There’s more to promotions than just putting a product or two on discount or BOGO. In this article, we’ll give you some tips to make your 2023 promotions more profitable, higher value for customers, and more effective at building your brand.
Four guidelines to a great promo
- Rather than just give a discount, introduce an additional product.
- Combine helpful products. Use two-out-of-three to make an upsell.
- Show how products fit into patients’ daily life.
- Address seasonal skin needs and goals, such as winter dryness.
Upsell, don’t discount
Chances are, if your patient knows and loves a product, they’re going to buy it whether it’s on sale or not. It doesn’t help much to put a product on a discount; in fact, this could leave money on the table from customers that were going to buy the product anyway, and for a patient that has never tried the product before, lower price could lead to lower perception of the product’s value.
Instead, we recommend using promos to upsell, introducing new products to your patients to offer more value and build your brand. One great way to do this is with a two-out-of-three promo — buy two products and get a third free. This way, if any two of the promo products appeal to your buyer, they’ll take three home instead. With a high-value offer like this, patients will be much more likely to buy more products rather than just one.
Why is it better to sell more products?
Taking home an additional product is an ideal outcome for a few different reasons.
First, it helps your brand add more to your patients’ routine. When your patient takes home an extra moisturizer with their serum, for example, now they’re using your products for an additional step. If they love the new product and make it a regular part of their routine, they become a loyal, repeat buyer for more and more of your products.
More products also means you’re delivering more value to your customers. If your customer doesn’t usually use any eye product, for example, then adding a free eye gel is a great way to introduce them to its benefits and achieve even better results on their skin.
This helps build your brand. When your patients use and love multiple of your products, it adds to your credibility. They begin to trust all your products more when they love and value even just a few of them.
Make it obvious
It wouldn’t be productive if someone takes home a product they’ll never use. You can avoid this by making the benefits and usage of promotion products obvious.
Spell out the full routine for your patients: cleanser, exfoliant, eye product, serum, moisturizer, SPF in the morning. Make sure they know how, when, and why to use each product, and they’ll be more likely to implement in their daily routine.
The best way to introduce new products to patients is in your office or storefront. If patients come in for a procedure like a facial, make sure you explain which products you’re using and suggest that they purchase these products before leaving. If patients don’t come in for a procedure, offer free samples and testers to introduce the feel and benefits of the products.
The clearer you can show how your products fit into your patients’ lives and skincare goals, the better chances will be that they’ll use and love each one.
Seasonal advantage
Out of a hundred customers and clients who walk into your office, what is the biggest challenge they all share? Identifying this will help you adapt your promos to the needs of your buyers, increasing your products’ value even more.
In January, for example, we recommend moisturizing and anti-aging serums like C-Stem® and HA+ Firming Boost. At the start of the new year, patients are looking to put on their brightest, most youthful skin, and these are two of the best products to help them get there.
Even though all your products can help your patients, the most effective ones will change from month to month.
How CosMedical can help you run promos
CosMedical carefully designs promotions to support your success, helping you to build your brand, deliver more value to customers, and earn more profit. Beyond that, we want to help you with more than just promotion ideas. We also support our partners with ready-to-send content to help get the word out.
Each month, we design a promo that you can mirror. Our partners can offer the same promo to their customers — like getting a free eye gel with purchase of two serums, for example, which is our promo this month. We share content in the Resource Center that you can send to your customers to spread the word.
