15 Effective Ideas for Running Sales with Discount & Coupons

If there's one thing Nigerian shoppers love, it's 'awoof'. You know, when you give them something for free. Infact, if they're getting 'awoof' sales from you, they're going to tell their friends, family and maybe even their enemies that your store is giving awoof sales. So how do you leverage on this to lure in more customers and keep them coming back to your business? By using discounts and coupons.

Discounts and coupons very powerful for marketing, when applied effectively and strategically. Learning the tricks in using them can bring your business more sales, and on the flip side, when used without any plan or strategy in place, can do more harm to the finances of your business.

We’ve talked about ways to use discounts and coupons to market your business, and strategies that help you use discounts and coupons to make sales without hurting your business. Now, let’s talk about the fun part; the discount and coupon ideas that will bring your business more sales!

Related: Create Coupons & Discounts with Bumpa in 1 Minute!

15 Discount & Coupon Ideas for More Sales

With your Bumpa, you can create as much discounts or coupons as you may want. And now that you know what marketing you can use them for, let’s jump right into the ideas!

1. New Customer Discount

An effective way to make new customers consider patronising you is if there’s a special offer just for them. This can be a percentage off their first purchase, free shipping, or a bundled discount with their first order. By providing a positive experience for new customers, you increase the chances of them becoming repeat customers in the future.

2. Flash Sale

Have you ever come across a discount that made you feel like you needed to claim it immediately? For example, an offer of free shipping to any location, but only for that day. It would typically look like this:

“TODAY ONLY!!! GET FREE SHIPPING TO ALL LOCATIONS!!!”

That is a flash sale.

A flash sale is an effective tactic for generating sales quickly, especially during slow periods. As the name suggests, a flash sale is a short-term discount, so it should not run for very long. This creates a sense of urgency among your audience, who might feel they need to act fast or miss out on the deal. Keep your flash sales very short!

Pro Tip: To increase customer participation in your flash sale, promote it in advance and provide enough information about when the sale will occur. Bumpa's customer information tool allows you to store customer data, and you can use Bumpa's email or SMS feature to promote your flash sales. Additionally, you can segment your audience and offer different types of discounts to them!

3. Holiday Sales

Offering discounts during holiday periods or seasons is a surefire way to attract more customers to purchase from you. Popular holiday discounts you might want to take advantage of include Black Friday, Back-to-School, Christmas, Ramadan, New Year, Mother’s Day, Women’s Day, and Father’s Day.

Pro tip: More often than not, people are shopping for others during these holidays, so target your marketing to the buyers. A perfect example is the Back-to-School period, where parents will be shopping for their kids.

4. Recurring Sales

Recurring sales create consistency and train your customers to expect them over time. For instance, if you have a monthly sale on a particular day each month, your customers will start to remember to shop with you on that day simply because of the discount.

5. Free Shipping

Customers have been known to cancel orders because they feel the shipping cost is too high. In fact, it can be the main factor in their decision to not make a purchase. To prevent losing these customers, consider offering a free shipping discount on their next purchase.

Another strategy is to offer free shipping discounts for specific areas, encouraging customers to make a purchase while reducing shipping costs for you. This way, you won't have to travel from one end of town to another or lose money while running this discount.

Pro tip: You can maximise your profit from sales by offering free shipping for orders above a certain amount, or only for high-cost products. With your Bumpa app, you can set the minimum amount required for the discount or coupon to become valid.

6. Referral Discount

Referrals are a great way to attract customers who not only visit, but also convert almost immediately. So why not incentivize the process and encourage your referrers to bring you even more quality customers? By creating a referral discount, you show appreciation and motivate them to bring in more customers. This also means they will receive something in return from your business, which further encourages referrals.

7. Loyalty Discounts

Customers love to be appreciated for patronizing a brand. To capitalize on this, you can create loyalty discounts for your customers. Let them know that when they hit a certain purchase threshold or amount, they will become eligible for a discount. This gives them something to look forward to every time they buy from you, and it will encourage them to buy more frequently so they can reach the threshold faster and claim the discount.

Pro tip: It's important to keep track of your customer's spending so that you can offer them a discount even if they forget about it. It shows your customers that you care about their savings, and they'll appreciate the gesture. With the Bumpa app, you can easily track your customers' spending and know when they're eligible for a discount!

8. Abandoned Cart Discounts

Drop-offs happen frequently, but you can always turn it around by offering a discount. Track customers who do not check out successfully or with incomplete orders and convince them to complete their order by offering a discount. You can do this by sending them an email or SMS with the offer and a call-to-action that encourages them to finish their order.

9. Product Bundling Discounts

Bundling products is a great way to sell multiple items at once. By grouping related products together and offering them at a discount, buyers see it as an opportunity to save money. Buying each product individually would likely cost them more. To make the most out of bundling, always make sure to group items that complement each other. For instance, if you sell skincare products, you might want to bundle a face wash, toner, serum, and moisturizer together. This way, your products can appeal even more to your customers.

10. Buy One Thing, Get One Thing Free

Attract customers by offering something for free when they make a purchase from you. For example, if you sell food, you can provide a sample-sized meal of another item along with their order. This is an excellent way to encourage customers to try new items on the menu, which may entice them to return later. If you sell bags, you might add a small wallet to their order. This increases the chances of repeat business from that customer.

11. Customer Information Collection Discounts

An effective way to build your emails or phone numbers list is to offer your audience something in exchange for their information. For example, offering them a discount can provide the opportunity to gather their information for remarketing purposes, as well as incentivise them to shop with the discount later on.

12. Orders through A Specific Channel Discounts

If you want to increase the visibility of a particular marketing channel, you can offer a discount that is only available through that channel. This will incentivise customers to use that channel in order to receive the discount. For instance, if you want to boost sales on your website, you can create a discount or coupon that is only valid for purchases made through the site. This will draw more attention to the website and encourage customers to become more familiar with using it.

Related: Create a Business Website in Seconds with Bumpa

13. Minimum Purchase Discounts

A minimum purchase discount allows you to set the threshold for the discount to take effect. This provides the flexibility to earn enough revenue from a sale before the discount is applied, thereby reducing the potential loss from offering the discount.

14. Event Attendance

Do you enjoy hosting events for your business? Offering your audience an exclusive discount that can only be claimed by attending the event is a great way to boost attendance. By increasing the number of attendees through your discount, you can improve your business's visibility and convert more sales, even during the event itself.

15. Percentage Off

Offering a percentage discount on a product is a great way to boost sales and move inventory off the shelf. This strategy can be particularly effective when restocking with new items or trying to sell off underperforming products.

Conclusion

Discounts and coupons can be great for your business when used effectively. They can increase sales and attract new customers, but it's important to have a plan and strategy in place. By using creative and targeted discounts, such as loyalty discounts, flash sales, and referral discounts, even naming your discount 'awoof sales', you can encourage customers to make purchases while also increasing brand loyalty. With the help of Bumpa's discount and coupon creation, customer information storage, and email/SMS features, you can easily implement these ideas to boost sales and grow your customer base.

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