We are holding a promotion. Promotions to attract customers: from genre classics to shocking ones

Everyone loves gifts, surprises, jokes, discounts - this is a feature of human nature. For an entrepreneur, this circumstance serves as an excellent reason for carrying out interesting promotions that will make attracting buyers an easy process. Such a move will allow you to increase revenue, get rid of stale goods and find new “admirers” of your products. Let's look at the most common promotions to attract customers.

Types of shares

Depending on the specifics of the operation of a store, public institution, salon or any other commercial project, one action or several in total may be beneficial. There are a number of effective options:

  1. Bonus card. Purchases made at your establishment allow the buyer to accumulate points or rubles, and later receive gifts or discounts on purchases.
  2. “Bring a friend” campaign. For the fact that customers used the service or purchased a product, but additionally left the contact information of friends and acquaintances (or referred them), the next purchase is entitled to a discount of a fixed amount (for example, 20%, 1000 rubles or a gift).
  3. Discount for new client. Such a bonus can influence the behavior of buyers who prefer to purchase products from your competitors. Sales increase occurs due to “poaching” potential customers. It's just a matter of leaving a positive impression.
  4. Gift with purchase. This could be a bonus valid on a certain day or time of day. The gift is issued for the purchase of a promotional product or according to the size of the total receipt.
  5. Discount for pre-order or reservation (or ordering online). It may be small, but pleasant, especially if it is combined with other bonuses.
  6. Birthday discount. Giving each client 25-30% of a one-time order once a year is not much, but it is very nice for the buyer.
  7. Promotional products of the day. A reduced price is set for certain products every day. For example, for all sausages, alcohol, shorts, fishing gear - it all depends on your assortment. You can take a specific item as a promotional item and set a minimum price for it, subject to purchase for a certain amount.
  8. Discount for special occasion. This could be the day of a dentist, teacher, driver and other very specific professions. As evidence, you can require documents confirming your education or work in your specialty.
  9. “Come First” campaign. You can give a gift or discount to every first visitor every day.
  10. Prank. This is especially true if your store or establishment has an Internet website, a public page on a social network or an Instagram page. For a certain time, your subscribers share information about the ongoing draw with their friends, and on a set day, a product or a good discount on a purchase is raffled off between all participants.

Giving a client 25-30% of a one-time order for his birthday is not much, but it is very nice for the buyer.

Regular promotions to increase sales and attract new customers will create the impression of an interesting and tempting project. People will come to you in search of new discounts and offers, wait for notifications by mail or SMS (it’s worth implementing such a system), and set you apart from your competitors. People will intuitively come for benefits, and in addition they will buy something at the same time. This is an effective one that should not be neglected.

The fact that “advertising is the engine of trade” is obvious today. Promotions and interesting marketing activities are an important tool for winning over customers. Each company, depending on its area of ​​activity, scale and direction, resorts to a variety of moves. Many organizations periodically organize promotions to attract customers, which stimulate sales and general interest in the services provided by a particular company.

Algorithm for developing an advertising campaign

Advertising moves can be different; they provide an opportunity not only to stimulate interest in your product, but also to better study the needs of the buyer, his desires, and build a model of his potential audience. You need to know how to come up with an interesting offer that will interest a wide range of potential clients.

Selecting the target audience

Before introducing a system of bonuses, discounts and other events, it is important to draw a portrait of a potential buyer - what interests he has, what priorities he sets for himself when making a purchase. Perhaps this is an elderly person who wants to find goods at low prices, or a girl who is looking for how to.

Only by analyzing the possible behavioral reactions of your customers can you achieve the desired results and increase sales. It’s hard to believe, but even large companies sometimes skipped the step of analyzing their potential audience, resulting in millions of losses.

Max Factor, Revlon and Avon tried to enter the Asian markets. Naturally, a large budget was spent on promoting their products, holding promotions to attract customers, and opening sales points. But as it turns out, Asian women have completely different requirements for foundation; wearing perfume throughout the day is considered vulgar, and they have completely different requirements for the decorative line. As a result, the stores gradually closed, and the well-thought-out campaign had to be curtailed. As we see, even a large budget for promotion will not give the expected results until the target audience is carefully analyzed and studied. Even marketers of large corporations sometimes forget about this.

Strategy Development

Each potential buyer pursues his own interests, but they all boil down to a simple formula - “buying a quality item/service at a reasonable price.” At the same time, bonuses, promotions, discounts, a guarantee for the purchased product, etc. are welcome. But it is often difficult to determine a clear audience, since it may consist of different target groups and categories. In this case, the main task is to choose the right strategy, to draw up.

Both a housewife who makes clothes and a student can come for a washing machine (phone, computer). A pack of washing powder as a gift will not please a man who has never washed his clothes, and a free ticket to a football match will not arouse much enthusiasm in a woman. In this case, it is important to find common ground of interests of all potential clients and offer them a really attractive bonus (for example, headphones as a gift with a new tablet will be appreciated by everyone without exception).

Following the tastes and interests of different people is troublesome and expensive, but in conditions of fierce competition it is important.

What promotions can you come up with to attract customers?

Good quality, large selection, fast service are key factors in any business. But all of them can be undervalued if you do not allocate funds to advertise your products or services. Therefore, businessmen and managers often have to come up with a variety of promotions to attract customers that would increase traffic, and with them the profit margin.

Present

Bonuses, souvenirs, promotions, and accompanying little things as a gift will indicate a respectful attitude towards the buyer and will cheer him up. Most likely, the next time he searches for a product, he will turn to the same store that specializes in the necessary products. And although everyone has long known that the cost of a gift is already included in the price of the main product, a small trifle is so nice.

Discounts

The discount system is a common and popular method of attracting customers. This alluring word affects people differently, but most of them will definitely want to study the proposed product item and become familiar with its characteristics. The discount system varies:

  • seasonal discounts;
  • reduction in prices for collections of previous seasons;
  • discounts for the buyer's birthday;
  • incentives by attracting buyers;
  • incentives through making a purchase for a certain amount;
  • discounts on a certain series, group of products;
  • savings cards (loyalty system).

Prices

Visually attractive prices are an integral attribute of any retail outlet. Psychologists have proven that a buyer is attracted by a price tag that he visually likes (99.90 rubles or 59.90 rubles). Naturally, 10 kopecks will not affect his budget, but on a subconscious level, these figures seem more profitable than 100 or 60 rubles.

Non-standard solutions

Bonuses, discounts and small gifts are a common and widespread sales optimization tool. It’s difficult to surprise a “spoiled” buyer who is more interested in something than discounts on the next line of products.

Many companies (both large and small) often resort to non-standard approaches, forcing many to learn about their activities and use the services offered and buy goods.

One day, an expensive denim clothing store in Vilnius published information that customers who come to the store without pants during a certain period of time will be able to pick up and receive jeans for free. As a result, at the appointed time, a line of young people in only their underwear lined up outside the store. The promotion lasted 10 minutes, during which time several dozen boys and girls received free jeans, and the store gained popularity, attracted the press, and had a line of buyers already buying paid items.

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Promotions to attract customers are an important tool of the internal policy of each company. What to choose (standard or non-standard approaches) depends on the specifics of the company itself, but they are needed to increase the flow of customers and optimize sales.

In contact with

Various promotions and special offers are primarily considered as a way to increase sales. But this marketing tool actually brings much more benefits to businesses in a variety of ways. For example, competent work with promotions allows you to replace that portion of the customer base that a business loses over time and stimulates repeat purchases from existing customers.
At the same time, it is worth remembering that simply inventing and carrying out an action is not enough - you also need to convey information about it to as many people as possible from among your target audience. You can organize the dissemination of information using channels such as publications and banners on the website, social networks, banners in the contextual media network, and also use e-mail distribution for this purpose.

Here are 25 ideas you can use for your online store to attract new customers, increase sales, and spread the word about your brand.

  1. Random reward. This option is aimed at working with existing clients, and not at attracting new ones. The rules are simple: among customers who placed an order in a certain period of time, a prize in the form of a certain item or cash reward is drawn, and the winner is determined using a random number generator. An example of a service with similar functionality is mrandom.com.
  2. Package offer. A proven way to encourage customers to spend more than they originally planned is to combine several items in a package deal format and offer it at a lower price than if purchased individually. For example, a bundle of camera + bag + memory card.
  3. Create a feeling of scarcity. Indicate that the promotion is only valid for a limited time, such as this week or the next three days. Make people feel like they're losing money if they don't take action now. Limited supply stimulates additional demand.
  4. Opportunity to get first. We are talking about such a scheme for purchasing goods as pre-order. True, the return from such a promotion in an online store will only be if we are talking about a very popular product, for example, a new iPhone model.
  5. Weekend offer. Typically, consumer activity drops on weekends, and you can stimulate it by sending offers to your subscriber base with a selection of products that have discounts when placing an order on Saturday-Sunday.
  6. Personal selections. Segmenting customers and offering each group of products that may be of potential interest to them based on an analysis of viewed products or previous orders can provide good returns in the form of repeat purchases.
  7. Buy more to save. These types of offers are attractive to customers because they create a feeling of benefit received, despite the fact that the average bill becomes higher. Don't give big discounts, just make sure they're attractive enough to encourage potential customers to take action.
  8. A small gift. Let's be honest - everyone loves a freebie. It is enough to give just some nice little thing, and it is advisable that it reminds the person of your brand. It could be a mug, keychain, phone case, etc. This seems like a small bonus, but many people will appreciate it.
  9. Loyalty points. Each time a customer purchases something, they are awarded bonus points that can be redeemed for a cash discount on their next product purchase. You can first test this special offer for a certain period of time, and if it proves itself well, make the loyalty program unlimited, relevant for the entire time the online store operates as a business.
  10. Find cheaper. One of the popular ways to promote a brand, relevant for new niches and product categories with a low level of competition. The basic rule is that you will deduct the difference between prices if the buyer found a similar product cheaper in another online store. But it is worth recalling once again that such a scheme will not be relevant if we are talking about a highly competitive niche, which is characterized by a small markup on goods.
  11. Bring a friend. Offer registered users bonus points or a cash discount if a friend signs up using their referral link. This can work great in popular niches, such as clothing retailing. In this way, you can expand your customer base through the users themselves, who act as a kind of marketers for your business.
  12. Birthday gift. If you have enough data about your customers to track this kind of information, you can set up automatic mailings of special offers to those people who have an upcoming birthday. Everyone will be glad to see such attention to their person from the business.
  13. Only for subscribers. The name is not entirely correct, since the first association usually arises with an analogy with email distribution. We are talking about creating a unique offer for a specific channel. For example, this way you can increase activity on social networks by making a limited special offer for all page subscribers, valid for a specific period of time.
  14. We exchange old for new. This technique is called trade-in, and the most famous example of its use in retail is the ability to exchange an old iPhone for a new one at Apple retail stores. You can offer your regular customers to exchange an old item for a new one, with a small additional payment on their part.
  15. Gift certificates. Can work well in a niche that is in high demand, such as clothing, accessories, jewelry, digital technology, books, and others. It often happens that we want to give a gift to someone dear to us, but we haven’t decided what exactly is best to choose, and we just don’t want to give money. In such cases, a gift certificate of a certain denomination will be very useful.
  16. tell me a story. Surely among your subscribers on social networks and e-mail newsletters there are people who don’t mind showing their imagination if in exchange for it you offer them something valuable. Run a competition where everyone can submit a story related to the theme of your online store, or the use of a specific product category that you sell. In principle, the story does not have to relate to your product; you can, for example, coincide with a specific event.
  17. Family purchase. You can offer a discount or a free gift to those who buy things from you not only for themselves, but also, for example, for their child. So, when ordering clothes for an adult and a child at the same time, offer a discount, free delivery, or even give one set of clothes as a gift.
  18. Service as a bonus. Not all products fit the “buy and use” definition. Some require preliminary installation, configuration and similar actions on the part of the future owner. The seller can take on the solution to this task by offering to complete it completely free of charge, thus acquiring loyal customers.
  19. Master Class. If the products you offer are actively used in creativity or to create something, you can invite site visitors and subscribers on social networks to send a master class in the format of an article (with photo) or video. This is especially true for online stores that specialize in hobby and creative goods.
  20. Guess the result. On the eve of some significant event, before which a certain intrigue remains, you can invite users to guess its results. Moreover, it is not necessary that it be related exclusively to your niche, because there are events that are equally interesting for almost everyone. For example, the football championship and other sports competitions. Whoever guesses the final score will receive a prize!
  21. Bonus for review. If your online store has already implemented a system of cumulative discounts, bonus points, or something similar, you can experiment further, expanding it. Offer your customers bonus points for reviewing a product after placing an order, which they can use to get a discount on their next purchase.
  22. Hurry up to be the first. A promotional offer option that should be considered when promoting a new product or product category. Offer a discount, gift or free shipping to the first 10 customers. The number of buyers, of course, can be anything.
  23. Gift for subscription. A great way to increase your email subscriber base in a short time. Simply announce that everyone who subscribes to your email newsletter will receive a gift coupon that guarantees a discount of a certain value on any item in the catalog.
  24. Special days. It is difficult to find a person who has not heard of the famous “Black Friday”, the fashion for which came to us from the USA and other Western countries. It’s just that there’s only one Friday a year, and you can conduct an experiment and make a specific day special for customers, but not limit the promotion to one week. Free shipping, a small gift, bonuses on a club card - there are many ways to stimulate customers , and in the end, this one day can generate excellent revenue for you.
  25. Two plus one. An option that is suitable for online stores that operate in niches with good margins. Well, or in cases where you need PR at any cost. Create sets of promotional goods from several products, one of which will be free for the buyer. And you, in turn, will be able to earn money by increasing the average bill.

What else should you consider?

You don’t just need to carry out an action as an end in itself, but also achieve certain goals? Therefore, when planning this event every time, think carefully about whether it will suit the interests of your target audience. So that you don't accidentally end up giving away a set of car tires in the cycling community. An exaggeration, of course, but sometimes similar examples occur.

And one more important point - avoid being overly enthusiastic about discounts. Instead, make an effort to organize promotions that encourage users to return to your online store and make repeat purchases. Work to increase your base of loyal customers rather than random customers.

We hope that the ideas from this article will be useful to you when working to increase sales of your online store and help you achieve success in the difficult task of developing your own business. We also recommend that you read our article - any activity that will help you increase customer loyalty is worth spending your time and money on it in our time.