Discounts are the easiest lever to pull and the easiest to overuse. Done well, a discount gives a hesitant buyer a reason to act now. Done badly, it teaches your whole audience to wait for the next sale — and there's always a next sale.
Make it a reason, not a habit
- Tie it to something real — a launch, a season, a milestone — so it has a start and an end.
- Give it a deadline people believe, and honour it.
- Never run so often that full price starts to look like the sucker's price.
Sometimes hold the line
If your product delivers, a confident full price is its own signal of quality. A permanent discount whispers that the real value is lower than the sticker. Protect the number when you can.
Give Every Discount a Reason and an End
A discount with no reason quietly says your normal price was never serious. Attach a reason people accept — a launch, a birthday, a seasonal moment, a first-order welcome — and the full price stays intact in their mind. '20% off for launch week' tells buyers the price will return; '20% off' with no cause invites them to wait for the next one.
An end date does the actual persuading. Without a deadline, a discount is just a lower price, and there's no reason to act today rather than next month. A real, stated end — 'ends Sunday' with a date — turns a nice-to-have into a decision. Make sure the deadline is true; if the price is quietly still cut on Monday, you've taught people your deadlines are theatre.
Worked example: a candle maker runs '15% off, ends Sunday 5pm' tied to a new scent's arrival. It has a reason (the launch), an end (Sunday), and it protects the everyday price the following week — three things a bare discount code never does.
Protect Your Full Price From Your Own Discounts
The real danger of discounting isn't the margin you give up once; it's teaching regular buyers never to pay full price again. If every fourth email carries a code, your true price becomes the discounted one and the 'real' price is just a number you cross out. Rhythm is the enemy — predictable sales train patient customers to wait.
Keep discounts tied to a person or a moment rather than the calendar. A one-time welcome offer for new subscribers reaches exactly the people who haven't bought yet, without eroding the price for those who already pay it happily. Segment the offer so loyal customers aren't handed a reason to feel foolish for buying last week at full price.
Often Cheaper Than a Discount: Add Instead of Subtract
Before cutting the price, ask whether you can raise the value instead. Throwing in a small bonus — a quick-start guide, a template, a short call — can move a hesitant buyer as well as 20% off, and it costs you far less because the bonus is something you've already made. The buyer gains; your price holds.
This also sidesteps the training problem entirely. A bonus feels like generosity, not a signal that the price is soft, so it doesn't teach anyone to wait for the next markdown. When you do reach for a discount, it should be because subtracting genuinely beats adding — a slow season you want to fill, or clearing something you're retiring — not a reflex.