Discounts are a go-to sales tactic for the vast majority of brands. There’s a good chance you’ll find a percent-off coupon or a limited-time sale on every ecommerce website.
And it makes sense: discounts are a hit with shoppers, but while it can attract new customers,
There are downsides to discounting your products
- Lack of trust. Shoppers will lose their trust in you if you’re constantly discounting prices. Especially if they paid full price for a product
- Fickle shoppers. Consumers that snap up deals aren’t always the consumers you want to build a loyal following around
- Focus on price. Your products could be the highest-quality in the world, but if you’re discounting them the focus is always on price
- Lower perceived value. Shoppers may start to consider your products as less valuable than competitors if you constantly discount them
- Smaller profit margins. Your products still cost the same to manufacture regardless of how much you sell them for, so discounting can dramatically cut into your profit margins
But, consumers expect discounts, so you have to discount to win the customer right? Not so fast. One of the newest trends in DTC is donation marketing. Instead of a discount coupon that cheapens your brand and hurts your margins, you can offer a donation to a charity. This keeps your pricing integrity and helps you connect your brand and customers at the same time.
Donations offer lots of the same benefits without slashing into your profits and cheapening your brand.
There are a multitude of benefits that far outweigh the temptation of a discount
- Donations appeal to conscious consumers. Show your customers and potential customers that you take corporate social responsibility seriously. Donation incentives allow customers to donate to charity when they complete a qualifying order.
- Donation incentives give your brand a unique marketing angle that has nothing to do with discounts. Even if you do offer discounts from time to time, this can be used as a way to switch things up and keep your marketing fresh.
- Align your brand to evergreen and timely causes. If you partner with a Shopify donation app that supports all 501c3 organizations, you can align your brand to different causes throughout the year. For example, in the summer months, you might focus on ocean conservation, and during the holiday season, you might encourage customers to donate to organizations that feed the hungry. Or, you can continually support the same organizations again and again. For example, a Shopify store in the pets category might feature the same dog and cat rescue organizations throughout the year on their Givz donation page.
- Increase average order values. Donation incentives can also be used to increase average order values when you use an app that goes into effect after checkout. For example, you might offer a $10 donation when a customer purchases $50 or more. You can strategically set your donation incentive limits in order to strategically increase your AOV by 10 – 15% of your normal average.
Now, how to put donations into action. You’re probably expecting donation marketing to be a huge hassle that your accounting team won’t want to take on. But that’s not the case, there are now apps, like Givz, in the Shopify app store that will help you coordinate donations without all the headaches.
Check out Givz in the Shopify Store today and start replacing discounts with donations.
