Discounting for Increased Buy-In

Situation

Often an organization will want to give something to a potential recruit or customer but finds their ability to do so constrained by budget limitations. In this kind of situation it can be productive and profitable to share the cost with the target.

Solution

The way to do this effectively is to identify an opportunity where the value of what you are trying to provide to your target is so high that they are willing to share the cost. Often they are willing to pay, they just need an excuse to make the commitment. Sometimes they are even actively looking for any reason to do so!

Marian University wanted more people to wear Marian apparel. This is a powerful way to extend brand marketing because people become walking billboards on your behalf, reaching venues that you never could on your own. The challenge is that apparel can be expensive to fund, difficult to size correctly, and not always relevant to the desires of the person you’re trying to brand. (How many free t-shirts do you have in your drawers?) We helped Marian work out a plan to fund a 50% discount on apparel at the campus bookstore. The bookstore vendor provided a 10% discount already to certain parties (faculty and staff) and we helped Marian build the remainder for the initiative into the budget in a sustainable way. By providing this discount, anyone could choose the apparel that they wanted. This meant that they would wear actually wear it. And because they paid half the cost, they would value it. Consequently they would take care of it and wear it more frequently. This is a realization of the AID principal in the TOTAL recruitment model.

Marian University also wanted to promote it’s brand new, state-of-the-art dining facility for prospective students. This kind of service is actually an important selling point for the entire family of the prospective student who often accompanies them on a campus visit. Eating there is not necessarily inexpensive however, and the cost of a meal was turning out to be a deterrent from actually experiencing the dining facility first-hand. We helped Marian develop a “golden ticket” program inviting prospective students to a full meal experience, significantly enhancing the visit by enhancing the sensory experience.

In a similar vein, we helped the USC Thornton School of Music use this same principal to improve several aspects of the recruitment and yield process. We negotiated with the campus bookstore to provide a 10% discount at the store, a manageable discount they were happy to provide because it drove bookstore traffic. We promoted that discount on a credit-card-style card that we mailed to all admitted students. The value of the card gave it staying power because the recipient intended to use it if and when they visited campus. The format of the card gave it a home because it very obviously “belonged” in a wallet. The beautiful design of the card gave it a brand presence reminding the owner of the school and their acceptance every time they looked at it. (The bookstore helped in this part by allowing the user to keep the card and use it more than once during the yield season.)

Success

As a result of the 50% discount at the Marian bookstore, we saw apparel purchase and use increase significantly. The coupon was extraordinarily popular with visiting prospective student families who often wanted to make a purchase in the store but were dissuaded by the prices, and this discount made it affordable. It was even more popular with faculty and staff who were able not just to purchase apparel they could wear at work (and then to home and community events after work), but who now felt like they were able to afford Marian apparel as gifts throughout the year for family and friends. The golden ticket also drove a lot of traffic through the new dining facilities. And new USC Thornton students kept their card long after enrolling at the school, sometimes even when they did not enroll at the school as a handsome reminder of their ability to get admitted.