How Discounts Influence Online Consumer Purchasing Behavior

- Priyank Sharma

August 26, 2022

Saving money is one of the many factors that influence consumer purchasing decisions. Many companies provide discount coupons because they understand how important saving money is. According to numerous researches, many customers frequently end up spending more money after applying a discount coupon.

Do you know as per a study by Statista more than 64% of online consumers wait to buy things until they go for sale, whereas more than 59% search for promo codes before buying anything online?

Given how many customers are used to receiving discounts, coupons, and other promotional offers, it's critical to create an effective promotional plan.

In both good and poor economic times, providing discounts, building a loyalty programme, or developing promotional marketing tactics can help your company.

Gaining and keeping loyal customers should be the main goal of your plan. How can you provide your customers something they will value? How can you encourage loyalty and make your customers feel valued?

When I reflect on some of my favorite brand experiences, I notice one thing in common: the brands I love have made me feel special and valued.

Across various brands, I've been a part of engaging loyalty programmes, received exclusive discounts, and gained access to high-quality content.

And it turns out that my happiness emerges from these brands.

Benefits of giving discount to customers

 For obvious reasons—they save money and feel like savvy consumers—customers adore discounts. But there are even other ways that brands profit from offering those deals or discounts. Here are the benefits of providing a discount:

Bring in new customers

 Building awareness and interest is the first step in the customer acquisition process, and discounts are a tried-and-true approach to do that. Discounts draw people in and they often spread via word-of-mouth, which is an effective approach to reach new customers while limiting customer acquisition expenditures.

Promotional offers allow your company to create engaging marketing content that speaks to your brand while also adding a layer of excitement and urgency with the discount offer you're providing to customers.

Engage Current Customers

 Discounts serve more purposes than just consumer acquisition; they also maintain the loyalty and engagement of your current clientele. By encouraging feelings of value and appreciation, special pricing can help increase brand loyalty. And it benefits the bottom line because satisfied, loyal customers are more likely to make larger purchases and have better customer lifetime values (CLV).

Promo codes are a terrific method to take advantage of your existing customers' online shopping and checkout experiences. In your next email marketing campaign, consider providing your email subscribers with these special discount codes.

Increase sales

Even while the discounted goods and services you provide will typically generate the most sales, the increased traffic to your store or website ensures that other products also come to the attention of customers and turn them into potential buyers. In other words, more people may make other purchases during the same website visit as a result of the increased traffic for one item.

When you use a discount plan, your customers purchasing process becomes more time-sensitive. As a result, you'll probably experience a surge in sales while your deal is active.

An extra benefit? Your cart abandonment rate can go down with discounted rates. Make sure your e-commerce store's deals are simple to find.

Increase Website Traffic

 When you promote a special offer via social media, email, display ads, or referrals, you almost certainly increase traffic to your website, which can result in more sales, leads, and brand visibility.

Enalito helps you to make the most of that traffic by designing a landing page specifically for the audience you're trying to reach with your discount. To connect with them, use relevant messaging and content, and try to provide value beyond the discount itself. Consider how you can encourage email signups, content downloads, and other behaviors that will aid in the development of a long-term brand relationship with your new customers.

Choosing the Best Discount Strategies

 When creating a special offer, the question is not only "Why offering a discount?" but also "Which discounting strategy should I use?" Once you've decided the goals of your discount program—that is, which of the benefits described above are most important to your company—you can evaluate and select the best approach. Consider the following discounting strategies:

Bundled discounts

Putting similar products together at a discount might boost sales and keep customers interested. A bundle can improve a customer's overall purchase if they are already going to buy one item while introducing them to additional goods they might find interesting.

If your products have a wide price range, this is a great way to offer a solution that emphasizes the value customers will receive by purchasing items together.

Sell both popular and less popular items together.

Perhaps you have products that don't convert well on their own but complement other popular products. To sell more of your inventory, consider creating kits that include less popular but related products.

Customers can sample your other products.

Creating a bundle can be an excellent cross-sell strategy for introducing your customers to products they may not have purchased previously, or even new products that you want to introduce.

Seasonal or Event Discounts

Businesses spend billions of dollars on promotions every November and December. However, seasonal discounts aren't just for the holidays; many brands see a significant increase during other occasions such as back-to-school, Halloween, Mother's Day, end-of-season sales, and other times when massive collective spending occurs.

Christmas and birthdays are also excellent times to capitalize on seasonal or annual activities. Consumers will be looking for products for these holidays and events year after year.

Consider giving customers a birthday discount or holding a one-day annual sale with exciting discounts and offers.

Referral Programs

A good method to drive customer acquisition while boosting loyalty is to offer discounts to existing customers who suggest new ones to your business. A double-sided referral programme is one in which you offer discounts to both your existing and potential consumers.

Volume discounts

 The more you purchase, the more money you save!

 This discount is very popular in the apparel industry, especially among higher-end retailers looking to tempt customers to buy from them.

 This can also work for B2B companies looking to expand their sales of specific products. Consider it a tiered pricing strategy.

Free shipping

 There is no doubt that free shipping is a popular subject right now, and we can credit the free two-day shipping period of Amazon Prime for that.

Even if shorter delivery times are getting more and more popular, many buyers will still wait longer if free shipping is provided.

I strongly advise conducting research to see how much your target audience values free shipping. Do your customers want to pay $100 or just $50 in order to receive free shipping? You can use free shipping in a way that strengthens your marketing plan with the aid of these tests.

Buy one, get one free

 What more could you want than two things effectively discounted by 50%?

If you want to increase cross-sell opportunities, "buy one, and get one free" is a wonderful tactic.

Try putting this into practice with complementary products or possibly with two of the same kind of product (e.g., buy one graphic tee, get one free).

 

Customers and businesses can both profit from discounts. However, it's crucial to avoid using discounts excessively. For companies that frequently provide discounts back-to-back, there is always a danger.

You should be aware that some customers can habituate to paying lower costs at your store. It's not a good idea to use discounts frequently because of this. In other words, you should avoid from offering discounts too frequently or consistently. This is particularly true if you just provide a small selection of goods or services. It's important to think carefully about why discounts are required because when you do this, these discounts may have an impact on your entire sales.

Discounts, however, have a number of advantages, one of which is bringing in new customers to your store or business. Therefore, if you want to draw in and retain new customers, it makes sense to provide discounts. Keep in mind that acquiring new customers can result in more opportunities to sell your goods, which will eventually boost your revenue. Discounts are a great way to show your appreciation for your current customers.

Why offer a discount? Well, it’s more than just offering savings. With the right audience, the right price, and the right promotion in place, offering a discount program is a no-brainer. 

 

Ready to get started? Learn more about how reaching a specific audience with the right discounting with Enalito. Our all-in-one ecommerce personalization app allows you to understand buying behavior of each individual and helps you to decide the discounting policy for them.

We work with every customer to understand the business. We come up with a personalization as well as marketing automation strategy. Enalito makes your store intelligent, a store which understands every customer and visitor individually, and a store which transforms into a personal store for every one of your customers and visitors. Book a demo and learn why over 890 e commerce retailers trust Enalito as their marketing automation partner.