Look, everyone and their dog is running a discount this weekend...

... 0% off tspecific courses.
... 40% off our library of offers
... sliding scale discounts based on time/day

Essentially, they're all giving it a "buy now or you’ll never be successful again” nonsense everywhere.

But here’s the bit most people completely miss...

The hesitations within your audience...

I've spoken about the adoption lenses I use when writing email promos for clients in the past. Essentially, there are different reasons why people don't buy.

We use email messaging to sequentially remove the hesitations so they feel comfrotable buying. For example...

• An absolution lens to get people to forgive themselves and look forward
• An "it's easy" lens for people who are worried they can't do this and builds self belief
• A proof lens for those who need to see it gets results showing them they'll get the result as well
• The mechanism lens for people who need to understand HOW this works so they can understand how it fits into their business

There's dozens of these potential lenses.

And in each one, there's usually a simple message that can remove that blockage, greasing the path to a sale.

And here's what people get wrong.

They completely skip over this whole idea of removing resistance, and immediately go straight to the discount.

in most cases, these people aren't backing out of a purchase because of the price. They're backing out because they need more info.

They're saying "before I commit, I need to see [X]."

But, that's hard. So most people simply go the route of "here's 20% off". When you do this, you're basically saying...

"I can’t show you how this is gonna fix your real objections, so here’s a coupon."

You know who that converts?

People who can't afford you, and have crazy unrealistic expectations.

That’s why discounts usually bring in the worst customers:

• Low commitment
• High refund rates
• High support load
• And they rarely stick around

I'm not saying discounts can't work. They can help add a small (it's honestly not as big of a bump as you'cd expect) increase to sales.

But only after you’ve done all the other work...

... helped them tlook forward
... shown them they can do it
... featured other results from their peers
... and so on

When you've done that, a final discount is the cherry on top. The final step for those who still haven't seen everything they need.

But I know it's gonna be the first port of call for 99% of advertisers and marketers this festive season.

If you are running a promo, but you wanna steer clear of the discounts, try this.

Value-based bonuses.

Look at the primary thing you're selling and ask yourself what you could ADD to the purchase at no extra fee. Looking specifically for...

Stuff that makes the offer easier to implement.
Stuff that makes it faster to get results.
Stuff that increases belief, not decreases price.

Do tyhis and you're not gonna get those people who buy and then ask for a refund.

You're still gonna get the higher value clients coming in.

But you're also helping them implement everything faster and get better results.

Which leads to greater LTV and revenue for your brand.

That’s why, for Black Friday, I’m not dropping a long catalogue of “everything must go” deals.

I’m putting together one BFCM offer.

One thing.
One outcome.

With bonuses that actually help you win.

No race to the bottom.
No brand dilution.
No cheap energy.

I’ll share it with you soon.

Keep an eye out.

And be careful on how you use discounts this season.

Pete "don't lead with discounts" Boyle