Discounting has been and will continue to be one of the biggest pillars of marketing, sales, and promotions. According to a market study by Wikigains, most customers enjoy a discount and they are more interested in buying products that promise to carry extra value. It’s not uncommon to see online advertisements and pop-ups saying 50% OFF or SALE for a particular brand.
However, let’s not forget that there’s a thin line between building rapport and devaluing your Brand on the Internet. While a good discount occasionally can help in building rapport with customers and reward them for their loyalty, having the words SALE and DISCOUNT on your website all the time can eventually result in those words losing effect.
Besides the words losing their impact on customers, huge discounts can also carry a negative impression about the quality of products you offer. Furthermore, it can devalue the brand because customers start believing that the deal offered online is not genuine.
Customers get an impression that the real prices are fake and the discount offer on those price tags is just a marketing strategy or pretention. Giving out such a message can be bad for your business and also result in loyal customers losing their faith on you.
Wikigains Tells You How To Use Discounts To Build Rapport
To build a good impression of your brand and create a rapport with customers, you must use ‘discount’ in a responsible manner. You need to value the discounts you offer and treat them as a privilege rather than something available at all times.
When a company offers a genuine discount on products, whether it is to clear a stock or promote a new collection, they cut down on the profits. Hence, it is important that you make the best use of such promotional campaigns and reach out to your target market.
Here are the two effective ways to use discounts correctly
- Create an email list of old and existing customers and send exclusive coupon codes that can help them save money on their purchase. The exclusive discounts make the customers feel rewarded and more connected to the brand.
- Issue coupon codes on a reputed affiliate network so that they are made available through coupon sites like Wikigains.com. Give a limited time frame for coupons and mention the purpose of offering a coupon. For example a new coupon for new customers, or a coupon for Cyber Monday.
When the customers know that a promotional code or deal is only for a limited time, they are more tempted to make a purchase to avail that offer. It also results in less cart abandonments because the customer knows that he may not find the same deal tomorrow.
Conclusion
While discounting continues to be an effective means or tool to help customers reap benefits, it is important that you use the strategy responsibly. Wikigains explains that brand value is of paramount importance and it takes months and even years of hard work to build a good brand. Thus, any online strategy or promotional campaign should be designed in a way to not devalue the brand.