Promo code impact on customer trust

Ever enter a promo code and… nothing happens? 🫠 That split second of silence is all it takes to start doubting if it worked. “Did it apply?” “Should I try again?” It happened to me shopping online last week. I entered a discount code, clicked apply and got no feedback. So I tried a competitor instead. Their button had a little bounce animation and a “Code applied ✓” message. It felt smooth and instantly made me trust the process enough to check out. Smart UX shows up through small UI moments 🤝🏼 Those tiny touchpoints are what make people feel confident your site’s working as it should. A few small UI details that make applying promo codes feel smoother 👇🏼 1️⃣ Dead buttons → Responsive buttons ↳ Show a “Processing…” or “Code applied ✓” message. 2️⃣ Unclear errors → Smart suggestions Instead of “Invalid code” say: ↳ “That code isn’t active. Here are others you can use: SAVE10 or WELCOME15.” 3️⃣ No feedback → Reassuring feedback ↳ “All changes saved.” ↳ “Added to bag.” ↳ “Delivered by Friday.” Tiny interactions build (or break) trust... and trust drives conversion ✨ A good reminder that customers don’t just judge what they buy, but how it feels when they click. Ever had that split second of doubt when you click something while shopping and nothing happens? 🔎 #UXDesign #Ecommerce

Your cart abandonment emails could be costing you your most loyal customers. It's true that cart abandonment emails have higher-than-typical open and respectable conversion rates (49% and 9% respectively, according to Bariliance). Also true: providing anything less than a frictionless redemption experience not only hurts conversion but can also damage the trust and loyalty you've spent years building with customers. Over dinner, a friend told me about a cart abandonment email she received from what was once a favorite retailer for her. As you'll see from the chat exchange she shared with me (below), the unexpected friction caused the exchange to end very badly for the retailer. The friction they created? Emailing a discount for a specific item she placed in her cart but failed to buy, and then refusing to honor the discount code they sent her. Talk about creating false hope with customers. Get them excited enough to return to buy the item, then pull the discount out from under them. Remember, it's not like she scoured the Internet and found an obscure but invalid discount code. They proactively emailed her this code for the specific item she shopped for. Takeaways from this retailer's mistakes? ✨ Make sure front and back-end systems are synced. If certain items are excluded from discounts in your back-end system, your front-end systems (like email platforms) need to know to suppress offer codes from being provided. ✨ Forget cart abandonment tactics if your offers have too many restrictions. The risk is simply too high that you'll do what this retailer did: serve up a code on an item that isn't valid. There's zero chance those situations end well. What little revenue increase you get won't offset the long-term cost of fractured customer loyalty. ✨ Empower your customer support team to make exceptions. If the customer goes to the trouble to contact Support when an error like this occurs, your CS team must be able to override the rule to keep the loyal customer happy. The extra discount on that single transaction will likely pay off many times over from continued purchases made by that customer in the future. In fact, studies have shown a customer who has a problem that is satisfactorily resolved by a business is more loyal than customers who never encounter a problem. And that's the irony of cart abandonment email programs. They only target customers who've provided the retailer with an email address, which likely happened during a previous purchase. Which means these could be your most loyal customers. Until you email an invalid discount code and refuse to honor it when they attempt to redeem it. =========================== Are you passionate about delivering #frictionless digital experiences? Check out The Frictionless Experience podcast, where Nick Paladino and I interview digital product, e-commerce, UI/UX, marketing and engineering experts from leading brands to learn how they create frictionless customer journeys.

If you are in a CRM team that's sending discounts all the time - you're not alone. Many CRM teams get into this "Vicious Cycle of Discounting" but I believe there's a way to balance the pressure on Growth with thoughtful experiences that your users (and you as a CRM marketer) might appreciate. In this week's post I try to collect my first-hand experiences of how I've seen CRM teams usually get into this cycle, through not really their own faults but generally: 👉 Growth pressure to drive more purchases kicks in 👉 Discounts drive conversions like nothing else 👉 CRM quickly turns into a volume game Depending on the growth targets, suddenly — every push needs a promo code. Every email screams 20% off. But here’s the thing — your users are people with network and a voice. Users share (I have examples in the post about people speaking out against brands and their relentless emails on Reddit, Linkedin). The focus on short-term goals drives long-term damage. And yes, discounts work. But they also: 👉 Erode trust 👉 Lowers perceived value 👉 Shrink pricing power over time If I had to fight my way back with small and incremental steps, here's how I would do it: 👉 Start by building flows around intent, not urgency: Pick the key user events in your product and build automations (with or without discounts) that helps users that have intent. Generally doing this well, will save the users who actually care to engage with your product. 👉 Sure, keep using discounts for other cohorts & segments, but start segmenting these blanket campaigns on 1 variable that you think differentiates your audience. 👉 Track discount % of conversions + cohort health: How different are discounted cohorts against full price ones, how is it affecting our growth through renewals or retention. 👉 Test small, segment smart, scale what works If every campaign needs a price cut to perform — it’s not your channel that’s broken. It’s your strategy. Post here: https://lnkd.in/drTgpDza #crm #lifecyclemarketing #discounting

#Coupons changed the game for buyers—and not always in the way you think. Here’s why: For years, researchers tracked buyer behaviour and found something interesting—coupons didn’t just give people savings; they altered the entire buyer’s journey. Why? Because discounts trigger a sense of urgency, and that urgency often trumps loyalty. Shoppers start associating a brand with deals rather than quality. Over time, this erodes brand perception. What was once a premium product can start feeling like it’s always on sale. That affects everything from customer retention to lifetime value. But here’s the flip side: Coupons can also spark trial. For new #customers, it’s the hook that gets them in the door, giving brands a chance to prove their value. The key takeaway? Coupons are a double-edged sword. Used wisely, they can drive sales. But overused, they can cheapen your brand and make loyalty a casualty. Remember: Discounts create short-term wins, but the long-term impact on brand perception is the real story. What do you think? Have coupons changed your view of a brand before? #Marketing Image Source: Wikipedia