story: How did you decide on what to
sell, and how did you source your
products?
We've been selling Apple accessories
since 2010 via local online marketplaces
and business was great; after knowing
about Shopify, we decided to take our
business a step further and create a full-
scale e-commerce website! We source
our products through local distributors
and suppliers.
How did you earn your first sales? Which
channels are now generating the most
traffic and sales for you?
Facebook sharing got us our first sales.
Our online store garners the most sales.
Tell us about the back-end of your
business. What tools and apps do you
use to run your store? How do you
handle shipping and fulfillment?
Out of Stock by Shopapps allows our
customers to pre-order out-of-stock
items or choose to be notified via email
and SMS when an item is back in stock.
We handle shipping and fulfillment
through a fulfilment warehouse.
What are your top recommendations for
new store owners?
Always seek the support of your
suppliers. If they do not support you, find
one who does. Being successful in
business takes two. Always stand your
ground and never be bullied into
submission. Find the right products that
consumers want and focus on fulfilling
those needs.
14 Ways to Use Offers, Coupons, Discounts and Deals
to Drive Revenue and Customer
Loyalty:
There will come a time when most online
merchants will be faced with the decision
of whether to offer discounts, when to
offer discounts and how much should the
discounts be worth.
Offering discounts for your online store
can be a powerful weapon in your
conversion arsenal, however, used
haphazardly, and you can do significant
damage to your brand or worse, become
unprofitable.
In this post, we'll review some of the
pros and cons of offering deals for your
online store, look at some of the most
popular ways you can use discounts to
drive conversions and, of course, how to
most effectively use them.
Let’s dive in.
Note: For the purpose of this blog post
and keeping things simple, we'll refer to
coupons, discount and deals all as offers.
The Pros and Cons of Online
Store Offers
Before we jump into some different ways
you can effectively use offers to help
increase customer loyalty and
acquisition, let's first look at some of the
pros and cons of utilizing offers for your
online store:
Pros
Easy and quick to implement.
Easy to track.
Increased customer acquisition.
Increased conversions.
Increased customer loyalty.
Cons
Decreased margins and profitability.
Possible brand damage.
Decreased conversions outside of
sale periods if you train visitors to
wait for offers.
Tendency to drive non-loyal (price
driven) shoppers.
Tendency to reduce average order
size.
Who Are Offers Right For?
As mentioned previously, online store
offers can be an effective tool for not
only customer acquisition, but also for
customer loyalty, however, it’s important
to consider your overall brand strategy
before you begin offering discounts.
If you want to position yourself as a
higher end brand or if you have slimmer
margins, you may want to consider
sticking to customer loyalty type offers
as oppose to weekly sales. On the other
hand, if you have healthy margins deep
discounting and daily/weekly sales might
be better for hitting your goals.
Ultimately, you need to consider if offers
and the type of offer is the right strategy
for your brand. Regardless, building an
online business will generally involve a
lot of experimentation to understand
what works best. The best approach is
to choose a goal for every campaign and
offer, start small and measure the
results.
Types of Offers
There are several overall types of
discounts and offers you have at your
disposal. Let’s take a look at the most
common:
Percentage Based Discount - The
most popular way to offer discounts
is percentage based discounts. This
can include small incentive
percentages like 5% or 10% off, larger
discount to really drive sales like 20%
and 25% or large percentages like
50%+ to liquidate merchandise that
isn’t moving or old.
Dollar Value Discount - Offers that
are based on a dollar value can be
positioned as a credit. This makes
people feel like they're wasting
money if they don’t use it. In some
studies, redemption of dollar based
offers vs. percentage based offers
can be as much as 175% greater.
Free Shipping - Shipping costs are
often cited as the number one
reason for shopping cart
abandonment. Offering free shipping
is a great way to mitigate this and
increase conversions. Often this is
used in conjunction with a minimum
order size to help increase the
average order value.
Free Gift - A free gift with a purchase
can be a great way to provide
additional value to customer. If used
strategically, it can also be used to
increase average order size and/or to
get rid of product that isn’t moving.
When and How to Use Offers
There are a hundred and one ways you
can use sales, offers, discount and deals
to drive customer acquisition and
conversions. Let’s take a look at some of
the most popular ways below along with
an example for each:
1. Weekly/Monthly Offers to Drive Sales
and Meet Revenue Goals - These are
traditional sales used to drive increased
sales. Many times sales are used at the
end of a month or quarter to increase
revenues to meet projections and goals.
Example: Memebox does weekly sales as
well as having monthly promo codes
(bottom of email).
2. Prelaunch Offers - If you're still in the
prelaunch stage of your business or
maybe even launching a new product,
you can use prelaunch offers to help
drive traffic and peak interest.
Example: Harry’s , an online retailer of
shaving goods used this approach with
huge success. They offered free product
in return for sharing their site prior to
launch. Utilizing this tactic and type of
offer Harry's was able to get 100,000
subscribers prior to even launching their
online store.
3. Holiday/Season Offers - Black Friday,
Christmas and New years are the big
ones, but the whole year is sprinkled with
holidays that you can use to stretch
revenues with offers.
Example: Julep regularly makes use of
not just holidays but seasons to promote
offers to their visitors and past
customers.
4. Abandon Cart Offers - With close to
70% of all people abandoning their carts,
abandon cart email offers can be a
powerful tactic to bring those people
back. Shopify natively has abandon cart
recovery functionality built in for those
people on Professional or Unlimited
plans. For everyone else, or if you want
more customization and analytics, check
out Klaviyo .
Example: Birchbox , a monthly
subscription box service sends out
abandon cart emails along with a 20% off
discount 24 hours after cart
abandonment to provide visitors with a
reminder and incentive to come back and
complete their subscription.
5. Email/Newsletter Subscription Offer -
As you probably already know, building
an email list is extremely important for
online retailers. By providing an offer in
exchange for visitors emails address, not
only do you increase the chance of a
conversion, but you also get their email,
providing you with the opportunity to
market new products and offers to them
in the future.
Example: DODOcase, an online
manufacturer of iPad cases offers 10%
off your purchase for signing up to this
newsletter. To implement your own
popup email sign up with an offer, check
out the Shopify App Pop-Up Window .
6. Offers for Liking, Following and
Sharing On Social - One of the hardest
parts of running a new online store is
getting word out. Giving visitors and
customers an incentive to share your
store with their social circles can be an
effective way to create some inexpensive
word of mouth.
Example: Bombay Hair Extensions uses
the Shopify App, Coupon Pop to offer
visitors 5% off their purchase in exchange
for visitors liking or sharing their online
store.
7. Referral Offers - People are much
more likely to purchase from you if
referred by a friend or family member.
Use this to your advantage and use
offers to encourage referrals. You can
choose to give a deal to the person
referring, the person being referred or
both.
Example: Again, DODOcase provides an
incentive for all happy customers to
share their purchase with their friends, as
well as offering those people referred a
discount on their first purchase.
Check out the Shopify Apps Forewards or
ReferralCandy for quick and effective
referral campaigns for your online store.
8. First Time Shopper Offer - Providing a
first timers offer could be just the nudge
those first-time visitor needs to be
converted to a paying customer.
Example: Clearly Contacts provides all
new visitors with a 10% off discount and
free shipping.
9. Volume/Cart Size Offer - An offer
based on the total value of a shopping
cart is an effective upselling tactic to
encourage customers to spend more,
increasing your average order size. A
strategic way to incorporate this into
your online store is to calculate your
average order value for the previous few
months and offer a discount or free
shipping on all order 10-20% over your
average order value.
Example: Popular online retailer Nasty
Gal offers free shipping on all orders over
$75.
10. Exclusive Social Offers - Exclusive
offers on your social networks can be a
great way to build a strong relationship
with those that follow you as well as
provide a reason for new people to follow
and subscribe to your social channels,
which will allow you to market to them in
the future.
Example: Online beauty retailer, Sephora ,
will occasionally do social media network
specific offers. In the example below
they offered Facebook fans a free gift
with any orders over $25.
11. Customer Loyalty Offers - Rewarding
customer loyalty can help build an even
stronger bond while also only providing
discounts to customers that already
spend money with your online store. It
can be as simple as sending your best
customers a personal email with a
discount or credit, using an automated
email marketing app like Klaviyo to send
out email offers when someone makes a
certain number of purchases from your
store or implementing a customer loyalty
program like LoyaltyLion .
Example: Finch Goods Co. (Full
Disclosure: Owned by Author) uses the
Shopify App, LoyaltyLion to reward their
best customers with a point system that
can then be redeemed for in-store
credit.
12. Exit Intent Offer - Sometimes all it
takes for to convert a visitor to a
customer is a last second offer before
they leave. An exit intent offer will popup
just as your visitor is about to leave your
site or close the tab, presenting them
with a final offer to purchase.
Example: The Green Mountain Mustard
company uses the Shopify App Picreel
Exit Popup to offer people about to leave
their site 10% off in a last ditch effort to
get visitors to convert.
13. Retargeting Offer - Retargeting offers
are effective because they're only shown
to people that have been on your site
before so they already know who you
are. The ads serve as a reminder to
come back and the offer serves as a
nudge to purchase. Check out AdRoll
Retargeting to get started with
retargeting offers.
Example: Again we have DODOcase as
an example as they effectively use offers
several times throughout the buying
cycle to help convert visitors over to
customers. In this case, DODOcase
targets visitors to their site on Facebook
and Google Adwords with retargeting ads
that provide those previous visitors to
their site with 20% off if they come back
to purchase.
14. Influencer Offers (Bloggers,
Celebrities etc.) - Partnering with
influential people that have large
audiences is a great way to increase
exposure to your brand and by providing
an exclusive offer to the influentials
persons network, you’re more likely to
convert their fans to your customers.
Example: Terrain partnered with popular
bloggers for the launch of their new
online store. To encourage people to
click through from the blog post and
increase conversions, Terrain provided
bloggers with a unique offer code to
share with their specific audience. This
unique code also allowed Terrain to
monitor and track redemption so they
know which bloggers were most effective
for future campaigns.
Conclusion
Offers and discounts aren't right for
every online business, however, with a
clear goal in mind, a firm understanding
of the brand and some experimentation,
you can most effectively utilize offers to
meet your objectives, building customer
loyalty and increasing revenues.
Tell us in the comments what offers has
worked best for your online store and
what you have found as the best
channels to promote your offers.
If your business has no business website you
might as well close shop!
If you have no
business website you can’t stay in business! And
this is not just my opinion.
“I don’t know how anyone today can realistically
be in business without having a proper online
presence. It’s kind of as important as having a
professional looking business card. In my opinion
you cannot effectively compete or market
yourself without a website, you must have one.”
It does not matter what kind of business you
have, or what product or service you provide.
There is someone looking on Google or Bing right
now for exactly what you provide. And guess
what? Because you have no business website
there is no chance in any way that they will find
you.
Having no business website is the digital
equivalent of never opening your store or
restaurant. If you don’t open you get no
customers. If you get no customers you get no
money. If you get no money you go broke. And if
you go broke your business closes.
The following is a guest post by Growth
Hacking consultant Roy Povarchik .
Do you want to know the secrets behind
some of the best Shopify shops out
there?
If you are looking to improve your Shopify
store or perhaps just get started or
simply want to get some inside
information on how successful stores get
to be successful - look no further!
We have rounded up 25 Shopify store
owners who we feel are doing something
right, to give their advice regarding the
best practices to sell using Shopify.
We asked them “What is the best tip you
can give to new upcoming ecommerce
store owners?” This is what they
answered:
Dan Provost from Studio
Neat :
“Focus on clarity and simplicity. The
worst thing you can do is confuse,
bombard, or disorient a potential
customer.
They want to buy your thing! You should
make it as easy as possible for them to
do so.”
Adrian Lee from Little
Sparrow Tea :
“Be Yourself in your approach.
If your brand and shop is a natural
extension of you then it will be natural
and engaging and a pleasure for you to
develop.”
Jordan Schau from Pure Fix
Cycles:
“ Test Everything . I come from a
background where I want to test and
measure everything. If you can measure
your results, the decision process
becomes much easier.
Testing everything from page layout,
navigation, marketing efforts (by channel,
messaging, imagery, landing page, etc)
allowed us to optimize our site and
content to help boost sales!”
Wendy Guerin from
Cookbook Village:
“The best advice we can give to a new
ecommerce store owner is to listen to
your market and your own instincts when
it comes to marketing and running your
online store. Many people will give you
all kinds of advice on how to sell and
market.
They will tell you how to perform your
search advertising, your SEO, your cart,
and more. You know your product and
customer best, and need to follow the
path that you know is best for your
customers.
Don't be pressured or swayed into doing
something until you first research it on
your own. Cookbook Village understands
its market well. We don't market by
trend. We cater 100% to serving our
customers the way we know they want
to be served.”
Viviane Goodwin from
Goodwin & Goodwin:
"Keep evolving your ecommerce store,
don't just stop after your new site has
gone live.
We are constantly developing our store
and typically spend 1-2 days a week
improving the SEO, updating the
homepage, refreshing the copy and
images and always looking at new ways
our customers can find our products
quicker and faster through navigation."
Jennifer Cobersky from
Bottle Cutting:
"There are several factors that we
consider components of our success in
selling online. Great quality pictures in a
real life setting, good customer service
(which can be lacking when everything is
done online and through text..its
important to remember that customers
are human!) and lastly, we do most of
our advertising through social media.
We have developed a brand and send the
same messages consistently about our
products."
Andre Jr. Co-Founder & CEO
at JM & Sons:
"There’s two key insights we can share
with new upcoming ecommerce store
owners.
First, an ecommerce should be used as a
testing ground for your products and
brand. In other words, it is a inexpensive
to channel to reach out to your clients
(or potential clients) to test the demand
your new designs/products 7/ pricing
without incurring massive overhead, R&D,
inventory holding costs and the risk of
having to liquidate your inventory.
We’ve realized that the best way to
validate the demand of our new designs/
products is to create a prototype and
launch it on our site and gather
feedbacks and data (we usually hold an
adequate, yet small inventory to fulfill
orders if the new item sells).
And secondly, great product photography.
The visual appeal of your products online
is a source a differentiation between
brands and your competition."
Maggie Battista Founder Eat
Boutique:
"Focus hard on the imagery. All you have
is your brand and imagery is the most
straight-forward way to convey the
emotion and message behind your
brand.”
Marcwenn from Marcwenn :
"Do as many things that do not scale as
possible.
They should focus on each individual
customer obsessively. It may seem
counter-intuitive to do things manually
that is impossible to do to scale. But
these things really do create loyal
customers and breed good word of
mouth. Doing things like personally
emailing your first 500-1000 customers,
sending personal thank you notes, asking
for feedback and Implementing it, and
going through the ordering steps with
customers.
These things really go a long way in
helping validate what new features or
products your store needs, it allows you
to provide amazing customer service.
and also identify the pain points in your
website."
Nabil Samadani from SALT
SURF :
"Keep it simple, and use the Shopify
features the way they were intended to
be used (without too much
reconfiguration on the back end).
Shopify is a great tool, and its
straightforward to use. Straightforward
design (on both the front and back end)
is one of the most important aspects in a
successful shopping experience!"
Hillary Bilheimer from HELM
Boots:
"The best tip HELM Boots can give new
upcoming eccommerce store owners is
to never fall behind on your customer
service.
Any emails that you receive, answer as
quickly as you can and be as helpful and
as friendly as you can. You should make
your customers feel that by purchasing
your product, you are entering a
relationship with them.
Your customers and future customers are
your livelihood and you need to make
them feel confident in what you are
offering and that they will be taken care
of throughout the ownership of that
product.
Setting the tone with great customer
service is a good way to establish that.”
Giselle Gyalzen from Rare
Device :
“A great website design is a must, but
don't forget that you also need great,
consistent product photography.
You must also have clear store policies
and accessible and responsive customer
service.”
Paul Cunningam from
Leather Head Sports:
“There are a lot of elements that
contribute to a successful online store.
When I set about designing the Leather
Head Sports Shopify website, I started
with great photography. Big, high quality
pictures are at the heart of our web-site.
Customers want to see what they're
buying. If you have visually compelling
products, it is critical that you showcase
them with great photography.”
Janine Vangool from
UPPERCASE:
“I've been on Shopify since the early
days (I'm store number 83!) though the
focus of my business has changed and
grown over the years, Shopify has been a
constant. It has been very reliable and
has served me well.
When I first started, ecommerce was just
a supplement to what I do -- now it is the
mainstay of my business.
My tip for new ecommerce store owners
is to recognize the 24-hour potential of
the store. It's great to wake up and see
orders that have accumulated overnight
from overseas visitors. It is important to
set up good customer service so that
these customers' needs don't feel
neglected.
As a one-woman operation, that means
that I do have to be available for
customer service at odd hours and check
on my store throughout the day and into
the evening, but this nurturing pays off in
the long run with long-term customer
relationships and consistent sales.”
Rosie Oneill from Sugarfina :
“It’s all about the photos. Be sure to
invest in high-quality photography that
showcases your product in its best light,
especially if it’s a food product.
Remember, you eat with your eyes first!
Share your story . Your customers like
knowing the people behind the product.
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there
and get to know your customers directly.
Have a personality.
Great brands differentiate themselves
with great copy and a strong brand voice.
Infuse your personality throughout your
creative, from the homepage to the
confirmation email and all the little
details in between.”
Ryan Barr from Whipping
Post:
“I think its common for new store owners
to be obsessed with getting as many
new customers as possible.
Understandable.
We need new customers to grow.
However, I wouldn't neglect your existing
customers and their experience as they
can be a critical mouthpiece for your
brand.
An exercise I like to do is think, "what
kind of experience will this customer
need to have to want to share my brand
with others?". This can be beautiful
packaging, freebies with purchase,
handwritten notes, or very personalized
emails. There are a lot of options to get
creative with.”
Regine Paquette from
Victoire Boutique:
“Being that we started in brick & mortar
retail to then open our online shop, I
would say our best tip would be to
communicate your brand in every way
you can so that people get as much of
an experience shopping with you online
as they would by stepping into your shop
in person.
For us that means helpful email
communications with current and
potential customers, taking unique &
playful product pictures, engaging with
our customers on social media, and
wrapping our orders with great care so
that customers really feel they've
received something special.
People are buying more and more online,
but they still want that human
connection.”
Michael Cohen from
Wrightwood Furniture:
“ KISS. Engineers have an expression,
KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. There are
so many possible features that can be
added on an ecommerce site. Starting a
business we are so eager to do
everything for the customer and try to
help them in every way.
Don't, at least not at first. Any new
business is more work than you think.
You can always add more features later.
Keep it simple to begin.
Responsive. Make sure you have a
responsive site. Responsive means that
the site looks right on desktop, tablets
and phones. More than half of your
customers are going to shopping on
something other than a PC. There are
lots of Shopify templates that are
responsive, make sure to use one. Also,
have the site tested on various devices.
It may be great on iphone 6, but there
could be some obscure bug that makes
the site not look so great on, say, the an
android table.
Do an email popup . One of the best ways
to market to customers is with email, but
you need their email address first. Do an
email pop-up. These are a little annoying
for the customer, but they collect a lot
of email addresses. People who have
come to your site and are interested
want to be informed about great things
you are doing. We have found that the
"bounce rate", ie number of people who
leave right after getting the pop-up is
surprisingly low, but do track that for
yourself."
Meriel Lesseig from Air
Plant Design Studio:
“Take the time to put together a
marketing plan with reasonable goals,
that feature different seasonal
promotions that you want to run.
Shopify lets you create discount codes
easily, and also integrates really well with
most of the top email marketing
campaigns and social media platforms.
Don’t underestimate the power of
investing in your marketing – especially
pay per click advertising in the beginning
to get some initial sales going.
Pay per click (or paid search)
advertising, when done right, can be a
really great way to get some immediate
customers while you’re building your
brand, and those initial sales can help
not only grow your marketing budget but
also your confidence and enthusiasm as
a new business owner.
We were able to grow our Shopify store
AirPlantDesignStudio.com over the past
year by investing all of our profits (and a
lot of time) back into the business, with
a good portion of that toward search
marketing and social media marketing.
The old adage “if you build it they will
come” just simply isn’t true when it
comes to E–Commerce."
Scott Lummes from Dahlia :
"The single most important thing to
consider for new upcoming ecommerce
store owners is to have a physical
person, with a telephone, who can be a
link to the real world and deliver personal
customer care when needed.
Too many companies have tried to
establish themselves as ‘purely online’
and don’t offer telephone support, and
take far too long to respond to customer
queries by email.
This move away from traditional values
simply degrades the customer experience
and if issues aren’t addressed swiftly,
they propagate and damage your
reputation faster than you can type an
apologetic reply!"
Jonathan Levine from
Master and Dynamic:
“Outside of the obvious needs, involving
traffic and customer acquisition, it's
imperative to also focus on all customer
touch points and interactions.
This involves everything from product
unboxing, shipping confirmation emails,
or even refund notifications, all points of
contact in which your customer interacts
with your brand.
As a store owner you should be looking
at these as opportunities to further
delight your customer and increase
customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
The customer journey doesn't come to
an end once a customer clicks "Place
Order.”
Jeff Sheldon by Ugmonk :
“Product photography is one of the most
important parts of running a successful
online brand.
Since customers don't have the ability to
physically touch and hold the products,
the photos need to accurately convey
the details and quality of the products.
Shooting good product photography is
very time-consuming and tedious, but is
worth the effort.
A lookbook with lifestyle photography
takes it one step further and shows off
the personality of the brand. Having a
well-shot lookbook helps customers
picture themselves wearing or using the
products and understanding the overall
vibe of the brand.”
Jack Neville from Jack
Neville:
“I would emphasize content strongly, we
are constantly changing up the
homepage so it looks fresh.
Don’t be tempted to have a launch sale,
keep that in the bag for further down the
line. Be social and approachable, get
yourself featured on as many blogs and
in as many magazines as possible.
In the end your website is a messenger,
you’ve designed a product that you love
and your website is letting everybody
know about it so put as much of yourself
and your brand into it as you can, create
your own style!”
Nic Annette Miller from
Tattly :
“Be 100% passionate about your product.
Not only just what it is, but how it's
produced, photographed, and the overall
experience. This type of passion will
translate in how you market your
business and the type of customers you
want to attract to support what you're
doing.
Oh, and have fun!"
Joanna Goodman from Au
Lit Fine Linens:
“The best tip I can give new online store
owners is to treat your online shop as
you would a brick and mortar shop. In
other words, an online shop has to be
‘merchandised’ regularly (new images/
homepage refreshed) the same way a
brick and mortar shop is merchandised
with fresh vignettes, displays and
windows.
The same goes for the customer service
experience. We’ve tried our best to
recreate the intimate experience in our
store online, which means educating our
customers any way we can - with videos,
diagrams, “swatch requests” so they can
touch our fabrics, and as much detail
about every product as we can offer, but
in a way that is clean, clear, aesthetically
pleasing and tightly edited.”
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