---
name: promotions
description: Use when designing a promotion that isn't just a price cut — pre-order incentives, free gifts, bundles, "buy X get Y", launch offers, sale events, pick-your-price, urgency mechanics — e.g. "how do we get pre-orders", "gift or discount", "what should the Black Friday hook be", "should we cap it at 500 units", "how do we word the free bonus".
---

# Promotions

Pick the promotion mechanic and the framing that move sales without training customers to wait for markdowns. Gifts, bundles, invented occasions, and small token fees often beat a straight discount, and the wording of the same offer changes how lucky it feels.

## When to use

- Launch and pre-order campaigns
- Bundles, free gifts, buy-one-get-one, upgrades
- Seasonal or event promotions and their theme
- Urgency mechanics (deadlines, unit caps, sold-out labels)
- Anything offered "free"
- Loyalty or promotional rewards

## When not to use

- Sizing or wording a plain price reduction → the `discounts` skill
- Setting the everyday price → the `pricing` skill

## Inputs

Collect, or state your assumption:

- Product, price, and any complementary product you also sell
- Goal: pre-orders, volume, new customers, clearing stock, returns reduction
- Launch date (if pre-order) and today's date
- Whether buyers typically take one item or a basket
- Brand strength and whether quality is easy to judge before buying

> **Classify the product first.** *Hedonic* = bought for enjoyment, pleasure, or the experience (chocolate, fashion, decor, travel, spa, perfume). *Utilitarian* = bought to do a job, judged on function and value (detergent, appliances, insect repellent, tools, accounting software). If it's mixed, decide by what the buyer is optimizing for at the moment of purchase.

## Procedure

1. **Pre-orders: gift or discount by launch distance.** Launch 3+ weeks out → give a gift (a complementary product, extra content); it beats a discount by a wide margin. Launch within about a week → gift or discount both work. Keep the pre-order window short for utilitarian products; hedonic products tolerate long windows.
2. **Bundles: make the wanted product the gift.** Pair the product with a complement and frame the *target* product as the gift: "Buy the scale, get the fitness tracker at no cost" — shown to people searching for the tracker. Only for items of comparable value (not "buy a case, get a phone").
3. **Frame the bundle as a gift, not a special price.** "Buy X, get Y at no cost" cut returns by up to half compared with "X and Y for a special price". The gift framing is what matters, not the word.
4. **Wherever the word "free" would appear, write "for $0".** The study tested the numeral: "$0" reminds people of money not spent; "free" reads as a giveaway with no value. "At no cost" is an untested paraphrase — use it only where "$0" can't work grammatically. (The two studies used different wording; combining gift framing with "$0" is the sensible default, but the combination itself wasn't tested.)
5. **Upgrades: charge a token fee.** A larger size or add-on for a token fee (¥0.1 in the study) was rated a better deal than the same upgrade free (39% better; 17.1% more chose the larger size). The tiny price gives people a reference point to compare the benefit against.
6. **Tie the promotion to an invented, fitting occasion.** "National Picnic Day Sale" beat "Annual One Day Sale" by 25% for a picnic retailer. The day must be creative and relevant; Father's Day or a generic sale doesn't count. Examples: founding day, customer anniversary/birthday, World Cotton Day (Oct 7, apparel), World Radio Day (Feb 13, electronics), World Chocolate Day (Jul 7), World Pasta Day (Oct 25), International Coffee Day (Oct 1).
7. **Urgency: deadline, never a unit cap.** A short, justified deadline with a timezone is fine ("ends Sunday 23:59 CET, birthday week"). "Only 500 available" makes people who miss out angry and drives them to competitors. Online, deadlines mostly raise engagement rather than immediate sales — pair them with a real hook.
8. **Sold-out options: keep 10–30% visible.** Mark sold-out variants as sold out instead of hiding them; sales rose up to 31%. Above 30% sold out, hide some or restock — the effect reverses.
9. **Pick-your-price, not pay-what-you-want.** Offering 3–4 fixed price options ($25/$35/$50/$100) raised purchases; most choose the lowest, so set it deliberately. Don't use it for basket purchases (fashion, groceries). Pay-what-you-want (any amount, including zero) reduces sales — only for donations.
10. **Rewards: make them uncertain.** "20% or 80% off your next order" outperforms a fixed reward on repeat behavior, even if fewer sign up at first.

## Output

| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Mechanic | Pre-order gift: smart scale bundled, tracker framed as the gift |
| Headline | "Order the scale, get the tracker for $0 — launch offer ends 30 Sept 23:59 CET" |
| Why | Launch 9 weeks out → gift beats discount; target product as gift; "$0" not "free"; deadline not unit cap |
| Avoid | 15% off (rational, deferred reward); "only 500 units"; "FREE" |
| Test | Gift vs 15% off on a split of the launch list |

## Common mistakes

- Offering a discount for a launch that is weeks away — a gift wins; discounts are boring deferred savings.
- Dropping "FREE" without replacing it — the replacement is "for $0" / "at no cost".
- Bundling with "extra 10% off the pair" — frame the searched-for product as the free item instead.
- Capping units for urgency — use a deadline; unit caps cause anger and switching.
- Hiding all sold-out variants — keep some visible (≤30%) as a quality signal.
- Making the upgrade free — a token fee makes it feel like a better deal.
- Pay-what-you-want "to build goodwill" — it lowers sales; use 3–4 fixed options.

## Quick reference

| Situation | Do |
|---|---|
| Pre-order, launch 3+ weeks away | Gift, not discount |
| Pre-order, launch within a week | Gift or discount |
| Bundle | Wanted product = the gift; "get Y at no cost", not "special price" |
| Anything free | "For $0" / "at no cost" |
| Size/add-on upgrade | Charge a token amount (1¢) |
| Sale theme | Invented, relevant special day |
| Urgency | Short justified deadline; never a unit cap |
| Sold-out variants | Show 10–30% as sold out |
| Participative pricing | 3–4 fixed options; never pay-what-you-want |
| Loyalty/promo reward | Variable, uncertain amount |

Evidence and effect sizes: see [reference.md](reference.md).