Offering Discounts to Customers: How Creators Can Optimize Sales --

 Last updated: August 4 2022

Selling your digital products or services on the internet requires as much planning as creating them. You need compelling marketing, an engaged audience, and a dependable selling platform. But what happens when all that still doesn't translate into better sales figures?

The best place to start is to offer discounts to your customers.

Everybody loves sales With a survey finding that 88 percent of American consumers used discount coupons for 2020.

What's the best way to successfully promote deals on downloads, subscriptions, and memberships online? Here's what digital creators need to consider before cutting rates.

Do not offer discount offers before looking at the basic

Selling your products online is an ideal way to monetize doing whatever you like to do. It is important to remember what you're selling to make money. Consider the following aspects when you decide if you want, when, or how you should offer discounts to your customers.

 What is your margin of profit?

The fact that you can sell your own products online at a low cost upfront is an advantage being an online creator. But, you'll still require a sustainable business plan.

Before offering discounts to your customers, you have to determine:

• Your expenses for business (subscription charges for graphic design software, social media tools and maintenance, hosting for websites, selling platforms etc. )
• The amount of profit you need/aim to make

Combining these two numbers will give you the number that you have to reach every month. This will help you figure out what to charge for your goods and how to apply discounts in line with.

 Who is your customer?

Everybody loves sales, regardless of gender, age or income. However, keeping these aspects in mind can help you know which deals you can offer, and the best way to make them available.

The creation of customer personas is a great way to do this. Here are some categories to make you think about people those who might be interested in your products and the best way to provide them with discounts.

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Profession
• Income
• Family (marital status and children)

What does this information help guide decision making regarding promotional activities?

Firstly, if you've already determined your minimum monthly sum you need to make the estimate of your customer's spending budget can help you zero in on the discount sweet spot which is the amount that is appealing to your clients but still manages to make you profits.

A second reason is that solid user personas will aid in choosing which products to bundle into sales or buy one, receive one deal.

 What does your store & schedule look?

Making your product visible in front of customer eyes is a digital feat that is a feat in and of its own. Once you've done it, the first impression matters your storefront must provide the background of your business, detailed item descriptions, and a simple checkout process. It gives credibility, increases customer confidence and leaves a lasting impression.

If you've got a variety of items, you'll have determine which items should be discounted for customers to be enticed to buy more. This is where having an accurate customer persona really is a big help: It helps determine which items are the best to offer as a deal or freebie, and which ones can be used for full price.

For a trainer or coach offering free consultations or trials, you can't risk overbooking your schedule to attract more clients. It is important to evaluate the current volume of clients and availability before launching such promotional campaigns.

What kinds of discounts to provide

Smart sellers know that there's more to be won when offering discounts to clients. To get the most value from promotions means providing an appropriate discount at the right time.

Digital downloads (Ebooks, printables, presets, sewing patterns etc. )

 Percentage reduction

It is the most commonly used form of sale, and it's the one online shoppers love the most. Recent research shows the fact that 74 percent of online coupon buyers prefer a percentage discount to other types of promotions.

 What to look out for

For cheaper products, customers tend to see a greater value in discounts in percentages as opposed to dollar discounts, even though they are the same savings. A sale that offers $20 T-shirts for sale at 25% off will get much more attention than an offer of $5 off those same $20 T-shirts.

 How do you use it

• Attract new customers and grow your mailing list by giving 10% off your first purchase when they sign up for your email newsletter.
• Rewards loyal customers by giving them a discount of 20% when they make the next purchase.

 Fixed Amount Discount

Another common kind of discount is one which gives a specific amount off the original cost of a product. Similar to percentage reductions, messaging is everything.

 What should you look out for

Make the most of discount coupons that are fixed in amount when you apply them to costly products. Check out how much different $50 off of a digital print poster seems compared to offering the same item at 33% off. Think about applying it to higher-priced items which haven't performed well over time.

 What is it and how to utilize it

• Offer a fixed amount discount on purchases with a minimum total. As an example, you can get 30 percent off any purchase over $100.
• Allow customers to buy and send digital gift vouchers for $10, $20, $50 etc.

 Buy One Buy One, Get One

BOGO offers are essentially offering two products for 50% off. There's no reason to wonder why this is the type of discount preferred in 64% of customers across the board. This kind of offer is a great way to cross-sell items and introduce your clients to items they might normally not purchase.

 What to keep an eye out for

Be smart about which products you bundle and consider your client. Does the possibility of bundling the products from various categories higher than the chance of having an abandoned cart? Do you want to play the safe side by giving away related products, even if it involves giving something that may have been purchased separately regardless?

 How do you use it

• Send BOGO deals to your mailing list. Offer customers a free item when they buy any new item at full price.
• Advertise Buy One, Get One offers on social media. Design a multi-slide reel that includes every product that consumers can mix and match to get discounts.

 Bundle discounts

Giving multiple items with a reduced price can be a fantastic opportunity to boost sales and improve your AOV (average purchase value). Research shows that 29% of customers would purchase an item they didn't initially plan to purchase if it's highly reduced. Brick and mortar shops use this type of sale to swiftly get rid of stagnant inventory so that they can make room for fresh items.

 What should you look for

As a digital creator with unlimited storage space, keep your margins in mind prior to offering multiple products for a lower cost. Remember that when it comes to bundle discount offers the timing of your offer is crucial: One popular tactic is to promote this offer towards the end of the customer journey. Once someone has decided to buy something, offer similar items to purchase at a reduced price the checkout.

 What is it and how to utilize it

• Create a pop-up to your checkout webpage that shows an array of products.
• Offer a discount bundle on the product page with free items below or as an additional sidebar.

 Limited time/supplies & seasonal offers

The web is accessible 24 hours a day and this reduces the need to shop when on the internet. Utilizing discounts that are time-sensitive or with special offers that are limited in supply encourages shoppers to act quickly. Additionally, you can make use of seasonal or holiday offers to take advantage of an increase in sales or advertise items that are relevant to certain times of year.

 What to look for

Plan your discount calendar ahead of the time. This helps you to plan releases of new products as well as your social media content. Also, be careful about sale duration times: You want to make them small enough to create urgency, but sufficient to allow for proper promotion as well as customer recognition.

 How do you use it

• Birthday discounts are offered to those who previously bought from the company.
• Give digital Christmas coupons to your mailing list.
• Participate in Cyber Monday and enjoy significant savings.
• Offer sales on seasonal items inside your newsletters. For example, if you write vegan cookbooks, offer discounts on your best soup recipes at the beginning of the autumn season.

 Freebies

Although technically, they are not discounts however, they can be the perfect opportunity for sellers to build recognition and increase traffic to their website. This kind of offer is perfect for digital creators because you incur no monetary loss.

 What to watch out for

Everyone loves free...but the point of freebies is to convince customers to purchase eventually. Therefore, be sure to offer designs that show your top performance and leave the audience looking for more. For example, if you're a fitness trainer, you can offer your customers a free daily meal program that offers meals only, or workout routines targeted to a particular area.

 How to use them

• Provide free PDF templates across your social media platforms.
• Mix less-popular items into freebies when consumers buy items at the their full cost.
• Promote free items through your newsletters to customers and hyperlink to your store's page to drive traffic.

Memberships, Subscriptions, Software, and Memberships

Are you thinking that giving discounts to customers is limited to download products? If you're a teacher, coach, or software developer, you have a variety of choices for advertising memberships in your programs, or subscriptions for your software.

 Free trial/Freemium plan

Offering a free trial of your course material or software can be an effective way to draw and retain new followers.

 What should you look out for

For promotions based on products, knowing your market is crucial: What are the potential customers looking for? How can you show them only enough of your products or software to convince them to commit to paid alternatives?

 What can you do with it?

• Give a trial version of your application with limited features.
• You can offer a full version the software you use for a short duration.
• Promote a trial of exercise plans, or classes.
• Create savings for opting for annual payments vs. each month.

 Consultation for free

Free consultations can be an excellent method for coaches as well as other service providers to earn client trust. You can offer a short live session over Zoom or through an online messaging system. The client will describe the specific issue (weight loss, food and parenting concerns) and then you'll be able to provide a structured plan tailored to their needs.

 What to watch for

In the beginning, you'll be able to figure out how much time you have available. Are you planning to reach an international or local audience? Time differences may be an issue with scheduling. For both of these reasons, make sure to advertise limited availability (i.e. the first 10 people to respond) and be clear as to what you're offering and who it's suited for.

 What is it and how to utilize it

• Include a "booking" button on your store's homepage connected to Calendly or another online calendaring tool.
• Offers for free consultations to members of your mailing list that didn't have previously made a purchase or booked with you.

Free webinar/ Questions and Answers

The idea of hosting live events is an excellent way of getting people talking about your products and services. Even though you might not have the same amount of time to every particular participant, this approach might be easier than a 1-on-1 consult.

 What to look out for

Pick a general topic that the audience you are targeting is interested in and be prepared to answer the questions! Be sure to offer valuable information but not trying to promote your service, yet don't go to detail -- keep them wanting to know more!

 How to use it

• Set up an event live on Facebook and then promote it on your social media account as well as your website and email.

Which channels for marketing should I make use of when offering discounts to clients

Even the most well-planned discounts can be a disaster if they aren't promoted successfully. Making use of the correct channels for marketing improves the chance that your offers will be noticed by your target audience and convince people to act.

 Social media

If you've not yet set up a page on social media to promote your business, this is the best time to do so. This is your primary method for getting your products or services found.

• Creating a Facebook business page makes you appear more professional and lets millions of people across the globe to discover them. Utilize your page to announce discounts, and connect with your audience. Join relevant communities to discover more about your niche and to increase the awareness of your offerings. You can also use the platform to create and market live events for free in addition to paid ads.
• Instagram is the ultimate tool to capture your audience's interest, showcase your goods or services and also drive traffic to your storefront. A recent study found that 33% of respondents said they'd used coupon codes that are available on store's Instagram accounts to purchase on-line. Make posts that feature sale items and include discount codes in the caption. Connect your store's website to your bio for an easy way of directing clients to your store in seconds.

 Email marketing

Emails from marketing are generally regarded as unpopular by customers. But don't ditch your email list just yet. A surprising 81% of customers are actually happy to receive emails that contain promotions or sales announcements. Increase the number of emails you send out by offering signup discounts or freebies. You can also use it to give customers special discounts, and bring additional traffic to your website.

 Your website or storefront

For a digital artist, having a dedicated space to showcase your services and products is vital. Use social media and the email market in order to boost traffic to your store front which gives customers an in-depth view of the products and services you offer. Use pop-ups and related window displays to announce bundles, BOGO discounts and more.

Not a website? No problem! Connect your shop to your social media profile and make your product available to millions of internet-savvy shoppers. Learn how simple to do this on this page.

In the average, shoppers who make use of discount codes are 24percent more than those that don't. As a digital creator you have it in your most best interest to discover an easy and effective way to provide discounts to your clients.

Helps thousands of creators on the internet make money selling their creations and services without an upfront investment or site required. Find out the ease of getting started. get started today.