When incentivizing a person to choose your business, one of the most effective practices is using promotions. You may already be offering some, but not all promotions are created equal. You want to choose one that plays to specific consumer behaviors and incites a sense of urgency.

So which promotions work best to do this? In our work with hundreds of home service businesses, Spectrum found these four promotions the most effective:

1. Dollars Off

This is your classic “Save $ on this product/service!” It sounds simple, but there are a few things to keep in mind when setting up a dollars off promotion:

  1. Don’t go too high: Giving a large amount of money off might seem like a good idea to draw in consumers, but high dollar amounts can actually set off alarm bells in consumers’ heads. When they see a large number, consumers start thinking, “If they can offer this much off and still make money, then the product/service must be SUPER expensive.”
  2. But also don’t go too low: Going too high might scare consumers away, but going too low won’t catch their attention. If the offer is too low (say $100 off of a kitchen remodel), you’re not giving enough of an incentive to choose between you and someone else.

2. Percentages Off

When setting up a percentage off promotion (“Take 20% off all window products!”), the same principles apply—you don’t want to go too high or too low. Think minimum 10% and max 25%. These percentages are enough to drive interest but not so high that they’ll set off the alarm bells.

How do you get the word out about your promotion? Download our guide: “Boosting Your Promotions for Home Services” to learn about promoting a great offer across multiple platforms.

3. Financing

As a contractor or remodeler, you should at the very least have a financing offer. One of the biggest barriers to consumers starting a project is their worries about affordability. Having an offer that showcases 0% or low interest for “X” amount of months helps the consumer understand that they can improve their home without a huge financial burden. Although dollars and percentages off are more effective as promotions, financing offers are a good place to start for businesses that aren’t ready to offer money off.

4. Time Sensitive

Dollars off, percentages off, and financing promotions spark interest in consumers, but how do you motivate them to act NOW? Make it a limited time offer. An expiration date relating to the end of the month, end of the season, or around a specific holiday gives consumers a reason to take you up on your offer as soon as they see it. When setting up a time sensitive offer, make sure you prominently say “limited time offer” or state exactly when it ends.

Tying it All Together

Let’s review—when setting up your promotions, keep these three things in mind:

  1. Be reasonable with the dollar or percentage off—nothing extremely high or low.
  2. Having a financing offer is better than not having an offer.
  3. Create a sense of urgency with limited time offers.

Now that you understand how to create a promotion, you need to know how to spread the word. Download our guide below, “Boosting Your Promotions for Home Services” to learn about the best ways to make sure your promotion is seen.