Do you have trouble coaxing sales out of your customers? Then what are you doing to incentivize them? 

The retail sector is competitive. Whether you exist online, offline, or have a presence in both areas, then you’ll find that you are competing with everyone; from the large companies such as Amazon, through to the smallest independent business.  You need to be effective and ruthless in your marketing. 

Here are four ways of generating sales through proactive marketing in your business. 

Online Voucher Codes

Voucher codes are a great way to increase your sales on your online platform. The most effective way to use this to full effect is to share codes for very limited periods of time.

Create a “flash” event that means that customers need to act quickly to take advantage of the offer. 

Create an email campaign using a service such as Mailchimp and email all of the customers that you have on your database. 

By using this a mailing service such as this, you’ll be able to monitor who is opening and interacting with your emails. This will give you a gauge of their effectiveness. 

Coupons

Many customers still love a physical coupon. In fact, there are many people out there that will collect hundreds of coupons together so that they can get the very best deals they can. 

Of course, you don’t need to be into extreme couponing to appreciate a deal, and it might be worthwhile investing in a mail coupon book that you can distribute to your customers if you have a bricks-and-mortar store. 

Think about offering coupons across a range of different products. The idea is that you entice the customer in with the coupon that will give them a small discount, and they buy more items when they’re in the store. 

Be sure that you put expiry dates on all of your coupons. Many retailers forget this and end up with problems on their hands months or even years later. 

Recommend a Friend

Do you want to grow your customer base and encourage sales from your existing customers at the same time? 

One of the best ways to do this is by getting people to recommend a friend to your products or services. By generating a code for each of your customers to share, you can track provide a discount for customers who have recommended a friend. That way, you’ll get two sales and an increased customer base. 

Promote Scarcity 

Do you only have limited stocks of certain items? If you have an item with a limited stock level, that you won’t be replenishing; let customers know. 

Scarcity is a great driving force to increase sales. You may not even need to reduce the price to entice customers into buying the item in the first place. 

Remember, be honest with your customers. Don’t try and trick them into buying anything under false pretenses, it will only come back and bite you if you lie to them.