I came down with a bit of a “man cold” this weekend, which meant I didn’t do diddly this weekend. Besides the hour or so I worked this weekend, I either slept, played video games, or watched movies.
‘Twas a terribly unproductive weekend. Except for the fact that I feel much better today than I did on Saturday.
But you know what?
In my sickness-induced video-game-playing slump, I did come across mayhap the quintessential reason why discounting not only doesn’t work, but actively hurts your brand.
Checky:
The only two video games I played over the weekend were the new Dragon Ball Sparking Zero game and College Football 25. Or in other words, “nostalgia maxing” because it’s been a decade since both of these games had a new release.
Anyway…
My real life example comes from College Football 25. Since EA Sports creates both College Football 25 and Madden 25, there’s a load screen that offers College Football players a big, fat discount on Madden.
But there’s a teeny weeny lil problem I’ve noticed over the past several months: The discount percentage offered for Madden keeps increasing.
It started around 20% off.
Then 30% off.
And this past weekend?
A big, fat 50% off!
Methinks this percentage will tick higher and higher too as the days turn to weeks and weeks, months.
But y’know what?
No matter how high of a percentage they offer me, I’m not interested in buying Madden. Anything less of 100% off won’t even get my attention (unless it’s to write an email explaining why discounts don’t work).
Because I already have College Football, trying to get me to also buy Madden is like selling water to a fish. A fish ain’t ever gonna need water, no matter how persuasive the water salesman is, how discounted the water is, or even how sexy-sounding the USP (unique selling proposition) is.
Much better to sell water to desert folk.
In the desert, you don’t even need persuasion, discounts, or a sexy USP. You just need the water.
More:
In hindsight, this makes Madden look even worse. EA Sports’ discounting comes across as needy and desperate—as it should (it’s my opinion that Madden is a trash game, which is why I’ve only bought it once in the past 8 years despite it being one of my favorite games growing up).
Moral of the story?
While discounting can work, be cautious with your discounts. It makes you look needy and desperate. And price is rarely (if ever) the main objection someone has to buying your product or service. Sure, they might name drop the price if you ask them. But people are liars. And it’s better to watch how they act than to watch what they say.
Plus, discounting is lazy.
It’s much easier to slap a 20% discount on an email than to write the most persuasive copy that all but forces them to buy.
But it’s much more profitable. It raises your positioning. And it makes your customers more likely to use and benefit from said products or services.
Need help making sales without offering needy discounts?
Hit reply, and let’s set up a call for this week.
John
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