In the fast-paced world of online eCommerce, user attention span is getting increasingly limited and competition is increasing.
For entrepreneurs selling products/services online, it is pivotal that they manage to convey their value proposition quickly and clearly, and add that little extra touch that separates a successful sale from an abandoned cart.
You as a merchant might have added a bitcoin payment option [in addition to fiat or stand-alone] in the hopes of seeing more payments but that has not been the case.
If you are struggling to get sales made in BTC [or maybe just sales in general], there are a few things you can do to get your customers to take action.
Let’s have a look:
Discount ⚡
Offering discounts is by far one of the most used and versatile incentives that are offered by companies of all sorts and sizes. And its popularity is evident in one simple fact, it works.
Rewarding customers with discounts on bitcoin payments is a great way to make customers feel like they are gotten a great deal.
Offering price discounts of $5 — $10 or 5% of the total bill are just a few examples of how you can strategize your discounting promotion.
Discount on Next Purchase
You can even offer your customers discounts on the next purchase which has two-fold benefits,
- Incentivizing customers to make a second purchase,
- Increasing bitcoin made purchases
The amount of discount is subject to each company and the product that is offered.
Gift cards 🎁
Offering Gift Cards are a great way to incentivize customers as it offers value and also helps in increasing customer retention.
There are two kinds of gift cards that can be offered to customers:
— Local: To be used on the same website through which the purchase was made,
— External: To be used on external sites such as Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, etc.
In case you are planning to use external gift cards then partnering with a dedicated company might be a good idea as it has the added benefit of increasing the visibility of your company.
Bitrefill is the most popular option when it comes to gift cards that can be bought for bitcoin but feel free to explore your options and do perform your due diligence before partnering with a company.
Reward points 🏆
One of the most effective and widely used loyalty programs in the market is Rewards Points. This gamified program has seen adoption in almost every industry.
Countless companies are offering programs that give out points on purchase to their customers only to be redeemed at a later stage.
A typical example of a rewards point program looks something like this:
- X [any number] point for every dollar spend/every referral/every social media share
- Redeem points for discounts, gifts, purchases.
This method has been highly effective in getting customers to make purchases, increasing brand awareness and loyalty.
Similar principle can be applied to programs that incentivize customers when they make a purchase using bitcoin. Companies can either have stand-alone programs that offer rewards exclusively for bitcoin payments, or higher value rewards if payment is done in bitcoin over other methods.
NFT 🎨
Non-fungible tokens are all the hype right now. Everyone wants to get in on the action and is quickly reaching mainstream adoption. Offering NFT tokens to your customers for paying in bitcoin might be one of the most cutting-edge ideas currently present in the market.
Apart from increasing your bitcoin payments, it will also make your company look more technologically innovative.
NFT tokens offered can be of your brand, product, or any other art form that is relevant to your customers or company. There is really no limit to your creativity here.
The only overhead you might have to bear is the technical setup for its implementation.
Despite being innovative this method does have its drawbacks,
- Since it has never been tried before, it can seem strange to your customers.
- Due to its technical nature, it might confuse a certain userbase.
‘Free’ goodies/samples/shipping 🚢
Who doesn’t like free stuff?
Offering customers with free samples/goodies for bitcoin payment can go a long way in increasing customer satisfaction and at the same time getting more bitcoin payments.
It is always a good idea to target your goodies in line with your product or what you wish to sell more of. Giving samples of such products as incentives can work towards getting you more sales of that product and of course bitcoin payments.
What's even better is if you offer free shipping as an incentive. Customers often tend to buy products that offer free shipping and why not use this opportunity to increase your sales and get more bitcoin payments.
Such a strategy works well for e-commerce companies selling tangible goods that are often delivered to the customer's address.
For example,
If your company sells ‘artisanal cookies’, you can offer any of these to customers paying in bitcoin:
- A new flavored cookie as a sample
- Free shipping
- A company-branded tote bag as a goodie
Bonus upgrade 🧧
Why not level up your customers for paying in bitcoin?
If your company offers various tiers of product(s)/service(s), then offering a complimentary bonus upgrade for bitcoin payments can help increase its use.
Customers usually love such perks and privileges, and it also gives you a chance to showcase your customer base a trial of your upgraded service/product.
Think of it as a limited period free trial of premium service offered by numerous software companies.
Virtual Gears/Tokens ⚔🛡🎮
Any gamer can vouch for the value of in-game merchandise, may it be gears, tokens, wearables, skins, or collectibles.
Offering any of these to customers for bitcoin payments can go a long way in getting more bitcoin payments.
Most gamers are quite open to cryptocurrency to start with so chances are that with the right nudge it might just end being your #1 payment channel.
Conclusion
If your online store is seeing a low volume of sales made in bitcoin, rest assured as there are quite a few methods to fix that.
Offering discounts, gift cards are one of the most versatile and commonly used methods used in almost every type of industry and business big or small.
If you are looking for increased retention then offer a loyalty program that provides rewards for bitcoin purchases.
For tier-based based products commonly seen in the software world, offering a limited-time bonus upgrade can work quite effectively.
While, gaming companies can offer virtual gear, merchandise, wearables, and even NFTs as incentives for bitcoin paying customers.
There is really no hard and fast rule to follow here so before you implement any solution do analyze your customer base, company size, product, budget to make the soundest decision.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://insights.blockonomics.co/creating-incentives-for-customers-to-pay-with-bitcoin-bb2e7486f679/