Consumers sales promotions have become an essential component of every business as these are the strategies that help a brand attract new customers, retain the existing ones, and boost the overall sales. If you want to boost sales or build a larger customer base for your business, an effective sales promotion program is what can help you achieve these goals. To get the best out of a sales promotion program, you need to plan and implement it wisely keeping in mind all your business requirements. Here are some great sales promotion ideas that work for almost every business:

1. Discount Coupons

Discount coupons are one of the most common sales promotion strategies used by businesses these days. Don’t confuse discount coupons with general discount offers here. Discount offers are the general offers that all shoppers can avail of. But, discount coupons create a sense of exclusivity. Only the customer having a discount coupon can access the offer and get the respective product at a discounted price. You can either offer discount coupons after a customer makes a purchase or get the coupons distributed by your partner brands. Using both these strategies can help you attract new customers and encourage the existing ones to make repeat purchases.

2. Flash Sales

In flash sales, brands offer their products or services at heavily discounted prices. You can run flash sales to boost the sales for selected items, clear out old inventory, or simply increase your overall sales. For the best results, flash sales should be run only for limited periods of time. When a great discount offer is valid for a limited period, it creates a sense of urgency among your customers. If the items under sale are relevant to your customers’ interests, they will definitely try to make a purchase before such a good deal ends.

3. Rebates

Rebates are just like cashback offers and work amazingly well when it comes to customer satisfaction and retention. It is a form of refund that you offer to your customers after they make an eligible purchase. For example, suppose a brand is offering a 12% rebate on all purchases worth Rs. 10,000 or more. Now, if a customer makes a purchase worth Rs. 20,000, he/she gets a cashback or cheque, or refund of Rs. 2400. This is how rebates work. When customers receive such a great deal after making a purchase, they are highly encouraged to come back to your store again.

4. Gift Vouchers

Gift vouchers are physical or digital cards that a customer can exchange with a product or service of the respective brand. You can offer gift vouchers for discounts or for your products or services. These vouchers are valid for a limited period and to avail of their benefits, customers need to make a purchase before they expire. Now, if you are trying to understand the difference between a voucher and a discount coupon, here it is.

Vouchers often allow customers to get a product without paying even a single rupee. On the other hand, discount coupons can be used by customers only to reduce the bill amount and not to get a product for free. For example, if you offer a voucher worth Rs. 1,000, your customer can get any product worth up to Rs. 1,000 free using it. On the other hand, using a 50% discount coupon, a customer can purchase a product worth Rs. 1,000 for Rs. 500.

5. Free Samples & Trials

By offering free samples or trial products, you can attract many potential customers who would have never looked at your product otherwise. The best way to introduce a new product in the market is to distribute its free samples to your target customers. If you have an offline store, you can also offer free trials instead of distributing sample products. Customers are often afraid of spending on something that they are not very sure about. You can eliminate this risk by offering free samples and allowing your customers to buy a product only if they like it.

6. Bundles

The strategy of selling bundle products also works amazingly well and hence can be listed among the top consumer sales promotions. Under a bundle product offer, you provide your customers with a combined discount on purchasing a bundle of multiple products. The products in the bundle can be the same or different based on the type of your brand. For example, if you run a beauty brand, you can offer a combo pack of 5 different makeup products at a discounted price. If you run a clothing brand, you can offer a combo pack of three t-shirts at a lower price than the actual combined price of the three.

7. BOGO Deals

‘Buy One Get One’ deals are also among the great sales promotion ideas of all time. From a survey conducted on various consumers, it was found that most customers prefer a ‘BOGO’ deal over a 50% discount offer, though both are the same. To boost sales for some specific products or to clear out old inventory fast, a BOGO offer is the best strategy you can use. Customers get tempted to make a purchase when they get two products for the price of one.

8. Exclusive Offers (‘Only For You’ Offers)

If you want to make your customers feel special, the exclusive ‘only for you’ offers can work the best. Instead of running a general discount offer or flash sales that everyone can access, provide your customers with exclusive offers that are only valid for selected consumers. You can randomly choose any consumers and offer them a 50% discount on all products they purchase within 24 hours. In another 24 hours, you can choose other random customers and offer them a BOGO deal. This is how exclusive offers work and encourage customers to make a purchase.

9. Referral Discounts

Referral discount offers are a great way to attract new customers while improving the experience of existing ones. If you want to expand your customer base without spending much on advertising and marketing campaigns, you can simply go for referral discounts. Provide your existing customers with a good discount when they refer a friend and the friend becomes your customer. Word of Mouth marketing works more effectively than other types of marketing. A consumer is more likely to purchase a product recommended by his/her friend than the one they have seen in an advertisement.

10. Seasonal Sales

Both seasonal and end-of-season offers are great marketing strategies used by businesses to boost their sales. You can run discount offers or sales based on the current season. For example, a clothing brand can offer a 30% discount on the new summer arrivals at the beginning of the summer season, a beauty brand can offer summer skincare products at a discounted price, and so on. Similarly, at the end of a season, you can offer discounts to clear out the inventory.

11. Social Media Giveaways

As the number of internet users is constantly increasing, social media has become a powerful platform for marketing and advertising. To boost customer engagement, you can run giveaway contests on your social media accounts. You can even run a top spenders offer and giveaway some free products to the top spenders of the week or month or the specific offer period. Such offers trigger the customers’ wish to get listed in the top spenders’ list and win a free gift.

12. Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are like lucky draw offers where customers do not even need to register separately. All the customers of an offline store or an online website are considered the participants and any random winners are selected. The winners then get some free products, vouchers, or discount coupons as a gift. Along with encouraging your customers to spend more or engage more with your brand, sweepstakes contests also help you catch the attention of new potential customers.

13. Same-Day Delivery

It is an underrated but powerful sales promotion strategy that can help you take your brand to another level. You would be surely aware of how some grocery brands have come to the top by offering delivery within a few minutes after order placement, Similarly, you can make it to the top of your industry by providing same-day delivery options to your customers.

14. Free Shipping & Returns

If you do not want to miss out on thousands of potential customers, you will have to offer free shipping and returns on all your products. Many customers who like a product often change their minds when they see a shipping fee levied on it. Similarly, offering free returns becomes important to allow your customers to try your product without any risk. If they don’t like it and want to return the product, they can easily do it without any additional charges. However, very few consumers return a product after purchasing it, and that too only when the product really disappoints them. If your product is quite worthy and suitable to their needs, your customers will definitely keep it.

15. Birthday Discounts

Customized offers like birthday discounts are very effective in making your customers feel valuable. By offering special discount offers on birthdays, you can let your customers know that you really value them and appreciate their contribution towards the success of your brand. Such offers not only encourage your customers to make a purchase on their birthdays but also help you boost brand loyalty.

Gamify Your Sales Promotion Program with RewardPort

RewardPort is one of the top sales promotion companies providing its services across 6 different countries and several industries. The team of experienced marketing professionals at RewardPort analyzes all your business details and comes up with the most suitable sales promotion strategies that work for your business. By combining sales promotions programs with gamification techniques, RewardPort makes consumer sales promotions even more interesting and exciting for your customers.