It’s tax-free weekend. Parents from coast to coast are taking advantage of this amazing opportunity. Mostly because we all hate taxes. Mostly because we think we’re getting a lot more than we really are.
I live in Texas, where sales tax is 8.25%. When was the last time you changed your behavior for an 8.25% off sale? I can’t remember ever doing it. It just doesn’t significant enough.
But tax-free? That’s something completely different, right?
Not really.
What this yearly campaign does point out is how important it is to position your promotion. It’s not enough to simply launch it. Or to just offer a boring discount. People like a story even behind their discounts. Your “free” needs to be cooler than their “free.”
A great example is free shipping. In most cases, this is a 10-15% discount to the customer. But people go nuts for it. Even more than they will for a 20% off discount. Trust me; I’ve tested it. I’ve witnessed people spend $300 more than normal just to save on the shipping costs.
It’s a lesson for all of us. There are logical ways of looking at your offers, and then there’s the way your customer looks at them. Position your promotions in a way that appeals to your customers, not logic. There’s nothing logical about what any of us do when we buy.
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I think this is exactly what people mean when they say people buy (and vote) with emotion and not their brains!
Great post.
[...] I finally had to realize that trial rarely turns into habit, and I was actually giving my customers a good reason to buy an average product instead of a great product. This doesn’t even take into account that we overlook how we position our promotion. [...]