With the economic turmoil brought about by BREXIT, COVID, and the war in Ukraine, belts are being tightened, wallets are being squeezed, and metaphors are being stretched by the day.
And unless your business is selling barrels of crude oil, margins are likely wafer-thin, and profits increasingly hard to come by.
So landing new and loyal customers is crucial to long-term success—and to make that even more likely, many brands turn to paid advertising and attractive welcome discounts to woo customers into their world.
This “cost of acquisition” offset by profits made on repeat purchases over the lifetime of the brand’s relationship with the customer.
But giving new customers better deals than loyal fans can be a bad look.
So what’s the solution?
Let’s dig in.
Is a discount always welcome?
As an email strategist and a consumer, I come across brands offering “10% Welcome Discounts” and the like almost daily.
It can be a simple and effective way to convince people to make their first purchase or, at a minimum, join your email list. It’s certainly a lot more effective than “Sign up to hear our news and offers.”
For small brands, you can give your subscriber list a boost and put your revenue on an upward trajectory.
The risk is you’re subconsciously training your customer to devalue your product and only buy when there’s a discount available.
They start using burner email accounts or scouring voucher sites in the endless hunt for a bargain.
But sometimes, there’s a better way.
Giving customers something tangible and something they value more than a quick discount can be much more effective—both at building loyalty with the brand and protecting your profit margin. And by monitoring how customers interact with your “freebie”, you get greater personalisation opportunities in the long run.
From quizzes that help you to Discover Your Skin Type or Find Your Perfect Shade, to downloadable product guides or even free samples, these alternatives to discounts give subscribers a much more compelling reason to join your list—and buy at full price—meaning your precious profits are protected.
And once they’re on your list, it’s the turn of your email automation to get to work.
Securing that all-important first purchase
Talk to any email marketer or copywriter, and they’ll tell you a Welcome sequence is one of the big three automations brands can’t do without—and for good reason.
Through a series of emails sent over several days—or even weeks—you can introduce your latest fan to your brand, your products, your glowing customer testimonials (and more) and slowly peel away layer after layer of objection until they’re itching to buy.
And if you’re really wedded to a discount, fine, but by placing it at the end of 5, 6, or even 16 emails, you’ll likely convert many of the early buyers at full price, with the discount mopping up some of the more price-conscious consumers.
Rewarding loyalty—not bribing to buy
Now, I’m not against discounts to secure sales—far from it. As a copywriter, my job is SO much easier selling something at a discount than it is at full price.
But for me, a discount is more compelling when used as a reward and not a bribe.
Indeed, the one thing better than a new customer is an old customer who comes back for more—cost of acquisition is a thing of the past!
They know your product, they love your product, and hey, what’s that? An email offering 10% Off when you buy again? Well…how could they say no?!
And by timing your email just right based on when they’re about to run out, well, that’s almost your license to start printing money.
So you see, a Welcome Discount is nice, but a loyal customer discount is…well…pretty powerful stuff.