The best things in life are free.
And there’s no doubt about the power of a free gift in retail. In a recent study, 90% of shoppers said they're more likely to buy from a retailer again after receiving a gift.
How Does Gift with Purchase Work?
Gift with purchase (also known as buy X, get Y) is simple: when you buy something, you get something in return. The challenge for marketers is that the gift needs to be perceived as valuable and relevant to the shopper to achieve the best results.
Let’s look at how brands and retailers might approach a gift with purchase (GWP) campaign.
- A retailer gifts customers with an in-store voucher when they spend $30 on a single shop.
- A brand gives customers a free bar of their best-selling chocolate flavor with every purchase of their new flavor.
- A coffee brand partners with a retailer to gift customers their new coffee blend when they buy a cup from the retailer’s brand.
- Monster Energy partners with Apex Legends and gives away codes for in-game content with drink purchases. They work together to create associations between brands based on the mutual interests and behaviors of their target audience. This is called cross-portfolio engagement.
- A cosmetics brand gives away a free mini mascara with every purchase and enters customers into a sweepstake to win a personalized make-up tutorial. This is called a layered promotion.
Participation
There are lots of ways a customer can redeem their gift. It’s important to make the criteria for getting and redeeming a free gift easy.
- Scan a receipt to win. A customer scans their receipt which is then validated using software.
- Email. The brand or retailer sends a gift voucher or redemption code directly to a customer’s email address.
- At home or in-store. The customer gets the gift delivered to their home or collects it in-store.
- Microsite. There’s a dedicated microsite for the campaign. A customer can visit the microsite to redeem their gift.
- MMS. A customer receives an SMS or WhatsApp message with a code or digital voucher to use in-store on online.
- Loyalty app. Gifts appear in the brand’s loyalty app. If a customer doesn’t already have the app, this redemption option might encourage them to download it.
Your Approach to Gift with Purchase
Your approach will depend on your goals. If you want to increase brand awareness, an instant-win campaign could work well for you. If you have a new product to launch, go for a campaign that incentivises shoppers to try it. If customer acquisition is your goal, partner with a relevant retailer or brand to build trust and awareness.
Whatever your goals are, there are four simple rules to follow to help make your campaign a success.
1. Make it Clear
It should be easy to understand what the prize is, what someone needs to do to be eligible for it, and how they can redeem it.
2. Make it Relevant
Think about your customer persona and what gift would appeal to them. Remember that it needs to have a perceived value to attract interest, so choose a gift that's likely to achieve results.
3. Promote it Effectively
Share the campaign on relevant channels to broaden your reach and build as much interest as possible. On social media, consider creating a hashtag for it and encouraging followers to share it.
4. Use Gift with Purchase to Collect Valuable Purchase and Behavioral Data
GWP campaigns can give you huge amounts of first-party customer data. Take receipt scanning as an example, where a customer sends a photo of their receipt to redeem their gift. Using receipt processing software, you can:
- See customer baskets to find out what people are buying with your products
- How much of your product they’re buying
- Time of purchase
- Basket size
This helps you understand your customers, and lets you build up a portfolio of your customers. You can use this to consolidate and inform future marketing activity.
Success Stories
McDonald’s
Possibly one of the longest-running GWP programs, McDonald’s has given children a gift with every Happy Meal since 1979. And, they’ve partnered with the likes of Star Wars, Hot Wheels, and My Little Pony to deliver gifts that genuinely speak to the interests of their youngest audience – cementing the brand in their minds ready for when they’re paying customers.
Monster Energy
A large percentage of Monster Energy's target demographic is interested in gaming.
They harnessed this interest by creating a GWP program to help the brand stand out at the Dreamhack festival and at one of their key retailers, Circle K. Customers who bought ten cans of Monster from Circle K could submit their receipt to the promotion's website to receive a $10 PlayStation or Xbox gaming card.
Ready to Retail Your Gift with Purchase Freebie?
If you haven’t included gift-with-purchase programs in your marketing strategy before, consider them alongside other contests, sweepstakes, and promotions. In FMCG especially, there’s a lot to gain from stopping to give customers something they value for free.
Get in touch with Snipp today to get started.
