You can now set discounts for your Subscription & One-Time Purchases! Below is everything you need to know:
How to offer a discount
How to use them to grow your subscription
How to use them to grow your One-Time Purchases (OTPs)
CREATING A DISCOUNT:
Watch this video for a walk-through of the setup. Discounts with promo codes are now available in your dashboard in the Promotions tab. Use discounts as a marketing tool to get people to try out your app or program at a lower price point. You can set it up in less than two minutes — here’s how to do it!
You can offer discounts on your subscriptions and One-Time purchases (OTPs). For OTPs, discounts are applied on top of the price set in your Offer (the Offers section is where your OTP price lives — if you haven't set one up yet, start there before creating a discount code).
Discounts types:
General - Example: 25% off this program
Time-boxed - Example: “available for 30 days.”
Quantity-boxed - Example: The first 25 people can get 20% off
How to set them up:
Click on the new “Promotions” tab on the left side of the dashboard.
Click “+New” to create a new discount code.
Add a name (i.e., Black Friday Discount) This will only be seen by you so you know what it’s for.
Add a discount code (i.e., PLAYBOOK123) that your users will input at checkout.
Toggle to which Product you would like the discount to be applied to: your subscription, or one of your OTPs. For OTPs, the discount applies on top of the price you've set in your Offer for that program.
Select whether you want a discount on a monthly or annual subscription. **Note: If you choose monthly, the discount is only on the first month.
Select if you want a percentage (i.e. 20% off) or fixed amount (i.e. $10 off) for your discount. **Note: 30% off is the maximum discount allowed on an annual subscription. If you want to give the first month for free, set the monthly percentage at 100% off.
You can add an expiration date if you want your discount to be valid for only a certain period of time.
You can limit the number of redemptions if you want to cap the amount of users that can take advantage of the discount. For example: The first 50 customers get the discount.
Once your discount code has been created, you can share the code with your followers to input on your checkout page to apply the discount.
How to manage and use the codes:
You can view all promotions created in the "Promotions Tab": promo code, product, and number of redemptions.
You have the ability to copy discount codes directly
You have the ability to generate the direct link to the checkout page with the promo code applied for ease of purchase. Allows you to share a direct URL so users don’t need to type the code in manually.
FAQS:
Can existing users use the discounts?
It depends.
Yes - If your user is on a monthly plan, they can take advantage of an annual promo.
No - If the user is already on an annual plan, they cannot do the annual promo.
In short, discounts only work for new members, canceled members, and upgrading.
Can we only offer up to a 30% discount for Annual Subscriptions?
We have capped subscription discounts at 30% off to ensure no one can abuse discounts.
Is there a cap on how many discounts you can offer?
You can offer as many discounts as you would like. We will continue to improve the experience and the analytics.
Does the discount for a monthly Subscription only apply to the first month?
Yes, the discount that you create for your monthly subscription only applies to the first month after the user activates the promo. That way, you can continue to create promos to engage your users.
Can we create a discount that offers our content for free?
Yes, you are able to offer one month for $0 on your subscription. Or, you can offer a 100% off discount for your One-Time Purchases (OTP).
Can we offer a discount for a gifted subscription?
We don't currently offer the ability to apply discount codes for gifted annual subscriptions, but may consider it for the future.
USING DISCOUNTS TO FUEL SALES:
Discounts are a killer tool to have in your toolbox for converting your reluctant followers into paying customers. Here are the exact strategies you should use. Of course, think creatively about other approaches.
Theme-based: Use tactically, ideally around a theme or event, so people think they’re special.
Time-box: Don’t keep them open-ended. Use scarcity “Next 7 days only”.. “Expires tomorrow.”
User segments: Monthly, canceled, trials, etc. Target specific users with specific promos!
SUBSCRIPTIONS - THE ESSENTIAL DISCOUNT STRATEGIES:
Strategy #1: Launch Annual Plan Promo (launch plan optimization):
It’s common to launch with a unique, one-time deep discount on annual subscriptions. For two weeks before and after launch, offer “20% discount off annual”. Push super hard and stress the discount will go away (time box).
Strategy #2: Offer a $0 for 30 Days Discount (maximize new users):
Maximize monthly trials by offering $0 for 30 days “discount” on your subscription routinely on your social media to get people to try your experience. This is an excellent tactic to shoot out to all your followers and canceled users via email.
Strategy #3: Push Monthly & Trial Users to Annual:
Annual subscribers are more valuable than monthly subscribers over the long run. Annual subscribers tend to renew almost 2.5 times more than monthly. We suggest emailing monthly users about how much they would save by upgrading to annual. If your subscription is $15/month and annual is $100, that’s a 44% discount (only 27 cents per day).
Strategy #4: Canceled Users Special
We suggest running a special once a quarter to canceled users to get them to come back. “For this week only, I am offering $0 for 30 Days to bring you back to the app!” (you could do a percentage off annual as well).
ONE-TIME PURCHASES (OTPs) - THE ESSENTIAL DISCOUNT STRATEGIES:
Strategy #1A: Launch a New OTP With a Limited time ”Early Bird” Discount:
When launching a new OTP, create a sense of urgency with time-limited offers. This scarcity tactic can be a powerful sales driver. Offer 10-25% off for the first 1-3 days leading up to launch
Strategy #1B: Launch a New OTP With A Volume-Based Discount:
“For the first 100 people, I am offering 25% off my new program”
Strategy 2: Time-Based Discounts:
As you offer more OTPs, you can do discounts on a routine basis for holidays, special events, fun themes, etc to drive more folks in. “This weekend, I am doing 25% off my core program….”
OTHER DISCOUNT BEST PRACTICES:
Holiday and Special Event Promo
We suggest reserving your larger discounts for holidays and Special Event promotions. For example, you can run a New Years promotion offering 30% off your annual subscription and mention to your followers that it is the lowest your price will be all year. Make sure your discounts are time-boxed by adding an end date/time to your promotion.
Discounts With Paid Ads
Discounts work well with paid ads that direct to your more expensive OTP programs. We suggest leveraging ads for OTPs that are generally $50 or more. You can say in your ad that "For the next 3 days, I am offering 20% off this program!"
Cross-Promote OTPs and Subscriptions
If you offer both, use discounts to encourage OTP buyers to switch to your subscription model. Or vice versa, you can use discounts to upsell your subscribers by taking advantage of your OTPs as well.
Referral Rewards Program
Provide current users and friends with shareable discount codes. Ask them to invite a friend, family member, or accountability buddy to join them on the app for a month free!
Influencer Collaboration “Ambassadors”
Partner with other influencers who align with your target audience. Provide them with unique discount codes to promote your app on their social media platforms.
Other Marketing Ideas With Discounts:
Discounts attached to freebies to collect emails
Challenges
Webinars
Brand partnerships
Ask followers and members to share
DISCOUNT ANALYTICS:
After you’ve created a Discount, you can check in on how it’s performing inside of its details page. Just head to the Promotions tab in the creator web app, click into any of your discounts and you’ll see how many redemptions have occurred, by whom, as well as key information about the state of that customer when they purchased. You can find links to share your discount code on this page as well.
You’ll also be able to export this list of customers so that you can re-market to them in any way you wish in the future! Happy discounting!