Ineffective Offers that Companies Use and Why

We all receive millions of marketing offers by all kinds of companies every day.  Because there are so many, there are only a few that we really register as consumers.  I found this article called "14 Ways to Use Offers, Coupons, Discounts and Deals to Drive Revenue and Customer Loyalty," which lists various kinds of marketing offers companies use to entice consumers to buy their product and even remain as loyal customers.  The author discusses the pros and cons to each offer and companies use them effectively at increasing sales. I found this article extremely useful in understanding the company perspective, but it failed at discussing the effectiveness of each offer.

All of the 14 offers listed are commonly used by all kinds of companies, but I will be discussing some of the most ineffective ones and some of the most effective ones.

Email/Newsletter Subscription Offer
This kind of offer sounds good in theory because you're able to get your customers' email and communicate with them directly new products and provide them additional offers.  What happens in reality is that all kinds of companies begin doing the same and your customers are getting bombarded by emails. The strategy you thought would increase sales and get you closer to your customer doesn't work as nice as you thought it would because your customers prefer either not to provide an email any more or they provide it but don't read the emails.

Personally, I provide my email to almost every store that asks.  This isn't because I'm sincerely interest in receiving their offers but because I don't want to feel like I'm being rude.  I also know that I'll be receiving many daily and weekly emails from all these store that ask for it, which prompts me to never read them. I just check them and mark them as 'read' without even opening them.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that does this.  I've heard of people creating an email just for these promotional emails and of those that refuse to give their emails.

I know some companies have taken measures to improve the customers' ability to control the number of emails they receive by allowing them the option to reduce the number of emails or disable them entirely, but it's still useless. The emails are still too general and don't provide an incentive to be opened and read.  A solution to improve this approach would be to customize these emails based on what the customer purchased when he or she provided his or her email. This make the customer feel like the email is especially for them, thus providing an incentive to be opened.


Influencer Offers (Bloggers, Celebrities etc.)
Influencer offers are explained as being beneficial for companies because these influential people they partner with have a large audience that works perfect for companies to increase their brand exposure. Additionally, they offer the person's network specific offers to convert those fans into customers.  This offers is beneficial for companies especially when the product is new and unique. When customers see a celebrity endorse a product they have never seen before, they are willing to buy it because the endorsement seems genuine.

It's until the endorsements are repetitive and common that this offer strategy becomes ineffective.  Recently the products have been waist trainers, teas, and vitamins. Customers can tell that these celebrities are being paid to promote the product and that they don't really use it.  I see this mostly on Instagram.  Celebrities, like the Kardashians or Teen Mom stars Chelsea Houska and Jennelle Evans, post pictures of a product they supposedly use and like, but when multiple celebrities are posting about the same product, credibility decreases.  It's obvious that the company is seeking to get their product endorsed, so as a customer I wonder if these celebrities have really tried the product or they are just getting paid to post a picture with it on Instagram without even trying it.

• chelseahouskaBack at it in 2016 with @waistedbykeke 😀 She's having a huge sale just for my followers, use code "chelsea25" for 25% off! #fitmom#waistedbykeke

• chelseahouskaNothing is better than hair vitamins that taste like candy! Thanks @sugarbearhair for these awesome hair gummies! #sugarbearhair 

• chelseahouskaThis is what dreams are made of!! Absolutely love my @FabFitFunspring box! They just keep getting better and better.  Use code CHELSEA at www.fabfitfun.com for $10 off. #youwilllove#fabfitfun

• khloekardashianLove starting my day like this! Pre gym, post gym, afternoon pick me up... @fittea always does the trick!!!

• khloekardashianCan't express how much I LOVE @sugarbearhair! My hair feels and looks amazing...not to mention they are so DELICIOUS!

  
  
  
  
  
  

  Using emails/newsletter subscriptions and influencers to promote a product or increase sales isn't entirely ineffective or else companies wouldn't use them.  From those listed in the article "14 Ways to Use Offers, Coupons, Discounts and Deals to Drive Revenue and Customer Loyalty," these are the most ineffective.  These offers prefer to reach a mass amount of customers over customizing to a few probably because the product is new, in a niche market and/or hard to differentiate. The problem is that customers want to feel like they are receiving a unique service and these offers don't do that, thus not leaving a positive, long-lasting impression on the customer. It might be better to try the effective ones primarily, which you can check out on my next post.