Discount codes pile up on a membership site. A code from a holiday sale, a partner deal, a one-off gift for a member. After enough time passes, it is not always clear why a particular code exists or who it was made for.

This code recipe adds an admin-only Description field to each discount code, plus a matching Description column on the Discount Codes list. Add a quick note when you create a code, then see that note at a glance from the list instead of opening each code to check.

About the Code Recipe

This recipe changes two screens under Memberships > Discount Codes: the edit screen for a single discount code, and the list of all discount codes.

On the edit screen, it adds a Description textarea below the existing discount code settings. You must save the discount code once before the field appears, since the description is stored against the code’s ID.

On the list screen, it adds a Description column so you can scan discount codes descriptions without opening it.

The description is admin-only. It never shows at checkout, or anywhere a member can see it.

This recipe works on any site running Paid Memberships Pro. No additional Add Ons are required.

Understanding the Hooks in This Recipe

This recipe uses four hooks together:

• pmpro_discount_code_after_settings renders the Description field on the discount code edit screen, after PMPro’s own settings fields.
• admin_init saves the field’s value whenever the discount code screen is submitted.
• pmpro_manage_discountcodes_columns adds “Description” to the column headers on the Discount Codes list.
• pmpro_manage_discount_code_list_custom_column fills in that column for each row.

The description itself is stored with update_option(), keyed to the discount code’s ID (discount_code_description_{id}), rather than in the discount code’s own database row. This keeps the recipe self-contained: it doesn’t touch PMPro’s discount code table.

The Code Recipe

How to Customize This Code Recipe

Rename the field (lines 37 & 69), optional: Change 'Description' in both the label and the column header to something like “Internal Notes” if that fits your team’s workflow better.

Give it more room (line 40), optional: The textarea is set to 30% width and 4 rows. Widen it or add more rows if your team tends to write longer notes.

Adding the Recipe to Your Website

You can add this recipe to your site by creating a custom plugin or using the Code Snippets plugin available for free in the WordPress repository. Read this companion article for step-by-step directions on either method.

Video: Coding with Sam Walkthrough