Timed discount
Also called: Promotional discount, Introductory discount, Expiring discount
A discount that applies only for a defined window of a subscription — the first three months, or the first year of a three-year term — then expires automatically.
A timed discount reduces price for a set period and then stops. “50% off for the first six months”, or “Year 1 at $80k, Years 2 and 3 at list.”
It is a useful concession because it costs less than a permanent discount while feeling comparable to a buyer focused on the first invoice — and it lets you close a deal on price without permanently repricing the account.
The mechanism has to expire on its own
The whole value of a timed discount depends on it actually ending. Where discounts are applied as a manually edited price on a subscription, expiry depends on someone remembering — and they will not. Discounts intended to last two quarters routinely run for years, and nobody notices until an account review three renewals later.
Modelled properly, a timed discount is a dated override on a subscription charge with a start and an end. The billing system reverts to the underlying rate automatically, and the reversion appears on the customer’s invoice as a scheduled change rather than a surprise.
Related but distinct from a ramp
A ramp deal changes the committed quantity or price by contract year as part of the deal structure. A timed discount holds the deal constant and temporarily reduces what is charged. They are often combined — a ramped commitment with an introductory discount on year one — and they need to be modelled separately or the reporting cannot distinguish planned growth from expiring concessions.
Either way, the reversion is a conversation. Flagging it to the customer before it lands costs nothing and prevents a disputed invoice.
Stop calculating this in a spreadsheet
Bunny computes SaaS metrics, revenue schedules and retention from your live billing data — because quoting, subscriptions, usage and invoicing all sit in one system.