
- Cart rewards
Limits
- Up to 500 active promotions (can be increased to 2,000 by contacting Salesforce)
- Up to 30 promotions per bundle child
- Up to 5 promotions shown in Browse Catalogs (can be increased to 10)
Amendment and Renewal Notes
Promotions on amendments and renewals only apply if the pricing source is List Price or empty. Promotions won’t apply to negative quantities or cancellations.
Related Resources
Explore more Revenue Cloud pricing and discount topics: