If you have an ecommerce site, chances are you regularly provide special offers, discounts or promotions for your clients. Just having the special is not enough though. It’s important for you to make it easy for users to qualify for these discounts, or to be aware of whatever special offers you have available.
Below, you’ll find a few tips on communicating these offers to clients:
List Specials Inside The Categories
Don’t only show your specials on a dedicated specials page. By limiting them to the specials page, you’re depending on the user to go and look for specials every time they’re on the site.
Users looking for a specific item generally browse based on the product category, so including your specials prominently within that category, as well as alongside items that are full price, helps users discover discounts in their area of interest.
Make Site-Wide Promotions Visible Throughout The Site
If you offer your users benefits like free delivery, coupons, or other forms of site-wide discount, then make sure these offers are visible throughout the site, on every page. Consistent reminders of discounts can encourage users to buy, and help them find items within their budget.
You can do this with banners at the top or side of each page, call-outs in the product listing pages, or announcements in the slider / hero space on the home page. (You can display them in the footer as well, but people rarely expect to find discounts there, and may miss them.) Take care not to make these announcements look too much like ads, or banner blindness may cause people to miss them as well.
Display Minimum Spend Promotions Prominently
If you have an offer that depends on a minimum spend, whether it’s free delivery over a certain cost, cheapest item free, etc. etc. make sure you’re displaying the criteria for it prominently, including in your cart and on the checkout page.
Users will often spend a little more time searching for something to add to their cart that will put them over the minimum spend so they qualify.
Make Restrictions Clear
If a promotional offer is subject to limitations or restrictions, it’s essential that you make clear up front what those restrictions are. Don’t bury them in reams of fine print, because you don’t want users arriving at the checkout expecting a deal, only to find out that they don’t have it after all.
Use The Shopping Cart
The shopping cart page is the last opportunity you have to catch the users attention with special offers. At this stage, they can still easily make changes to their order, so this page should show any special offers they qualify for, including discounts, free shipping, etc.
If you highlight potential savings in the cart, users will consider purchasing more products to qualify for those special offers.
