Sales promotion

If you’ve ever thought about how to attract more customers to your business in a short time frame and keep them coming back, you must have heard of sales promotions. Successful companies already know all the benefits of using them. But what is a sales promotion, and how to grow your business using its best techniques? It’s time we find it out. 

Sales promotion definition 

A sales promotion, or promo, is a set of marketing strategies used to boost the demand for a product or service, raise brand awareness, and increase revenue. 

As a rule, companies use sales promotions within a limited period via various channels – social media, email campaigns, websites, etc. They are accompanied by quality visuals, influential text, and a reasonable objective to reach out to the target audience. 

Having been used successfully for a long time, sales promotion techniques will work for you as well, regardless of your industry, business type, or company size. Let’s take a closer look at its advantages. 

Advantages of sales promotion

There are numerous benefits of implementing sales promotion in your business. Here are the basic ones:

• It generates more customers. Discounts, free trials, and other special offers inspire purchase decisions and increase customer acquisition as many people are eager to try something new without high risks. And if they like your product, they will undoubtedly join your loyal customer base.
• It retains current customers. Gaining a paying customer is not the end of the story. The more challenging task is to nurture them over time for another purchase. With sales promotions, you can reward your audience and keep them involved in your brand.
• It raises awareness. Sales promotions are an effective way to increase brand awareness among prospects. And brand recognition, in its turn, will undeniably have a positive effect on sales. Speaking of…
• It gives a quick increase in sales. Sales promos are meant to boost your sales on short notice. Done right, they improve short-term sales and bring the customer back to repeat a purchase. 

Types of sales promotion

• Discounts
• Coupons or vouchers
• BOGO
• Free shipping
• Gifts
• Free trial
• Referral programs
• Tripwire
• Donations

Sales promotions have various forms – from discounts and free shipping to gifts and free trials. Here are some impactful sales promotion ideas that will be beneficial for your business: 

Discounts

The most common type of sales promotion is a percentage discount. It’s a cost reduction, for example, 20% off that can be applied to products and services. Whether online or in-store, percentage discounts are proven to be best converted.

Coupons or vouchers

Coupons and vouchers are certificates that let customers take the product or service at a reduced price. They can be given as a reward for their first purchase, a thank you for their loyalty, or a birthday treat. This type of promotion encourages customers to buy and increases their engagement. You can also personalize coupons or vouchers based on the customer’s purchase history to get even more chances of conversion.

BOGO

Buy One Get One (BOGO) is another common form of sales promotion that stimulates customers’ buying decisions. It presupposes a free or discounted item in addition to the customer’s purchase. 

You can use different BOGO variations:

• Buy one and get one free.
• Buy two and get one free.
• Buy one and get the second item with a discount. 

Such promotions work well for companies that have a lot of stock left but need to sell out fast. 

Free shipping

Free shipping is an efficient promotion, especially for e-commerce businesses. In fact, almost 70% of customers abandon their shopping cart while shopping online once they learn the delivery price. Thus, shipping for no charge will be a profitable investment that can lower your cart abandonment rate. 

Gifts

To create brand awareness and convert more leads into customers, you can also offer gifts. People are usually more ready to buy when a special bonus comes after the purchase. Offer them this incentive, and if they like it, you’ll get new customers.

Free trial

This promotion, which offers to “try before you buy,” is becoming more and more favored among e-commerce businesses, while SaaS companies have been using it here and there for a while already. Free trials let customers test the product during a limited time or with limited access to the features.

If you are a retailer, you can offer free items, for instance, for 14 days so that your customers can take advantage of them and come to purchase. If you provide B2B or B2C services, you can offer a free trial of your services to see if people like them. 

Referral programs

Nothing works better than a friend’s recommendation — when referred by a friend or colleague, people are 4x more likely to make a purchase. This is a chance for you to use referral programs to incentivize customers to speak about your product. Offer discounts to your existing customers whenever they advise others of your business. 

Find out how to ask for customer referrals to promote your company in our blog article.

Tripwire

A tripwire is another sales promotional offer that helps convert prospects into buyers. You offer a product at a lower price to prospects to lure them to your customer list. Right after, sales representatives add them to the CRM system and begin to lead customers through the sales funnel. 

Once trust is gained, you can offer more expensive products and demonstrate why it is worth switching to them. A typical example of a tripwire is when a company offers something for free, but you should pay for its shipping.

Donations

Donations are aimed not only at promoting your business but also at gaining trust and friendship with your customers. With this promo, your customers will know that some of your earnings will go to a charity.

Here’s an example of donations from each purchase:

Need some more sales promotion examples to help you boost revenue? Check out these 8 proven sales promotion ideas to close more deals🤩.

Wrapping it up

A sales promotion is a viable method of stimulating prospects to purchase your product or sign up for your service. There are many types of sales promotions that will suit any business, so don’t be afraid to try them and find the one that works out for you. And let Snov.io care about the way you organize your sales.

Good luck!