Recently I was on a coaching call with a client and the “Free Sample” challenge came up. Client has 400+ products on the website and had no intention of adding a free variation to each product manually.
So, I promised to myself I was going to study a different approach. And today you get it for free – nice! Needless to say, a comment and a social media share are much appreciated. Enjoy!
Requirements for “Free Sample” – WooCommerce
Before digging into PHP, you will need to create a brand new simple product (otherwise the code won’t work).
Here are the requirements:
- Title: “Free Sample” (or call it whatever you like, but make sure to change the PHP snippet below accordingly)
- Price: “0“
- Catalog Visibility: “Hidden“
- Inventory: “Sold Individually“
Make sure to remember the product ID of this new product, because you will need to use it in the PHP snippet.
PHP Snippet: “Free Sample” Add to Cart Button @ WooCommerce Single Product Page
/**
* @snippet Add Free Sample to Cart @ Single Product
* @how-to Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
* @author Rodolfo Melogli
* @testedwith WooCommerce 7
* @donate $9 https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
*/
// -------------------------
// 1. Display Free Sample Add to Cart
// Note: change "123" with Free Sample ID
add_action( 'woocommerce_single_product_summary', 'bbloomer_add_free_sample_add_cart', 35 );
function bbloomer_add_free_sample_add_cart() {
?>
<form class="cart" method="post" enctype='multipart/form-data'>
<button type="submit" name="add-to-cart" value="123" class="single_add_to_cart_button button alt">Order a Free Sample</button>
<input type="hidden" name="free_sample" value="<?php the_ID(); ?>">
</form>
<?php
}
// -------------------------
// 2. Add the custom field to $cart_item
add_filter( 'woocommerce_add_cart_item_data', 'bbloomer_store_free_sample_id', 9999, 2 );
function bbloomer_store_free_sample_id( $cart_item, $product_id ) {
if ( isset( $_POST['free_sample'] ) ) {
$cart_item['free_sample'] = $_POST['free_sample'];
}
return $cart_item;
}
// -------------------------
// 3. Concatenate "Free Sample" with product name (CART & CHECKOUT)
// Note: change "123" with Free Sample ID
add_filter( 'woocommerce_cart_item_name', 'bbloomer_alter_cart_item_name', 9999, 3 );
function bbloomer_alter_cart_item_name( $product_name, $cart_item, $cart_item_key ) {
if ( 123 === $cart_item['product_id'] ) {
$product = wc_get_product( $cart_item["free_sample"] );
$product_name .= " (" . $product->get_name() . ")";
}
return $product_name;
}
// -------------------------
// 4. Add "Free Sample" product name to order meta
// Note: this will show on thank you page, emails and orders
add_action( 'woocommerce_add_order_item_meta', 'bbloomer_save_posted_field_into_order', 9999, 2 );
function bbloomer_save_posted_field_into_order( $itemID, $values ) {
if ( ! empty( $values['free_sample'] ) ) {
$product = wc_get_product( $values['free_sample'] );
$product_name = $product->get_name();
wc_add_order_item_meta( $itemID, 'Free sample for', $product_name );
}
}
Is there a Reliable Plugin for that?
If you’d love to code but don’t feel 100% confident with PHP, I decided to look for a reliable plugin that achieves the same result.
In this case, I recommend the WooCommerce Product Sample plugin. On top of letting your customers purchase free and paid samples of your products, the plugin also helps you send follow-up email reminders for sample orders and much more.
But in case you hate plugins and wish to code (or wish to try that), then keep reading!