What kinds of promotions are there to attract customers? Promotions to attract customers: from genre classics to shocking What promotions to carry out to attract customers

Documentation

Various promotions and special offers are primarily considered as a way to increase sales. But this marketing tool actually brings much more benefits to businesses in a variety of ways. For example, competent work with promotions allows you to replace that portion of the customer base that a business loses over time and stimulates repeat purchases from existing customers.
At the same time, it is worth remembering that simply inventing and carrying out an action is not enough - you also need to convey information about it to as many people as possible from among your target audience. You can organize the dissemination of information using channels such as publications and banners on the website, social networks, banners in the contextual media network, and also use e-mail distribution for this purpose.

Here are 25 ideas you can use for your online store to attract new customers, increase sales, and spread the word about your brand.

Random reward. This option is aimed at working with existing clients, and not at attracting new ones. The rules are simple: among customers who placed an order in a certain period of time, a prize in the form of a certain item or cash reward is drawn, and the winner is determined using a random number generator. An example of a service with similar functionality is mrandom.com.
Package offer. A proven way to encourage customers to spend more than they originally planned is to combine several items in a package deal format and offer it at a lower price than if purchased individually. For example, a bundle of camera + bag + memory card.
Create a feeling of scarcity. Indicate that the promotion is only valid for a limited time, such as this week or the next three days. Make people feel like they're losing money if they don't take action now. Limited supply stimulates additional demand.
Opportunity to get first. We are talking about such a scheme for purchasing goods as pre-order. True, the return from such a promotion in an online store will only be if we are talking about a very popular product, for example, a new iPhone model.
Weekend offer. Typically, consumer activity drops on weekends, and you can stimulate it by sending offers to your subscriber base with a selection of products that are discounted when placing an order on Saturday-Sunday.
Personal selections. Segmenting customers and offering each group of products that may be of potential interest to them based on an analysis of viewed products or previous orders can provide good returns in the form of repeat purchases.
Buy more to save. These types of offers are attractive to customers because they create a feeling of benefit received, despite the fact that the average bill becomes higher. Don't give big discounts, just make sure they're attractive enough to encourage potential customers to take action.
A small gift. Let's be honest - everyone loves a freebie. It is enough to give just some nice little thing, and it is advisable that it reminds the person of your brand. It could be a mug, keychain, phone case, etc. This seems like a small bonus, but many people will appreciate it.
Loyalty points. Each time a customer purchases something, they are awarded bonus points that can be redeemed for a cash discount on their next product purchase. You can first test this special offer for a certain period of time, and if it proves itself well, make the loyalty program unlimited, relevant for the entire time the online store operates as a business.
Find cheaper. One of the popular ways to promote a brand, relevant for new niches and product categories with a low level of competition. The basic rule is that you will deduct the difference between prices if the buyer found a similar product cheaper in another online store. But it is worth recalling once again that such a scheme will not be relevant if we are talking about a highly competitive niche, which is characterized by a small markup on goods.
Bring a friend. Offer registered users bonus points or a cash discount if a friend signs up using their referral link. This can work great in popular niches, such as clothing retailing. In this way, you can expand your customer base through the users themselves, who act as a kind of marketers for your business.
Birthday gift. If you have enough data about your customers to track this kind of information, you can set up automatic mailings of special offers to those people who have an upcoming birthday. Everyone will be glad to see such attention to their person from the business.
Only for subscribers. The name is not entirely correct, since the first association usually arises with an analogy with email distribution. We are talking about creating a unique offer for a specific channel. For example, this way you can increase activity on social networks by making a limited special offer for all page subscribers, valid for a specific period of time.
We exchange old for new. This technique is called trade-in, and the most famous example of its use in retail is the ability to exchange an old iPhone for a new one at Apple retail stores. You can offer your regular customers to exchange an old item for a new one, with a small additional payment on their part.
Gift certificates. Can work well in a niche that is in high demand, such as clothing, accessories, jewelry, digital technology, books, and others. It often happens that we want to give a gift to someone dear to us, but we haven’t decided what exactly is best to choose, and we just don’t want to give money. In such cases, a gift certificate of a certain denomination will be very useful.
tell me a story. Surely among your subscribers on social networks and e-mail newsletters there are people who don’t mind showing their imagination if in exchange you offer them something valuable. Run a competition where everyone can submit a story related to the theme of your online store, or the use of a specific product category that you sell. In principle, the story does not have to relate to your product; for example, you can time it to coincide with a specific event.
Family purchase. You can offer a discount or a free gift to those who buy things from you not only for themselves, but also, for example, for their child. So, when ordering clothes for an adult and a child at the same time, offer a discount, free delivery, or even give one set of clothes as a gift.
Service as a bonus. Not all products fit the “buy and use” definition. Some require preliminary installation, configuration and similar actions on the part of the future owner. The seller can take on this task by offering to do it completely free of charge, thus acquiring loyal customers.
Master Class. If the products you offer are actively used in creativity or to create something, you can invite site visitors and subscribers on social networks to send a master class in the format of an article (with photo) or video. This is especially true for online stores that specialize in hobby and creative goods.
Guess the result. On the eve of some significant event, before which a certain intrigue remains, you can invite users to guess its results. Moreover, it is not necessary that it be related exclusively to your niche, because there are events that are equally interesting for almost everyone. For example, the football championship and other sports competitions. Whoever guesses the final score will receive a prize!
Bonus for review. If your online store has already implemented a system of cumulative discounts, bonus points, or something similar, you can experiment further, expanding it. Offer your customers bonus points for reviewing a product after placing an order, which they can use to get a discount on their next purchase.
Hurry up to be the first. A promotional offer option that should be considered when promoting a new product or product category. Offer a discount, gift or free shipping to the first 10 customers. The number of buyers, of course, can be anything.
Gift for subscription. A great way to increase your email subscriber base in a short time. Simply announce that everyone who subscribes to your email newsletter will receive a gift coupon that guarantees a discount of a certain value on any item in the catalog.
Special days. It is difficult to find a person who has not heard of the famous “Black Friday”, the fashion for which came to us from the USA and other Western countries. It’s just that there’s only one Friday a year, and you can conduct an experiment and make a specific day special for customers, but not limit the promotion to one week. Free shipping, a small gift, bonuses on a club card - there are many ways to stimulate customers , and in the end, this one day can generate excellent revenue for you.
Two plus one. An option that is suitable for online stores that operate in niches with good margins. Well, or in cases where you need PR at any cost. Create sets of promotional goods from several products, one of which will be free for the buyer. And you, in turn, will be able to earn money by increasing the average bill.

What else should you consider?

You don’t just need to carry out an action as an end in itself, but also achieve certain goals? Therefore, when planning this event every time, think carefully about whether it will suit the interests of your target audience. So that you don't accidentally end up giving away a set of car tires in the cycling community. An exaggeration, of course, but sometimes similar examples occur.

And one more important point - avoid being overly enthusiastic about discounts. Instead, make an effort to organize promotions that encourage users to return to your online store and make repeat purchases. Work to increase your base of loyal customers rather than random customers.

We hope that the ideas from this article will be useful to you when working to increase sales of your online store and help you achieve success in the difficult task of developing your own business. We also recommend that you read our article - any activity that will help you increase customer loyalty is worth spending your time and money on it in our time.

SMM marketing is gaining more and more popularity today. In this regard, marketers need to constantly look for new ideas on how to work with the audience of their project. Of course, the most interesting option to attract and retain the attention of the audience is to hold promotions, competitions, and various sweepstakes on social networks. As practice shows, the audience’s attention is perfectly concentrated on all kinds of advertising and entertainment campaigns.

If they include an element of gamification, involvement, and games with the audience, then such contact has every chance of being long-lasting, and also developing into a sale, and then into the loyalty of a permanent customer. So today marketers have to increasingly play the role of a mass entertainer and not only inform the audience about the product, but also provide the audience with high-quality entertainment materials. We have compiled a list of 10 competition ideas that can be held on Facebook, as well as Vkontakte or on your own project website.

Let these ideas help you create your own competitions and inspire you to search for new formats. So here are our suggestions.

1. A promotion to distribute mini-sets of company products, for example, if your company sells cosmetics (especially little-known brands), then you can use the idea of composing sets of cosmetics from samples. For a small fee, and sometimes for free, such sets can be sent to everyone. The idea is especially relevant before the holidays.

2. Discounts for purchases from 2 people. That is, if you buy a product together, it costs you less. You can create a progressive discount system. For example, the more people buy, the greater the discount. In this case, user contacts are valuable. They are usually quite difficult to obtain. So you have the opportunity to get them for virtually nothing by simply giving a discount to a group of people!

3. Refer a friend and get a bonus. Such promotions on the Internet are usually carried out on the principle of paying for recommendations - if you told a friend about the campaign and he bought something based on your recommendation, then you receive either a cash reward or a discount. In practice, it is best to give a bonus to both – both the one who brought a new client and the client himself.

5. Promotion with levels. This is something more like conducting a quest, only the action takes place not on a real area, but on a social network. Several levels of difficulty can be developed. For example, everyone participates in the first stage, an increasing number of participants are recruited, then a quiz is held, then voting, then another quiz. This way you can create several levels of difficulty in participating in the promotion. Just don't overdo it. Your task is to captivate and gather as large an audience as possible, and not to disperse people.

7. Product knowledge quiz. Everything is simple here - you can try to find out from the audience, what do they even know about the product that you are releasing or selling? A quiz is both entertainment and education rolled into one.

8. Competition in partnership with another company. You can come up with and hold a competition in partnership with a company of a completely different profile. For example, today one of the best options would be to hold a competition together with a travel agency or language school.

9. Promotion with the collection of likes. Such promotions are aimed at increasing the number of subscribers and expanding coverage. The rules are simple - there is some kind of prize, and the one who collects the most likes on his page gets it.

10. Reality show. The most difficult, but also the coolest option, since it allows you to get a huge response, a huge number of shares, and also simply increase your image among the audience and existing clients. For a reality show you need a good idea, as well as participants who will agree to fulfill your conditions.

Promotions are another tool for winning over consumers. As a rule, as part of the promotion, a potential client gets the opportunity to evaluate and test the company’s products and services free of charge or at a lower price.

How to come up with a promotion and attract customers

Entrepreneurs must learn to come up with effective promotions. How?

1. Decide on the participants of the action. The success of a promotion depends on three factors. The first is customers who come to the store under the impression of advertising. The second factor is sellers. It is important to remember that advertising only gives the buyer an idea of the product, and the seller carries out the transaction. And if he recommends to the client a product from a competing company in a confidential tone, it will work. The effectiveness of an advertising campaign depends mainly on the seller.
The third participant in the action is considered to be the store director (administrator, top manager) - in other words, the person who manages the sellers of the department (store, region) entrusted to him. The manager’s task is to stimulate the advertising campaign, that is, to control the display of goods, give recommendations to sellers, and show interest in the progress of sales. The more interested the manager is in the success of the promotion, the higher the likelihood that it will be successful.
2. Find out what motivated the participants in the action. Each participant pursues his own interests, which means everyone has different motives.
The buyer comes to the store with the hope of purchasing a quality item at a reasonable price and with a guarantee. A bonus (a nice accessory or service) will not be amiss for him.
The seller, in fulfilling his duties, is guided by material benefits. If the fact of a successful transaction guarantees him some kind of reward, he will be interested in the work. Material incentives in this case are a bonus based on sales results or a bonus for a unit sold. Sales help him make a career, but a career is too abstract a concept, but a bonus is quite specific.
As for the store director, he must think more globally than the seller. As a rule, the role of administrator is usually a white-collar employee who works for hire. He is interested in the success of the business he is a part of. He strives to rise to the top steps of the career ladder, but this is only possible if the plan is fulfilled, sales volume increases, and salespeople are competently managed. The greater the manager’s success, the greater the material reward he expects.
3. Take the buyer's interests into account. All marketing is built on knowing the interests of a potential client, understanding the psychology of the buyer and revealing his motives. Few managers can say with confidence what their clients want, because they have no idea about their hobbies, lifestyle, and income. All these things need to be studied. An advertising campaign will only be effective if it is planned taking into account the specific characteristics of the target audience.
4. The target audience may be heterogeneous. A student, the head of a family, or a housewife can come for the same washing machine (computer, headphones, and so on). And all these people, remarkably, have different priorities. A couple of packages of washing powder, even if free, will not cause much enthusiasm in a man who has never washed his own clothes. And a ticket to a football match is unlikely to be useful to a woman who is not a fan. Therefore, it is worth providing several incentive options. Of course, there are also universal bonuses. For example, a large flash drive will certainly please all laptop buyers.
Focusing on the preferences and tastes of different people is troublesome and expensive, but in a competitive environment it is necessary. An effective advertising campaign is a well-thought-out event.
5. Relevance is paramount. For an action to make a splash, it needs to be launched at the right moment in the right place. This point is easiest to explain using the example of holidays or changing seasons.
A few weeks (days) before the New Year, sweets, champagne or a box of fireworks will be a good addition to any major purchase. The gender, age, income of the buyer and the geographical location of the store in this case do not matter much.
Here's another option, less traditional. A travel agency, advertising tours to warm countries, can offer potential clients free certificates to a gym or beauty salon. They may turn out to be extremely relevant on the eve of a beach holiday.
6. Modest bonuses work better than super-expensive gifts. Let's say that a company is running a promotion in which the winner will receive a car or a trip to Hawaii. Clients are not very interested, because they understand perfectly well that they will not see a super prize: the company is well-known, it has a large audience, which means that the chances of winning something tend to zero. Besides, where is the guarantee that the super prize really exists? And if it does exist, it will most likely be played out between “close associates,” so what’s the point of joining the game?
But if every buyer of a product or service participates in a lottery with a guaranteed (even “penny”) win, interest in the campaign increases. As you know, a bird in the hands is better than a pie in the sky. The opportunity to get some little thing for free, even if it’s not particularly necessary in the household, is a serious incentive. A new printer may come with a pack of high-density paper, a bicycle may come with gloves or a flask, and a mobile phone may come with a case of your choice. You can go the other way: in addition to the TV, offer a blanket or a case of beer, and in addition to the microwave oven, offer a coupon for the delivery of pies or pizza.
In other words, giving small gifts to all store customers is preferable to making the only winner happy with a super prize. It is through small bonuses that customer loyalty is formed. Practice has repeatedly confirmed the correctness of this approach.
7. No need to be clever. Advertisements about promotions should be as accessible and understandable as possible to all members of the target audience. A potential client should not puzzle over what is being offered to him, especially since he reads advertisements, as a rule, casually (for example, in transport). The advertising text must clearly state what the buyer must do to receive the bonus. Of course, some entrepreneurs love intrigue (and this technique sometimes works great!), but clear directions are always preferable.
8. Claiming a prize should be easy. It happens that in order to receive an incentive, a client needs to:
Purchase a product.
- Fill out the form.
- Get a unique number.
- Save the receipt.
- Register on the site.
- Enter a unique number.
- Wait for the lottery results.
Needless to say, this path is too difficult? If “the game is not worth the candle,” the buyer is unlikely to go beyond saving the receipt, and this is understandable. Nobody likes to make unnecessary movements.
Therefore, it is advisable to conduct the prize draw as quickly as possible, ideally immediately after the client makes a purchase. If you still intend to fill out a questionnaire or flyer for a subsequent drawing, then the technology of this process should be simplified to the maximum. Asking a buyer to fuss with paperwork is indecent, especially considering the fact that he has already done a favor to the store (company) by purchasing a product or service. Therefore, the manager (seller) must deal with the red tape.
9. You need to be friends with the staff. First of all, “staff” means sales people. It is these people who are always aware of what is happening, both in their store and in their competitors. They know why things are the way they are and why some new products are in demand and others are not. Even if the leading manager has attended dozens of seminars on successful sales, a good salesperson will still find something to surprise him with. Sellers know more about buyers than anyone else, and their advice and recommendations should not be neglected.
10. ...and follow the buyer!...In the literal sense: having studied the interests, passions and hobbies of the target audience, the entrepreneur must “force himself” to share their tastes and from time to time appear in the thick of things: at sports competitions, music festivals, holidays in shopping centers. People trust more those they know by sight and those who do not distance themselves from them. Therefore, on the eve of the next advertising campaign, a little publicity will not hurt.

Interesting promotions to attract customers

“Buy one product and get the second one free.” There are simple, without pretense of originality, marketing recipes that have brought and continue to bring profit. These are promotions from the series “three for the price of two”, “special price for goods with green price tags”, “discount in the morning”, “Birthday discount”, “red price tag: the price is lower than the purchase price”, “buy goods for a certain amount – get a free discount card”, “get a discount coupon for every 500 rubles” and so on. Any such promotion, supported by the distribution of leaflets and a video broadcast on TV, guarantees an increase in sales (if the mechanism of the transaction is clear to everyone). There is no need to deny the possibilities of the Internet (radio, print media) for disseminating information about an advertising campaign. Distributing flyers by promoters on the streets closest to the store also works great.
Unconventional solutions. As you know, they work well in business. A striking example of an effective advertising campaign is the offer of one of the denim clothing stores in Vilnius. The promotion lasted no more than ten minutes, during which people who came to the store without pants could choose free jeans from famous brands. In such a short time, the store did not manage to suffer large losses, but the line of half-naked people on the street aroused the well-founded curiosity of passers-by. Conversations began and passions began to boil. The company's management reaped the benefits of fame: the flow of people wanting to buy jeans for money did not dry up for several months.
Euroset carried out an even more shocking action: every client who came to the salon completely naked received a free phone. And such people, of course, were found.
The more provocative the action, the greater the public response it causes. Consumers are greedy for the word “free!” (“free!”) in the ad and for the sake of a “freebie” they are ready to do a lot. Therefore, the most incredible flash mob, beneficial for the consumer, will be received, if not with delight, then with curiosity. Involving the media and publishing the announcement online ensures that the information spreads quickly. And if videos and photographs are taken during the action, users will discuss it on forums for a long time. A properly organized, legal, but scandalous campaign will not only help increase sales, but will also ensure brand (store) recognition. It is possible that over time it will become perceived as an urban legend.

It is clear that entrepreneurs should not be afraid to innovate in the advertising field. Each campaign requires careful study of the needs of the target audience; Moreover, not every promotion performs as expected. But sooner or later, an active and courageous leader will definitely find solutions that will work best: they will arouse public interest and contribute to the influx of new clients.

Hello! In this article we will talk about promotions to attract customers.

Today you will learn:

How to conduct promotions for;
What types of shares exist and how to come up with a share;
How to calculate stock performance.

What are “shares” and why are they needed?

During the height of the economic crisis in the country, the issue of attracting new customers faces almost every enterprise. The situation is aggravated by the high level in almost all areas of business.

In such harsh conditions, entrepreneurs are forced to resort to the most stringent measures to attract customers. One of these measures is sales promotion.

Sales promotion – a promotion tool aimed at short-term increase in demand with the help of various promotions that stimulate purchases.

Promotions will allow you to achieve the following goals:

Short-term increase in sales volumes;
Capture market share for a long time;
Attracting new consumers:
Poaching consumers from competitors;
Stimulating large volumes of purchases;
Retaining loyal consumers.

Advantages:

Drawing attention to the company, brand and product;
Providing information about the product and company to potential consumers;
Significant increase in sales during the promotion period;
Quick consumer response to stimulating effects;
Sales focus.

Flaws:

The short-term impact, as a rule, increases sales only for the duration of the promotion;
Often have a negative impact on the image of the organization. If a high-level company begins to sell goods at a discount of more than 70%, it loses wealthy buyers and attracts those who are ready to purchase products only at discounts;
Significantly reduces company profits. A discount of even 5% has a painful impact on the company’s profits, which we will talk about a little later.

If these shortcomings don’t scare you, then let’s move on.

Promotion strategy development process

Any activity to attract visitors must begin with developing a strategy. Stocks are no exception.

The process of developing a sales promotion strategy includes the following stages:

Formation of sales promotion goals;
Identifying suitable stocks, which we will talk about a little later;
Development of an incentive program: designation of the timing of the promotion, determination of the amount of the incentive (budget), determination of the conditions for participation in the promotion, methods of promotion and distribution of the incentive package, development of a mechanism for responding to the promotion, preliminary testing;
Practical implementation of the incentive program through the use of various promotions;
Evaluation of results.

Types of promotions to attract customers

At the moment, there are a very large number of different stock options.

The choice of one or another means of sales promotion depends on the following factors:

Specifics of activity.
Product type. For example, let's say you sell wedding dresses. It would be strange to give a second when buying one;
Store format and location. For example, we own a stall selling pies at the station. There are three more similar stalls next to us. To attract consumers, we decided to hold a promotion. As a gift to a random lucky winner, we are providing a coupon for one free pie per day for a month. However, 90% of our consumers are passing through this place and they will not be interested in this promotion, and it will not help us resolve the issue with competitors;
Activities of competitors in this area;
Financial capabilities of the company;
Purposes of the action.

Determine each of these parameters for yourself. Have you determined? Then let's move on to the types of shares.

Discounts

Discounts are the most popular and easiest way. Buyers are happy to buy goods with red price tags. The more you lower the price, the more purchases you will get. But be careful. Every percentage of the price hurts the margin of your products.

During the month of discounts, sales volume increased by 20% and amounted to 148 pies or 2,664 rubles. The pie margin for the promotion period was: 18-17.3 = 0.7 rubles.

Let's calculate the profit received during the month of the promotion: 0.7 * 148 = 103.6 rubles. Thus, thanks to discounts, we lost 209.4 rubles in profit with an increase in purchases by 20%.

Make it a rule to carry out such calculations before introducing a discount system.

Human psychology is designed in such a way that he practically does not notice a price reduction of less than 15%. Therefore, a discount of 5 or 10% will not lead to a significant increase in demand.

Discount forms:

Seasonal sales;
Discounts for large volume purchases;
Discounts in honor of a special occasion (customer’s birthday, store opening date, etc.);
Discounts for purchasing a certain category of products.
Discount on defective goods;
Discount on “product of the day”;
Discount when purchasing in ;
“Bring a friend” discount.

Please note that the introduction of any discount must be tied to a specific occasion. If you simply lower your prices, the consumer will think about the quality of your product. It is discounts that tend to negatively affect the image of an organization if they are applied ineptly.

Gifts for purchase

This is also a very popular type of promotion. You can give away both your own products and those of your partners for purchase. In the first case, you will again have to calculate the change in sales volumes and profits so as not to go into the negative. But the second option is very tempting.

Find a partner company that needs to promote its product or brand and offer cooperation.

Example. Since the idea of discounts at our pies stall failed, we decided to give gifts for purchases. To do this, we agreed with the store opposite that we would attract our customers to their outlet by issuing them a coupon to receive free tea from them. The store agrees, since the likelihood that a visitor will buy some product from them by going for free tea is very high.

Types of “gift with purchase” promotion:

The second lowest priced product is free;
Bonus from partners;
Lottery;
Discount card for purchase.

Loyalty cards

Almost everyone has several cards from their favorite stores in their wallet. They allow the buyer to benefit from shopping in this store.

The following forms of discount cards are distinguished:

Discount cards– provide the client with a fixed discount. It does not change during the use of this card. Aimed at retaining visitors and linking them to the outlet;
Savings cards– often the amount of benefit depends on the total quantity of goods purchased in monetary terms. The more you bought during the entire period of using the card, the greater your discount. Aimed at increasing the number of purchases and retaining customers;
club card– provided to special customers, for example, for a large purchase volume. It carries certain privileges, including: the opportunity to participate in promotions, permanent discounts, gifts.

You can’t just give out cards; time their donation to coincide with some event or set conditions.

Here are some options for you:

Store birthday;
Large purchase volume;
Issuance of discount cards to first visitors;
Issuance of cards for participation in the competition;
Selling cards.

Competitions and giveaways

This type of stock is actively gaining momentum. Hold a prize draw, come up with a competition, the winners of which will receive your products as a gift. This will allow you to increase company awareness and consumer loyalty.

There are two types of competitions:

Related companies. In this case, the buyer must purchase a certain quantity of goods in order to receive a surprise. For example, buy 10 bottles of soda to collect the caps from them and get a prize. Aimed at increasing demand and attracting attention to the company;
Unrelated to product. The consumer performs a task without having to purchase the company's product. For example, a consumer must write a story about their day at school in order to receive a free school supply kit.

Tasting

As a rule, it is carried out in large supermarkets. Moreover, this type of promotion is aimed not so much at increasing the sales volume of the product being tasted, but at increasing the sales volume of the supermarket as a whole. According to statistics, consumers who have tried a product buy 25% more than they planned in that store.

We will talk about calculating the effectiveness of this type of promotion a little later.

How to come up with a promotion to attract customers

To come up with a promotion to attract customers, you need to go through the following steps:

Define your advertising campaign goals. What do you want to achieve? Increasing sales, increasing customer loyalty, attracting new customers or retaining existing ones. Write down all your goals;
Determine the participants of the marketing campaign. Who exactly do you want to influence, who will influence it, who will control its implementation. Discounts can scare away wealthy clients from your company and attract consumers in the middle and low price segment. A club card may have the opposite effect. Promoters, salespeople, and customer service managers can influence consumers. The entire process will be controlled by a director or administrator. All personnel involved in carrying out the action must be trained: familiarized with the conditions, given instructions.
Determine the motives of each participant. The consumer is interested in additional benefits, the seller is interested in premiums or bonuses for good results, the administrator is interested in fulfilling the plan, increasing sales volume. Correctly identifying the motives of each participant will allow you to effectively manage the process.
Work to identify your customers' needs. What exactly might interest them?
Think about when your promotion will be most relevant. For example, ice cream in winter will not cause such a stir among consumers as gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate.
Decide on the type of promotion. It directly depends on the one for which you are holding the promotion. It is also important to determine the value of the gift. Remember that a large number of small bonuses attract consumers more than a few expensive gifts.
Make the terms of participation in the promotion clear and short, otherwise the client will suspect deception or simply will not study your proposal. There shouldn't be too many conditions.
Communicate with your consumer, answer his questions, play with him. This way you will gain precious trust.

Analysis of the effectiveness of the campaign

We have already discussed how to evaluate the effectiveness of discounts; evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of loyalty cards, gifts and competitions is carried out in the same way.

Remember that an increase in sales does not at all guarantee an increase in profits, because you lose on a discount or gift. In this case, when calculating efficiency, the gift should be considered as a discount (the cost of the gift = the amount of the discount).

Example. For the purchase of 5 pies at a time, we give chewing gum. The promotion will last one week. The price of chewing gum is 2 rubles. Let's assume that only those who initially wanted to buy them will buy the fifth pie, and we have 10 out of 50 people a week. Thus, thanks to the promotion, sales volume will increase by 200 rubles or by 10 pies. Our margin before the promotion was 2.7 rubles. The sales volume before the promotion was 90 pies. We calculate the profit for the week before the promotion 90 * 2.7 = 2 43 rubles.

Let's calculate how much additional profit we will receive from the promotion: 2.7 * 10 = 27 rubles. And we will lose: 2*10 = 20 rubles. Thus, the promotion will allow us to increase profits by only 7 rubles.

Now let's learn how to calculate the effectiveness of tastings.

Let's say we are conducting a tasting of our pies. The promotion will run for 2 days, 3 hours a day. The price of our product is 20 rubles. The cost is 17.3 rubles.

We plan to reach an audience of 20 people. The number of pies required is 20 pieces. In addition, we need a tray costing 200 rubles and a package of napkins costing 30 rubles.

Thus, the cost of carrying out the campaign will be 576 rubles.

Let's calculate using the formula: Break-even point = total costs/margin = 576/2.7 = 213 pies. We will have to sell this number of pies based on the results of the tasting.

According to the rule of information dissemination, everyone who tastes the pie will tell three of their friends about the product, and each of these three will tell three more.

Thus, the maximum number of buyers who will come to the stall based on the results of the tasting will be 180 people. We don’t know how many pies they will buy, but according to pessimistic calculations (everyone will buy only one pie), this number of buyers is not enough. The project is risky.

Examples of the best stocks

Promotion at the airport.

A couple of years ago, an American airline held a raffle for travel packages. The conditions were as follows: a person waiting for a flight was asked to press a button, after which the computer randomly determined the country to which the lucky person would go. In this case, all travel expenses were paid by the airline.

Free lunch.

One of the Chinese sites ran an interesting promotion. For a month, every hour for 1.5 seconds a button appeared on the resource page, by clicking on which the lucky person received a free lunch. By the way, the number of site visitors increased 4 times this month.

An example from Russia.

The Moscow Geocafe holds a promotion every day. Its conditions are as follows: at 18:00 Moscow time, a drawing for a free dinner was held between cafe visitors. The winner was determined randomly. Second and third places were also determined and received a bottle of wine and a 50% discount on their order, respectively.

Promotion in the store.

One of the Vilnius denim stores ran the following promotion: all customers who came without pants were given free jeans of their choice. As a result, on the day of the promotion, a line of freebie lovers lined up in the store. However, be careful with such promotions, otherwise you may face legal consequences.

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By “Promotions” we mean any events that are held with the aim of attracting, luring and selling goods. After all, the goal of any action, no matter what you call it, is increasing store sales and profits, it doesn’t matter, momentarily or in the future. Is not it? We will not now touch on specific recipes and stock scenarios - there are infinitely many of them and each type of trading has its own approach. We will not argue whether shares are needed, whether they are useful and whether they pay off. We will focus on tips that a store should consider before holding a promotion.

Does your store need a Promotion?

What promotions should you hold in your store for the New Year?
TorgSoft users often turn to us for advice on what promotion to organize and how to make the program automatically calculate discounts on the promotion. “Buy for this amount, you will also receive this gift”, “Discount on the second item in the receipt”, “Discounts on everything up to ...”, “Three for the price of two” and similar conditions can be implemented in the TorgSoft program. There is a video on this topic: How to set up a Promotion in the Torgsoft program.

It makes sense to hold an action in order to:

Notify about the opening of the store;
- “Get famous” at the local level: create a news story and get on local TV channels or the press;
- Entertain clients; create or maintain interest in the store by attracting new and cajoling old customers;
- Advertise a new product;
- Just remind yourself;
- Get rid of stale goods;
- Increase sales as a short-term measure;
- Stand out among competitors.

All these areas complement each other, and they can and should be combined.

What promotion can you come up with for the store?

Very often, when thinking through a promotion, the store manager or owner gets into a stupor: “What can they come up with?” All ideas seem either banal, or stupid, or repeat competitors...

No need to worry too much! There is almost always the right solution - this is people’s love for a freebie, a balloon, savings... That is, a gift, a second item at a reduced price, a coupon for a gift or a discount, finally. As a rule, discount coupons for a certain amount or gift work better than a discount.

Spread your advertising networks wider!

The idea of cross-promotion can come to the rescue. This is when you agree with another non-competing store or with some establishment to use each other's goods or services as part of a promotion. That is, about mutual advertising. The main thing is that your customer audiences at least somehow overlap. How to present this to customers?

Very simple: “When you purchase a business suit, we give you a coupon for dry cleaning from our partner - the “Kroshka Enot” dry cleaner..

Or a discount coupon for dry cleaning services. In the same way, the following can cooperate: a jewelry and women's clothing store; clothing and shoe store; clothing store and fitness club, beauty salon, pizzeria, cinema, etc.

Another example. One children's store held a drawing of prizes among customers, the main prize of which was a family photo session from a professional photographer. Throughout the promotion period, an advertisement for his photo studio hung in the store. Isn't it mutually beneficial cooperation?

“Well, who would fall for this?”

This section is a continuation of the previous one. Remember: You don’t have to match all the shares to suit yourself!
Maybe it seems stupid to you to give, for example, a cheap belt for jeans. And I personally saw that it worked! The same can be said about the assortment. Owners of clothing, shoe, and jewelry stores will agree that you cannot select goods for the store based only on your taste.

Even moreover, if you don’t like the action and you think “I would never fall for that!” - with a high probability this may be a sign that people will like the promotion. Why? Because you are NOT the target audience! If you sell a product to the “common” people, then you have different views. And therefore you are the owner of the store, and they are your customers.

Example. One store, wanting to get rid of outdated models of summer T-shirts and flip-flops, decided to give them out as gifts with jeans. September was approaching, and it was necessary to clear the warehouse for the autumn assortment. Everything flew apart: jeans, T-shirts and flip-flops. Of course, the purchase price of these “gifts” was included in the jeans.

Come up with a reason for the action!

If you offer discounts -
explain why this is suddenly such generosity. Otherwise, people may be wary and assume that your product is either of poor quality, expired, or such that no one needs it.

In clothes, shoes and other seasonal goods, this is the easiest thing to do. A change of collection and the end of the season are excellent and understandable reasons.

For almost any store, holidays are also a good reason. Well-known and professional events, local events (City Day, for example), birthdays and store openings, sales due to relocation, opening of a new department, the onset of spring (winter, autumn).

For other products, the pretext for the promotion may be “outdated models,” models from the previous year or season, damaged packaging, or “sale of leftovers.” As you can see, there is no reason not to drink, that is, to hold a promotion :)

And remember that promotions that are too complicated stress people out, are not easy to understand and implement, and therefore are not as effective.

Advertise the promotion so that people want to take advantage of it

Don't forget to notify people about the promotion. This needs to be done both inside the store (right above the product covered by the promotion) and outside - by placing a banner, a pillar, or placing a promoter. You can also inform by e-mail, SMS (Distribution of e-mail and SMS to the customer base from the program), or by posting to mailboxes, as well as on social networks or on the website.

Make sure that sellers clearly and clearly know the terms of the promotion, and do not forget to remind them about it right at the checkout. Don't save money! A white piece of paper on the doors with a handwritten inscription “We have a promotion...!” - this is not advertising, but what the hell.

Be specific in your advertising

Avoid meaningless phrases like “Special offer.”

Be specific: tell the person exactly what you want from him.“Exchange this flyer for a gift”, “Take this coupon for 50 UAH. and use it to buy a phone of any model!”, “Come with a friend and get two pairs of jeans for the price of one!”.

If you are making a banner, make sure that the letters on it will be readable from the roadway (so that people in transport or on the other side of the street can see it). If you are making a leaflet, a large format is not always effective. A5-A6 is better, it’s easier to take, easier to give and cheaper to make. And don’t forget to indicate the timing of the promotion and store contacts.

Use Promoters Correctly

Here are the top three mistakes that make promoters completely ineffective: Standing in the wrong place at the wrong time and saying the wrong thing (or saying nothing at all). We wrote a separate article about how to work with promoters, because it is a very pressing topic.

Prepare your salespeople

To ensure that money for advertising, promoters and leaflets does not go in vain, make sure that sellers are interested in the success of the promotion.
It makes sense to stimulate employees: set a sales plan, give a % of its completion, or a bonus for over-fulfillment. After all, they will have to not only smile more and convince customers of the benefits of the offer, but also experience more workload. It may be worth introducing fines for employees for negligent behavior during the event.

Analyze the results and carry out promotions regularly

A special mode will help you calculate the result of the promotion "Analysis of the use of discounts" accounting programs "TorgSoft". From it you can find out: what products were most popular during the promotion period, how much you earned and how much you lost on discounts; which promotion turned out to be the most popular (if the store has several promotions at the same time), the sales volume of each employee during the promotion period.

Revenue amount- not the only indicator of the effectiveness of the action. After all, there is also a conversion indicator - how many people who received the leaflet entered the store. Even if they didn’t buy now, they learned about your store - this is also a result.

If you have a visitor counter installed, you can determine the conversion by dividing the number of visitors by the number of sales per day. It is more difficult to find out how many people who saw the banner visited the store. You will also probably have a certain percentage of visitors who came through word of mouth, mailing lists, or learned from the Internet.

The best way to find out these parameters is to ask customers: “Where did you hear about the promotion?”

By the way, in the TorgSoft program you can set up a survey, and then after each sale the program will remind the seller what to ask the buyer. And at the end of the promotion period you will be able to see how the answers were distributed. Having determined the most popular channel, improve it, and also use it in the future for advertising your store.

It is difficult to immediately say whether the action will be successful - you need to try, observe, measure, and try again!

P.S. Among the “promotions” you can highlight promotional events - when you hold sweepstakes, attract promoters, artists, clowns or even a celebrity, give out gifts or “samples” (product samples). A kind of cheerful buzz around the store, in honor of the opening or birthday of the store. Such events are called BTL promotions. It is better to organize them with the involvement of specialized agencies.

Good luck to you!