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Unlike my previous blog, where I delved into how to sell without being salesy, icky, or spammy, today I'm taking a different approach and I'm talking about how you can make the most out of these promotional periods.

This could range from a new product release, opening availabilities in your booking calendar, opening your cart for launch, or just running a traditional 48-hour flash discount sale.

Lucky for you, I'll be sharing 10 effective sales promotion tips and tricks that you should be utilising to improve your sales promotion strategy.

Because let's be honest, sometimes we have the best of intentions when it comes to these promotions, but we can get a little bit trigger shy when the time comes.

However, the best way you can serve your audience and serve your subscribers is for them to buy your thing. That's how you help the most. So please don't be shy about talking about the amazing opportunities they have to work with you or buy from you.

Let’s get stuck into these tips, and think of them as a bit of a checklist as you are going through creating your sales promotion strategy.

Tip 1 - Don't Neglect Your Runway

You do not want to neglect your runway! It’s still an important part of your sales promotion strategy.

What I mean by ‘runway’ is the periods of time between your promotions when you might not necessarily be selling anything, or at least you're not running any sort of promotion.

This is your golden opportunity to build trust, forge connections, establish authority, and provide amazing value to your audience.

With a little bit of anticipation built in.

So perhaps you want to be building up how amazing your products or services are through valuable content, for example through sharing insights, helpful tips and advice in the lead up to your promotion.

This strategic approach primes your audience so that when the time comes to offer discounts, limited availability or last chance deals, they’re ready to engage and buy from you.

Think of this time your subscribers getting ready.

If you want some ideas of content you can send during this time, I highly recommend my freebie, 80 plus fill in the blank email ideas. You can tailor them to your promotion’s themes and use them in this runway period just to build that anticipation and that excitement.

Grab your copy anytime at yaelkeon.com/ideas

Tip 2 - Give Your Audience a Heads Up

This is especially important for times like Black Friday when every man and their dog is presenting some sort of attractive offer.

You do not want to get lost in the crowd.

You don’t have to run one of these holiday-type promotions though. I certainly don't.

However if you are, give your audience a heads up.

A few days before, let them know that something amazing is coming. Hint that a special opportunity - something they don't want to miss out on - is coming as part of these Black Friday deals.

PLEASE don't be shy about sharing this news. By doing this, you’re planting the seed in their minds that they want to snag something from you when the day comes.

That way, they're looking for your email instead on the day instead of drowning in a sea of other promotional messages.

Tip 3 - Send more emails than you're comfortable with

Many times, I’ve seen people running a promotion and they send one email - only one to let us know that there's this great opportunity to work with them.

That is not enough!

If you are running a 48-hour promotion, I want you to send at least four emails.

So that means one, which is the heads up one, and then three more during that sale period.

For longer promotions, you might not need a daily email, but I still want you to be sending more than you're comfortable with.

At a minimum, remind them that ‘something's coming’, or ‘it's available now’ or this is there last chance.

That doesn't mean you don't need to have other valuable content in those emails. You absolutely can, but you need to make sure you are sending a few more emails.

Why? Because we don't know if they've seen that first one or not.

Or they just might want that reminder because they’ve gotten distracted and forgotten to come back to it.

More reminders mean more chances for them to act before it slips their mind!

Tip 4 - Resend to Unopens

I'm not the type of person who recommends you resend every single email to those who do not open, but I believe that there are a few strategic moments when this tactic could be gold.

Let’s break it down: if 20% of your audience opens an email, that's 80% left who haven't.

You can do a ‘resend unopens’ - most email software has this available as a feature where it'll resend the email to the remaining 80% who missed your message the first time.

I recommend doing this after about 24 hours. We need to give your audience want enough of an opportunity to have read the original email.

Here’s a pro tip – change the subject line so that it doesn't look the same in the inbox. This way, it has a chance of appealing to a different group of people.

Tip 5 - Mix Up Your Subject Lines

Variety is key when it comes to subject lines!

Use a mix of curiosity-inducing lines like: “You don't want to miss this!” or “How to get this result…”, where the result is found by purchasing your product/service.

Combine these with straightforward ones that literally say, “Doors closing” or “Last chance for 20% off”.

You want to mix it up because there'll be some people that are just scanners, needing a clear and urgent statement to catch their attention, whilst others are intrigued by curiosity.

If the scanners see there's an offer going on 'right now’, they will automatically prioritise looking at this because it's the last chance.

Additionally, by appealing to those curious subscribers, you can have more time to talk through things and work to persuade the fence sitters about how great your offer is.

Make sure to mix it up!

If you are using the previous tip of resending to unopens, switch between the two - alternate.

If the original email was something curiosity inducing, make the replacement subject line a straightforward one or vice versa.

Essentially, make sure to be mixing up your subject line so you'll appeal to different sorts of people - it'll really help in the bigger picture of your sales promotion strategy!

Tip 6 - Use Clear Calls to Action

Too often, I see emails with subtle, almost hidden promotions. Usually something like that says, “Oh by the way, if you want to buy this, here's where you can shop now.”

No! We want our subscribers to know easily within a second of opening that email what you are asking them to do next and how to do it.

We want to make it as easy as possible and obvious as possible.

You can do this by using a high contrast coloured font to the rest of your text. For example, in my emails, my normal font is almost black. Then my call to action and my links are always bright, hot pink.

You could even use buttons either at the bottom of your email or in the middle of your email. Again, use a high contrast colour to make it really obvious what you want your subscribers to do.

Finally, make sure you are clear about the urgency: “Click here to shop now – only a few spots left” or “Prices are going up soon!” are great examples that you can incorporate into your sales promotion strategy.

Tip 7 - Infuse Your Personality

Just because you're running a sale doesn't mean you have to lose all your personality.

Sometimes we feel like we have to be all business but remember why people are on your list in the first place – they relate to you and your content!

So don't be scared to use GIFS, share some jokes, or even laugh at yourself a bit.

Try to keep the vibe strictly positive and share some of the amazing things going on.

Or use the power of storytelling in these emails to your advantage. Share examples of transformations that you've made or even mistakes you've made and what you’ve learned from them.

Infusing your personality keeps your emails engaging and reminds your audience why they love hearing from you.

Tip 8 - Focus on the Benefit

Please don't just say, “Oh, get my thing, it has four widgets, five colours and comes in this size.”

That doesn't tell your subscribers anything about what benefits the product offers. What’s the outcome? How will they feel when they have the item for themselves?

Focus on why your subscriber should be buying this. What’s in it for them? Highlight the transformation they’ll experience by working them you.

At the end of every single email, double-check: am I talking about the benefits enough?

Because that's what people are buying.

People don’t buy a drill; they buy the hole in the wall. What’s the hole in the wall in your scenario?

Tip 9 - Combine your email marketing with other channels

People need to hear your messages in multiple ways and see them in different formats. They might engage with you on one platform and not another.

So as part of your sales promotion strategy, create content related to your offer through blogs, podcasts, episodes, videos – whatever suits your niche.

You could also promote your campaign on socials and have fun with it! Use reels, stories, or straightforward posts to get the word out.

Don't forget the power of advertising here as well.

If you've got an amazing promotion going on, you could also layer in some advertising where you're targeting your warm audience – those who are already on your list, website visitors, and social media followers.

Just make sure that they see your offer, reminding them that it’s available now.

Tip 10 - Track your numbers

You always want to be comparing one promotion to the next one so that you can learn from it and make the next one even better.

When I'm talking tracking, I'm talking about how many people are opening your emails, how many people are clicking, and most importantly, how many buy.

Yes, you probably also want to look at unsubscribes. You might see a slight increase of unsubscribes during a sales promotional period, but that’s okay. If they're unsubscribing, that means they're not your ideal customer, and it’s better to keep your list clean anyway.

It's also important to make sure you're tracking your percentage conversion rates – percentages of opens, clicks and crucially, purchases.

Even if your open rates are lower than usual, higher sales rates mean success.

These are the numbers to focus on.

Tracking helps you compare campaigns, know which emails performed best, and understand what offers resonate best with your audience.

From there, learn, optimize and keep tweaking your sales campaigns every single time.

Bringing it all together...

Email marketing isn’t just about sending messages – it’s about building connections, fostering trust and delivering value in every interaction.

If you want guidance with any of these tips, specifically in the realm of ecommerce, I’ve got you covered. The ECOMMERCE SALES PACK will allow you instant access to sales promotion strategies and email swipe files that will help you run successful promotions for your ecommerce business.

PS: (we also have a sales pack for Services & Digital products!).