How to execute:

Step 1: Set clear goals (and debrief from last year’s promos)

• It’s so important to look back at your previous promos (if you ran them) to see how they performed and what you can improve on. During debrief from last year’s promos, we found that our top performing promos are:
  • Tiered
  • Bundles
  • Free gift w/ purchase
  • Seasonal, small-batch, and limited edition offerings 
• We set primary goals of a percentage increase in YoY sales and secondary + tertiary goals (that help us reach our primary goal) of:
  • Increased AOV % via ads
  • Increased ROAS % via ads
  • Increased email revenue %
  • Increased email CTR %

Step 2: Make an irresistible offer

• Don’t forget a vital step BEFORE you deliver your irresistible offer… SERVE your audience!! Give them value, establish trust, and provide the best user experience possible, not just once, but in the months leading up to your big promos. Then you can hit ‘em with that juicy promo! (See Step 1 for promo ideas!)
• Consider an early bird campaign because:
  •  1. People love feeling like they’re VIP/getting something exclusive and
  •  2. Get those sales in before folks get picky with where they’re spending their money.
• Research and decide on your web stack or web apps that you’ll need for the promo.
  • Examples: an announcement bar, a cart upsell app, a sales page builder, etc.
    • If you’re running a tiered discount, try this helpful Shopfiy app: Tiered Discounts– it does operate using codes but it applies it to the cart automatically and stacks to create awesome tiered discounts.
      • We’ve found that the mid-tier code usually gets the most redemptions and the higher and lower tier codes aren’t used as much – this can help with AOV if your pricing thresholds are set higher!
    • For bundle discounts, we like to use Bundler – this allows you to create mix & match bundles AND stack discounts on top of them.

Step 3: Create scroll-stopping content

• Give someone a reason to stop and read/watch your content! Use bold colors and clear headlines that detail the main reasons why someone would want to take advantage of the offer.
• Draft up several emails, social posts, and social ads to support the promo campaign (the amount of each will vary depending on your audience size and what you’re currently doing).
• Another thing to consider is how the offer is presented. This can make or break the potential of getting a sale. For some, 15% off is less attractive than a $ off offer! Testing, like we mentioned, will help you determine what your audience responds best to. 
• Creating a sense of urgency is also the tur-KEY (When will we stop with these? It’s hard to say.) to your promo messaging! Someone is more enticed to buy if they know a sale ends in 24 hours vs. a week long sale. Keep hyping that scarcity and time limit until the sale is gone for good! 
• An app like Countdown Timer Ultimate can really get the message across that this sale is ending SOON! Add this to your main website page, cart, and product pages to create that sense of urgency.

Step 4: Test everything!

• Ensure that your website is optimized, and fast! You can run a speed test (for free with Google’s PageSpeed Insights) and install an app, like Lucky Orange, to see if there are any site issues that could bring down your conversion rate.
• Audit your email automations, ad campaigns, and social to ensure that everything is firing correctly & email deliverability is good, ads are optimized, and social bio descriptions are optimized for search and clicks to website.
• Make sure your promos are SIMPLE and CLEAR! 
  • Provide your audience with promo details when applicable (start and end date, codes needed, products included, etc.) Try to utilize automatic discounts or sitewide sales at a static discount to avoid the probable misspelling or user error that comes along with using promo codes.
• Test the checkout flow and press GOOOO!

By implementing the strategies above, we increased sales 80% YoY for a beauty brand we work with and we’re looking to make some more gravy this year!