Fair warning. If you’re hoping for a printable calendar with exact discount release dates circled in red, you’re about to be disappointed. 

But then, you’ll have to get used to disappointment, because the only people that can offer you an invariable schedule are the same ones that have a bridge in Brooklyn they’re looking to sell you.

The fact is that every business is different. A discount schedule that works brilliantly for one company may fail miserably for another. 

However, there are several general strategies that every business can use as a starting point. Then, through patient trial and error, tweaking offers, and release dates, you’ll discover a system that works well for you.

Offer Sales Across the Board Only When Times Are Tough

It can be tempting to run periodic sales where you discount everything in hopes of drumming up business. 

The problem with these sorts of discounts is that they can train customers to wait for the sale. Instead of purchasing something when they need it, they’ll wait until your next store-wide or site-wide for digital products, or sale to make the purchase. While this can build customer loyalty, it also means that you’re always selling to these customers at a discount.

Occasional discounts like this are fine. Holiday sales are a good example of this. And if you really need the business, large sales will bring customers in the door or virtual door. Just don’t make them a regular strategy.

Use “Time to Purchase” Discounts

Instead of offering discounts on every item to every customer, it can be better to focus on the buying habits of individual customers. 

“Time to Purchase” discounts seek to reduce the period between when an individual first encounters your brand and when they first make a purchase.

Imagine someone visits your site for the first time and gives you their email address. Based on your experience with similar customers you know roughly how long it will take for them to make a purchase. Sending them a discount or coupon code earlier could help speed that process, or cause them to purchase when they may not have otherwise.

This sort of focused approach helps build new customers faster without giving discounts to existing customers that would likely purchase from you again without them.

You’ve seen those pop-up offers with 15% on your first purchase, right? Or even when you go to close out your browser tab you may see a “before you go, how about this” with a specific offer. I liken that to a late-night infomercial speaker – at least that’s what I hear in my head.

“Loss Leader” Discounts Can Fill Your Store

A good way to give a discount to all of your current and potential customers without discounting all of your products is to create “loss leaders”. These are popular products that you offer a large discount on (even if you lose money on them, hence the name) in an effort to get people in your store or on your website. Once there you upsell them on other full-priced items.

It works well to discount an item that pairs with a number of individual accessories. For example, an electronics merchant might steeply discount a game console and then sell individual games at full price. Anyone with gamers in the family knows that strategy all too well. Mario Kart anyone?

Referral Discounts Are an Inexpensive Way to Add New Customers

Particularly if you run a service-based business, referral discounts give your existing customers an incentive to spread your name to friends and family. 

It’s a good idea to give a discount both to your existing customers as well as their referrals. That way the referred person is more likely to sign up for service.

The takeaway from these strategies is this — targeted discounts and coupons can be just as effective at building your business as blanket sales, but cost your business considerably less. As you experiment with these, you’ll discover what your customers respond to. 

You might roll out referral discounts when customer numbers are leveling off. Time to purchase discounts could hit your schedule whenever customer conversions are taking longer than normal. And you might punctuate your calendar with loss leaders at pivotal times to help fill in dips in retail sales.

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