Discounting Strategies for the Holidays and Beyond
As the holiday season approaches, you play a crucial role in helping ecommerce clients prepare for the biggest shopping days of the year: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. One of the most effective ways to drive sales during this time is through well-planned discounting strategies. But to truly make an impact, these strategies need to be seamlessly integrated into your client’s site design.
This guide covers seven discount strategies you can pitch to commerce clients to help them earn more revenue during the 2024 holiday season and beyond.
1. Discounts for new subscribers
Discounts can be a great way to attract new customers. Whenever possible, they should be meaningful and align with the brand. If they enhance an interaction with your client’s brand, they won't cheapen the product or perception.
Discounts for new subscribers can help retain customers by giving them a bonus for the commitment. You can tier these types of discounts based on the customer's level of intent. For example, a client could offer “Welcome” and “Welcome Back” discounts to new subscribers and re-subscribers, respectively. This gives your client an opportunity to have a positive interaction with a customer that improves their brand connection and can lead to a sale they wouldn’t have made otherwise.
Your clients can also set up different membership experiences with Member Sites.
2. Promotions on holidays and special occasions
Special occasions are great opportunities to help out customers and drive business. Some brands offer discounts to customers on their birthdays or on the anniversary of them becoming customers. This time of year, specifically, there’s an increase in online shoppers who are all looking for the best deal. With so many options for goods and services available, you have an opportunity to help your clients’ stores stand out by creating a promotional strategy.
There are many options when it comes to holiday promotional strategies. Confirm your clients are clear on their overall pricing strategy before they lean into deep discounts. The bottom line is the bottom line, but giving discounts can be an effective way to increase customer loyalty and convert recipients into customers.
3. Discounts on bundles
If a client didn't sell as many units as they expected throughout the year, they may consider bundling these items with other products for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Discount bundles are a great way to increase sales and reduce overstock. They work especially well if you're selling complementary or related goods, such as wine and cheese. The holidays are a great time to offer bundled discounts because many shoppers are looking for gifts. If they can purchase two gifts at the same time, that’s a win for everyone.
Discount bundles can help drive sales and increase the average order value. They don't have to be reserved for overstock items. For instance, yoga classes can be paired with apparel and mats. Or a meditation session can be bundled with a journal and pen. The opportunities are endless; you just have to get creative.
Offering bundled discounts can also be used as an upsell technique. You can help clients set up related products, which will suggest a complementary item to shoppers. This way, the customer might be encouraged to spend a little more than they would’ve previously.
Learn more about organizing store pages on Squarespace sites.
4. Partnerships with aligned brands
Business partnerships can be a creative tactic to gain new customers. When different brands, products, and customers align, everyone can win.
Businesses can swap leads, curate and recommend products, bundle items, or feature goods as a daily deal. The audiences here are already customers so there's an established level of trust.
These types of discounts can help drive traffic, increase brand exposure, and bump up sales. Clients should work with brands where there's natural alignment. To simplify the process for a partner business, prepare collateral for social posts and emails.
5. Retargeted discounts
Consumers are busy. Retargeted discounts can help a customer regain interest and get through checkout.
No matter the reason, it's advantageous to reach out whenever someone leaves an item in their cart. Collect customer information with forms at the beginning of the funnel so you can help your client bring them back with momentum.
6. Loyalty rewards
While businesses need new customers, retention is vital. It's important to treat loyal customers well so they keep coming back.
Loyalty rewards can come in many forms. Certain customers may have a member status that qualifies them for free shipping or bonus items. For instance, returning customers may get a free purchase after buying a certain number of products.
7. Early-bird discounts
When a deal won't last forever, it matters to consumers. Early-bird discounts can encourage people to make a buying decision sooner. When your client offers early-bird discounts, work with them to set clear parameters on how much time customers have to act and communicate those clearly.
Discounting strategies for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
There are many opportunities to make discounts meaningful to your client and their customers. They can create new connections, deepen existing ones, and bring businesses together during the holiday season.
Squarespace simplifies the process of distributing and tracking these offerings—from inventory and customer management to marketing and analytics.
Check out our related content as you prepare clients for Black Friday and Cyber Monday:
How Professional Web Designers Prepare for the Holiday Season
How to Prepare Your Client’s Ecommerce Website for the Holidays
*This post was originally published November 8, 2021. It has since been updated.
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