The ultimate guide to successfully using promotions for your business

Here’s a fact: people love special offers. Because of this, implementing promotions to your business has great benefit in the world of e-commerce. When used effectively, it has the potential to create a sense of urgency and need for your products and generate more sales quickly, whilst also increasing the chances of customer engagement and loyalty.

Types of promotions

At Spreadshop we offer a few different types of promotions for you to make the most of your store. Using our limited time offers of specific discounts and free shipping, you can encourage more sales. With limited time discounts you can offer, for example, 25% off for the next week, and this would encourage customers to buy within the next week to make use of the special offer. The same goes for the free shipping offer, which encourages customers to order during the free shipping period to save on shipping costs.

Have defined goals

Instead of just going crazy with the promos and overwhelming your customers with offers, it is important to have defined goals for what you want the promos to achieve. Do you want to increase sales? Attract new customers? Or reward loyal ones? Maybe there is a specific product or design in your shop that you want to push? Having a goal ensures that you can offer a promo that aligns with your goals.

It’s all about timing

A key factor to consider when planning your promo is the “when”. There are so many different special dates and events throughout the year, there will almost always be something to celebrate. So why not make a special promo out of it? For example, how about free shipping right before Christmas? Or a special free shipping offer for orders with 2+ items for Valentine’s Day? Make use of these opportunities for maximum impact, and be sure to check where you can adjust the promo periods in your partner area.

Promotional content and how to approach it

Remember to make use of promotional content. This will enable you to show off your products whilst sending a direct sales message. Of course, you shouldn’t completely rely on promotional content alone, but rather find a good balance of promotional and informative or conversational content, which will lead to a more trusting relationship with your customer.

Check out some great promotional content by adrian.double.u, who created an engaging reel responding directly to comment a follower who was wondering if they could get a discount in his shop. He was able to make an entertaining, informative video where he showed his work process whilst simultaneously promoted a 20% discount for his shop.

Similarly, der kleine yogi created a simple promotional image post showcasing one of their products and informing their followers of a limited-time discount offer of 20%. They also were sure to mention the promo end date, to encourage customers to order within the promo period.

Here’s another example of some great promotional content by Veronica and the baby boo

And also by Melon & Finn

For more tips and tricks, feel free to check out our guide on how to create social media teaser and model images We’re here to help!

Analysing your data

Once your promo period has ended, comes the time to evaluate its success in relation to the goals you defined. Be sure to keep track of certain metrics which will give you some insight:

• Sales: be sure to keep an eye on your sales performance not only during the promo period but also before and after, so you have a good gauge on how much the promotion boosted sales.
• Website traffic: see if there has been an increase in your website traffic. Has the promotion increased the number of potential customers coming to your shop? And where is the traffic coming from?
• Social media engagement: engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and mentions are a useful tool to measure if your promotion has increased your social media engagement.
• Customer behaviour: you may notice that your customers have larger order quantities or return to your website more during the promo period. Take note of how your customers’ behaviour changes.
• Customer feedback: getting direct feedback from your customers is an assured way to measure the effect of your promotion. See what your customers liked about it and what you can improve for the future.

Pricing

So you may be wondering, after all this, “how do these promotions affect my margins?”. Well, when it comes to free shipping promos, you don’t have to worry, because Spreadshop will cover the costs of all free shipping campaigns. However, for discount campaigns it works a little differently, as the discount is shared between you and us. For example, for a 15% discount promo, your margin will be reduced by 15%, whilst Spreadshop also will reduce 15% from the base price, to allow for a balanced share. Read our blog post on using discount promotions for more detailed information.

You’re all set!

Promotions are a tool to be utilised, like any marketing tool, appropriately and sensibly.

We hope this has given you some interesting and useful insight into the power of promotions and how to successfully incorporate them into your marketing strategy.