How to Create a Sales Campaign on Your eCommerce Site
As a small business owner, across a wide variety of types of businesses, you have an arsenal of tools at your disposal to welcome new customers, and convert existing patrons into loyal buyers. And actually, some of the most useful are also the most obvious. Take sales, for example. Whether they come in the form of a discount, a “2+1” deal or a free shipping coupon, there are many sales campaigns that you can offer on your eCommerce website. Any sale is a win for your customers, but a good one can benefit you in many ways, too. Online sales can strengthen your brand, boost revenue during a sluggish period, help you connect with your customers, and increase their loyalty by making them feel rewarded. Best of all, you can hold a sale whenever you like, for virtually any reason! Your customers will enjoy a “just because” sale just as much as a “perfectly timed” one.
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Without further ado, here is a complete guide to creating a killer sale on your eCommerce website:
01. Plan a Time
For most people, sales are associated with the holidays. Whether it’s Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day or Christmas, customers expect to enjoy discounted prices during the special dates of the calendar. These are classic times for everyone, from big department stores to small business owners on the Internet. Why do people spend so much during the holidays? It boils down to two motivators: tradition and guilt. The notion that people have always spent money during that time of the year, paired up with the idea that they will disappoint loved ones by showing up with cheap, undesirable gifts is a great excuse for anyone to get online and shop. That’s why prepping your store and creating a sale to accommodate holiday consumers is key to keeping up with your competition and boosting your business.
This being said, you shouldn’t restrict yourself to the holiday periods only. The reason why sales are so effective goes slightly beyond that. A customer loves to feel rewarded – and this, any time of the year. For some people, sale shopping is even viewed as a sport, a competition: the better the deal made, the better the win, the bigger the reward feels. Combined that to the fear of missing out on saving money, and you understand that you can benefit from a good sale at any time. The idea is that you can (and should) run sales multiple times in the year, independently of the holidays. Just make sure to create an identity around your sale, giving it a name (like: “Not to Miss Sale”, “Catch Me If You Can”, “This Weekend Only”, etc.), in order to make it more attractive.
Warning: too many sales can damage your brand and make it look ‘cheap’. If it looks like your business is constantly holding sales, some may think you’re pushing to get rid of your existing inventory or using tricks to lure in clients.
02. Decide on a Direction
Make a decision about what type of sale you’re going to run and make a plan for it. This means determining both the sale’s duration (24hours? 3 days? A full week?) and the customer reward. Think about what your customers would need in order to commit and feel confident about their purchase. Here are a couple of options to consider:
Coupons: Offering a cut and dry coupon is a quick and easy solution for both parties.
Free shipping: We’ve all been at that point in the checkout process where the shipping fees send the total over the limit you really wanted to spend, and you abandon your online shopping dreams for the day. Offer up a free shipping coupon to alleviate that feeling for your customers. It’s crucial, as 9 out of 10 consumers say free shipping is the no 1 incentive to shop online more.
Discount price: These can come in the form of a dollar amount or a certain percentage. Your customers will love the thrill of watching the price drop down to something more to their liking.
“Buy X, Get Y”: You know the drill with this one! Whether it’s a buy one get one (or two), this is a coupon that grabs attention and makes almost any customer happy.
Discounts for specific products or collections: The great part of creating coupons in Wix Stores is that you can apply them to multiple items or collections at once. This saves time so that you and your customers don’t have to search what’s on sale and what’s not.
Discounts with a minimum order amount: Now this is a good incentive for your customers! You can create a coupon that can be utilized only when a minimum subtotal has been reached. For example, say you’re offering a $10 discount on orders of $50 or more. Once a customer reaches that $50 threshold, they can add the coupon code to reap the benefits! This can also extend to free shipping or a percentage discount as well.
03. Create a Sale for Your Online Store
Now that you’ve decided on your sales campaign, it’s time to make it happen! The process is simplified to the maximum in your Wix Store Manager, for every sale type that we’ve described above. For example, here’s the step-by-step flow for applying a flat percentage discount to an entire collection:
From the “Collections” section of your Store Manager, select “New Collection”.
Rename it to ‘Sale’ – or whatever other glamorous names you prefer.
Start adding your items to that collection. For now, you’re done with this collection, but you can come back to it at any time and add/remove items.
Go to the “Promote” section of your Store Manager. Select “Create Coupon” and set the coupon’s code, name, and end date. Once you’re done, you can apply this to each of your items separately, or to your entire collection as a whole.
All clear? Discover how to create any other type of sale on your Wix eCommerce website now (see our guide on what is eCommerce).
04. Prepare Your Website for the Sale
Here are a couple of ways to bring attention to your sale, directly on your website:
A dedicated sale page: Simply click the Pages icon on the left-hand side of the Editor and add your new page. You can design it as you see fit. When you’re done, you can then select the Add icon to add a Wix Stores product gallery to the page and set the collection to your sale items.
A banner: One of the easiest ways to let people know that you’re having a sale is by adding a banner to your website. All you need to do in the Wix Editor is to add a full-width strip to the location you’d like to place the banner, and then a text box or image to let them know. Banners can be big or small – so let loose! For maximum exposure, think about placing a small banner at the top of each page or the header of your website.
A Lightbox: Let your site visitors know about your sale with a lightbox reminder that will display on the page after a predetermined amount of time. You can even add a button directly to your sale page so they can choose to take advantage of the savings right then and there. Go easy on the lightboxes. Too many will likely be more hurtful than helpful.
Countdown: If you really want to turn up the dramatics, you can add a countdown to your sale. The Wix Countdown Clock can help you do just that. It’s incredibly easy to add to your website, and just as easy to remove when the clock strikes zero and your sale is live.
Ribbon on the discounted products: Nothing says “sale” like literally saying sale. Add a ribbon to your items when filling in the product information so there’s a friendly reminder that sprawls across the top of the product photo.
05. Clarify the Details
Wherever you promote your sale, clearly explain what it entails, when it begins, when it’s over, and how it works. You may even choose to add a new page to your site clarifying any details of the sale. The last thing you want is a customer to feel that you’re trying to hide details, so be sure you lay it all out for them. One of the best ways to do this is with a complete FAQ page. You can not only detail simple questions regarding the sale, but any terms or conditions that may apply, plus the return policy. The more they’re exposed to the information, the more confident they will feel about sharing their bank card’s details with you.
06. Promote the Sale outside of Your Website
Once you’ve updated your website with all the details about your sale and clicked ‘Publish’, you’ll want to spread the word. Get on social media to post the products and announce the sale. You can post a sale banner on your Facebook page pairing an eye-catching image with short text explaining what your customers can expect. Be creative with your sale marketing – you can organize a Facebook Live, a contest, or any other sort of activity around your sales campaign. Encourage customer engagement on social media by offering additional discounts for those who answer a question, post a photo, or complete some kind of activity. Sales generate lots of excitement—any way to create even more will push people to buy.
Important: For your sales campaign to succeed, you need to make sure that you’ve created a universal messaging throughout your entire website, blog and social media channels. All the sale details have to match – you don’t want to answer angry (or disappointed) clients complaining about that “25% off” promo code that doesn’t appear on your pages anymore.
07. Engage with Past Customers via Email
30% of repeat purchases online come from email marketing. Email communication can help customers feel welcome and appreciated. Create an exclusive discount or invitation that only goes to your list of subscribers. You can promote a sale by sending an email offering them an exclusive discount. Or, announce your customer as a VIP member of your store, and reward them with free shipping. Anytime someone purchases from your Wix Stores site, their email will be added your “customer list” in the Contacts section of your site’s dashboard, making it incredibly easy to reach out to them. With Wix email marketing, you can create yourself a stunning newsletter to let your existing customers in on your upcoming sale. You could even go a step further and send an email to your über-loyal customers with an exclusive coupon that they can use beforehand, so they don’t have to wait until the sale goes “live” like everyone else.
08. Keep It Going
You don’t just create a sale, slap it on your site and forget about it. People need to be reminded multiple times. This doesn’t mean a daily reminder, but a sensible nudge every few days by posting on all your social media pages can suffice. As you approach the end of the sale, convey a sense of urgency and remind last-minute shoppers of last-minute deals. Send a “Last Chance to Save! Only 24 Hours Left to Get 50% Off” email and post a similar banner on your Facebook page and your website’s homepage. The gentle pressure of time running out can inspire buyers to make a purchase.
Geraldine Feehily
Marketing Writer, Wix eCommerce
Geraldine is a marketing writer for Wix eCommerce. She uses her broad experience in journalism, publishing, public relations and marketing to create compelling content and loves hearing user success stories.
