Sales promotions help SMBs drive quick wins by boosting sales, attracting new customers and encouraging repeat purchases without long-term pricing changes.
Yet many small businesses struggle to plan and execute promotions that actually deliver results.
This article shows how to design effective sales promotions, choose the right types, prepare your sales team and select the best channels to reach your audience.
You’ll also learn how Pipedrive can streamline the entire process, from tracking leads to monitoring performance, so your promotions run smoothly and generate measurable impact.
Key takeaways
A sales promotion is a short-term campaign that boosts demand, encourages purchases or attracts new customers.
Promotions help SMBs increase sales volume, drive sign-ups, clear inventory and build customer loyalty quickly.
Many small businesses struggle to plan and execute effective promotions, but setting clear goals, targeting the right audience and choosing the right type solves this challenge.
Pipedrive centralizes pipelines, automates follow-ups and tracks performance, making it easier to manage promotions and improve results – try it free for 14 days.
Sales promotion definition: A sales promotion involves using short-term promotional campaigns to create demand for a product, service or offer.
A successful sales promotion motivates buying behavior or triggers a short-term increase in purchases to reach a benchmark. For example, if a business wants to increase sign-ups, it might offer customers a limited-time discount or free trial to encourage more people to register.
The benefits of sales promotions
Sales promotions help businesses drive quick results by encouraging customers to take action sooner rather than later.
Take a look at some of the other benefits in more detail.
Generating new leads
Sales promotions allow you to attract new sales prospects in the short term, meaning you have more potential to convert more customers later.
For example, you can offer a free trial of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool so potential customers can determine whether your product is the solution they need.Or you might sell your product at a discounted price so users can share it with others who would benefit from the discount.
Either way, sales promotions are a great way to attract qualified leads for your sales team.
Note: Driving new leads is one piece of a long-term strategy. You must continue nurturing them, moving them along the sales pipeline and turning them into loyal customers.
Introducing a new product, service or feature
Sales promotions help you grab attention and increase demand when introducing a new product, service or feature that doesn’t yet have social proof within your market.
For instance, pairing the announcement of your new SaaS feature with a “limited time only” discount can turn longtime leads into paying customers. Alternatively, if you’re introducing a new product, you could share an introductory price that expires after a certain number of purchases.
Selling extra inventory
Sales promotions are an efficient way to clear out extra inventory at the end of a sales period.
Say a newer product model comes in and retailers need to make space. They can run a “buy one, get one free” (BOGO) sales promotion to clear out old inventory. The sale makes room for newer products while older functional models go to a new home.
Gaining valuable insights
Sales promotions help sales and marketing teams understand the people they want to reach while strengthening present and future campaigns.
This information generates valuable insights into what your customers desire, how they make purchase decisions and what kinds of promotions they value most.
When designing your sales promotion, research your customers’ interests and what your competitors offer. As a result, you can create compelling offers that resonate with your target audience.
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Encouraging existing customers to buy more
A well-designed sales promotion increases customer loyalty, generates repeat purchases and draws high-quality referrals from long-term or repeat customers.
This practice is good for any sales pipeline because repeat clients move through the funnel quickly since they already know what to expect.
For example, a software company might offer existing clients a discount on multi-year license renewals to encourage repeat business and referrals.
Selling during slow periods
If your business is seasonal or has slower periods, well-timed sales promotions can boost purchases when sales are slow.
Consider a real estate agency as an example. The company might offer discounted home staging or marketing packages to sellers in December, helping them list properties and attract buyers even during the slower end-of-year period.
11 different types of sales promotions (and when to use them)
Sales promotions come in many forms and knowing which type to use and when helps businesses maximize results without eroding long-term value.
Here are some options to consider.
1. Competitions and giveaways
Customer competitions create buzz while rewarding loyal customers and turning them into brand advocates.
These giveaways are often about getting the most engagement on a social media post your brand is tagged in or a social media challenge that enters them in a giveaway.
When to use competitions and giveaways:
To increase engagement and brand awareness
To reward loyal customers
To generate user-generated content
Sales promotion example: A B2B software company could run a challenge where clients submit innovative ways they use the platform. The most creative submission wins a free month of service.
2. Flash sale or limited-time price reduction
A flash sale offers a discount, promotion or rebate that’s valid for a short time to create a sense of urgency and nudge consumers to purchase.
Flash sales can range from a few hours to a few days, depending on your business and audience.
For instance, take a look at this Cyber Week flash sale from Code Academy an online learning platform:
When to use flash sales:
To create urgency and drive immediate purchases
To boost short-term revenue during sales slumps or for inventory surpluses
To encourage quick decision-making for time-sensitive offers, such as end-of-quarter upgrades or limited stock
Sales promotion example: A B2B software company might run a 48-hour promotion on annual subscription upgrades to encourage clients to commit to longer-term contracts before the quarter ends.
3. Bundling of products or services
Product or service bundles offer more value to customers while increasing your overall sales and average order value.
If you have complementary offerings, selling them as a discounted package can encourage customers to buy multiple items at once. This strategy also helps customers who are unsure which products to choose, making it easier to purchase multiple items at a compelling price.
Here’s what Apple One’s subscription bundle looks like:
When to use product bundling:
To increase average order value
To encourage customers to try multiple offerings
To simplify purchasing decisions for complex product sets
Sales promotion example: A SaaS company might bundle its project management software with an add-on reporting module at a discounted rate, encouraging clients to adopt both tools at once.
4. Free trial or demo
Free trials are a great way for a lead to try your product or service without risk or commitment, meaning they can experience its value firsthand before making a purchase decision.
Retailers may offer free samples at the point of purchase, while B2B and B2C services can provide time-limited trials or demos to let prospects test key features.
Pairing a free trial with a limited-time discount can further encourage conversion once the trial ends.
When to offer free trials:
When selling complex or high-consideration products
To reduce friction for first-time buyers
To demonstrate value before asking for a long-term commitment
Sales promotion example: A SaaS company might offer a 14-day free trial of its platform, followed by a limited-time discount for users who upgrade before the trial expires.
5. Limited-time free shipping
Limited-time free shipping or free transfers reduce purchase friction by removing unexpected costs that often stop customers from completing a sale.
Since 2023, cart abandonment rates have held steady at 70%, Sales promotions offering free shipping and returns eliminate one of the obstacles causing people to abandon their carts: extra fees at checkout.
By making the total cost clearer and more predictable, these promotions encourage customers to complete their purchase.
When to use free shipping:
To reduce cart abandonment at checkout
When customers are price-sensitive or comparing alternatives
To encourage switching from another platform or service
Sales promotion example: A B2B ecommerce wholesaler might offer free shipping for 48 hours on bulk orders, encouraging buyers to complete their purchase without hesitation.
6. Limited-time freebies
Limited-time free products increase the perceived value of an offer by adding a bonus at no extra cost, making it easier for customers to justify a purchase.
For example, you could offer an existing product or service alongside a free bonus feature or add-on. Or take a look at this sale from Twilio, a cloud communications platform, for its upcoming SIGNAL conference:
This strategy adds perceived value without hurting your bottom line or constraining your resources.
When to use freebies:
To differentiate your offer from competitors
To encourage hesitant buyers to convert
To promote higher-value purchases
Sales promotion example: A B2B software company might include a free onboarding session or premium support for new customers who sign up during a promotional period.
7. First purchase coupon
First purchase coupons encourage new customers to convert by reducing the cost of their initial commitment.
If someone connects to your business through a free trial, it might take them time to become a paying customer. Offering a limited-time discount on their first purchase helps speed up that decision.
Many businesses include these coupons in welcome emails to thank new users and prompt early action. Even if the coupon ends up unused, it often encourages prospects to explore your products or services.
When to use coupons:
To convert free users or leads into paying customers
To reduce friction for first-time buyers
To accelerate early-stage conversions
Sales promotion example: A SaaS company might offer new trial users a 10% discount on their first paid plan if they upgrade within 72 hours.
8. Buy one, get one free
Buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) promotions increase purchase volume by encouraging customers to buy more items at once.
These offers are effective when you want to move multiple products in a single transaction or increase order size. They can also boost brand awareness, as customers often share the free item with others.
When to use buy one, get one free:
To increase average order value
To move excess or slow-selling inventory
To introduce new customers to your products
Sales promotion example: A wholesale supplier might offer “buy five units, get one free” to incentivize bulk purchases from existing business customers.
9. Tripwire
A tripwire sale uses a low-cost, high-value offer to convert prospects into first-time paying customers.
This approach typically involves pricing an entry-level product between $5 and $50 to reduce purchase hesitation and encourage an easy “yes”.
Tripwire offers are useful because they move prospects from interest to commitment, allowing salespeople to capture qualified buyers, build trust early and guide customers toward higher-value upgrades over time.
When to use tripwire sales:
To convert leads who are hesitant to commit to the full price
To move prospects into your sales funnel as paying customers
To introduce customers to premium or higher-tier offerings
Sales promotion example: A SaaS company might offer a low-cost setup guide or starter toolkit, then upsell users to a full subscription once they see the value.
10. Recurring sale
Recurring sales create predictable buying moments that customers recognize and plan for.
If it suits your business, consider a regular yearly or biannual sale to build anticipation and encourage repeat purchases. For example, a company might promote an annual Founders’ Day sale or back-to-school bargain days.
Over time, customers learn when to expect these sales and are more likely to delay purchases until the event, arriving ready to buy.
When to use regular sales:
To drive predictable spikes in revenue
To build long-term customer habits
To support season sales or milestone-based promotions
Sales promotion example: A B2B software company might run an annual renewal promotion, offering discounted multi-year contracts during a set sales window.
11. Purchase for a cause
Cause-based promotions drive sales by aligning purchases with social impact.
Your customers will feel good about their purchase and you can enhance your brand image by associating it with a worthy cause and social responsibility. This approach helps strengthen brand perception, build trust and create brand loyalty with customers who share those values.
When to offer charity donations:
To strengthen brand values and social responsibility
To engage purpose-driven customers
To differentiate your brand during competitive sales periods
Sales promotion example: A professional services firm might donate a percentage of new contract revenue to a local nonprofit during a limited-time campaign, encouraging prospects to commit while supporting a shared cause.
How to prepare your team for a sales promotion
Equipping your sales team with the right insights ensures your promotion idea resonates with customers and drives results.
To do this, your sales team needs a solid grasp on the customer journey.
Sales reps spend most of their time moving customers through the sales cycle, so it’s vital that they know exactly how buyers move through these phases and which promotions are most valuable at each stage.
Here are some of the common points that sales reps need to consider when identifying the right sales promotion campaigns:
The most common barrier to closing a deal | Frequent complaints include budget issues, time constraints, seemingly better offers from a competitor or the feeling that the product is too complicated. |
The most common reasons a deal successfully closes | For example, they tried the product and loved it, got referred by a friend, trusted the sales rep throughout the process or thought competitor pricing was too high. |
The sales enablement resources that tipped the scales | If a specific piece of sales collateral helps push prospects along the sales pipeline, whatis it and why is it so well-received? |
Your sales team can add significant value by uncovering what motivates the target audience’s buying behavior, what barriers they face when considering your product or service and what kinds of resources resonate with them (and why).
From here, the sales team can entice your audience with the right promotions at the right stage.
Here are some of the areas to consider when planning your promotional efforts:
How to decide who’s eligible for the sales promotion | For example, is there a minimum business size requirement? |
What exactly they’re eligible for | For example, how long will the sales demo last and what happens if people want a follow-up demo with a decision-maker? |
Any legal information the sales team should know | This aspect is vital for sales promotions that involve an exchange of money, such as requiring the customer to accept terms and conditions before offering them a voucher or cash back. |
Even if your sales team is not the first point of contact, they need this information to follow the guidelines and ensure a smooth sales promotion.
Where to run your sales promotion
Choosing the right channels ensures your promotion reaches the right audience and drives customer engagement.
Consider where your customers spend time and interact with your brand. Here are some of the common channel options.
Email marketing
Email marketing is a highly reliable way to reach customers directly and drive sales during promotions.
An email marketing strategy involves sending targeted, timely messages that highlight your promotional offer, guide recipients toward a desired action and reinforce your brand value.
According to eMarketer, nearly 70% of consumers worldwide say email is their preferred communication channel with brands.
With email, you control delivery, timing and audience, making it a more reliable way to reach customers – especially those who already know and trust your brand.
When you send an email, it lands directly in the customer’s inbox. Your message isn’t subject to the uncertainties of social media marketing, like algorithm changes or ad competition or placement.
Here’s an email example of sales promotion from Evernote, a note-taking and task-management application:
In addition, customer segmentation tools can also accelerate the buyer journey by creating personalized messaging that reflects your customer’s interests, needs and past purchase decisions.
Facebook and Instagram marketing
Facebook and Instagram marketing allows you to reach a global audience while targeting specific demographics, interests or behaviors.
This precision ensures your promotions reach the people most likely to engage or convert.
These social media platforms also allow you to create many types of ads within your specified marketing budget. For example, an online B2B training provider could run a targeted video ad promoting a free webinar to marketing managers, generating leads for follow-up.
Take a look at this example of a Facebook sales promotion from Fresh Beauty, a skincare and cosmetics brand:
Even if people don’t purchase, you can still track and measure metrics such as new leads, impressions and referral traffic – all vital data for your sales team to leverage in their lead generation efforts.
SMS messaging
SMS messaging delivers instant, direct communication straight to your customers’ phones, making it one of the fastest ways to reach them with promotions.
Like email marketing, text messages bypass algorithms and crowded feeds, giving you a direct line to your audience.
Here’s an example of a personalised sales promotion message for a customer, offering a discount code ahead of their birthday:
SMS is ideal for urgent updates, flash sales or time-sensitive promotions that you want customers to see immediately.
Events, trade shows and conferences
Industry events provide high-value opportunities to connect with qualified prospects and showcase your offerings in a focused setting.
Attending or hosting conferences, workshops or training sessions allows your business to generate leads, engage directly with potential customers and offer targeted sales promotions as a thank-you for participation.
These promotions can drive immediate interest or incentivize early purchases while building long-term relationships.
How to ensure your sales promotion is effective
Effective sales promotions combine clear goals, strong customer value and precise execution to drive measurable results.
Here are some best practices to ensure your sales promotion helps you achieve your goals.
Set well-defined sales promotion goals
Sales promotions can drive focused, measurable outcomes when tied to clear business objectives.
Here are some potential sales objectives to consider:
Attract new leads or broaden your customer base
Improve customer retention
Separate hot leads from cold leads
Nurture prospects through the sales pipeline
Increase purchase frequency
Generate business during quieter periods, end-of-seasons or slower times of day
Increase the average purchase amount
Hit team-wide goals within a specific timeframe
Ensure your business goals are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. These goals clarify your focus, provide clear benchmarks and make it easier to track progress throughout your sales promotion.
Example: A B2B software company might set a SMART sales goal to “increase free-trial sign-ups by 20% over the next 30 days through a targeted email and social media campaign.”
Select your target audience
Understanding customer needs, preferences, buying behavior and interests lets you tailor your sales promotions accordingly.
Before you create a sales promotion and outline goals, learn more about your existing customers. Once you know the best fit for your offer, you can create a sales promotion targeted to those most likely to purchase or become a sales-qualified lead (SQL).
Offer practical value
Sales promotions are most effective when they deliver real, tangible benefits to your customers.
As you design your sales promotion, prioritize a positive customer experience and ensure it aligns with your business’s culture and values.
For example, if you craft a sales promotion that states your product can specifically solve a problem, customers will expect it to work or the promo could backfire.
Review, test and improve
Analyzing your sales promotion’s performance ensures each campaign becomes more effective than the last.
After running a promotion, schedule a review that aligns with your sales cycle to measure results accurately. Compare outcomes against the goals you set (such as profit margins, leads or conversions) and identify what worked, what didn’t and what you can improve.
Use these insights to refine messaging, targeting, timing and incentives for your next promotion, creating a cycle of continuous improvement.
Align your promotion with common shopping holidays
Timing your sales promotions around major holidays helps capture customers when they’re already seeking gifts, deals or special offers.
Plan your marketing calendar around widely recognized shopping holidays such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Valentine’s Day and local summer holidays. You can also target niche or segment-specific occasions (like Mother’s Day) to appeal to particular customer groups.
Beyond the holiday itself, continue engaging your audience with meaningful content and offers so your brand is seen as genuinely helpful, building trust and long-term loyalty.
Note: Consult this list of the top events for your sales calendar this year.
Create a sense of scarcity or urgency
Sales promotions work because your audience knows they won’t last forever, encouraging them to buy sooner rather than later
Highlight when the special offer will no longer be available to create a fear of missing out (FOMO) that hastens purchasing decisions.Do this by setting a deadline or offering a limited number of spots, such as “this offer is only valid for the first X purchases”.
Start a loyalty program to promote exclusive offers or discounts
Providing loyal customers with an exclusive offer discount incentivizes them to continue participating in the reward program.
Offering exclusive discounts or perks to program members makes them feel valued and appreciated, strengthening their connection to your brand while encouraging future purchases. Over time, these programs can increase retention and lifetime customer value.
Begin a referral program
Sales referral programs use word-of-mouth marketing to grow your customer base.
By rewarding people who refer new business, you can increase customer acquisitions, improve retention and expand your email or contact lists. Referral programs capitalize on existing customer trust, turning advocates into active promoters for your brand.
How to use Pipedrive to manage sales promotions
With Pipedrive, you can organize, track and optimize your sales promotions, aligning your sales team on every task and deadline.
Pipedrive is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that helps businesses manage their sales pipeline, track leads and streamline customer interactions. It centralizes deals, communications and performance metrics in one accessible place.
Here’s an example of a sales pipeline in Pipedrive:
This view allows you to see all the stages of a sales promotion, track each lead’s progress through the funnel and quickly assign follow-ups to your sales team.
Here are some of the key features that help users manage sales promotions in Pipedrive:
Lead management and segmentation | What it means: You organize customers by behavior, demographics or purchase history. Why it’s useful: Helps you target promotions to the right audience, increasing engagement and conversions. |
What it means: Map your sales promotion process step by step. Why it’s useful: Lets your team track progress, identify bottlenecks and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. | |
Task management and reminders | What it means: Assign follow-ups and set deadlines for each lead. Why it’s useful: Keeps your sales team accountable and ensures timely engagement during the promotion. |
Performance dashboards and reports | What it means: Monitor key metrics like revenue, conversions and engagement. Why it’s useful: Provides actionable insights to measure success and optimize future promotions. |
What it means: Log all emails, calls and notes directly to each deal. Why it’s useful: Gives your team full context for every lead, improving follow-ups and closing rates. | |
What it means: Automate repetitive tasks like follow-up emails or status updates. Why it’s useful: Saves time and ensures consistent execution across all promotions. |
These Pipedrive features help you run sales promotion strategies smoothly, keep your team on track and drive better results.
Pipedrive in action: Spark Interact, a full-service digital agency, used Pipedrive to centralize its sales pipeline, track leads and automate follow-ups. By organizing deals and monitoring performance in real time, the team increased revenue and improved sales efficiency, boosting revenue by 12% year-on-year.
Final thoughts
Sales promotion techniques drive leads, boost sales and encourage repeat business when planned and executed strategically.
The key is to set clear goals, track results and refine your approach to maximize impact.
Pipedrive makes managing sales promotions simple by centralizing pipelines, automating follow-ups and tracking performance in real time. Teams gain visibility into every deal, streamline workflows and make data-driven decisions that improve conversion rates.
Try Pipedrive free for 14 days and see how it can optimize your next sales promotion.
