With brick-and-mortar shopping seemingly going the way of the Dodo, most organizations are making the shift to doing more business online. More than half of digital marketing experts have plans in place to implement customer journey analysis this year, which will help boost conversion rates and improve the customer experience online. It’s clear that marketing professionals recognize the value of selling online – but how do you go from making sales to booming successful?
One answer may lie in website promotions. There are a variety of ways that you can offer customers discounts and other benefits throughout their online shopping experience. Not only does this help close sales when consumers start to get nervous; it can also help build brand loyalty and act as a reward system for consistent customers. Below, we’ll cover seven different ways you can leverage these promotions to drive revenue through your online store.
Seven Ways to Drive Revenue Through Website Promotions
Free Shipping
We’ve all been there – we’ve got our online shopping cart full of goodies, we’re ready to make a purchase, we get to checkout, and… shipping is a dealbreaker. As many as 23% of abandoned carts can be traced back to customers experiencing sticker shock when it comes to hidden costs like shipping.
Offering your customers free shipping is a great way to offer them some peace of mind before they ever reach that point. You’re operating in the era of Amazon Prime – recognize that free shipping is seen as a standard now and start working with that fact.
Buy One Get One
BOGO sales offer you some wiggle room to select the discounts that best fit your company. Some sales involve buying something and getting something else for free; others center around making a purchase and getting another item at a hefty discount (oftentimes 50%). No matter which route you choose, BOGO sales will always draw a customer’s eye. This is a great means to increase average order value and create incentives to purchase more during an order.
Percentage-Based Discounts
If you can slash prices (or appear to slash prices) by a certain percentage and show those savings to your customers, you’re home free. Consumers love seeing the originally intended price of a product as proof that they’re really snagging a deal. Provided you keep profit margins in mind, these promotions are a great way to increase revenue and entice new buyers.
Reward Points Systems
While implementation can often be a little bit of a hassle, reward points systems are an excellent way to drive profitability and customer loyalty in the long run. That little bit of effort is generally well-worth the payoff – 84% of global consumers are more likely to shop with businesses who offer loyalty programs.
You can offer points for each dollar spent, each purchase made, or run special promotions to earn points now and spend them during a specific timeframe in the future.
Address Abandoned Carts
Our favorite kinds of abandoned carts are the ones that don’t exist. However, the fact of the matter is that you’ll always have to deal with somebody leaving a potential purchase behind. Consider implementing an automated system that emails potential customers coupons if their cart sits untouched for several days. These discounts could prove effective even if they’re as low as five or ten percent.
Dollar-Amount Discounts
Dollar- and percentage-based discounts both do a great job of capturing consumers’ attention and enticing them to make purchases. Big ticket items that are already expensive (think a thousand dollars or more) can have a significant chunk of cash knocked off of their price before it starts eating into your revenue. Who isn’t drawn to a TV that’s $300 off?
Gifts with Purchase
It’s like BOGO… only better.
Many businesses, especially those who work with cosmetics and other small or complementary items, offer free gifts with customer purchases. These are generally small, cheap items that cost little up front. Other organizations choose to utilize this method as a creative way to get rid of overstock. No matter how you intend to use the gift system to your benefit, it’s a surefire way to impress customers and drive sales.
Summary Paragraph:
Promotions are excellent for driving sales, as they give your customers further reason to shop with you. Discounts, free shipping, bonus gifts, and deals are excellent methods for keeping your customers interested in shopping with you. While these are effective means of getting your potential shoppers to follow through on checking out their shopping carts, promotions are also an important step on the customer journey. Engaging your customers, keeping them satisfied, and giving them something to look forward to are essential marketing tools to have in your toolbelt. Marketing effectively takes some creativity and there is no doubt that certain tactics are excellent ways to entice your shoppers. Promotions are so much more than just coupon codes and discounts, though. They build loyalty and long-term customers, which counts for so much in the longevity of your brand.
