In the latest instalment of our 2020 Back to Work Tips series, Chloë Thomas, author and podcast host of eCommerce MasterPlan, discusses her top Promotional Golden Rule.
Chloë’s speciality is solving ecommerce Marketing Problems from how to increase new customer acquisition, to improving the performance of email marketing newsletters, or finding the right new website provider.
Chloë’s Promotional Golden Rule
“A promotion exists to get the customer to do what you want them to do as cheaply as possible.”
However and wherever you are selling your products – when you’re making decisions about how you get customers to buy your products – you need to remember this rule.
Let me explain it piece by piece.
The “promotion” is anything that you’ve set up to get the customer to buy. It could be a voucher code or discount price; the content on the product page; adverts you’re running; or even your delivery options.
What you want the customer to do is whatever you want their next interaction to be – usually hitting the buy button!
“As cheaply as possible” is the key to the rule. It’s a reminder that you should always be searching for the most cost-effective way to achieve each interaction. Take into account the cost of time as well as money when working on this.
For example, it’s always tempting to chase higher sales volumes by giving more away – increasing discounts from 10% to 20%, lowering delivery costs, spending more on ads, or even recording video guides for each product.
To do that indiscriminately means you’re giving away far more of your time and money than you need to. When what you should be doing is finding the cheapest way to get the outcome you want.
What does that all mean in practice?
First, when you’re planning a change consider if it’s the cheapest way to get the results you want.
Maybe there are other options, or rather than setting up a 10% off item discount you could do an 8% off when you buy two.
Second, test.
There are LOTS of ways you can improve sales but you should never assume any of them will work for you and your products without testing them first.
If you sell lots of products then try out your ideas on a handful then roll out what works to the rest.
This does mean it takes a little more time to see the results but it also means you’ll be maximising your profits as well as your sales volumes.
As you get used to considering the rule you’ll find it applies to ever more elements of your business, and as you go through 2020 you’ll find it helps you make better decisions that lead to greater sales and greater profits.
You can find out more about Chloë’s Promotional Golden Rule and a host of other great tips in her brand new book “eCommerce Marketing: How to Get Traffic that BUYS to your Website”. An Amazon bestseller in the UK, USA, and Australia it’s available now on Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook.
