Bob Bly Direct Response Copywriter Official Banner

Discounts: An Overlooked Internet Marketing Tactic

June 27th, 2009 by Bob Bly

Internet buyers LOVE discounts, yet most info marketers don’t use them nearly enough.

A case in point: on 4/9/09, we sent an e-mail to my list offering one of my e-books at the cover price of $79.

It generated 32 orders and $2,528 in revenues — not great, not bad.

Thursday of this week we sent the identical e-mail to the same list but added a P.S. offering the book at $49 — a $30 savings — if they ordered by midnight Sunday.

While orders are still coming in, we have already sold 155 copies at $49 each, generating $7,625 in revenues so far.

Does it bother me to let people have a $79 product for only $49?

Of course not. What’s important is not profit per sale, but profit per e-mail blast … which the discounting tactic will more than triple before the weekend is over.

P.S. Of course, discounting works with products where you have a large enough margin to sustain it — and in the case of e-books, the margin is close to 100%.

I wouldn’t do this with my own services, because discounting would lower my revenue per hour.

While my supply of e-books is limitless, time is not: you only have so many hours in the day to work, and when you work for less per hour, you are working harder to make less money.

Who wants that?

Share

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 7:17 am and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

50 responses about “Discounts: An Overlooked Internet Marketing Tactic”

  1. Chas said:

    Actually what’s important is lifetime profit per client. Keeping the doors open to be the most helpful to each person brings the best results for everybody. For example, when somebody has a “Fire Sale” I unsubscribe them and tell them why. It makes them very angry to hear why I think Fire Sales are bad business.

  2. Bob Bly said:

    Chas: you are making a common error: being guided by your personal preferences. YOU may unsubscribe when someone sends you a fire-sale e-mail, but let me assure you that you are a minority. When we offer a discount, our unsubscribe rate does not spike one iota, AND our sales increase substantially. Offering discounts actually INCREASES lifetime customer value, as customers love when you offer them a special bargain for being just that — a customer!

  3. I.A. said:

    This is actually a TOP technique of another famous millionaire marketer, I’ve got his famous course that outlines how to do “discounts” the right way.

    The name of that marketer… Frank Kern.

  4. Achinta Mitra said:

    I agree, discounts are great for generating extra sales and upsells. Works very well for eBooks and other downloadable digital products. As Bob has pointed out, you are not decreasing your margin or reducing inventory.

    Everyone loves a price break, especially in these tough times.

  5. Internet Marketing Archives» Blog Archive » 'Discounts: An Overlooked Internet Marketing Tactic' by Bob Bly said:

    […] Discounts: An Overlooked Internet Marketing Tactic… […]

  6. strategic management said:

    It’s important how well you market. Not all can buy market it as good as you do because you need a base to stand upon.

  7. Howie Schwartz said:

    discounts can work well but beware – if they appear to steep people may be scared away thinking the product has little value

  8. green bay packers » The “Bloody Shirt” Still Waves. Does It Fly In The White House? said:

    […] Discounts: An Overlooked Internet Marketing Tactic […]

  9. Increase Website Traffic said:

    Nice Post!

    The Internet provides great opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses, but doing business online presents unique challenges and requires new skills. Per my experience search engine optimization would be the best practice to improve your online business.

  10. Seh said:

    This style of marketing seems to be the new trend or maybe it’s an old principle. This is a similar strategy to what I am using in video marketing. I create short, catchy videos that lead viewers back to free offers or discounted offers. I accumulate a majority of my traffic from posting my videos free to http://www.Adwido.com and letting them help me target specific keywords to boost targeted traffic.

  11. Anders blogger in profitable marketing said:

    Many SEO companies claim that the SEO process can generate profitable traffic. I do not agree to this statement because I think that the issue is far more comprehensive and needs expertise from other professionals, persons who known more than merely the IT business

  12. Annuity Ratings said:

    The internet provides the many on line business. the SEO is the such a on line business. any who know about suffering to internet, that start his online business.

  13. General knowledge questions said:

    I agree with you. The online business is the home based business. you may earn money on your home and part time.

  14. Tanya Verra @ Web Traffic Spider said:

    It is fact that most of the online buyers like offers, and they buy more if there is a discounted sale is offering by a website, compare to non discount sale offering by the same website, even though they hike the rates temporary and give them discount on that. There fore it is suggested to give discounts to increase sales on your website. It will be prove to be a success shot.

  15. sharon said:

    Good Info,

    Driving quality and targeted traffic to a website is the key to success for any online business. I think SEO is the best option to promote any business.

  16. Web Design Services UK said:

    Hi
    Yes you are right. As we are also having a marketing department so we can understand that what the client needs and what extra from our side we can offer. Discounts are best strategy for the business growth.

  17. Daily IM Savings said:

    I completely agree about discounts when your clients truly benefit and it is a genuine offer, as you can see from what we are doing here: Daily Internet Marketing Savings. Thanks for posting the stats Bob. Very interesting.

  18. Marketing On The Internet Made Simple: Follow These Tips said:

    […] Google Listing And Excellent Internet MarketingDiscounts: An Overlooked Internet Marketing Tactic – bly.com blog – bly.com direct marketing blog #header { background: url(http://ublogspot.com/wp-content/themes/hmtpro5/images/header-bg.png); } […]

  19. website traffic said:

    website traffic…

    […]Discounts: An Overlooked Internet Marketing Tactic – bly.com blog – bly.com direct marketing blog[…]…

  20. boxeo información thai said:

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Muay Thai. Regards

  21. Ferramentas de Coaching said:

    Very this content! Thank you for this valuable information!

  22. Danko said:

    Thanks for sharing
    http://theoctopus959.com/

  23. Sweety Patel said:

    Full legit and well written Article i read so far today. What a nice author. Keep it up the good work.

    http://www.sweetypatel.com/
    http://www.sweetypatel.com/Mumbai-Escort-Girls-Gallery.html
    http://www.sweetypatel.com/Mumbai-Escorts-Locations.html
    http://www.sweetypatel.com/Mumbai-Escorts-Phone-Number.html

  24. Mariagarcia said:

    At Barakatalan, our priority is to serve the customers with updated deals, discounts and coupons for every e-commerce store- in the Middle East especially. To make the user experience comfortable, we have tried our best to keep the navigation easy and simple. Customer also has the option to choose e-commerce stores from multiple categories as per their requirement.

  25. Song lyrics said:

    s? ??????s ???? ???? s??? ?????s ??? ????s??? s????s ?? ???????? s??? ????s??? s????s ? ??? s??? ?????s

  26. Gabriel Henly said:

    I would say you are right, here gross profit matters much than individual loss. I also work for an E-Commerce company named Barakatalan.
    Barakatalan serves the costumers by providing offers and coupons to buy products on discounts by using Coupons like Noon Coupons, AliExpress Coupons, Ounass Coupons, Desertcard Coupon Codes, etc in middle east region.

  27. chrisgail said:

    Internet marketing is done by the experts in SEO because without marketing we can not take our business website in google rank.
    https://www.affordable-dissertation.co.uk/dissertation-writing-services-uk/

  28. One Dasty said:

    Bringing home a new puppy is a wonderful experience involving the whole family, which is why we begin training early to ease the transition to their new home and family. Owning a pug puppy or French Bulldog puppy is hard word researched and make sure this puppies will only go to respectable families
    https://pugslandbreeder.company.com

  29. robert said:

    https://savannahbengal.company.com/

  30. MyAARPMedicare said:

    Full legit and well written Article i read so far today. What a nice author. Keep it up the good work.
    https://www.myaarpmedicare.fyi/

  31. Alicia Deboer said:

    It’s true what you said. With a marketing department, we are also able to better understand what our clients need, as well as what extra services we might be able to offer from our side to meet those needs. There is no doubt that discounts are one of the most effective strategies for growing a online business.

  32. Tom Hiddleston said:

    I highly recommend this article krunker because it contains useful information that I was looking for. I want to thank you for your effort in sharing it with many people including me.

  33. Gayalstor404 said:

    Are you Looking for Advancedmd Patient Portal? If you want to Access Advancedmd Patient Portal Official webpage then here you can see the official Advancedmd Patient Portal link. You can access all your details by entering your credentials.
    Visit site: Advancedmd Patient Portal

  34. oralie said:

    I give this article 5 surviv io stars overall and heartily recommend it. Actually, I’m thinking the same thing. I really like this topic, so I hope you write more about it. I’m grateful.

  35. Mike Rooney said:

    Thanks for sharing informative post. It is one of the best site that I have visited. Hope you will share more quality blog posts thank you.
    Renfield Dracula Nicolas Cage Coat

  36. Andrew Mark said:

    Excellent article. Very interesting to read. I really love to read such a nice article. Thanks! keep rocking.
    Red Corduroy Jacket

  37. Sharase Hall said:

    I think this is the most effective internet marketing strategy for subway surfers consumers, it creates an opportunity for many consumers who are willing to spend more money on the product.

  38. florence pugh said:

    There are many discount strategies that you can apply to your contexto products in order to motivate hearts online customers to purchase them.

  39. marlboro touch said:

    Thanks for sharing it. Love your content!

  40. gemm said:

    sac

  41. Render Jewelry said:

    Atellier Studio is a company that offers various 3D rendering services to professionals in many industries. Their renderings are created by highly skilled artists and can be viewed in an interactive environment, making it possible for clients to walk around their product or jewelry and view from every angle.

  42. Emma said:

    I just wanted to say that your article is great and I really like the information you share. slope

  43. Susan said:

    Visit Jeux video

  44. BabyBoxShop said:

    Make the new baby girl feel extra special with our personalised baby girl gifts. Our selection includes adorable items that can be customised with the baby’s name or initials, adding a unique and sentimental touch to the present. Celebrate her arrival with a personalised gift that she’ll cherish for years to come.

  45. BSNS Consulting said:

    Social Media Agency Pakistan, BSNS Consulting understands the power of social media in modern business. We craft compelling social media strategies that drive engagement, build brand loyalty, and foster meaningful connections with your audience. Elevate your social media presence and stay at the forefront of your industry with our expert services.

  46. iHost VPS said:

    At iHost VPS we take VPS hosting to the next level. Our feature-rich VPS plans provide you with the resources you need to power your projects, websites, and applications, all backed by our reliable infrastructure.

  47. CaVPS Host said:

    CaVPS Host offers budget-friendly Windows VPS solutions with seamless remote desktop access. Experience high-performance computing without breaking the bank. Our services ensure a cost-effective yet cheapest windows server hosting environment for your applications and data.

  48. Baby Box said:

    Discover an immaculate selection of unisex baby gifts that are perfect for celebrating a baby’s arrival. From gender-neutral clothing to adorable accessories, our collection offers an array of options that are super stylish. These gifts are ideal for those who prefer a gender-neutral approach or for parents who are keeping their baby’s gender a surprise.

  49. platform said:

    The most complete streaming platform in Indonesia.
    https://nobartv.co.id/
    https://nobartv.co.id/yallashoot-tv
    https://en.nobartv.co.id/yallashoot-tv
    https://ar.nobartv.co.id/yallashoot-tv

  50. sobranie black russian said:

    Thanks for the great post. Keep it up like this. So many people will find this helpful information.

Leave a Reply