Deciding to run a promo is easy. After all, everyone loves a good discount – it’s great for the customer and benefits the shop owner! Easy Digital Downloads, for example, reported a 16% revenue increase during their summer sale in July 2017 compared with the previous month. But for online store owners, running a promo (an awesome promo) takes some mental muscle, and it can be downright overwhelming. Never fear – we’ve got a step-by-step infographic that will walk you through how to set up an awesome 5-day promo!
First things first…
A few quick tips before running a promo:
- Post and email messaging: Get creative with your words! “Sale: buy my stuff!” over and over again is going to get quickly glossed over. Tweak your post copy depending on which day of the sale it is. Day 1: Announcement messaging, Day 3: Reminder messaging, Day 4: Keep things fresh and fun, Day 5: LAST CHANCE! Here are a few examples of how we worded posts for our Memorial Day and HQ sale on day 1, mid-sale, another mid-sale, and final day.
- Posting frequency: When posting on social media, don’t spam your followers! No one wants that! Instead of posting 12 posts a day of product flat lays, post less but make your posts count for more. Here are a few posting frequency suggestions to go by during your sale:
- Facebook: Twice a day.
- Instagram: Twice a day maximum (Instagram is a fickle beast).
- Twitter: 4-5 times (and mix it up – post designs, a GIF, a fun custom sale image, etc.)
- Timing: We’ve noticed that when we offer free shipping for Artist Shops, some artists announce it before Free Shipping is live. Keep it a surprise until the promo is live and happening! You can build some hype by posting “fill your carts – free shipping is coming tomorrow!” but if you encourage people to shop with free shipping before it begins, it gets confusing and eliminates the urgency aspect.
A HUGE part of running a smooth sale is figuring out a timeline. If you’ve decided a structured timeline that determines when your sale starts and ends, you’ve got the burger buns of your sale sandwich – you just need to fill in the middle with quality content that jives together. We’ve put together a timeline of a sample 5-day sale and what it might look like in the infographic below. Take a look and apply it to your next promo!
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Featured illustration & infographic made by Katie Lukes.
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