Discounts You Can Count On

Over the past two weeks, if you’ve been keeping up with our blog, you’ve gotten the chance to hear about the true power direct mail holds. We’ve shared why direct mail is still so powerful in today’s marketing world, as well as tips and tricks on how to improve your current direct mail marketing. Direct mail is trustworthy, cost-effective, results-driven, and sticks with customers. We’re here to emphasize (and exemplify) just that. For our final blog of The Power of Direct Mail series, we’re taking you through the importance of creating, using, and distributing coupons, and how providing deals and discounts can help your direct mail stand out from the rest and ultimately boost your shop’s sales and popularity.

Strategize

When we say strategize your discounts, we’re advising you to think about what your customers would like to see and use – and to make discounts easy to comprehend both visually and audibly. Customers have particular interests and restricting budgets (and, even if they don’t, they all enjoy a percentage off or monetary discount). They also don’t want to do math if they don’t have to. For these reasons, make your discounts as accessible, valuable, and logical as possible, without of course, giving too much away.

For example, if you’re selling an item for $25.00, offering “30 percent off” may sound and look less attractive than “$7.50 off,” even though they’re worth the same dollar amount. To find out what your customers find most attractive and enticing, A/B test different variations to see what works best. You’ll often find that simple, rounded numbers look and sound much more enticing (excluding the old “9.99 instead of 10.00”) than decimals and difficult math. When testing out discounts, it’s strategic to incorporate a popular item to get quicker and more efficient results.

Lastly, strategize by comparison. Look at other shops around you or even a bit away from you. What are they giving to customers? What deals, markdowns, and combos are they providing that seem to work well?

Create Urgency

A whopping 83% of shoppers claim they purchase unexpectedly when they’re offered a promotion. Take advantage of this customer behavior by making your offers seem short-lived and important. Do this with a deadline (“offer expires…”), cutting off the discount at a certain number of customers, or – the most urgent – making the offer a flash sale of one day or even just a few hours.

Making your discount seem rare and limited will get the most customers interested and involved – because, as the saying goes, we often want what we can’t have. The goal is for customers to act quickly by limiting access to the markdown. Studies show that millennials are especially receptive to these types of limited-time offers, with over 50% finding them appealing.

Distribution

There are many ways to give out your shop’s coupons – from digital to print, and it’s best to try distributing them in several ways to see what works best for your potential and returning customers. Simply print them on your direct mail for customers to bring to your shop, or provide a QR code that acts as a simple, space-saving path to digital coupons. Try posting your coupon or flash sale on social media, or advertising a discount through a digital ad. The possibilities are truly endless, and the more channels you present your coupons on, the better reach and success they’ll have.