Do Discounts Work?
- Brand Awareness, Business
- business discounts, do discounts work, should i discount products, why discounts don't work
- January 28, 2019
Do discounts work?
Of course they do. Everyone wants a deal…
But…and this is a HUGE BUT….
You will tarnish your brand if you do them too often.
If you normally sell a product for $97, and you discount it down to $47. What happens?
The people who were interested in the product will immediately jump on the offer.
If you add a time limit to the deal, they will jump even quicker due to fear of missing out on the too-good-to-be-true offer.
But what happens over time?
People become numb to the discount altogether.
The best brands don’t discount (or very rarely do).
Rolex, Bentley, Chanel, Hermes, Apple, etc.
These brands are always in demand.
The line for the Apple store is out the store.
Their products are great, but they’ve tapped into the human psyche of making you want it so bad because it’s the cool thing to have.
When you discount, it’s not so cool anymore.
We love exclusivity…
Discounting goes directly in the face of that.
If you slash the price from $97 to $47, the people on your list will buy, but what about new prospects you’re trying to get to come into your brand…
They don’t want to be a part of the party.
And sometimes, you see brands doing it practically every weekend.
Discount on Product A. Limited Time Only.
Then, one week later.
Discount on Product B. Limited Time Only.
Then, one month later.
Discount on Product A. Limited Time Only.
Do you believe a brand like this?
When, you fib, your brand takes a HUGE hit.
And customers don’t like being deceived.
When you say, Limited Time Only, but then you ran the same discount again, you are subtly deceiving your customers. It won’t work in the long-term.
Not only that, but everyone who paid full price, suddenly gets annoyed that you just ran a discount and gave hundreds or thousands of people the same product for a cheaper price.
I would reserve your discounts for special times of the year.
If you’re going to run it, run it for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and maybe one or two other times a year. And when you run it, stick to the plan and your timelines!
Don’t backpedal.
If someone asks for a discount after it expired, be very wary of who you give it to. i do believe in doing favors for customers who have been with you for a long time, but don’t just open the doors to everyone because it’s a potential sale.
Every time you take a quick shortcut…
You hurt your long-term brand.
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