eCommerce Promotion Ideas That Won’t Kill Your Brand

This content was originally published in the No Best Practices newsletter on 03.12.2023.

I posted this poll about eCommerce promotions on Twitter a few weeks ago. Only 20% of you said that you’d do the promo. And that means 40% of you are lying.

Go visit 10 random eCommerce sites. Make note of the content on each email capture popup–how many brands are offering “X% off!” to sign up? And how many are actually selling you on the email list? “Get the latest updates” is not a strong sales pitch, so that doesn’t count.

This poll is exaggerated, but it represents a choice that most brands are eventually forced to make. Because eventually you run face first into a local maximum.

You consolidate your Facebook campaigns. You A/B test your landing pages. You test your way to amazing creative performance. And then you get stuck on a plateau, and none of it helps you break free.

At this point, you have two options for growth: you can deep dive into traditional marketing to reach new markets. Or you can start leveraging eCommerce promotion ideas to unlock untapped demand. (There is actually a third option–merchandising strategy–but that’s out of scope this week).

In the hypothetical world, most of you would answer “Option 1” (marketing fundamentals). That’s reflected in the results of the poll. But in the real world, things are different.

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