Introduction

A bulk SMS service (like ours) is the ideal tool for reaching customers with a well-priced offer. Next time you write a marketing text that includes a discount, follow these simple rules and you'll have customers queueing up for your products or services.

1. Make it look as attractive as possible

When giving a discount think about how you can make it look the most attractive to your customer. You want them to open their marketing text and think 'wow, there's a deal I need to take advantage of right away!' A simple way to do this is to always give a percentage discount when the price is under £100, and give a monetary discount when the price is over £100.

Let's give you some examples; Sarah owns a shop that sells racing bikes. She's decided to give bulk SMS a try because she's collected a lot of customer data over the last 6 months. She wants to offer 20% off helmets which are £80. If Sarah follows this rule, she'll send a text offering a 20% discount rather than £16 off. Even though both are the same value, the percentage looks higher; making those receiving her texts want to act on her discount offer quickly.

As the helmet offer went so well, Sarah has now decided to offer a discount on one of her road bikes which is £350. Again, she's offering 20% off but this time she'll send her marketing texts offering £70 off rather than 20% because a saving of £70 will be seen as the better deal by her customers.

2. Think about the timing of your discount

If you can, it's much better to offer a discount towards the end of the month. This is because your customers budget will be at its lowest around this time, so the pain of paying for things will be much higher meaning they'll be looking for a good deal.

This rule works in reverse too. If your business is the kind to offer free (or discounted) trials, you should offer these at the start of the month because people have more money around this time. Studies show people are more likely to be satisfied with something they buy when they have more money in their account, and if they're satisfied there's more chance they'll move onto your paid services after their trial.

When you plan your next SMS marketing campaign, think about your customers budgets and when they are most likely to receive and spend their money. We've used monthly budgets as most people are paid monthly,but your customers might be different. Maybe they're students that work from a weekly budget or self-employed business owners that have less in the bank at the end of January and July when they pay their tax bill.

3. Give a reason for the discount

You don't want to turn into one of those companies that are always offering a discount because it encourages your customers to put off buying something until your next promotion. Furniture companies are notorious for this.

To show your customers that your discounts won't happen on a regular basis, make sure you give a reason for the discount when you next send your SMS marketing campaign. For example; Mark owns a clothes shop and wants to get rid of some t-shirts he's had in stock for a while (full price £50). When he texts his customers he should tell them that he's offering 10% off (remember rule number one above) in a flash clearance sale. This reinforces that his discount is temporary and his customers should take advantage while stocks last.