Why?
I recently visited a high street retailers ecommerce site, on the product page it had a banner “Use voucher code freegift with purchases over £50” Use it, use it where? The promo was to receive a free gift worth £14.99 when I purchased the particular product I wanted to buy.
As a potential buyer my main interest at that point is in the product, the specification (it was a really technical piece of kit – an external hard drive!). At the point of purchase my mind is almost racing with those last minute thoughts and doubts. Where & what is their Returns policy? What if it goes wrong? Do I trust this brand, is this the right decision? Am I really thinking about a code with an ambiguous instruction and if I should be using it? The answer is probably not and if I, as an experienced web user in the trade am not then quite possibly your average customer is unlikely to be either.
The Customer Delusion
How many of you have whilst running a promotion have suffered the consequence of the disillusioned or angry customer, sending in an email of complaint after receiving their order – ‘where’s my free gift? It didn’t arrive! Why didn’t you send it to me? If you don’t send it I want a refund! I’ll never shop with you again and tell everyone I know! ‘ You can really empathise with their frustrations….they didn’t design the product page, nor the functionality. You have created the promotion and placed it on the page and being in the trade you should be working to make every step easy for the customer. If there is any confusion then it is time to get your customer hat on and make some changes.
The Promotion Code Conundrum
How many times have you run promotions using promo codes to get a free gift, and the customer hasn’t taken up the promotion? If you regularly use promo codes in the form of onsite banners to encourage custom you’ll probably be aware of the apparent lack of uptake of such promotions – even sometimes when they are on a banner at basket level.
Why? The customer is pre-occupied with their purchase decisions and doubt. Also they may not understand how the promo works and sometimes only the experienced promo code hunter knows how to capture the deal in the true spirit it was intended. Great for your margins, less so for the customer.
Possible Solution
Is there an answer? Well yes, the obvious and ‘proper’ way would be to add the gift to the basket automatically for the customer – job done. Many ecommerce sites operate this, but certainly not all, the ones that don’t are most likely down to the platform they are on and the underlying functionality – or lack of it. Another possible solution is to have the promo code box at basket level – this goes half way to prompting the customer there might be a promo code about. This might trigger their memory that they saw a banner on the site either throughout or at product page level but then again it might not.
In my opinion, sites asking customers to add in codes to get ‘free gifts’ to which they are entitled are failing their customer. There is then the chance that the customer may not re-purchase, this will need addressing for the retailer to be in the best position to effectively re-market as well as capture new customers.
Promo codes in the traditional sense of a % off spend absolutely have their place, to draw in potential customers with the offer of a discount, a marketing tactic which works rather well across the web. However using promo codes to give free gifts where the customer may miss out is poor practice. E-Commerce sites in 2011 need to step up a gear, the competition is fierce & snapping at your heels. Don’t forget – for your customer they are all but a few clicks away…
Kevin Galway
Commercial Development Manager
MAD Productions Ltd
