· 9 min read

8 Best Sales Promotion Examples For Marketers

Pırıl Madasoğlu
-Published on:
Jan 17, 2024
-Updated on:
May 30, 2024

When thinking about the term "sales promotion," most people think of advertising. And while advertising is a form of sales promotion, it is only one of several types.

Sales promotions are activities designed to stimulate short-term demand for a product or service.

Successful companies know that sales promotions are among the most effective methods of increasing sales, boosting customer satisfaction, and heightening brand awareness.

  • can increase customer interest in your products or services.
  • can help you sell new products or services.
  • can give retailers an incentive to push your new product or service.

Select your target audience: You should learn more about your customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors before creating a sales promotion. Send a survey to gather information or offer an incentive to get new data. We have gathered the 8 best sales promotion examples, just for you.

What Are The Sales Promotion Examples?

sales promotion image
  • Free Shipping And Returns
  • Flash Sales
  • Buy One Get One (BOGO)
  • Discounts
  • Holiday Promotions
  • Loyalty Programs
  • Contests And Giveaways
  • Special Promotions

1. Free Shipping And Returns

Companies looking to increase sales of a product or service may find that offering an incentive can encourage customers to make a purchase. 49% of consumers abandon their cart for unexpected extra costs like fees, shipping, and tax.

Free shipping can be a huge draw for online shoppers. It allows customers to order more products without adding to the cost of their order.

free shipping popup

2. Flash Sales

Flash sales are when an e-commerce store offers a discount or promotion for a limited, very short period of time. In 2004, an online retailer Woot.com began using flash sales to create a sense of urgency among consumers. This pushes consumers to make a purchase decision quickly.

  • Tells people when the sale starts and ends. It also tells them what days the sale takes place to eliminate confusion if they see it a day or two after it has started.
  • CTA is crystal clear. Call-to-action is indicated well and clear to the recipient.

Use Popups to Attract More Customers:

There are a variety of reasons that you might want to have a popup on your website. Popups can bring in new customers, encourage repeat business from existing ones, and increase your brand recognition.

Popups are a great way to show sales promotions.

The key to a successful call-to-action button is to make it clear what you want your customers to do and to guide them toward the action.

flash sale popup

Here is another example of a flash sale with a countdown timer for National Puppy Day.

flash sale popup with countdown timer

Use Email Newsletters:

Email newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with your customers and encourage them to come back to your site.

A newsletter is a quick, easy way to inform your customers about the latest offers. If you have a store with daily deals or special discounts, you can use email newsletters for flash sales.

email newsletter popup

3. Buy One Get One (BOGO)

Buy one get one is a marketing strategy that the world's largest retailers use to boost sales. BOGO deals are commonly used by retailers to move inventory. This strategy is also called liquidation, and it can be a great way to clear out old stock at low prices.

Sephora made a special tab on their website for all sales and offers and listed their BOGO offer.

buy one get one image

You can also add an exit-intent popup to prevent cart abandonment by offering BOGO.

exit intent popup for cart abandonment

4. Discounts

Lifestyle discounts:

Lifestyle discounts are incentives to boost the attractiveness of a particular lifestyle. Usually, these discounts are offered to veterans, seniors, teachers, or students.

They are also offered to people who have certain types of health conditions. For example, many fitness centers offer discounts for people who suffer from obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure.

Considering the value of word-of-mouth advertising, lifestyle discounts can be very beneficial to your business.

Tiered discounts:

Tiered discounts, also called Buy More Save More, can be a powerful tool to encourage customers to spend more money with your brand. The discounts can be tiered in a number of ways. For example, a business might offer 10%, 15%, and 20% off for spending over $50, $100, and $200.

Referral discounts:

Asking your loyal customers to spread the love for your brand, in exchange for a discount or reward, can make a big difference for your business. With their customer referral program, Dropbox grew their registered user base at 27.9% a month.

If you have the resources, consider expanding your referral program so it rewards not just the referrer but also the referee.

5.Holiday promotions

The holiday season is a busy time for most retailers, and a great time for consumers to shop.

That means that your business can benefit from increased revenues if you use this time effectively. Marketers may take advantage of the holiday season by introducing new products or highlighting existing ones that are related to the holiday.

Such as candies, pumpkins, spooky gadgets for Halloween!

holiday season popup

6. Loyalty Programs

The probability of selling to an existing customer is 70% while selling to a new prospect is 20%. Loyal customers who feel appreciated and rewarded for their repeat business can be the difference between a company that succeeds and one that fails.

loyalty card image

Assuming you have a coffee shop, you can use loyalty cards to offer 1 free drink after buying 9 as seen in above.

You can offer double loyalty points for a limited time as a sales promotion to your customers. For instance, an airline company can double loyalty points for the flights taken between February 1 to February 28.

Another example would be a retailer company may suggest 40% off of the next purchase in the same month from the first purchase with a discount code.

7. Contests And Giveaways

If you're looking to get more exposure for your business, consider using a contest or giveaway on one of the most popular social media sites or on your own website.

Make sure you have a dedicated landing page for the purpose of the contest or giveaway. This is where people will enter their information once they are interested in your offer.

You can offer a gift card with a popup to prevent the prospective buyer from leaving without a conversion and encourage them to keep in touch with your brand by entering their email address.

gift card popup

Your existing audience is your best resource when it comes to spreading the word about your giveaway.

The audience you've already built through your social media presence includes the people most likely to support your giveaway. So, it makes sense to use this resource as much as possible to encourage participation.

Contests are also sales promotion methods in which you offer a prize to the qualifying contestants. They are interactive ways of connecting with your audience. You can increase your leads and boost your online presence by simply conducting these contests.

valentines day contest popup

Event-based contests are very popular among marketers since people are more likely to show interest in your brand if you offer them to win a gold necklace for Valentine's Day.

8. Special Promotions

Everyone wants to be treated like a VIP. Just because you're not a celebrity or wealthy doesn't mean you can't get the VIP treatment!

Limiting your offers to your prospects can make them feel like they are special.

  • Offer your long-term subscribers special discounts to encourage them to buy. With most businesses, the most loyal customers are the ones who keep coming back.
special offer email image

With ecommerce, this is especially true; most online shoppers buy from the same few sites regularly. Since many people make purchases online, they tend to stick with the same shopping sites.

Summing up..

When trying to figure out what type of sales promotion you should use, it’s important to consider what your target audience wants.

Are they interested in a free trial? Do they want the product at a discount?

  • No matter what you decide on, make sure that your promotion includes persuasion triggers such as scarcity and urgency.
  • Using persuasive triggers is a powerful way to increase your sales, but it's important to balance the amount of scarcity and urgency you use.

This will help you avoid scaring away visitors with too much pressure, while still providing enough incentive for them to take action on your offer.

  • Choose the right options for your business. By choosing a holiday promotion or flash sale, you can give your brand a chance to shine while encouraging customers to take advantage of deals on your products.

We hope this article has been helpful! Which strategy will you choose?

Let us know what you think by simply dropping us a comment.