Everyone likes to save money, and it can be part of a good marketing strategy to pass some appealing savings on to your clients. But which purchase incentives are most effective? We’ll explore that topic below and leave you with a few handy tips for effectively incentivizing your target audience.
When it comes to developing marketing incentives for consumers, there are many ways you can help them save money while boosting your bottom line at the same time. Incentives for customers can include giveaways, discount codes or even free trials.
Each method has its own unique benefits to increase the effectiveness of your online marketing strategy. To ensure that you can properly collect valuable customer information, make use of a dynamic form builder to capture information and create a seamless experience for website visitors.
Incentive 1: Giveaways as Marketing Incentives
Giveaways are one of the most effective marketing incentives to attract those eyeing your product. Unlike discount codes and free trials, giveaways are unique in that they are 100% free of charge. Because you are essentially offering your products or services as a gift, giveaways tend to get your target audience excited. This method also makes customers feel special, which can go a long way in creating a loyal consumer base.
To begin, you’ll need to decide what giveaways to offer. It could be a single item or a bundle package. Whatever you choose, it needs to be attention-grabbing and intriguing enough to generate engagement from your audience. Then you will need to decide on the rules and when the campaign will come to a close.
Giveaways work well on social media platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram. You’ve probably seen many giveaways while scrolling through your own Instagram feed. Typically, a post is created to promote the giveaway event. The caption will contain key information including instructions on how to obtain the gift, giveaway descriptions and the deadline.
Here are a few of the most popular types of giveaway contests that you can incorporate as marketing incentives into your digital marketing strategy:
Share this Post — If you have created an image specific to your contest, you can ask your followers to share the photo in order to be entered to win prizes. You can easily keep tabs on who has shared your post by creating a contest-specific hashtag and asking your followers to use it in their posts. This type of giveaway is ideal for boosting your brand’s online presence.
Tag a Friend — Another route to take –and to be seen by a whole new group of people — is to hold a “Tag a Friend” giveaway. Ask your followers to comment and tag their friends to be entered to win.
Creator Contests — If your target audience is full of creative folks, you may consider running a creator contest. In this type of giveaway, you ask your followers to post an image or video featuring your product. This is a great way to boost engagement and promote goodwill towards your brand.
Like/Follow to Win — The simplest type of giveaway to organize is a “Like to Win” contest. All a viewer has to do is follow your social media account and like the post.
Any of these giveaways can be positioned as outright giveaways or contests with a limited number of winners, and they can be combined to make your marketing incentives more unique. For example, you could even ask your followers to like, follow and tag a friend. However, keep in mind that the more you ask of your followers, the better the prizes will need to be.
Incentive 2: Discounts as Marketing Incentives
Discount codes have been around since 1887 when Coca-Cola distributed the first-ever coupon. Back then, it was for a free glass of Coke. Used to expand their presence on the market as a refreshing drink that anyone could enjoy, it worked like a charm. By 1895, Coke had been served in every state.
If you’ve ever worked in retail (or if you’ve ever gone shopping in your life), you’ll be familiar with the popularity of discounts and coupon codes. They’re a great way to clear out inventory and attract new customers who just need a little extra incentive to make a purchase. In general, businesses see a boost in revenue when a discount is active. Even something as small as $10 off your purchase or 20% off a single item can send sales skyrocketing.
Another major benefit of offering discounts is that it results in less cart abandonment. For online retailers, abandoned shopping carts are a constant complaint. You almost had that sale, but then something happened in the final stage of the sales funnel that caused your hot lead to leave. This could be due to many factors, including shipping costs.
When you provide your target audience with a discount code that has an expiration date on it, your shoppers will be more likely to complete the purchase. There are many types of discounts you can use; here are just a few of the most popular ones:
Cash Off — This is generally a set number such as $10 or $25 off of the purchase total. Cash off items are fantastic incentives for customers especially for big-ticket items or during the holidays. It makes customers feel that they are getting value for money, particularly if they have been eyeing the item for some time.
Percentage Off — Similar to the cash off option, this type of discount gives customers a certain percentage off based on their cart total. You can modify this deal by making stipulations, such as “30% off your purchase of $150 or more.” This encourages shoppers to buy more than they may have originally intended, which leads to higher revenue.
Free Shipping — We’ve all shopped on Amazon, right? Free or discounted shipping can be the ultimate deciding factor when a consumer is considering an online purchase.
Incentive 3: Free Trials as Marketing Incentives
For service-based providers, offering free trials can be a game changer. This allows potential customers to try your service for a limited time without being charged. A great example of this is Adobe Photoshop. This photo editing software is pricey and novice photographers might be nervous about investing so much money into the program. By offering a 30-day free trial, photo editors can play around with the software and decide whether or not it’s something they want to add to their professional suite.
Here are a few of the most common types of free trials that work well as marketing incentives:
7-Day – This limited trial expires one week after downloading.
14-Day – As the most popular free trial model, this two-week period allows users to better familiarize themselves with the product or service.
30-Day – A 30-day trial is great for more expensive products or services that consumers may need longer to explore before making a final purchasing decision.
Wrapping Up Incentives for Customers
Now that you’re up to speed on the different types of marketing incentives for customers, you can utilize these methods in your digital strategy to boost sales.
If you’re looking to expand your online marketing strategy in 2020, SharpSpring’s email marketing automation service is here to help. You can request a free demo to learn more, or contact us directly at 1-888-428-9605.
