Special Promotions - how much is enough?

[King Brace]

When offering a special promotion, how much is enough of a free item or discount?

For example, for Christmas if I offer clients a free candle ($18 value - $9 cost to me) if they purchased at regular price 5 half hours, or 3 one hour certificates, or 2 90 minute sessions at regular price, is that enough of an insentive to buy 3 gift certificates? I don't think it is too much. Would I get better results by offering clients a slightly smaller package? Or an extra $5 or $10 off on top of that? Or maybe make one of the sessions a deluxe for free?

Any other thoughts?

 

[Max S]

It all depends on what your goal is.

Stimulating trial = luring new customers, probably needs $ off

Rewarding repeats = gift with purchase or 10th service free

Keeping a base / generating cash flow = Buy 5, get 6

Until you know what your goal is, you can't pick a strategy.

You also have to think about perceived value to the client vs. actual value/cost to you. If someone is unlikely to buy an $18 candle, giving them one have very, very low value and is unlikely to get the response you desire.

If you have a light workload, giving away (5/6 or 10th free) your services has high value to the client, but costs you nothing since you are not turning away work nor is doing the free services taking energy from a full price client.

Discouting is somewhere between the two.

You also can't say "all of the above" -- it gets too confusing to the clients and makes you look mickey mouse if everything is a "deal"

 

[Felidae]

Thanks for the reply.

I expect mostly my regular clients would be the ones taking advaneforum.xxxe of this offer. They could use it for themselves or give them away.

My goal is to generate income, but also to have clients buy gift certificates to give to people who haven't been in before. Once in a while I like toy to try to do something to have better xmas sales.

I don't want to offer such a huge package as you have listed, which is why I had mentioned a package of 5 halves, 3 hours, or 2 90's. These packages have approximatly the same value.

The reason I would do this offer with a candle AT Christmas time, so that if they didn't like the candle, they could give it away as a gift.

 

[C-is-for-cookie]

My goal is to generate income

Then probably offering a bigger package and more of a deal is the way to go. You want to lock in your existing customers to future appts.

but also to have clients buy gift certificates to give to people who haven't been in before.

We have never been big believers in this.

It is much more likely that non-clients will purchase GCs of your services for your existing clients. We get this all day long at the spa. At holidays and Valentines Day, we direct mail to the SPOUSES of our top clients with a Wish List of products and services their spouse has purchased in the last 6 months.

We find it does not decrease the existing clients use -- if they are monthly clients who get some Gift Cards for their birthday, they end up getting 14 massages that year.

If a non-client is a massage customer, they would probably want a GC for the MT they go to, not the MT the gift giver goes to.

If the non-client is new to massage, it is far less likely that the GC will get used at all. It is also a bit of a stretch for someone to shell out for a gift that has a fairly high likelihood that it won't get used. The giver is giving a gift THEY would want to receive, not necessarily something the receipient would like.

You are probably better off building a referral program to get new clients from your existing client base instead of expecting a "home run" -- someone buying a GC.

We don't have a formal referral program, but a large % of our new clients were recommended by existing ones.

 

[naughty212]

I offer a "purchase 5 sessions in advance, get 6th for free" deal. I also have a referral program. I've already printed up my Christmas promotion, which is 10% off GC's, and if someone purchases 3 GC's they get a free 30 minute session for themselves.

 

[sandyblondegirl]

Peace:

Just be careful not to look cheesy with any promotion. Relax mentioned perceived value and that is important. If you give too much away, I think the perceived value of the massages will diminish.

The chiropractor that I used to work with went through a period where he was giving away too much services or gifts. In the end, he did better when he stopped offering a lot of discounts.

Terry