Boost sales with discount coupon codes

Everybody likes getting a good deal and book buyers are no different. If your sales have been dwindling, consider offering a promotional discount of 15%–20% off the normal price – or even more if you can afford it.

Online promotional discounts are usually activated through the use of “coupon codes”. Very simply, a coupon code is a code that a seller gives to a buyer that the buyer can use when checking out of an online store, just before making payment. When the buyer inserts the code, the discount is deducted. Discount coupons are a great way to reconnect with your customers and stimulate sales.

Publisher.co.za coupon options

Publisher.co.za enables you to offer discounts based on a percentage of the selling price or as a set rand amount. Some marketers say that set amounts work best, as customers immediately see the value. For instance, for a book normally selling at R250, “R50 off” may sound better than “20% off” because the brain does not immediately compute the value of 20%. On the other hand, when offering large discounts, “40% off” and “50% off” sound very impressive and the rand value makes less sense. If you are supplying books to intermediaries who sell on your behalf, such as other booksellers, a percentage discount would typically be more appropriate. A standard bookseller discount code can easily be generated. Finally, percentage dis­counts eliminate the need to change the coupon code value when you have a price change.

When and how to offer discount coupons

Ideally, discount coupons should be used to support your overall marketing strategy, so the timing and nature of your coupons will depend on this strategy. If you don’t have a basic strategy in place, then consider these tips:

• Apply a time limit: Coupons work best when there is a limited time in which to redeem them – in this way book buyers are encouraged to take prompt action or lose out.
• Offer them during local or global events: Using events or common observances gives you a good reason to make contact with potential customers without the initiative appearing to come out of the blue. For instance, if you’ve written a book on healthy eating, consider running your discount campaign in the same month that World Health Day takes place; if it’s a poetry book, then consider the week or month of World Poetry Day.
• Offer them during your own events: Add value to your events by offering attendees the added benefit of a discount on your book (and perhaps other books that you have published, thus stimulating cross-sales).
• Offer them as gifts: Do you know when your clients or colleagues are having a birthday? Or are you perhaps welcoming a new client on board? Offering an attractive coupon discount is a great way of giving something back.
• Encourage sales through the Publisher store: Since you will earn more when selling through Publisher.co.za, it makes sense to push your sales through this platform. A great way to do this is to make people feel that they are getting something more when buying from the store. Simply reducing your Publisher.co.za price doesn’t tell them anything – they may assume that they can purchase the book at that price elsewhere. Offering a specific discount linked to the Publisher.co.za store will tell them that there is a direct benefit to them when they buy from Publisher.co.za.

What are you hoping to achieve?

When using coupon codes, consider your aim and price the discount accordingly. If your aim is to get your name out there, then bigger, not-to-be-missed discounts may be better because you’ll be looking for maximum sales and exposure rather than maximum profit. Since your earnings through the Publisher.co.za store are greater, you can afford to be more generous and apply discounts that really motivate potential customers to buy. If you have two books in the store, you could also consider running a package deal: buy one book and get 30% off the second one, for instance.

How to obtain your coupon codes

Having your coupon codes set up is really easy and it costs you nothing. All you need to do is contact our office by email and let us know the percentage or rand value that you want to offer, along with your coupon expiry date:

• We will generate and send the relevant coupon code/s to you.
• We will also set the expiry date – on that date the code automatically becomes null and void.
• You forward the coupon code to potential buyers or post it on your website or Facebook page when you’re ready to launch the special.
• When customers purchase the book from Publisher.co.za, they will be prompted to enter the code at Checkout to redeem their discount.
• You get paid your standard percentage of the sale less the discount amount; if you sell more than 10 books in a calendar month, you earn an extra 5% on those books.

It’s really as simple as that. Publisher.co.za is a lot more flexible than other platforms and stores, and offers you much more control over your pricing, so why not take advantage of this by introducing promotions and discounts? There is no work for you to do except let us know that we must set up the codes, and then pass those codes on to potential customers.

Also, don’t hesitate to let us know when you are running a campaign – we will do what we can to promote your special on our website by way of a post or banner. We are here to help you sell your books and we rely on you to keep us in the loop so that we can support you on our side.

Happy selling!