17 Sales Techniques Worth Exploring – Stonemaier Games

17 Sales Techniques Worth Exploring

Before 2020, I rarely offered discounts on the Stonemaier Games webstore. Among various other reasons, I was of the philosophy that if we offered regular sales, customers would only buy our products when they’re on sale. Why buy now if there’s the distinct possibility for a better price later?

But this year has been tough financially for a lot of people, so I couldn’t justify selling our products at full price on our webstore. I genuinely want to respect our customers’ wallets. Also, over time I’ve learned that price is just one of many motivations for customers to act now.

After I posted an article last month about a flash sale technique I tried a few times this year, a fellow creator with an extensive background in sales reached out to me to share a robust list of strategies they’ve tried. They asked to remain anonymous, but I really appreciate them taking the time to talk to me, and I’ve compiled the list below (along with my thoughts and a few additions):

  • time limit: This involves limiting a discount to a certain period of time, motivating customers to act now instead of waiting. I think it’s good if these sales last at least 24-48 hours, because if you offered, say, a sale that only lasts an hour, you’re unintentionally excluding people in time zones who aren’t awake at that time.
  • slash-through price for comparison: This is a classic technique. If you’re going to offer a product at a discount, show the original price with a slash through it. Most webstores do this by default.
  • limit per person: If you offer a product at a steep discount, by noting a limit per person, you encourage people to think about the possibility of ordering more than one.
  • total quantity limit (first X orders): This is essentially the early bird strategy on Kickstarter, which I don’t recommend. However, for an existing product that has been available for a while, I think it’s a perfectly fine strategy to say that the next 100 orders will be sold at a 30% discount, for example.
  • buy this and get a discount code to share: I’ve seen this strategy work particularly well at a local cookie place where you can buy a dozen cookies and send a dozen other cookies as a gift to anyone for free.
  • bundle with anchor price: This involves offering multiple products together at a discount. We do this on our website using the Bold Bundles app (typically for a core game plus some expansions/accessories), and I recently saw Pandasaurus promoting themed bundles.
  • signed games/card: I’ve offered signed games a few times, and it’s incredibly effective…yet I wouldn’t do it again. It’s incredibly time consuming to go to the fulfillment center open a carton of games, open the shrink wrap for each game, sign each game, wait for the ink to dry, and put the games back in the carton for the fulfillment center. While it’s not as sexy as a signed box, I much more recommend the efficiency of a batch of signed rulebooks or cards included with a larger purchase.
  • spend lapse targeting (a deal to get specific customers to return): This is the first of a few techniques that require you to learn more about your customers and target specific people, which I really like. In this case, I would look on our webstore from customers who haven’t ordered anything in a while, and I would contact them directly with a deal catered specifically for them.
  • you bought this from us once…: Similar to the above technique, this strategy would have me contacting customers who ordered a specific product (like a game) but not other associated products (like expansions/accessories). My only concern with these types of strategies is if it falls into the category of spam, because buying something from us doesn’t give us the right to contact you again in the future unless you specifically signed up for future correspondence.
  • game anniversaries: Find ways to celebrate your product with a sale. I like game anniversaries in particular as it reminds people of the longevity of the game. We could even pair it with a broader promotion that encourages people to play the game that day and share photos of it on social media.
  • locked/upsell offers (if you buy this, get this for free): We use the Bold Upsell app on our webstore, and it seems to work quite well. Basically, if you add a certain product to your cart, you’ll see an offer for a related product that only applies if the other product remains in your cart. Over the last 15 months, we’ve generated 4,383 conversions thanks to Upsell (i.e., customers added the discounted product to their cart and bought it).
  • incentive for first-time customers: I don’t do this, but I see it on websites all the time, typically tied to signing up for an e-newsletter. I’m sure it’s effective for some people, and I want to welcome new people to Stonemaier, but I never want to make long-term customers feel like they missed out because of their loyalty.
  • loyalty programs (double points/stars): Speaking of loyalty, there are loyalty program apps on Shopify. Our version of this is the Stonemaier Champion program, which is a little different than loyalty points, but in the same realm. You can also do this organically by identifying some of your top customers from time to time and sending them a special thank-you gift.
  • coin guess strategy (tie to contest/game): I’ve done this a few times (and this is a good reminder that I need to do it again), and it’s a lot of fun. I dump some (but not all) metal coins from Scythe or Viticulture on the table, take a photo, and post it on Instagram, asking people to guess the total value of the coins. Whoever guesses correctly (or gets the closest without going over) wins a set of the coins, and everyone else gets a discount on the coins for the next 48 hours.
  • flash sale with a few surprises catered to customers: This is the technique I wrote about recently where I offered a set dollar-amount discount for Champions over a 24-hour period, and I picked a few random Champions to receive a special gift (I used what I knew about their buying history to send them something I thought they might want). Both times I’ve done this, we’ve generated nearly 500 orders.
  • buy one get one free (or at a discount—use for gifts): Another classic technique, BOGO! I like the addition of reminding people that the second copy can be used as a gift.
  • sell in advance of busy season: Yes, people look to certain days (like Black Friday) to buy products on sale. But rather than join the crowd, why not separate yourself from it? Amazon did this with Prime Day this year, and we’ve done it several times with new game announcements/preorders after Gen Con (instead of potentially getting lost among the hundreds of new releases at the convention).

This isn’t an exhaustive list; I’d love to hear your additions and favorites in the comments below!

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9 Comments on “17 Sales Techniques Worth Exploring

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  1. […] Also read: 17 Sales Techniques Worth Exploring […]

  2. Hi Jamey. Great list of promotional tactics. I’ve found using a combo of these and switching things up feels more authentic and keeps people tuned in. We’ve also done a few other things: when inventory is low but velocity is slowing down, messaging limited inventory helps pick things back up. For customers with a high LTV but haven’t purchased anything recently, we’ve sometimes sent emails giving a small discount and just saying we appreciate you.

    I have a question that is semi-centered around sales techniques so I’ll put it here (for a lack of knowing where else to put it). When releasing a game, do you try to get as wide a distribution as possible (big box, hobby, your site, ecommerce-only sites, etc.)? Or do you strategically release games to channels at different times to try to maximize profit and interest? Similar to a windowing strategy for films.

    1. Thanks for sharing, Ryan! I like those tips about low inventory promotions and appreciation discounts.

      We have a slightly staggered release system. We lead with a preorder on our webstore (followed ideally by fulfillment within a few weeks). Roughly 2 months after the preorder, we have a worldwide retail release for all types of stores (we don’t give priority to any type of retailer).

  3. Great post Jamey. We use some of them and have noted some to use in the coming future.
    Thanks for sharing and commenting them applied to your sales strategy.

  4. With the signed items have you ever considered doing it like book plates? I know a lot of authors have gone this route especially during the pandemic where the author or creator just gets a stack of essentially fancy stickers and can autograph/write inscriptions that can then be included in a package and added to the purchase at the buyer’s discretion. Obviously most people wouldn’t want a big sticker on the front of their box but I could see people putting them inside the box cover (assuming there isn’t wrapped art there of course) and it could let creators add little notes like ‘enjoy the game’ or ‘I call green forever’. May not be appealing to everyone but I could see some players finding that fun.

      1. I second book plates! I received one from an author friend who lives in Australia after I bought her book and it actually looks better than just a regular signature on the title page. I’m planning on doing book plates for international backers of my upcoming campaign, because I will be having those books shipped directly from the local on-demand printer.

  5. do you ever do holiday related things?

    or maybe event/fundraiser related things? for example i could see wingspan being tied to some endangered animal awareness fundraiser charity where X% proceeds go to the nonprofit

    would love to see numbers on something like that and how much more sales they generate vs your other listed techniques.

    1. We do something kind of like that, but not tied directly to purchases. For Wingspan Oceania, for example, we donated $1 to support wildlife relief efforts tied to the Australia wirefires for everyone who signed up to receive a launch notification (within a certain time period). I’m open to doing something like that as part of a sale, just as an experiment.

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