Anatomy of a Good Promotion – Part 2: The Structure
The anatomy of a good promotional offer: How to structure a compelling holiday offer.
Choosing an offer
While you can run special promotions or have a few special days where an item is less expensive for a short period of time, simply offering discounts doesn’t work in every situation. Zeke Freeman, owner of
Bee Raw and PayPal merchant service user, finds that for his business giving discounts creates an expectation of more discounts. He opts to focus his holiday offers around express shipping.
Here are a few other creative ideas:
- Gift-with-purchase: Take a cue from the cosmetics industry that learned long ago that it's better to offer a gift of items with a purchase than offering a discount on a purchase. It's a fantastic way to get your customers to try more of your items, and can also be a good way for you to get rid of overstock.
- Shipping upgrades: Take Bee Raw’s approach and try a promotion offering a discounted shipping upgrade or free shipping for last-minute orders going into holidays. Making last-minute express shipping can help you win new customers.
- Donations: Match your sales efforts with a charity that’s connected to the holidays you're targeting and/or to your business's industry. Choose to dedicate a percentage of your sales during the offer period or on #GivingTuesday. A good place to start is the PayPal Giving Fund— a database of hundreds of national and local 501(c)(3)- registered charities. Offer discounts for customers who pay with PayPal and pass any donation on to the nonprofit. PayPal will add 1% until the end of the year, so 101% of your business’s donation goes to the charity.
Pro Tip: “Remember to focus on increasing average order value,” recommends Tracey Wallace, Editor-in-Chief of the Bigcommerce Blog. “Consumers coming to you during the holidays are shopping for multiple people –– so encourage them to buy multiple gifts from you, rather than your competitors, with free shipping upgrades at a certain price point, recommended products and discounted bundles of products near checkout, and abandoned cart emails that offer discounts after a single purchase.”
Get started!
Chase Jones, Small Business Marketing, PayPal