As we head into 2023, thousands of young people will be looking towards student discounts to help them land their latest purchase. Whether they’re trying to save their pennies due to the rising cost-of-living or are ready to make those long-awaited purchases using their January loan drop, there are a number of ways that you can ensure you’re optimising your student discount proposition and driving conversions. Today, we share how you can increase sales and hear from Izzy Cowan, Client Services Team Lead at Student Beans.
6 ways to optimise discounts and drive conversions
1. Upgrade your call to action
Using an eye-catching and prominent call to action (CTA) is vital when it comes to driving conversions, but be sure to tailor your CTA to each consumer group. A whopping 89% of student spending is with brands who promote their own student discount – so be sure to highlight your Student Beans discount in a prominent location on your homepage. “Brands who improve their CTA positioning have seen over 309% more student sales, 20% increase in average order value and 67% of students will be transacting again within 30 days” says Izzy. “The results really speak for themselves!”.
2. Keep your imagery fresh
Keep your imagery on the Student Beans Marketplace relevant and change it up regularly to ensure that it stands out – you don’t want it getting lost in a sea of familiarity! “Using models who look like they might be of a student age is going to be super relevant for our user group” says Izzy, recommending that brands choose imagery that’s in line with seasonality. And, if you really want to lock in those conversions, make sure your chosen imagery represents what you’re discounting at that specific time. As Izzy adds: “If a student potentially doesn’t know everything about your brand, your image is there to give them a real insight”.
3. Create separate offers for specific products
Is your offer available across several products? If so, great! But make sure you’re creating separate offers for the most popular products to allow students to see the full value. This might even alert students to products they didn’t realise they could get discounts on. “Schuh offers a 10% student discount and they’ve highlighted some of the relevant products for Gen Z right now on their Student Beans Marketplace listing – specifically Crocs and Nike Air Force”, Izzy shares. “This really engages students – some might not even know Schuh sells these products”. So there you go – a great tip and a winning case study. You can learn more about this (and discover which big brands are seeing success) here.
4. Shout about your offer and get social!
Sharing your student discounts on social media is a must. After all, as Izzy says, “Students and Gen Z spend the majority of their day scrolling, so why not catch them in their natural habitat?!”. But what about email marketing? Well, 69% of students want to be notified about offers via email, segmenting your marketing lists and shouting about your great offers to your existing database is a great way to reach those young people who are just waiting for your latest discount to land in their inbox.
5. Include student-focused keywords in your search bar
Did you know that students don’t just use search functions to browse products but use it to seek discounts too? Featuring student-focused keywords in your search bars is a great way to optimise those discounts and drive conversions – in fact, a huge 92% of students check for discounts while they shop. Start with words like ‘student’, ‘student discounts’ and ‘student coupons’ and then build out your keyword research from there.
6. Offer percentage discounts rather than monetary
It may come as a surprise, but students prefer not to be tied to a certain spend. This means they’re more likely to splash the cash with your brand if they feel like they’re getting a cheeky percentage discount which is proportional to their spend (e.g. the more they spend, the bigger the discount). By swapping monetary for percentage discounts, you’ll see those conversions increase in no time.
So there you have it, six ways that you can optimise your student discounts to drive conversions as we head into the new year.
Want to hear more from student discount expert Izzy? Get in touch now hear more about how you can engage with Gen Z and lock in those loyal student shoppers.
