Hello Online Beauty Bosses! Today I thought it would be a good time to talk about Avon’s New Promo tool! If you’re new to Avon or haven’t heard about it yet, it’s a new tool Avon recently introduced for Reps to share special offers to our customers.
Watch This Video for complete details on:
The Avon Promo Tool: How To Improve Results
This video has been edited from a previous Facebook Live over at the OnlineBeautyBosses facebook Group.
It’s a bit different than how we used to share promo codes in the past. Back then, Avon would share promotions on our behalf and we could share the code to anyone we wanted. With the new promotions we can still offer Free Shipping, Free Samples, Gifts & Discount Offers, but now we have more control on how and when we want to use these offers
The big difference is these new promo codes are exclusive to our customer’s email address. So customers already have to be attached to us with an email address.
Now if this is all new to you, for more info about this new tool you can visit your Avon Now Dashboard and do a "Promo Tool" search over at Avon U. There you’ll find Avon’s webinar on its features and how to use.
Ok, so now let’s get into our topic on how to get more results with the Avon Promo Tool.
In the Online Beauty Bosses Facebook Group I posted a “Question of the Day” asking who has used the promo tool and if so how were their results?
Several Online Beauty Bosses shared their experiences and from the looks of it the Avon Promo Tool, for many of us seems to be underperforming.
Which led me to our next question:
What could you do for a better response? And, what could Avon do to increase a better customer result?
Again we had a very productive conversation. Here were some of the suggestions & concerns in a nutshell:
- Have the option to send out Last Call reminders.
- Promos shouldn’t have to be exclusive to customer emails.
- Customers may not see emails.
- Offers aren’t strong enough.
- More free gifts & sample options
- Change the samples & free gifts every campaign so there is something new to offer
- Lower Free Shipping minimum.
- Wish the cost didn’t come out of our commissions.
These were all very good suggestions & concerns and if you agree or have additional input, I think it would be a good idea to let Avon know. It’s important they have our feedback. After all we are the ones out in the trenches using this tool!
Now the reason why I share all this is because the feedback led me to today’s topic. I think it’s important we share ideas on what has helped us get more results and try to figure the best way to use this tool going forward.
So stick with me as we go over:
- My personal experience using the tool,
- Stats & Results I had from using the tool.
- Tips on using the tool and
- How to promote it to increase sales and get new customers.
My Personal Experience:
I was a little late in using the tool because from the very get go it wasn’t working for me. It was only until recent Avon was able to address the issue. Now, it seems to be working as it should so I’ve had the opportunity to use the Promo Tool in Campaigns 15, 16 & 17.
I got the best results in Campaign 15 because it was a holiday weekend and there were several factors involved.
Campaign 15 fell over 4th of July weekend so I thought I should take advantage of the opportunity. Avon has sent promo codes during the holiday in the past, so I figured customers may be looking for a holiday promotion.
I also let the offer run for a limited time. It ran only for the weekend beginning Friday thru Sunday. Any timeframe longer than that, customers may procrastinate then ultimately forget. So a sense of urgency helped motivate those customers who took action.
In addition to Avon’s promotion email I also sent out my own email as a backup plan. My customers are used to me emailing them personally so I wanted to make sure if Avon’s email ended up in the junk/spam folder my email would have a higher chance of landing in their inbox.
Then, on the very last day I sent out a reminder email along with a new reminder promo code from Avon. Now at this time Avon doesn’t have a "reminder" email feature and hopefully they will hear our suggestions and implement that soon. So I had to figure out a work around on how to get an Avon email out to my customers.
To do this I created a brand new promo offer with a new code. The offer was set to run for only one day which was Sunday. In the personal message I said something to the effect of “Time was running out! It’s last call to save 10% on your holiday order!”
Doing this was successful because I was able to squeeze a few more last minute sales from this last call reminder!
Now as you can see, there was some extra steps that I had to take to get the few promo sales. I honestly think had I not taken those extra steps the response would have been much lower.
My Avon Promo Tool Results
As mentioned, Campaign 15 got the best results with the promo code due to the timing and the actions I took to promote it. Campaigns 16 & 17 didn’t do as well even though I took similar steps as I did with the Campaign 15 offer plus, they didn’t run during a holiday.
The costs involved also made a difference, and this is where you’ll have to do the math to see how much of an expense you’re willing to put out. That’s the reason I created the Avon Commission Calculator, so reps could play with the numbers and see what their bottom line would be before committing to an offer.
So I decided to go all out and blast all my customers with a 10% percent discount because it had been a while since I had offered the a promo code and I figured maybe this would “shake the tree” so to speak for those customers who were holding out, waiting for a coupon.
There was a cost involved but I was willing to make that investment to help retain my customers and make them happy. Did it effect my commission? Yes, but I was still able to make a bit of profit after all was said and done.
Issues That Came Up
During the holiday weekend I got several calls & emails from customers saying the code wasn’t working. The main reason for this was they weren’t signed into their Avon Customer Account.
I also had one customer who was used to checking out as a “guest”. She never created an Avon Customer Account even though she had placed orders with me in the past and was subscribed to my Avon emails. Once I spoke to her and realized she had been checking out as a guest this whole time I let her know she had to create a customer account and the code should work. It did and the problem was solved.
A Few Quick Tips
Here are a few things to keep in mind when using the tool.
1) Take advantage of the “personal message section” provided for us.
This will make Avon’s email a bit more personal and hey, if you’re the one investing in this offer you might as well get the credit and let your customer know you exclusively created the offer just for them.
2) Create a premade template of your personal messages.
I have a Word document for my Birthday offers, Free Sample offers, Free Shipping and Discount offers as well a the last call reminder. This makes it easier to just plug it in and all I have to do is change it accordingly
3) Create a last call reminder by creating a second duplicate promotion with a similar code.
It really does work and could prompt a few more sales. You’ll want to create the second offer to run for only one day which would be the last day of your offer. The promo code on this offer has to be different but you can make it very similar.
4) Create a “Code System”
When you create a promo code for the first time keep in mind you might not be able to use the same code for next year. So try to create a system like adding the year to the end of the code etc.
5) Educate Your Customers! This is super important!
Our customers aren’t used to having to sign in first to use a promo code so it’s super important to educate your customers.
I’ve noticed this has been the pattern when customers visit my Avon online store. They’ll add all their products to their shopping cart first before signing in. Because they haven’t signed in yet when they view their shopping cart and try to enter the promo code they’ll get a notice that says “This promo code is invalid”.
At this point they’ll do either two things:
- They stop and give me a call saying the code isn’t working or they’ll abandon their shopping cart completely, resulting in NO sale.
- If a customer decides to continue and clicks the “Check Out” button then they’ll be prompted to sign in. But at this point they’ll bypass all the pages that display the pink dot offer notification and go directly to the “check out” page where they won’t see any of your promo notifications. Causing them to miss out on your offer.
This is why it’s super important to constantly educate your customers!
You can make your customers more aware by consistently mentioning to “Sign-in and look for the “Pink Dot” over at the home page of your online store”. Mention this in every personal email you send out even if that email doesn’t have an offer.
6) Add A Red Dot To Your Email Subject Lines
The next thing you might want to do is whenever you send out your own personal email with an offer, is to add a RED DOT to the subject line. You’re customers will soon be able to identify your promo emails which could lead to a higher open rate!
How To Promote You Promotions
We’ve covered a lot of information so far on how to use the Promo Tool but how about if you want to use it to get new customers or increase sales? Here are a few tips that could help.
1) Create An Incentive For Your Current Customers
2) Offer as a reward to take an action like to join your customer Facebook Group.
3) Offer it as an incentive for new customers.
Over at your Avon Address book, create a new group for your new customers who came in during a campaign. Create an offer only for those new customers. Then send them a personal Welcome email along with your special promo code.
The “Select Group” feature is a great way to segment your offers by customer interests. Whether it be New Customers, Skin Care Customers, Fragrance etc.
4) Create an offer to bring in new customers
Offer a promo code to potential customers when they share their email using a free online form. Info on how to do this can be found here: “How To Increase Your Avon Customer Base For Online Sales”
As you can see, it’s going to take some work in order to see better results from Avon’s New Promo Tool but if we’re consistent in making our customers aware I think eventually it could pay off!
I hope you’ve found these tips and ideas helpful and have inspired you with even more ideas. Feel free to share in the comments any ideas, suggestions or feedback you have about the Avon Promo Tool that could help our fellow reps!
If you found these tips helpful feel free to Comment, Like, and Share with other Avon Reps who might find this helpful.
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