Offering discounts are a key part of running a successful ecommerce business. Discounts help you increase sales and grow faster. There is nothing wrong in giving a small percentage of your customers a discount as this will help you achieve two prime goals: 1) Retain customers, especially the ones that make repeat purchases, and 2) Generate leads by targeting the right audience with discounts.
Did you know that in 2020, 88% of online purchases were done using discount coupons?
Further, In 2018, just over 50 percent of American 18 to 39-year-olds considered discounts and coupons for digital purchases to be very important.
For small businesses, an ecommerce discount strategy can be the key to successful marketing. It gives customers a reason to buy from them over their competition. However, simply offering a discount is not enough. Using discounts requires proper planning and strategy.
Competing with the big guys is hard, but with a proper discount strategy you can also beat your competition on an ecommerce website. Here’s an article on how to get started and optimize your discount strategy with growth in mind.
What is an ecommerce discount strategy?
An ecommerce discount strategy is a method of marketing that uses discounts to encourage customers to buy more products. Discount strategies are often used by businesses that sell products online, as they can be implemented with relative ease and are an effective way to encourage customers to make purchases. The discount is usually applied to the price of the product. For example, a discount of 10% off the price of a product would mean that the price of the product would be reduced by 10.
The success or failure of you using discounts to increase sales is in the innovation of your strategy. It’s important to consider how you communicate your discount to your customer and how the customer perceives its benefit, the deal they get and your brand portrayal.
How to get started with an ecommerce discount strategy? Tips for a new ecommerce business.
If you have an ecommerce store, chances are you want to offer discounts. You may be doing that already. But perhaps you are not doing it as effectively as possible. So let’s talk about the different ways to offer discounts on your ecommerce store and at the same time help get a better understanding of what tools and extensions can help your business succeed in this area.
Understand your brand.
When it comes to offers, it’s important to know what you have and what you don’t have. If you are making a big push on promotions and discounts, then you should make sure that your brand values support the move. You also need to understand your customer base, competitors and product mix before rolling out any discounts.
- Know your target customer: Who is going to buy your products? What level of education do they have? Are they married or single? How old are they? Where do they live (city/state)?
- Know your competition: How much margin do they offer on their product offerings? Do they run promotions frequently or rarely? What kind of promotions are popular with customers across most ecommerce platforms like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday weekend sales events from other retailers trying to attract customers via discounting tactics that may not be sustainable over time for businesses who are looking for longevity in this highly competitive market space where there is no room left for “loss leaders” anymore because margins are so tight across all industries these days due to cost pressures from rising energy prices affecting transportation costs as well as labor costs due to how expensive it is nowadays just getting products made overseas imported back into our country again after being shipped abroad first before being brought into stores here at home too!
Decide on a strategy.
Discounts are a great way to attract new customers and retain existing ones. They can be used to increase sales, decrease returns and fraud, build customer loyalty and improve customer satisfaction, increase social media engagement or email engagement.
Set a plan for your discounts.
- Define your target audience. Who is going to buy the product? How old are they, what gender are they, how much do they earn, where do they live?
- Define your brand. What does your company stand for? What kind of image do you want to portray and how should it be reflected in the discount campaign?
- Define your product. What’s special about it that makes it worth a discount? Does it come with special features or more benefits than competing products on the market? Is there anything unique about its production process that makes it more sustainable than others (for example: organic cotton T-shirts)?
- Define your goals. What does success look like for this discount campaign, both short term and long term; i.e., what metrics need to be met within each timeframe (such as average order value or conversion rate) so that you know when you hit certain benchmarks and can continue investing in this channel or change tactics if necessary based on results obtained thus far (i.e., if sales decreased over time).
Consider a contest or sweepstakes.
Contests and sweepstakes are great ways to attract more visitors, increase brand awareness and boost sales.
A contest involves offering an incentive (i.e., cash or prizes) for customers to make a purchase or refer new buyers within a specified time frame.
A sweepstakes allows consumers to enter for free by filling out a form on your website, without having made any purchases yet.
You can also offer both contests and sweepstakes on your site at the same time if you wish, but keep in mind that many people will only participate in one of these types of promotions at any given moment.
Run an email campaign
Email campaigns are a great way to communicate with customers, particularly if you’re promoting a sale or discount. It’s important to use email marketing as part of your strategy for generating sales in the lead-up to Christmas.
These tips will help you get started:
- Create an email list that’s segmented according to customer demographics or behaviours. For example, if your customers tend to purchase from your store on Wednesdays and Fridays, then create separate lists for these two days. This will ensure that only those who have purchased from the store on Wednesdays and Fridays receive emails about upcoming offers.
- Ensure that all emails sent have an unsubscribe option so that subscribers can easily opt out of future communications if they wish to do so (check out Mailchimp’s helpful guide here). This way you can be sure that no one feels overwhelmed by getting too many emails from your company!
Offer more than discounts.
Keep in mind that offering discounts is only one way to encourage customers to buy. There are a variety of other things you can do to get them excited about your product. For instance, here are some ideas:
- Offer free shipping. This can make the difference between whether or not they decide to purchase from you rather than another site offering the same products at a lower price.
- Offer free returns and exchanges (within 30 days). If someone buys something from you and doesn’t like it, they may be less likely to buy again if they have nothing left over from their first purchase or if it’s difficult for them to return what they already bought.
- Offer gift wrapping services for an extra fee ($1 per package). This isn’t necessary but could be very useful for customers who want their gifts wrapped but don’t have time or space for it themselves; many people like shopping online because of how convenient it is!
Discounts can help you increase sales and decrease returns and fraud, but they must be used thoughtfully.
Discounts can be a good way to increase sales and decrease returns and fraud, but they must be used carefully. Offering discounts to your customers is a great way to reward loyal customers and attract new ones.
But it’s not just about offering whatever discount happens to be on the top of their minds; if you do this with all of your customers, then you’ll end up losing money and no one will buy anything from you anymore!
The best time for discounts is when there’s something special happening in the store (like a sale), or when someone has spent a certain amount of money with you (like being in their first visit).
What types of discounts can an eCommerce Business offer?
Discounts are one of the most common ways that ecommerce businesses attract and retain customers. But there are a few different kinds of discounts you can offer, and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few examples:
Percentage off
The most common discount is a percentage off the purchase price. This kind of discount is easy for customers to understand, but it’s also easy for them to forget about if they don’t see it on their receipt every time they make a purchase!
Fixed price
Another option is offering a fixed price for something that would normally be priced at $100 with no discount—this is an especially good option if you’re selling something like jewelry where you want people to feel like they’re getting a deal but don’t necessarily need something as specific as a percentage off.
Free shipping
A lot of businesses offer free shipping above some threshold amount in order to lure people into buying more than they might have otherwise—for example, if someone buys $50 worth of stuff from your store, then you’ll give them free shipping on anything else they buy within 30 days.
Percentage off plus free shipping
This is similar to the first option, but instead of just offering a lower price, you also give your customers free shipping as well. So if a shirt costs $30 normally, it might be sold for $27 with free shipping. This method works best when there is a certain threshold that needs to be reached before the discount kicks in—for example, if someone buys three shirts they’ll get 20% off and free shipping; if someone buys five shirts they’ll get 30% off and free shipping; etc.
Free product/service with purchase
When someone makes their first purchase from your store, give them an extra bonus item as part of their order—something that will complement their purchase or make them feel special about buying from you!
Promotional Discounts
This is the most common type of discount—it’s something you do once or twice a year to promote certain products or services. Promotional discounts are great for getting new customers in the door, but they don’t typically last more than a few weeks at most.
Loyalty Discounts
These are much like promotional ones in that they encourage people to buy from you again and again by offering them special deals on their favorite products or services. The difference between this type of discount and promotional ones is that loyalty discounts usually last longer than a week or two—they’re meant to be long-term incentives for customers who spend money with you frequently.
Door Buster Sale
If your store is hosting an event where hundreds (or even thousands) of people will be coming through the doors, this kind of sale might be perfect for you!
Temporary discounts
Temporary discounts are the kind of discount you see when you’re shopping online—you click on something that says it’s on sale, or maybe you sign up for a special email list and get an extra 10% off your next purchase. These are great because they give you the feeling that you’re getting a deal, but they typically don’t last very long. They’re also usually offered by smaller companies who need more exposure and want to boost sales as quickly as possible.
Our TOP 3 Types of discounts we suggest you implement right away
Abandoned cart discounts:
Abandoned cart offers are a great way for ecommerce businesses to capture lost sales.
When a customer adds items to their shopping cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, it’s called an abandoned cart. And yes, it’s true: Ecommerce businesses lose a ton of money because of these abandoned carts.
The good news is that there are ways to keep customers from abandoning their carts in the first place—and then there are ways to entice them back and get them making purchases! One of the most effective ways is by offering discounts on abandoned carts through an email campaign.
Abandoned cart emails are sent out after a customer has added items to their cart but hasn’t completed the purchase within X number of hours or days after adding them. The email will let them know that they still have items in their cart and offer them a discount if they return and make the purchase within 24 hours (or whatever amount of time you choose).
Discounts on large orders
One of the best ways to encourage bulk purchases is to offer discounts for large orders. This can be done by offering a discount on each item purchased, or on the entire order.
Here’s how it works: if you buy our product in bulk, we’ll give you a discount on your order. The more you buy, the more money you save!
Discounts on bulk purchases are a great way to get more people interested in your ecommerce store. It’s a simple concept, but you’ll need to do some work to make it work for you. Here are our tips:
- Make sure your products are eligible for bulk discounts. If you have a lot of products that can be purchased in bulk, then this is definitely an option for you. If not, it may not be worth the effort.
- Set up a landing page or offer page that explains why customers should buy in bulk and how much they can save by doing so. This will help them understand the value of buying more than one item at once, and if they’re interested, they’ll be more likely to purchase more than one item at once—which is exactly what we want!
- Send out emails about the offer periodically so customers who aren’t shopping now know about it when they do decide to buy something from your store!
Coupon Codes:
Coupons are a great way to help your customers save money, and we know that ecommerce businesses are always looking for new and innovative ways to offer discounts.
We’re here to help! Here’s how you can offer coupon codes on your website:
- Add a text field to the checkout page where customers can enter their code. Make sure it’s large enough for people to enter their code without having to squint or use a magnifying glass.
- Offer an incentive for customers who use the coupon code—maybe it’ll be just for them, or maybe they’ll get some kind of reward if they refer others to shop with you as well. This will increase the chances that people will actually use your coupon codes instead of just forgetting about them in their browser history forever (which is another thing we’ve seen happen).
- Have fun with it! Think of creative ways to encourage people to share your coupons with their friends or family members: maybe offer extra discounts if someone buys at least three items at once or gives away free shipping if they spend over $100 on different products within seven days (you don’t have to tell us what those products are!).
On page tools to get the maximum out of your discount strategy
Welcome popups with discount codes
Customers who click on the ‘Get discount code’ button will be redirected to a popup with a discount code. If they enter the code, they’ll be able to use it to get a discount on their order. If they don’t enter the code, they won’t be able to use it.
This is a great way to not only get customers to buy your product and remind them about the discount, but its a great way to get their email id and grow your list.
It’s also a great way to get customers to share your discount codes with their friends. You can also use it to get customers to sign up for your newsletter or to subscribe to your blog.
Exit popup with discount codes:
This is a popup that appears when a customer is about to leave your website. The popup asks them to enter the discount code they received when they made their purchase. If they enter the code, they’ll be able to use it to get a discount on their order. If they don’t enter the code, they won’t be able to use it.
The popup is a great way to not only get customers to make a purchase but also to remind them about the discount and get their email address.
It’s a great way to not only get customers to make a purchase but also to remind them about the discount and get their email address. You can also use it to get customers to sign up for your newsletter or to subscribe to your blog.
In some cases, it can go a long way in the customer changing their mind from exiting your site to buying your product at a discounted price, if they see more value.
Price alerts sign up:
This pop up capturs the email address of the customer and tells them that they will receive an email with a price alert for discounts of products they just scrolled. Great way to get emails for your email list and ensure repeat customers. You can also use this popup to get customers to sign up for your newsletter or to subscribe to your blog.
Conclusion
As a new ecommerce business, figuring out how to start with a discount strategy can be a bit tricky. You want to make sure you’re providing the right incentives for your customers in the right way to maximize your sales, but there are so many different types of discounts you can offer that it can feel overwhelming at times.
Getting started with an ecommerce discount strategy is simple. All you need to do is identify which discounts will provide the best value for your business and how you plan to implement them. There are many different ways to offer discounts on your site, and many of them can be used together to increase your sales and boost your bottom line. The first step is to identify which tactics will work best for your bottom line, and then build your discount strategy from there.
