Creating a compelling promotional offer

14 different promotional offers to help your growth

Create simple, direct offers that resonate with your audience.

• Part 1: A simple 4-step framework for creating a sale campaign.

• Part 2: 14 different types of promotional offers you can steal.

Let’s dive in!

4 steps for creating a compelling sales campaign:

1. Figure out your offer

   1. Make it valuable for the user.

   2. Keep it simple and concise. Don’t get too clever

   3. Use big round numbers OR “99”: 50% off, only $99, etc.

Not sure what discount to start with? Use 50% off if you can afford it with your margins. The conversion increase will usually outweigh the higher discount

2. Decide why you’re offering it

   1. Tell a small story so it makes sense to your customer

   2. Simple reason: “July 4th sale” - tent pole event

   3. Other reasons: “We just won an award”

Promotions work better when everything can feel cohesive and the customer understands the “why.”

3. Pick an audience target

   1. Your entire audience?

   2. New users? Churned users?

   3. Loyal customers?

This may seem obvious, but it will change how you position your offer.

4. Add some spice

   1. Sense of urgency

   2. Social proof

   3. Scarcity

   4. Testimonials

People may want to buy, but they need a little nudge.

When you combine emotional pulls with logical reasons you have a real winner. People make decisions based on emotions and then look for logic to reinforce the decision they already want.

Now combine it all to create a meaningful message

Example:

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Get 50% off Premium for July 4th because you’ve been a loyal member.

This offer is available for 3 days only. Join 1 million happy people.

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There are other details like channels, and creative. And you can use multiple motivation nudges or change them throughout different pieces of creative, but this will be your base to work off of.

Start with something simple and direct and then you can layer on additional complexity.

Part 2:

Most people offer the same type of promotion over and over again and wonder why it’s not working well.

Here are 14 different types of offers you can use to keep things exciting:

1. X dollar amount off: Save $100

   1. Only use the dollar amount off if your product is more than $100. Otherwise the % value will be a larger number

2. Percentage off: Get 50% off

   1. Use % off when you’re product is below $100

3. Number of days free trial: Unlock 30 days of a premium plan

   1. Offer a 7-day free trial and someone doesn’t convert? Try giving 30 days of premium for free

4. Get X time free when you buy X amount

   1. Get 6 months free with a 6-month subscription

   2. Get 12 months free with a 12-month subscription

   3. Really this is 50% off phrased differently

5. BOGO

   1. Buy one get another one free - it’s a classic

6. Only X/amount per month

   1. Get premium for only $2/month

   2. Break down the offer to show the low cost on a smaller time frame

   3. 6 cents per day = $2 per month = $24 a year

7. Discount based on usage

   1. You’ve completed 5 games today, here is 50% off

   2. People like feeling like they’ve earned something

8. Giveaway

   1. Anyone who signs up this week gets entered to win $500

   2. Giveaways work better for a sign-up or registration vs a purchase

9. X%/$X off Y length of time

   1. Get 50% off your first 3 months

   2. Less compelling than “buy 3 months, get 3 months free.” But may be necessary due to the specifics of your business

10. X%/$X off 1st order

    1. Get 25% off your first purchase

11. X%/$X off your next order

    1. Order today to get 50% off your next order

12. Free item when you spend X amount

    1. Get a free bracelet when you spend $75 on your next order

13. Lock in this price forever

    1. Subscribe now to get 50% off your annual plan forever

    2. Most offers are 50% off for 1 year, and people get excited about locking in a price.

    3. Makes sense for a company earlier in their journey. Or for churned users who would otherwise be lost

14. Buy X number of times and get X

    1. Order 3 times this month and get 1 meal free

    2. You see this all the time with food delivery apps. Meant to build new usage patterns and a habit.

Since you made it this far, I have a question for you:

Please be honest, you won’t hurt my feelings.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? You can go look at some older posts for an example, but I’m not including one here so I don’t bias your response.