5 Steps to a Successful Gift With Purchase Promotion
The Power of Gift With Purchase for Retail Brands
Austin, Texas: We have worked with dozens of retail brands on their gift with purchase promotions.
They are effective because they work in a variety of ways:
1) they create a unique selling proposition to help your brand stand out at retail
2) they increase sales per transaction/visit
3) they are very low in cost due to non-redemptions/shrinkage/breakage
Here are 5 steps to ensure success for your next gift with purchase promotion.
Be Creative - but Not too Slick
Creating the right item for the gift with purchase is relatively easy. The key is finding an ancillary item that works with your product-- or with your brand, in general.
In the Cheerios example, a gift of a S'well brand cereal bowl ties in well- and the Cheerios brand bowl will be used and seen hundreds of times over the course of a year or so-- thus maximizing brand awareness.
Be creative but don't go too far afield in the logic. For example, if you have a beverage brand, a branded ice chest or cooler bag would be a great fit. We have done custom branded barbecue sauces for "hot promotions" for car dealerships, sports car shaped phones and power banks for oil companies for their dealer network, custom branded bicycles and skateboards for youth clothing companies and power banks for cosmetic and cologne companies.
Make Redemptions Simple
Don't make customers jump through hoops in order to claim their gift. that will only create ill will and bad publicity for your brand. The Cheerios/S'well promotion just asks for a picture of receipts uploaded to a website. Clean and simple.
Breakage/Shrinkage
Even with simple instructions, a high percentage of customers will not send in their receipts/proof of purchases. People are busy, they forget, or for a number of other reasons (lack of inertia), many gifts will not be claimed. You will still get the benefits of multiple purchases -- with out the expense of the gift--adding to your bottom line. This is known as slippage/breakage. It will be much higher than you expect-- even on gifts with very high perceived values.
Of course, multiple purchase requirements will reduce redemptions when compared with a single purchase (ex: set of 4 tires, major appliance, etc.) - so keep that in mind when calculating redemption rates.
Make it Shareable
Make the product fun - and get people to share it on social media once they receive it. We have even done promotions based on shares and likes as an added gift-- and you will be pleasantly surprised of what people are willing to post for a high quality free gift.
Keep Redemption Period Realistic
Allow sufficient time for people to make multiple purchases. Remember, many people live in apartments and homes without large garages-- and sometimes people still want to purchase during their typical buying cycles. Don't turn them off with a very short expiration date that is unrealistic.
Follow these 5 simple rules and you can have a tremendously successful promotion to attract and retain greater retail purchases, as well as locking in consumers to your brand.
Let us know how we can help make your next gift with purchase event a success.
Happy Promoting!
