How Effective Sales Promotions Can Get You More Customers

Everybody loves a good sale. No matter how badly you already wanted to purchase an item or use a service, getting a great discount just makes it so much better.

Sales and promotional tactics have been known to be so effective that sometimes people will buy things they didn’t need and had never considered before, just because it was a terrific deal. 

We all love to feel like we’ve made a savvy shopping decision, and if leveraged correctly, sales promotions can be among a brand’s strongest tools. 

Sales promotions are an effective way for successful companies to promote their brand, increase customer retention and generate more revenue. Efficient sales promotions benefit businesses by offering an enticing incentive to help differentiate themselves from their competitors. 

A sales promotion may be just what a business needs to take the company's revenue to the next level. 

What is a Sales Promotion?

A sales promotion is a marketing campaign where a company offers a discount or bonus to promote a new or existing product or service. The main goal of a sales promotion is to boost overall sales. 

Sales promotions can be used in various ways and for a number of different occasions. A promo may be added to help boost an underperforming product or service to meet preexisting sales targets. 

Alternatively, sales promotions are used to help get the ball rolling when a new business enters the market, or new products or services are introduced. 

Types Of Sales Promotion

The intent behind a sales promotion may vary depending from business to business. However, there are multiple ways to move forward with a sales promotion. 

Coupons

• Coupons are traditionally a physical advertisement a prospect can hold in their hands and carry with them.
  
  However, as smartphones become more prevalent, many brands have begun offering digital coupons, which can be sent to customers through a company's website or email newsletter.
  
  Coupons provide an enticing incentive to remind potential customers to visit a business. Rapidly approaching expiration dates on a coupon can further add a sense of urgency for potential clients.
  
  Prospects who may have been on the fence about your products may be inclined to use the coupon anyways, for fear of missing out on a deal. 

Contests

• Contests attract potential clients by offering a free prize to a lucky winner. With contests, consumers leave their information to be drawn from a group of contents.
  
  Contests are a fantastic way for brands to increase loyalty and brand awareness and gather valuable customer data. A contest could involve customers providing their phone number or email, following a brand on social media or signing up to follow their e-newsletter.
  
  Brands can use the information gathered during the contest to advertise similar products to relevant customers in the future. 

Buy One Get One Free

• Buy one get one (BOGO) free deals are an excellent way to offload merchandise that has not been selling. Customers may feel a product is priced too high compared to their interest.
  
  In this instance, a BOGO deal is a fantastic way for them to feel they’re getting something worthwhile for their money. 

Loyalty Programs

• Loyalty programs offer a reward for returning customers. For example, a customer could buy an item nine times, and the loyalty program rewards the tenth purchase for free.
  
  As their name suggests, these programs are a great way to build loyalty to the brand and increase customer retention by providing an incentive for repeated purchases.
  
  Loyalty programs also allow brands to gain more customer data, which in turn will benefit their marketing efforts. 

Free shipping

• This is one of the ways brands such as Amazon have set themselves above the competition.
  
  Fast, free shipping is an alluring incentive for online shoppers. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, online shopping has increased exponentially, making the draw of free shipping even more appealing to consumers.
  
  If a customer has multiple options for a particular purchase, the brand that offers free shipping is the most likely to earn the sale.  

Gift with purchase promotion

• All sales promotions rely on the idea that people love a deal, and there’s no better deal than something that’s free. Offering a free small gift as a purchase promotion is one way for brands to set themselves apart for their competitors.
  
  What’s more, gifts with purchase provide an excellent opportunity for giving away branded merchandise, such as tote bags or sunglasses with the company name or logo.
  
  Customers will walk away feeling pleased with their deal, and your brand will get some great additional advertising. 

Discount coupon for first-time customers

• Offering a discount can convince people to purchase your product. Especially for recurring services, a discount for a couple of months can convince someone to sign on initially.
  
  Once a customer starts to see the value of the service, they will continue on with the service at the regular price. 

Newsletter signup discount

• A newsletter signup discount allows you to target your customers with newsletters in exchange for a small discount on individual services. 

Holiday promotions

• During the year-end holiday season, many people rush to purchase gifts for their loved ones. Many businesses generate the bulk of their revenue during this time, as winter holidays are one of the most popular occasions to give gifts. Consumers are also accustomed to the great sales and promotions offered during this time of year, and may be waiting to purchase items just to see if they'll go on sale, especially for pricey purchases like electronics. 
  
  When the holiday season comes around, a holiday promotion will incentivize customers to your product or service during the busy shopping season.

Pros and Cons Of Sales Promotion

Every sales promotion has its pros and cons. Understanding the risk-reward ratio is essential when choosing which promotion you would like to move forward with. 

We’ve discussed many of the clear benefits of sales promotions, which include increasing sales revenue, learning more about customer behaviour, improving retention and increasing brand loyalty. 

However, as with any marketing strategy, there is always a certain potential for risk. Brands should never allow themselves to be so distracted by the potential benefits that it ignores potential dangers that a sales promotion could have. 

Sales and customer analytics should always be used to determine the best factors contributing to a successful promotion. The right promotion at the right time can have tons of benefits for a brand, but the wrong one may appear to devalue the company or hurt revenue. 

Effective Sales Promotion Tips

Set well-defined sales promotion goals

• When setting up a sales promotion, it is crucial to establish goals. 

Whether generating new business during a slower time of year, attracting new leads, or improving customer retention, establishing a well-defined goal for your sales promotion allows us to understand if the promotion is successful or not. 

Select your target audience

• You can sell to anyone, but clearly defining your target audience is essential for a successful sales promotion. For example, determining whether you’re targeting business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is an important target factor.
  
  From there, choosing the right geographic location, time of day, age, or interests are all potentially huge elements to help establish who qualifies as a successful lead. 

Review Your Sale, test and improve

• Like most marketing approaches, your initial sales promotion is about gathering information. Once a large enough database is collected, you must review the performance.
  
  When you have enough data to inform your decisions, adjust the promotion based on your analysis. Keep repeating this process until you find a promotional strategy that you are satisfied with. 

Align your Sales Promotion Time

• You can align your promotions with holidays and seasonal promotions.
  
  Additionally, highlighting a strict end date to the promotion forces consumers to take action on the promotion sooner rather than later. 

Just Deal With It 

At their core, sales promotions provide a symbiotic relationship between customers and brands. They feel they're getting the best value for their money, which makes them feel good about their purchases. 

At the same time, brands enjoy increasing revenue and improving customer sentiment and retention. 

Sales promotions also offer incentives for customers to provide valuable data and information on themselves and their buying habits that brands need to drive their critical marketing strategies. 

From coupon clipping to handing out free samples, sales promotions have been a significant part of a marketers handbook since the beginning. If done correctly, using promos to gain and keep customers provides brands with one heck of a deal. 

 FAQs

When should I start my business sales promotion?

• You should send out your promotion at least one month before the promotion expires. This will bring more awareness to your promotion before the expiration date. 

How to know my target audience?

• You should conduct some market research to find your target audience. This includes analyzing your competitors, conducting surveys, and using focus groups. 

Which is the effective online sales promotion?

• There are many effective online sales promotions. One effective sales promotion is adding banners with a promotion to the top of your website.