Incentives are a great way to counter FUDs, reduce anxieties, relieve friction, and instill trust. As mentioned in Chapter 6, though, an overwhelming number of sites require users to enter a discount code rather than giving the customer the discount automatically. You can find this approach in brick-and-mortar stores as well, particularly in grocery stores. You must bring in a coupon, or become an affiliated member of the store, to receive the savings the store has listed.
Whether to offer incentives such as these is a business decision every company ends up making, and it comes down to the goals it is trying to achieve by offering the incentives. If the goal is to increase brand and store loyalty, it might not be such a bad idea to ask customers for a discount code or coupon that only members can receive. However, when it comes to moving merchandise, discount codes will only be an obstacle in the way of accomplishing that goal.
Typically, we’ve noticed that every time clients place the discount code box somewhere in the checkout process, their users abandon the site at a higher rate than usual. This is due to customer trends and behaviors: if they see the discount code box, they assume the store is offering some sort of sale that they are unaware of, so they begin to search the Internet for the discount code, which many times isn’t published (since it’s for members only). As a result, they abandon the sale. In this case, although you are trying to offer an incentive, you’ve instead lowered your sales and created more FUDs and anxieties.
Another issue arises when the discount code is difficult to locate. If you offer a discount code on your site, don’t hide it from your customers. Remember, you want the shopping experience to be easy and enjoyable; making a discount code difficult to find and use results in the opposite.
You can maximize the effectiveness of incentives by doing the following:
Remember that everything within your site is designed, created, and deployed with personas in mind. So, when utilizing incentives, you must offer something your clients are interested in.
Upon entering some sites, you can quickly see incentives they may offer in the form of sales, free shipping, or free subscriptions and downloads. Placing these incentives early on will help relieve some anxieties a visitor may feel upon entering the site.
A great way to capitalize on the ability to generate additional sales is to offer incentives, promotions, and upgrades right before checkout. How you word these incentives is key to maximizing their effectiveness.