We are going to discuss discount strategies because everyone loves discounts! They help customers save money while businesses boost their sales. During discount and sale seasons, brands observe increased customers, impulse purchases, and improved brand reputation.
While all these perks are great for motivation, all discounts are not alike. Brands require skillful and timely planning to make the most out of product discounts and packages, which we will discuss in this article.
We will take you through 7 strategies that are highly effective at improving sales.
Table of Content
7 Strategies For Improving Sales
Below we have added 7 discount strategies that you can incorporate in your marketing strategy to boost sales.
- Special discounts to first-time users
- Incentives on long term packages
- Set limits
- Use BOGO discounts
- Seasonal discounts
- Think about what works for your business
- Bulk discounts
Now let’s dive a little deeper into the above strategies.
Special discount strategies for first-time users
Discounts are great ways to encourage new customers to buy from your brand and make them curious about your products. While a potential client might not be interested in purchasing a product, a discount can raise his interest, and the fact that he is saving money can bring him to your discount page.
To make sure you get more customers, you should offer incentives to customers on their first purchase. Ask customers to either avail of a free trial, make a purchase, or sign up for discounts. When you make them feel that the risk is less to none, they feel more confident. You can also offer a money-back guarantee to assure them of your belief in the product.
Offering tax exemptions to new customers can also be a great idea. You can use a module for this purpose. You can try out the Prestashop tax-exempt module that lets you exempt taxes for specific customers.
Incentives on long term packages
Offering lesser charges on advance payments for long-term plans allows customers to save money, and you can use that money to invest or buy inventory. This strategy can be used by brands that have a system of recurring payments, so customers would want to pay earlier to get the discount.
Most software service providers offer such discount strategies. Taking the example of Dropbox, if you pay for a yearly subscription instead of monthly, you are provided with discounted prices.
Set limited time offers
FOMO (fear of missing out) is a powerful tool to grab customer attention and keep them hooked. When customers are afraid of losing a great deal, they tend to take quick action. If they know that an offer will last for long, they won’t feel the rush and might even forget about it.
To create urgency among your customers, you should set limited-time offers and add CTA (call to action) to let people know the offer will soon end. You can use CTAs like:
- The offer ends this midnight!!!!
- Just X pieces left!
- Less than 24 hours left!!
- 2 days till the sale ends!!
Use BOGO discounts
Buy one get one free discounts never get old. Many brands still use them to catch customer attention, and many use innovative ways to make their BOGO discounts more desirable. Some brands add multiple freebies to improve their discounts creatively and to make them different from their competitors.
Let’s take the example of AAF. They let their customers choose between discounts like “Buy 3 get 1 free” or “Buy 2 and get the 3rd for 50% off”. That gives the customer the freedom to choose and avail offers that suit them. It also makes the offer more valuable.
To make the most of your discount offers, you can play around with products and offer packages that you think your customers will love the most. You can also provide special discounts to old customers, so they feel rewarded.
Seasonal discounts
Seasonal discounts are everyone’s favorite. Whether it’s the holiday season or the summer/winter season, we all know how rewarding they can be.
Your brand can make the most out of these seasons by planning discounts that resonate with your audience.
Think about when your customers would need your services the most and how you can make them buy more in a specific time frame. Let’s take an example. A brand named Dan’s Chocolates offers sales in December. They call it the “Super Snowman Sale,” where they offer discounts on large orders.
People send gift items to their friends and family during this season. Therefore the season becomes ideal for discounts on gift items.
Think about what works for your business
While offering discounts is a great marketing strategy, too much of it can deplete your resources. Your competitors might be making great bucks during the sale season, but it may or may not be the best option for you. Therefore thinking before taking the plunge and considering your finances is very important.
When you are working on discount strategies, you should look into the resources you have. You should ask yourself, how much discount can I offer? Will I gain any profit after offering discounts? What matters the most to my customers? Etc.
Once that’s done, look into customer data or conduct surveys, see what they want, and follow their suggestions. With your customer needs and your brand goals in mind, you can design better discounts.
Bulk discounts
If you have a huge stock that you want to clear or if you’re going to increase the average value per sale, then you should try out these types of discounts. When customers buy many products, they pay less per product but buy more products, increasing the number of sales.
Let’s take the example of Ujido. They offer matcha tea online. When you buy 8 boxes from them, they offer you a 10% discount, and as many people regularly take tea, buying boxes in bulk at a discount seems like a great deal!
Conclusion:
In this article, we went through 7 strategies to make the most out of product discounts. While designing a strategy, you can offer discounts to new customers and those offering to pay for a long-term plan. You can also make use of a buy one get one free offer to attract a larger audience.
