*Warning*
This email will not make any sense if you skipped the previous email.
Subject line: [EPE 19 of 21] – Promotional Launches (Case Study)
Read that first.
Then come back.
*End of Warning*
**Lesson for business owner**
Costly Mistake #1 – Longer sales ≠ More sales
This is common—especially in the e-commerce world.
5 days Mother’s Day “Flash” Sale
(do you feel the irony 🤣)
7 days anniversary sale
14 days BFCM…
Aarhhh… who cares…
Let’s make it 30 days BFCM+Christmas+New Year Sale?!
But whenever you run a promotion for more than 72 hours, you are showing off neediness, killing urgency, and proving to your prospects that you are nothing but another “discount store.”
“Not a great plan.” – Tony Stark
(Not to mention that running an extended promo is very stressful for the team)
Costly Mistake #2 – Don’t do a sale just for sales
Let me explain –
Promotional launches are very (very) powerful…
…the first time you run them.
The effectiveness drops with every iteration.
When you run too many promos, you train your customers ONLY to buy when there is a “discount.”
In addition…
Because your customers are waiting for the next “discount,” your regular campaigns and flows will diminish, too.
So, how to solve this problem?
Give every promo a “good reason.”
~ I’m running a sale because I’m having my 4th birthday
~ I’ve created this new offer because we are phasing out this product
~ I’m giving you a deal because we’re preparing a new surprise, and I need to make room for storage
You get the idea.
Every promo should be “unique.”
It should feel like a “one-time-only” event.
Now, there are exceptions. For example, you can run sales just because it’s BFCM. But you should NOT have more than 2 “just for sale” events for the whole year.
The other times?
Find a good and believable “reason why.”
Then, you can run a promo every 1-2 months.
Costly Mistake #3 – Don’t overuse sitewide discount
“30% off sitewide”
This is the simplest… yet laziest offer.
Not to mention, it’s incredibly harmful to your branding. (Because sitewide discount positions your brand as a cheap discount store, like Dollar Tree.)
What to do instead?
I shared the answer in a previous series:
How to make your biz invisible during Black Friday
To be continued…
– WYH