Discount Roi Calculator

Read-only: calculates the true ROI of each discount code and automatic discount by comparing incremental revenue against discount cost.

shopify-admin-discount-roi-calculator


Purpose

Evaluates the true return on investment for each discount code and automatic discount by measuring revenue generated, number of orders, average order value with vs. without discount, customer acquisition attributed to discounts, and whether discounted orders cannibalized full-price sales. Goes beyond discount-hygiene-cleanup (which finds broken/unused codes) to answer "was this discount worth it?" Read-only — no mutations.


Prerequisites

  • Authenticated Shopify CLI session: shopify store auth --store --scopes read_orders,read_discounts
  • API scopes: read_orders, read_discounts

  • Parameters


    ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
    storestringyesStore domain
    days_backintegerno90Lookback window
    min_usesintegerno3Minimum uses for a discount to be analyzed
    formatstringnohumanOutput format: human or json

    Safety


    > ℹ️ Read-only skill — no mutations are executed. Safe to run at any time.


    Workflow Steps


  • OPERATION: discountNodes — query
  • Inputs: first: 250, select discount details (title, code, type, value, usageCount, startsAt, endsAt), pagination cursor

    Expected output: All discount codes and automatic discounts


  • Filter to discounts with usageCount >= min_uses and active within lookback window

  • OPERATION: orders — query
  • Inputs: query: "created_at:>='' discount_code:", first: 250 for each active discount code, select totalPriceSet, totalDiscountsSet, subtotalPriceSet, customer { id, numberOfOrders }, pagination cursor

    Expected output: All orders using each discount


  • Also query orders WITHOUT any discount in same period for baseline AOV comparison

  • For each discount, calculate:
  • Total Discount Cost = Σ(totalDiscountsSet for orders with this code)
  • Revenue Generated = Σ(totalPriceSet for orders with this code)
  • Discounted AOV = revenue / orders
  • Baseline AOV = AOV of non-discounted orders in same period
  • AOV Lift/Drop = discounted AOV - baseline AOV
  • New Customer % = orders where customer.numberOfOrders == 1 / total
  • Gross ROI = (revenue - discount_cost) / discount_cost × 100
  • Cannibalization Risk = high if discount AOV < baseline AOV and new customer % < 20%

  • GraphQL Operations


    # discountNodes:query — validated against api_version 2025-01
    query AllDiscounts($after: String) {
      discountNodes(first: 250, after: $after) {
        edges {
          node {
            id
            discount {
              ... on DiscountCodeBasic {
                title
                codes(first: 1) { edges { node { code } } }
                usageLimit
                asyncUsageCount
                startsAt
                endsAt
                customerGets {
                  value {
                    ... on DiscountPercentage { percentage }
                    ... on DiscountAmount { amount { amount currencyCode } }
                  }
                }
              }
              ... on DiscountCodeFreeShipping {
                title
                codes(first: 1) { edges { node { code } } }
                asyncUsageCount
                startsAt
                endsAt
              }
              ... on DiscountAutomaticBasic {
                title
                asyncUsageCount
                startsAt
                endsAt
                customerGets {
                  value {
                    ... on DiscountPercentage { percentage }
                    ... on DiscountAmount { amount { amount currencyCode } }
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
        pageInfo { hasNextPage endCursor }
      }
    }
    

    # orders:query — validated against api_version 2025-01
    query OrdersByDiscount($query: String!, $after: String) {
      orders(first: 250, after: $after, query: $query) {
        edges {
          node {
            id
            name
            createdAt
            totalPriceSet { shopMoney { amount currencyCode } }
            totalDiscountsSet { shopMoney { amount currencyCode } }
            subtotalPriceSet { shopMoney { amount currencyCode } }
            customer {
              id
              numberOfOrders
            }
            discountCodes
          }
        }
        pageInfo { hasNextPage endCursor }
      }
    }
    

    Session Tracking


    Claude MUST emit the following output at each stage. This is mandatory.


    On start, emit:

    ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════╗
    ║  SKILL: Discount ROI Calculator              ║
    ║  Store: <store domain>                       ║
    ║  Started: <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC>             ║
    ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝
    

    After each step, emit:

    [N/TOTAL] <QUERY|MUTATION>  <OperationName>
              → Params: <brief summary of key inputs>
              → Result: <count or outcome>
    

    On completion, emit:


    For format: human (default):

    ══════════════════════════════════════════════
    DISCOUNT ROI REPORT  (<days_back> days)
      Discounts analyzed:   <n>
      Total discount spend:  $<amount>
      Total attributed rev:  $<amount>
      ─────────────────────────────
      TOP PERFORMERS (by ROI):
        "<code>"  ROI: <n>%  Revenue: $<n>  Cost: $<n>  New customers: <pct>%
    
      UNDERPERFORMERS:
        "<code>"  ROI: <n>%  Revenue: $<n>  Cost: $<n>  ⚠️ Cannibalization risk
    
      BASELINE COMPARISON:
        Non-discount AOV: $<n>  |  Avg discount AOV: $<n>  |  Δ: $<n>
    
      Output: discount_roi_<date>.csv
    ══════════════════════════════════════════════
    

    Output Format

    CSV file discount_roi_.csv with columns:

    discount_id, code_or_title, type, uses, revenue, discount_cost, roi_pct, aov, baseline_aov, aov_delta, new_customer_pct, cannibalization_risk


    Error Handling

    ErrorCauseRecovery
    THROTTLEDAPI rate limit exceededWait 2 seconds, retry up to 3 times
    Automatic discountsNo code to query byMatch via order discount data
    Stacked discountsMultiple codes per orderAttribute proportionally or flag as "multi-discount"

    Best Practices

  • Discounts with ROI < 100% cost more than they generate — consider retiring them.
  • High new-customer % with positive ROI = great acquisition tool — keep running.
  • Low new-customer % with negative AOV lift = cannibalization — customers would have bought anyway.
  • Cross-reference with discount-ab-analysis for split-test insights.
  • Use with discount-hygiene-cleanup to find and remove underperforming codes.