Tips for Creating a Strong Promotional Strategy
Most promotions have two primary goals:
- To increase revenue
- To maximize market exposure
As you create a strategy geared toward those goals, remember the following tips.
1. Keep Promotions Simple
You’re likely to get a high response rate if your promotions are easy to understand and redeem. The simplest strategy is to discount the item for everyone.
If you strike out the original price on your website and display the new price, perhaps in a bolded font, people can easily see the benefit of the promotion.
Another option is to use promo codes. When you go this route, make sure that the promo code is straightforward to use. Don’t make it so that people have to hunt down the code once they’re on your website.
If you’re sending an email, display the promo code prominently so people can go back and find it if they forget to copy it. Consider publishing the code on your website for easy access, too.
2. Bundle Products Together
One way companies sell more products is through bundling—offering two or more products for a combined cost that’s less than the total cost of the individual items when purchased separately.
Merchants often use this strategy to move a product that isn’t selling well by pairing it with a popular product.
Example: Say that you’re a jewellery retailer with earrings priced at $20 a pair and bracelets at $10 a pair. Your earrings are flying off the shelves, but no one’s biting at the bracelets.
By offering a bundle of one pair of earrings with one bracelet for $25, you could move your bracelet stock and potentially get more loyal followers in the process.
One famous example comes from Nintendo, which sold 100,000 more consoles and more than a million game cartridges when bundling the two.
3. Reward Customers to Boost Orders
You can increase the average value of your orders (AOV) by offering a freebie when a customer reaches a certain purchase threshold.
One popular version of this strategy is conditional free shipping — the “Free Shipping over $X” offer.
One article explains that free shipping would increase the likelihood of an online purchase for about 80% of US customers.
If you have a lot of orders totalling $60, consider offering free shipping at $75. If you can’t afford to offer free shipping, choose a small complimentary item to offer when an order reaches a certain threshold.
4. Reward Top Customers with Special Offers
Some data analytics indicate that existing customers spend 31% more than new buyers, and they’re 50% more likely to try a new product.
You can boost that loyalty by rewarding your highest spenders with customized offers.
To get even more out of this strategy, encourage your rewarded customers to share their good fortune on social media. This is a great opportunity for a referral bonus.
5. Re-Merchandise Your Product and Homepage
Many retailers think of merchandising as a brick-and-mortar strategy, but it’s just as important for e-commerce.
Your customers get used to seeing your page as it is. When you mix it up and add new visual elements, you draw attention to your promotion.
Tips:
- Revamp your homepage by placing promoted products front and center.
- Revitalize category and product pages by highlighting promotions, accessories, add-ons, or popular related products.
6. Seed Product Reviews
Reviews matter to many customers. One study shows that close to 95% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase.
On the retailer’s end, showing five reviews compared to no reviews for a product can increase conversions by up to 270%.
Before you run your promotion, make sure your products have good reviews. Meanwhile, start collecting original reviews.
Techniques:
- Send products to customers and ask for reviews (especially for new launches).
- Post reviews (with permission) on product pages.
- Use Mailchimp’s follow-up email tools to request reviews automatically.
You can also link to third-party review sites. Don’t worry if not all reviews are glowing—research shows that negative reviews build trust and can lead to 85% more conversions.
7. Test Out Different Promotions
Different audiences respond to different promotions. Consider conducting A/B testing, an easy and effective way to understand how your audience engages.
A/B testing sends out two versions of a campaign—e.g., a percent-off promotion versus a dollars-off promotion.
Mailchimp offers A/B testing in all paid plans, making it easy to refine your strategy and optimize results.
8. Stay Memorable
Consumers have promotions coming into their inboxes and social media feeds every day.
It’s important for you to stand out as a brand, preferably with a personal touch.
Consider adding a thank-you card or free sample item in the package to delight your customers.
Promote Your Promotion
Now that you have the insider knowledge to create a strong marketing promotional strategy, you can focus on publicizing the promotion. Build awareness to maximize your revenue potential.
Email Marketing
- Email marketing has a decades-long history and still delivers results.
- One research study (2015) showed that for every dollar spent, email campaigns could get up to an average $38 ROI.
- Promotions make your emails even more attractive to consumers.
- Mailchimp’s professional-quality email builder simplifies campaign creation.
Expert Tip: Give your most loyal customers early access to the promotion.
Social Media Marketing
Social media ads and organic posts can publicize your promotion to new and existing customers.
Target existing customers and find new ones with similar interests. Mailchimp makes it easy to build engaging ads and ensure you don’t miss sales opportunities.
Retargeting
Automation makes it easy to retarget customers who abandoned their cart or browsed but didn’t buy.
A promotion can bring them back. Mailchimp lets you send customized abandoned cart and retargeting emails, inviting customers to complete their purchases.
Postcards
In today’s digital world, postcards can make a big impression.
Mailchimp helps you create and send promotional postcards to loyal customers.
A postcard won’t get lost in the inbox and can make shoppers feel special. It’s also great for targeting select audiences with personalized offers.
Turn First-Time Customers into Loyal Customers
Promotions help acquire new customers—but the real goal is retention.
Loyalty drives repeat purchases. Here’s how to nurture it.
Tag New Customers
The more you know about your new customers, the better you can personalize messaging for them in the future.
Tag all new customers during your promotion based on their shopping behavior. Consider adding an “Engages with Promotions” tag.
Expert Tip: Use audience tags to personalize future communications. Segmented and personalized emails can significantly increase conversions.
Send Welcome Emails
Welcome emails build relationships.
Add an option at checkout for customers to subscribe to future messages. Send a warm welcome message to everyone who signs up.
Expert Tip: Set up automation to send welcome emails consistently — with no ongoing effort.
Keep Communication Going
Continue engaging with your new customers after the promotion ends. Use customer tags to send personalized product recommendations.
Mailchimp can help predict what customers may like and send follow-up emails to encourage repeat purchases.
Put newest products and best-sellers front and center to refresh engagement and keep your brand top of mind.
Expert Tip: Connect your e-commerce store to Mailchimp to unlock tools that better target your customers.
Getting Started with Your Promotion
- Start designing your promotion and getting the word out.
- Use your Mailchimp audience dashboard to analyze customer segments.
- Add promotional content to your website.
- If you don’t have a site, use Mailchimp’s shoppable landing page templates.
- Create multichannel marketing campaigns and analyze reports to optimize strategies.
Promotions are an impactful way of driving sales. The key is to create an attractive offer, market it smartly, and follow up to earn customer loyalty.
Create Your Marketing Strategy
Developing Your Promotional Strategy
When you have determined your target audience, decide what message you are trying to convey in your marketing.
If you have more than one target market, this message may differ depending on the potential customer.
It may also be necessary to focus your marketing in different ways—read more about product strategy, positioning, and differentiation.
Brand Awareness
To create a successful promotional strategy, you need to create brand awareness among your customers.
Brand awareness relates to how well your product is recognized by current and potential customers.
Read more about branding: the basics.
Forms of Advertising for Brand Awareness
Consider the following methods:
- Advertising: Business directories, magazines, newspapers, billboards, radio, or TV
- Public Relations (PR): Press releases, launches, events, or tours
- Sales-Based Methods: Coupons, competitions, discounts, gift vouchers, loyalty incentives
- Direct Marketing: Sales letters, email, mail order catalogues, packaging designs, or point-of-sale displays
- Telemarketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Pay-per-click and paid search advertising
- Social Media Marketing and Advertising
You could also attend dealer or showroom events, exhibitions, or trade shows to reach your target audience.
Selling to Existing Customers
You may increase product or service awareness by marketing to existing customers.
Understanding your current customers helps you develop ways to target them and strengthen brand awareness.
Aim to target your most profitable customers and encourage them to promote you through word-of-mouth recommendations, which are highly influential.
Timing and Measuring Your Campaigns
Whatever promotional strategies you use, time your activities to reach your audience when they are most receptive.
Combine both long-term and short-term activities, such as special offers or competitions.
Measuring effectiveness is crucial—ask new customers how they heard about you or use surveys before and after each marketing campaign.
