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Don’t get us wrong—as consumers, we LOVE discounts. 20% off that sweater? Hell yeah! But as a course creator, you might want to think twice before turning to this popular selling tactic…
When you’re periodically offering discounts, you are essentially training your audience to wait for discounts. Plus, you’re giving them the perception that your program is not worth as much as you said it was. Luckily, there’s a much better way to do business. Listen in to discover more effective ways to encourage people to make that purchase.
Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:13] It is common for course creators to offer discounts but this isn’t a great tactic to use for your business. When you discount your offer periodically, you are effectively training your audience to wait for discounts.
[4:05] Tying your discount to a date (like Black Friday) means you then have people waiting for that date. Even when it’s random, people become disincentivized to buy at your full price because there might be a discount coming out in the future.
[4:56] When you offer discounts, you are anchoring people’s price point at a lower price point than the normal cost of your program.
[5:32] If you offer a discount as a limited time deal, there is some incentive to get in during that discount period. But if they know that you have other discounts coming out later, it removes the urgency factor and erodes people’s trust in you.
[7:11] If you’ve offered bigger discounts in the past, people are likely to wait to see if it gets discounted more. And the longer we make people wait to get a better deal, the more their motivation decreases to make that purchase.
[9:15] The people who took action and paid your full price are very valuable customers. If they see your offer reduced after purchasing, it sours your relationship with them.
[11:40] It’s understandable why people offer discounts when sales are down. But there are plenty of other effective ways to encourage people to make those purchases.
[12:36] With our CSS program, we offer limited time bonuses and extras for people making a purchase at a certain time. This way, you’re offering something you’ve created that you can sell again and again (and not hurting your bottom line).
[14:54] There’s a surprise and delight element to offering these bonuses or limited offers just a few times a year—but not so regularly your customers start to expect it.
[16:35] Consider if there are things that you could change about your payment structure to make your offer more compelling (but remember to make them a truly limited time).
[18:10] If people aren’t buying and you’re tempted to offer a discount, it’s likely because people don’t understand the value of your offer. It’s your job to create messaging that helps them understand why they should want your offer badly enough to purchase it.
Mentioned on this Episode
Related Links
- Price Is Rarely the Real Reason People Won’t Buy
- Why Putting a Number to Value Is Crucial
- How To Introduce Your Offer’s Price to Your Customers
- Fake Deadlines Are Damaging Your Brand—and Sales
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But, here are a few of the highlights:
“When you offer discounts, you are encouraging people to wait for a discount to come. And you’re anchoring people’s price point at a lower price point than your normal cost of your program. And so if people are expecting that this is now their expected price and they see something higher, it feels far more dramatic than it probably is.” – Nicki
“The justification they use in their minds is that it’s too expensive but what they really mean is, ‘I don’t want it enough to pay that price.’ And if they didn’t want it enough, the problem is ours because we need to adjust our messaging to convey to them just how incredibly valuable our programs are.” – Nicki
“The much more effective way to do it is to give people really powerful, insightful messaging that makes them want it right away to begin with. That’s how you build an effective business, that’s how you build an irresistible business with irresistible products, and that’s how you build a community of people who not just know you and like you but also who trust you as a business owner.” – Nicki
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About the Energize Your Online Business Podcast
Are you sick of the stress, chaos, and risk of trying to keep up with the next big thing in digital marketing? And what about the confusion of trying to scale, build a team, and still try to make sure your business is worth the effort it takes to run it? You are not alone.
Join Nicki Krawczyk, a 20-year marketing veteran and owner of a multi-seven-figure-per-year digital training company and her co-host Kate Sitarz as they bust through the online business industry echo chamber to talk about how to make consistent, predictable sales and how to scale your business with simple and stress-free systems.
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