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How to Use Offers and Discounts to Drive Sales and Generate Buzz

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A Guide to Exceptional Customer Service

  • Lesson 1: Why You Need Multi Channel Customer Service
  • Lesson 2: Which Customer Service Channels Are Right for Your Business?
  • Lesson 3: Tips for Improving Your Customer Service

Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization

  • Lesson 1: Understanding SEO
  • Lesson 2: The Basics of Good SEO: Content
  • Lesson 3: The Basics of Good SEO: Keywords and Meta Tags
  • Lesson 4: The Basics of Good SEO: 3dcart SEO Tools
  • Lesson 5: The Basics of Good SEO: Google Tools
  • Lesson 6: The Basics of Good SEO: Mobile Optimization
  • Lesson 7: The Basics of Good SEO: Link Building

Configuring Shipping for Your Online Store

  • Lesson 1: The Power of Free Shipping
  • Lesson 2: How to Reduce the Likelihood of Incurring Shipping Fees and Penalties
  • Lesson 3: How to Get the Best Shipping Rates
  • Lesson 4: How to Choose the Right Shipping Carrier

Email Marketing and Newsletters

  • Lesson 1: How to Better Plan Your Newsletters
  • Lesson 2: How to Build Relationships with Your Email Subscribers
  • Lesson 3: Why Newsletters Matter and What You Should Write

Featured Lessons

  • Lesson 1: Tips for Successful Blogging
  • Lesson 2: Syndicating Your Promotions
  • Lesson 3: How a Loyalty Program Can Increase Your eCommerce Sales
  • Lesson 4: How to Use Offers and Discounts to Drive Sales and Generate Buzz

Glossary of eCommerce Terms

  • Lesson 1: What is an Ad Impression?
  • Lesson 2: What are Upselling, Cross-selling, and Downselling?
  • Lesson 3: What is AOV?
  • Lesson 4: What are HTTP and HTTPS Protocols?
  • Lesson 5: What is Brand Equity?
  • Lesson 6: What is Omni Channel?
  • Lesson 7: What is the Better Business Bureau?
  • Lesson 8: What is Overhead Cost?
  • Lesson 9: What is Corporate Social Responsibility?
  • Lesson 10: What is Advertising?
  • Lesson 11: What is PPC?
  • Lesson 12: What are SEM and SEO?
  • Lesson 13: What is a UPC?
  • Lesson 14: What is Merchandising?
  • Lesson 15: What is CPM?
  • Lesson 16: What is Benchmarking?
  • Lesson 17: What is a SWOT Analysis?
  • Lesson 18: What is Retail?
  • Lesson 19: What is Logistics?
  • Lesson 20: What is a CSV File?
  • Lesson 21: What is Opportunity Cost?
  • Lesson 22: What is a Social Media Hashtag?
  • Lesson 23: What is the Alexa rank?
  • Lesson 24: What is shipping surcharge?
  • Lesson 25: What is ePacket shipping?
  • Lesson 26: What is EU-US Privacy Shield?
  • Lesson 27: What is the CSA STAR certification?
  • Lesson 28: What is ITAR Compliance?
  • Lesson 29: What is FERPA Compliance?
  • Lesson 30: What is HITRUST Compliance?
  • Lesson 31: What is GDPR?
  • Lesson 32: What is HIPAA Website Compliance?
  • Lesson 33: What is ADA Compliance?
  • Lesson 34: What is PCI Compliance?
  • Lesson 35: What is a PO (Purchase Order) System?
  • Lesson 36: What is an RMA system?
  • Lesson 37: What are email open rate and click-through rate?
  • Lesson 38: What are GTIN, SKU, and EAN?
  • Lesson 39: What is Responsive Design?
  • Lesson 40: What is Page Speed?
  • Lesson 41: What are Rich Snippets?
  • Lesson 42: What is Schema.org?
  • Lesson 43: What is Google Search Console?
  • Lesson 44: What is Google Merchant Center?
  • Lesson 45: What is a Shopping Cart?
  • Lesson 46: What is eCommerce?
  • Lesson 47: What is Conversion Rate?
  • Lesson 48: What are Website Conversions?
  • Lesson 49: What is a Call to Action?
  • Lesson 50: What is a Brick-and-Mortar Location?
  • Lesson 51: What is a 3dcart App?
  • Lesson 52: What is API?
  • Lesson 53: What is Google Wallet?
  • Lesson 54: What is a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)?
  • Lesson 55: What is Anchor Text?
  • Lesson 56: What is a Press Kit?
  • Lesson 57: What Is Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
  • Lesson 58: What Is Direct Marketing?
  • Lesson 59: What Is Visual Merchandising?
  • Lesson 60: What is a Promo Code?
  • Lesson 61: What is Open Source Software?
  • Lesson 62: What is Private Label?
  • Lesson 63: What is Cost Per Lead (CPL)?
  • Lesson 64: What is an Alt Tag?
  • Lesson 65: What is Earned Media?
  • Lesson 66: What is Media Planning?
  • Lesson 67: What is a Retail Store?
  • Lesson 68: What is Research and Development (R&D)?
  • Lesson 69: What is Content Curation?
  • Lesson 70: What is an ASIN Number?
  • Lesson 71: What is a Backlink?
  • Lesson 72: What is a Fulfillment Center?
  • Lesson 73: What is a Tariff?
  • Lesson 74: What is Bounce Rate?
  • Lesson 75: What is Geo Targeting?
  • Lesson 76: What is a Handling Fee?
  • Lesson 77: What is Browser’s Cache?
  • Lesson 78: What is Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)?
  • Lesson 79: What is Sales Tax Nexus?
  • Lesson 80: What is Cash Flow?
  • Lesson 81: What is Marketing Attribution?
  • Lesson 82: What is a Pop-Up Shop?
  • Lesson 83: What is ERP?
  • Lesson 84: What is Sustainable Growth Rate?
  • Lesson 85: What is a B2C Business?
  • Lesson 86: What is FOB Shipping?
  • Lesson 87: What is Warehousing?
  • Lesson 88: What is Customer Segmentation?

Guide to Effective Promotions

  • Lesson 1: Syndicating Your Promotions
  • Lesson 2: How to Run Top-Notch Promotional Campaigns
  • Lesson 3: How to Use Offers and Discounts to Drive Sales and Generate Buzz

How to Make Money on YouTube

  • Lesson 1: Building Your Audience and Monetizing Your Channel
  • Lesson 2: Types of YouTube Ads and How to Use Them
  • Lesson 3: How to Make YouTube Videos that Attract Advertisers
  • Lesson 4: How to Properly Monetize YouTube Videos

Introduction to Product Photography for Online Stores

  • Lesson 1: Why Good Product Photography Matters
  • Lesson 2: Creating Your Product Photography Studio
  • Lesson 3: Understanding Your Camera
  • Lesson 4: Taking Your Product Photos
  • Lesson 5: Post-Processing for Product Photos
  • Lesson 6: The Best Photo Editing Tools for Amazing Product Photos
  • Lesson 7: How to Remove Backgrounds from Your Product Photographs
  • Lesson 8: Tips for Optimizing Your Product Photos

Managing a Blog

  • Lesson 1: In-Store Blog Design-Tips
  • Lesson 2: How to Ensure Your Blog Doesn’t Burn Out
  • Lesson 3: Tips for Successful Blogging
  • Lesson 4: How to Promote Your Blog
  • Lesson 5: Why Your Business Needs a Blog

Managing Your Online Business

  • Lesson 1: Common Ecommerce Mistakes to Avoid
  • Lesson 2: How to Set Up and Manage a Successful Online Business While Working Full-Time
  • Lesson 3: Tips for Managing Your Online Store on the Go

Online Payments for Your Online Store

  • Lesson 1: The Benefits of Checkout by Amazon
  • Lesson 2: Better Conversions through Diversified Card Payment Options
  • Lesson 3: How to Choose the Right Payment Solution

Reducing Online Cart Abandonment

  • Lesson 1: Why Customers Abandon Carts
  • Lesson 2: Reminding Customers Who Wait or Forget
  • Lesson 3: Retaining Customers Who Don’t Want to Sign Up
  • Lesson 4: Offering More Payment Methods
  • Lesson 5: Increasing Confidence in Your Store’s Security
  • Lesson 6: Fixing Slow, Confusing, and Unfriendly Checkouts
  • Lesson 7: Preventing Pricing Discrepancies

Running an Affiliate Program

  • Lesson 1: What is Affiliate Marketing?
  • Lesson 2: Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
  • Lesson 3: Tips for Implementing a Successful Affiliate Program

Setting up a Loyalty Program

  • Lesson 1: What is a Loyalty Program?
  • Lesson 2: How a Loyalty Program Can Increase Your eCommerce Sales
  • Lesson 3: Tips for Creating a Successful Loyalty Program

Social Media Marketing

  • Lesson 1: Crafting Quality Facebook Posts
  • Lesson 2: Strategizing Your Facebook and Twitter Marketing Efforts
  • Lesson 3: How to Choose the Right Social Networks for Your Brand

Understanding Dropshipping

  • Lesson 1: The Benefits of Dropshipping
  • Lesson 2: How Does the Dropshipping Process Work?
  • Lesson 3: How to Find the Right Dropshipping Company
  1. 3dcart Ecommerce Courses
  2. Featured Lessons
  3. Guide to Effective Promotions
  4. How to Use Offers and Discounts to Drive Sales and Generate Buzz

How to Use Offers and Discounts to Drive Sales and Generate Buzz

As an online merchant, you’re always looking for new and fun ways to drive sales to your online store. In your never-ending pursuit to create the perfect eye-catching campaign, you’ve undoubtedly implemented countless discounts and limited-time promotions, particularly during the holiday season.

But although discounts and deals are tried-and-true tactics for generating buzz and driving sales, their use and effectiveness is far more global and expansive than their frequent threadbare usage.

Let’s take a look at some awesome ways you can use offers and discounts to increase conversions and drive traffic to your online store.

Abandoned Cart Discount

One of the most effective ways to lure an abandoned shopper back to your store is with an attractive offer. There are a number of reasons a customer may have abandoned your shop, but sometimes, all they’re looking for is a little incentive to shop at your store rather than your competitors. An abandoned cart offer can be a percentage off (15% off), a flat discount ($10 off $25+) or even free shipping – just be sure your offer is exciting enough to demand action rather than encourage hesitancy.

Social Media Offer

Social media plays an important role in your business’s marketing strategy and success. A great way to bolster your social presence and encourage customer engagement is to offer a compelling discount to those that share, “like” or comment on your social content. This is an easy way to generate buzz for your social account, and can help grow your fan base in addition to your sales.

Upsell and Cross-sell Discounts

Customers who have just made a purchase from your store may be interested in related products, particularly if they’re offered them at an attractive discount. Showing customer appreciation, particularly to those who have just purchased from your store, is crucial to building and maintaining lasting relationships. Why not reward and assist your customers by offering a product suggestion that’ll not only benefit their wallets, but build loyalty at the same time too?

Refer-a-friend Offers

To remain competitive in the eCommerce market, it’s essential that your customer base is ever-expanding. Offering a refer-a-friend discount to a referral and the referee is an excellent tactic for growing and expanding your business. You may want to offer an incentive such as “refer a friend, and you’ll both get $10 off your next order”, or possibly a 10% discount code for every referred customer and a 25% discount for a customer’s very first order. The more appealing your offer, the more likely you are to acquire brand ambassadors that’ll advertise your brand and business.

Holiday Offers

The holidays are a popular time to offer competitive discounts, promotions and offers. But the year is chock-full of fun, unique and occasionally bizarre holidays that are rarely, if ever, exploited. Take time to explore which major events you’d like to participate in, including major ones such as St. Patrick’s Day, Veteran’s Day, Black Friday, and even uncommon holidays like World Peace Day, Universal Children’s Day, or National Chocolate Day – there are hundreds to choose from!

Customer Loyalty Offers

As we previously discussed, customer relationships are key to your short and long-term success. It’s incredibly more expensive to acquire new customers than it is maintain your existing ones, so take time and effort to occasionally offer discounts that encourage continued loyalty. Send these emails weekly or monthly and track your results, which will allow you to fine-tune your efforts if necessary.

AOV Discounts

 One of the easiest ways to boost your store’s average order value (AOV) is to offer a discount to customers whose orders exceed a certain dollar amount. Your advertised offer may be a flat discount ($25 off an order of $100+) or even free shipping (free shipping on orders $25+). Studies show that customers frequently exceed their total anticipated cost in an effort to meet a discount’s parameters, particularly to acquire free shipping.

Mailing List Offers

Email marketing is an essential tool for growing your online business and is the second most effective marketing channel behind search. One of the easiest and quickest ways to build your mailing list is to incite sign-ups with an appealing offer. With a large mailing list, you can target new or specific customers, and encourage repeat traffic with a continual supply of promotional emails, which will help secure your business’s long-term success.

Exclusive Discounts

Psychological marketing tactics, such as creating a sense of exclusivity, can be a powerful tool for motivating and encouraging customers to purchase from your store. Offering discounts exclusive to your Facebook fans (via your Facebook page) or your Twitter followers incites a positive emotion that promotes loyalty and encourages social media engagement. The more attractive your exclusive discount, the more likely your fans are to positively promote your business with their own social network.

Pre-launch Offers

If you’re just getting ready to launch (or re-launch) your online store, offering a pre-launch discount is an awesome way to generate buzz and increase launch-day traffic. If you’ve already accumulated a mailing list, you may want to send a newsblast, and/or create an awesome banner that advertises your limited-time offer, which will in turn encourage sales by creating a sense of urgency.

 Conclusion

If you’re looking for new, creative ways to help your business grow and prosper, try implementing some of the above promotional offers. There’s no need to adopt all of the above tactics – in fact, it’s highly advised you don’t! Take careful steps to ensure whatever offer or discount you implement not only benefits your shoppers, but your own business and wallet too.

As you would with all aspects of your eCommerce business, track your results and modify your marketing approach when needed. The success of your store depends a great deal on the appeal of your offers, so get to creating awesome deals your customers won’t want to pass up.

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