A well-timed discount code can fill a quiet class, win back a client who has drifted, or turn a first-timer into a regular. Used carelessly, the same code can train your community to wait for the next deal and never pay full price. The difference is strategy.
There is a reason discounts work. People are wired to respond to a good deal, and the small win of saving money makes a choice feel easier and more rewarding. For a wellness business, that means showing clients they can save is a real way to build loyalty, reach new people, and move someone from curious to committed. The trick is knowing when a discount code earns its place and when it quietly costs you. Here is how to use them well.
The Early Bird
Early bird pricing is one of the most reliable ways to build interest before a workshop, series, or new class launches. Rewarding the people who commit first creates momentum, and that early excitement often carries the rest of your sign-ups.
- Work out your minimum price for the offering and price upward from there. Consider – if the majority of people were to use this early-bird discount, what would your profit margins be, and is that figure enough? Be sure you can cover the costs, otherwise, you might end up out of pocket.
- Market the offer in advance to build up interest around it. Announce the date of the early bird offer, so your community is prepared, and excited, to use it.
- Be sure to set a time limit for the offer that feels reasonable, and that also entices your clients to take advantage before they miss out.
Using a Lead Magnet
A discount code also works well with a lead magnet. Lead magnets are a special offer in which you exchange something of yours for the contact information of a new client (learn more in this earlier blog post).
For example – you set up a landing page for your lead magnet on your website, linking a free video in exchange for a client’s contact information. Your clients are guided to the landing page via a link in your advertising and use their discount code to get access to the offering while inputting their info. Now you have their contact details to bring them into your community, where they can learn more about your business. Voila!
Sales and Holidays
Holidays and big sale days give you a natural, no-pressure reason to reach out. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, New Year, and the start of summer all work well, and a code lets you run the promotion without manually re-pricing every offering. You set how long it runs and how many times each person can use it, then share it with your community.
Seasonal timing also helps you plan ahead instead of discounting on impulse. A New Year code can welcome the wave of people ready to start a practice. An end-of-summer offer can re-engage clients before fall schedules fill up. Mapping a few key dates onto your calendar at the start of the year keeps your discounts intentional and tied to moments when people are already thinking about signing up.
Client Incentive or Loyalty Reward
If you are looking to engage new clients, offering a new client discount can work really well – this brings people in, enables them to test out your offerings for a reduced price and again, much like a lead magnet, enables you to collect their contact information for future follow up.
Another angle on this is to use a discount code as a reward for loyal clients – for completing a challenge, recognizing their loyalty or compensating for an error in the business. Rewarding loyalty with clients shows them that you care, that you appreciate their custom and that you are paying attention to their presence within your business. All of this forms part of your client nurturing, and can have a ripple effect when those clients tell their friends and family about your business offerings.
Partnering with Another Local Business
If you team up with another local business for client referrals, using a discount code is a great way to track how successful that referral system is. How this works: you each agree to offer a discount to the other’s clients. This works great if your businesses overlap in any way (think essential oils and massage therapy, or Chiro with yoga classes). If you allocate a code that is specific to that partner, for example using their business name, you can also easily track each transaction and see how successful that partnership actually is.
Having a referral system like this can be really beneficial for both businesses if you are both committed to promoting the referrals.
Fill Your Quiet Classes
Every studio has them: the Tuesday midday class with three people in it while the Saturday morning slot overflows. A targeted discount code is one of the simplest ways to even that out. Offer a reduced rate that only applies to your slower time slots, and you give price-conscious clients a reason to come when you have the most room. You make better use of space you are already paying for, and the busy classes stay protected at full price.
Track What Is Actually Working
One of the quiet advantages of discount codes is that they make your marketing measurable. Give each campaign or partner its own code and you can see exactly which offer brought people in, how much they spent, and whether they came back. Over time that turns guesswork into a clear picture of what your community responds to, so you can put your energy into the promotions that pay off and drop the ones that do not.
The Potential Pitfalls
While offering discount codes can be a powerful way to build your business, be strategic on how often you use them. Too many discounts can backfire in a number of ways – making your business seem cheap, reducing client expectations on prices that they will pay, and can attract too many clients that are just there for the discount. It’s wise to spend time developing a strategy that works for your business. If possible, working it in with your marketing strategy in a planning session is a great idea.
Also, be sure to market and promote the codes so that the right clients hear about them. Having a code available but not advertising it effectively makes it a redundant concept in your business. Use the code in your marketing, talk to your community about it and post it in your newsletter and social media too! Talk about it as often as you can so it gets used, which will also highlight your commitment to giving clients that discount in your business.
Alternative Incentives
Discount codes are not the only way to reward your client base or to build trust in our brand, you can also add in other incentives such as offering buy-one-get-one-free, free shipping, or adding in a free gift.
Another option is to set up tiered pricing, or a pay-what-you-can model. This approach has grown popular as a way to make your offerings accessible across different budgets without lowering the value of what you do. There are a few models to choose from, and it works well for wellness businesses.
Using Discount Codes in your OfferingTree Website
Discount codes have been a really popular feature of our OfferingTree websites for a while now. It’s so easy to make them available via your user dashboard, simply scroll to Payments / Discounts and create a new code inside the website, with all the parameters you need. OfferingTree is a website platform dedicated to professionals in the wellness business, if you haven’t had a tour of your next website yet, you can watch a product demo here, or email us at [email protected] with any questions.
