You probably already know that inbox clutter is the enemy of email readership. Whether it’s subject lines that are more “meh” than marvelous, or promotions that bore rather than bedazzle, the content you offer your audience via email marketing has to be interesting, relevant and valuable to them. This is especially true with promotions. Here are some tips and best practices to get you thinking about a summer promotion campaign with serious chops.
MAKE IT COUNT
The biggest mistake that businesses make with promotions or discounts is that they’re simply not big enough. A five or ten percent discount is often not enough of an incentive, especially when you’re trying to rope new customers. In general, you should extend the largest possible discount you can afford, with some experts suggesting a 20% minimum. It’s the go-big-or-go-home mentality that will really get consumers’ attention, so use data to explore what you can reasonably offer that’s affordable for you and exciting for your consumers.
If a straight discount isn’t the best move for your bottom line, consider some creative options that make sure you get paid in some way too, such as:
- BOGOs (buy one, get one free/half off/30% off, etc.)
- Hurdles (buy two, get XX% off; buy three, get XX% off, etc.)
- Buy any XX items, get a free gift (and make it a good one)
- Refer a friend and get XX% off.
- Share your positive review on yelp/tripadvisor/Google consumer reviews, get XX% off or free gift.
There is no limit to the ways you can craft offers around your customer’s needs and wants. Consider the positive impact you can have not only on their budget, but on their quality of life. Build your community by partnering with other local businesses to share and promote each other’s incentives. Leverage a bit of old-world charm when you collaborate with your nearby peers and mutually incentivize customers to shop. This helps spread out the financial commitment and exposes more customers to more businesses and products. Therefore, everyone wins.
A real example of an offer that counts in my inbox today:
Comments: 50% off is a nice, big discount. Naturally, if I love what I bought, I’m very likely to come back and shop again. This one’s burnin’ a hole in my pocket. I better get shopping.
MAKE IT FUN
Once you’ve figured out your bottom line and can commit to a robust and relevant offer, the very next step should spinning it in a way that’s friendly, funny or endearing. Use storytelling around your family, your staff, your customers—anything you can do to pull the deal together in a meaningful (and logical) way. Whether it’s with the name of the campaign or a simple yet appealing graphic treatment, help your consumers make the connections that encourage the behavior you seek. Even with a nice big discount, there should be more to any promotional campaign. Give your customers more information than less, about what makes this offer special in addition to how and why it benefits them.
A real example of a fun promotional offer in my inbox today:
Comments: This email’s subject line was “ONLY. HOURS. LEFT. 50% Off Everything!” Also, the striped border was animated, making this email really fun to get.
MAKE IT STACKABLE
If you’re like most consumers, you love when offers are stackable—or able to be combined into one fantastic super-offer. My favorite retailer does this beautifully by offering a variety of primary and reliable ways to save that can be stacked on top of each other. Each promo may only be 5-15% off, but when you put ‘em together, you’ve not only offered significant savings, you’ve also make it fun (see above) and even more gratifying for consumers.
For example, you offer an everyday 5% off for loyalty program members + 15% coupon + 5% off if they bring back their old container/their own bags/a non-perishable food item, etc. If this discount isn’t sustainable, then pick a day of the week or a day of the month and then promote it like heck via email and other marketing channels as appropriate.
A real example of a stackable offer in my inbox today:
Comments: That’s an excellent discount combined with a substantial added card member percentage off. This promotion could mean my purchase is 90% discounted. Excuse me while I immediately pay next to nothing for new clothes. Care to join me? Happy stacking!
MAKE IT MEANINGFUL
As a business owner, you have the power, the freedom, and some would say, the obligation to give back when and where you are able. And beyond good karma, your customers will love you for it. Give their purchase the power to do more than just improve their lives, and watch their spending threshold, promoting activity (i.e. reviews or word of mouth in person and via social media) and their overall satisfaction change for the better. Do your research and pick a cause or an organization that is not only personally important to you, but relevant to your business. For instance, if you’re a restaurant, run a campaign to end hunger in your community. If you’re a hardware store, partner with Habitat for Humanity (or a smaller scale/local equivalent) to build a house.
Once you’ve established a cause, tie in promotions to encourage sales and generous participation in your campaign. For example, you offer an extra 5% off (stackable with other promos you have in place at the time!) or a free item if your customers bring in a bag of clothes for donation, or non-perishable food item, or when they donate any amount to the charity you’ve chosen to partner with. Naturally, this is another great opportunity to partner with other local businesses, since there’s power in numbers and building community whenever you can will mean better business results overall.
A real example of a meaningful promotion in my inbox today:
Comments: This is a no-brainer, especially since I’m already a customer. But on this day, I just felt better about buying their stuff. Plus, there’s a goal involved, which for the lovers of participation makes this promotion extra enticing.
MAKE IT REGULAR
Another pitfall that’s so easy to fall into is the one-and-done approach. You put a lot of time, though and effort into crafting your promotion, you run it once with any results, and then you stop. If promotions are to be successful in the long term, your promotional strategy needs to be based on the long term, too. Consider planning on a quarterly or yearly basis, knowing that you can adjust as necessary, for the type of promotions you plan to run, their start and end dates, projected results if you have the power to generate them, and other pertinent details. Once your customers are aware that there are deals to be had, keep ‘em on the hook with regular incentives and sustainable programs they can count on. This still leaves you the opportunity for “wow-factor” when you throw in an added deal, have a once-yearly promo that’s unbeatable or make your offerings stackable. The bottom line is: don’t hit once and walk away. Lay a promotional foundation that is well considered and successful and then compliment it with special offerings throughout the year.
A real example of a regularly occurring promotion in my inbox today:
Comments: This is my favorite retailer’s Weekly Ad. I look forward to it in my inbox. I use it to inform my purchases and it always has substantial discounts that I can count on. It’s thoughtfully conceived and never fails to show up in my inbox, week after week. Psst … these deals are stackable with an extra discount for using the store credit or debit card as well as their other primary savings mechanisms like Cartwheel™.
MAKE LOYALTY PAY OFF
A loyalty program is one of the simplest, most effective and fun ways to keep your customers in your corner. Common loyalty programs provide free product upon a customer’s meeting a certain purchase threshold. But really, you can craft your program with your specific product, brand personality and customer at its heart. If you can sustain it financially, consider an everyday discount specifically for program participants (who must opt in to email marketing at a minimum, which is pretty much the point of a loyalty program besides loyalty—list building!). If a standing discount is infeasible, give members a hurdle to achieve, like their fifth product or service is half off (remember to make it count) or if they visit your shop four times in a month, they get a $XX gift card.
Sure, loyalty programs keep your customer base happy, and if crafted for your business needs they accomplish their basic function with little effort and expense commitment on your part. But the really neat thing about loyalty programs is that they psychologically represent “joining.” What’s special about joining? Not only is a sense of belonging something many humans find desirable, but one of your biggest emerging consumer groups with serious buying power is the Baby Boomers. These folks who were born between 1946 and 1964 are coming into retirement, which means so many key things for their buying behaviors, income and needs. Most importantly, however, is that Baby Boomers are joiners, so they love loyalty programs. Give them insider discounts and information and treat these loyalists with special benefits and opportunities to participate, and you could be surprised by how your program takes off and reels in real results.
A real example of a loyalty promotion in my inbox today:
Comments: The Bloomingdale’s Loyalist program couldn’t be easier to use or to love. It’s always a great deal. For example, I received $50 in Loyalist dollars and combined this with other promotions (stacky stacky!) for a pretty great discount on a handbag. My local Bloomingdales has been closed for many moons, and I never made a single purchase in their brick and mortar location. Thanks to their customer loyalty program however, I’m an avid patron of their .com.
Promotions aren’t just about coupons anymore. Their success depends as much on quality and relevance as any content you publish or push. Thoughtfully craft your programs using our inspiration, or your own wonderful concoction, and see how your results respond. Keep your expectations in check for your first several promotions as it takes a while to get traction while word of mouth does its thing. And don’t forget to hit us up today to help you connect the dots. Together, let’s give the people what they really want—good discounts on your fabulous products and services.
