When I started my first business, a custom invitation company, I had my product priced right.
Any less expensive and I would have lost my profit. Any more expensive, and I would have lost my customers. So I really didn’t feel I could discount it any further. Let’s face it…sometimes discounting a product is not the best option.
Incentives to Sell Without Discounts
Selling at full price requires a few creative persuasion techniques. Here are some examples of ways to entice a customer to buy without discounting your product:
- Limited availability. (Daily-deal sites and retailers such as Zulily use this technique very well)
- Make it easy for people to feature their purchase on Facebook or other social media
- Future-use coupon for their next purchase
- Sponsor a live event or a webinar to launch a product or service
- Offer limited availability. (Think of Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte)
- Free shipping promotions
- Bundled packages, with several products together
- Rewards for bulk orders
- Join up with another company with a complimentary item to offer a joint promotion
- Bonus content or a free consultation
- Donate to your customer’s favorite charity with each sale
- Show a celebrity or an authority figure using or wearing your product
- Anchor your pricing, showing them it’s real value next to the price. Or offer them 2-3 different pricing options with different benefits for each
- Everyone loves a BOGO!…a free gift with purchase
- Purchase-with-purchase promotions give them the opportunity to purchase a limited item with any other purchase.
- Membership to a special group or club
Advertise to People Who Are Already Interested
Retargeting ads through Google search ads or Facebook remind them that they visited your website and looked at a product or service. It’s a subtle nudge to say “hey, remember how you were thinking about buying this?”
Focusing on the transformation they will get with the product, instead of the product features, is what will sell it. You may also want to address some common barriers to the purchase with the headline or ad text, saying something like “This pays for itself in weeks” or “A gift she will always remember.”
Walk in Your Customer’s Shoes
No matter if you’re selling online or in a storefront, it’s important to test the customer’s journey and see if everything works as easily as it should. Friction in the checkout process or on your website could derail a sale. So ask yourself these questions:
- Is the purchase process complicated?
- Are there a lot of steps?
- Is the load time slow?
- Is my site mobile friendly?
- Are the wait times long?
- Do you have customer service in place?
- Do you have a follow up plan in place after the purchase?
- Is the warranty or return policy clearly stated?
Make Evaluations Easy
The purchase step is not the end of the Trail to the Sale™. They will be evaluating you on the quality of the product and their experience with the purchase process. And their experience with you after their purchase.
Serving your customers starts when they make their purchase. If your product doesn’t meet their expectations, or if they were unhappy with any part of the purchase process, they will likely tell others before they will tell you. Following up to see if they are having a good experience goes a long way to making a happy customer, and one that will likely buy again. A simple email follow-up to thank them should do it.
The purchase isn’t a one-and-done event. This week, think about ways you could promote your product or service without discounting it, and ways to follow up with your customers after the sale. Your customers will be glad you did!
