If you're still recovering from the holidays, and haven't a thing planned on your promotional calender, then it's time to get busy! If you want to build foot traffic and increase sales -- and who doesn't?! -- in a short period of time, here's how to do it:
Run a
Create Your Own Coupon Event, and let the customer decide what’s on sale. If you don’t want the coupon to apply to certain merchandise, no problem, you can add a disclaimer making certain product non-eligible for the discount.
Distribute your Create Your Own Coupon's via
Bag Stuffers, which you, now say it all together:
NEVER, ever stuff in bags! (Nope, you place your bag stuffer in the customer's hand while you are explaining why the bag stuffer is so valuable!), on your website, and through your e-mail blasts.
And make sure that you have plenty of extras in the store that are available to customers who do not have a coupon of their own.
This is important! If you want to infuriate customers then tell those who don’t have a coupon, “Sorry, you don’t have a coupon so you don’t get the discount. Here’s how much you lost today.” Then sit back and watch the fireworks at the checkout counter. See, along with increasing store sales, the goal of any event is to build strong relationships with customers, and positive word of mouth – the best advertising, and the kind money can’t buy. If you blatantly make some customers feel less important than other customers, they’ll be out the door so fast it’ll make your head spin. And they won’t be back.
Now, we know what some of you are thinking: how can I make it special for really loyal customers if we don’t reinforce the fact that you must have a coupon in order to save? Won’t that irritate those customers who have one? Maybe, but if the coupon is readily available to anyone, your loyal customers won’t mind, but the couponless customers will. In addition to thinking they are paying too much, they’ll think you just don’t care about them or their business.
So, any time you run a coupon event, make sure that you have plenty of extras available for customers who don’t have one, or keep a master at each checkout. Hang signs in the window and throughout the store that read, “If you don’t have a coupon, we’ll find one for you! Every customer is special at (Insert your store name here) ”
In-store events should be viewed as an opportunity to attract new customers as well as thrill those who already know and love your store. Every one of your customers wishes they could tell you what to put on sale, so why not let them? A Create Your Own Coupon Event has been known to pull a response as much as six times greater than a normal coupon promotion. Drop us an email and we’ll send you our Create Your Own Coupon template that you can easily customize for your own store.
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