Case Study: A Better Giveaway Approach

After I wrote Why I No Longer Do Giveaways in My Business, I kept mulling on one of my audience members who was inspiring my thinking at the time. We’ll call her Mary, not her real name, because I’d never want my customers to feel like I’m singling them out weirdly in a post some of them will be seeing. 😅

Mary has been with me from the early years, when my FB group was small and my business hadn’t even begun.

Lately, she reappeared in my membership and has been showing up, greeting new members, helping where she can, really working to improve the group’s quality even if she didn’t consciously intend for that outcome.

I see her, and I’ve really appreciated her. From a business perspective, that’s exactly the kind of member you want to nurture, because she will boost morale and engagement in ways a group leader simply cannot.

From a human perspective, I am touched that she is sharing her heart and her time and I want to acknowledge the effort it takes.

Recently, she messaged me asking for my recommendation on what to buy with a specific budget amount in my upcoming sale.

She already had most of it, but she had specifically been looking for a digital product I sell: a goat care binder.

The trouble is even with a discount, she wasn’t going to be able to get the other items she’d earmarked to buy.

Well, what fun is a business if you can’t give things away now and again? That’s half the point for me, actually. I love being able to reach my people in unexpected ways.

I consider it part of my purpose in life to demonstrate that not all business is extractive. That’s what I’m hoping to teach here in these posts. You can create wealth immeasurable by simply seeing your audience as the real humans they are and trying to meet them where they’re at, with love…or at the very least a heart to make their lives better than they were before they met you.

With all these thoughts in my mind, I sent a message today:

So. One of the fun things about being the boss is that I can do whatever I want and one of my favorite things is to see the people who are really showing up, like you. I see and appreciate how you're leading in the community, showing up with your whole heart and doing your best for your family and your herd.

I don't want the binder to be the reason you don't get what you had planned to buy during the sale, so I made an executive decision. 😁

Here's a discount that brings the binder to $47 total, coupon code Godwink. ;)

It won't combine with the sale discounts and you can use it before or after, or not at all if that's the direction life takes, but here's a link with the coupon included.

Happy Sunday. ❤️

I share this quote with the intention of demonstrating the how, because that can be as helpful for some folks as the why.

Mary had mentioned a specific thing that was their family’s “Godwink,” and I loved to riff off of that to create this special experience for her.

The math plays out, by the way. A $150 coupon strategically gifted to someone who has demonstrated their investment in your business or community is all but guaranteed to bring you more revenue through word of mouth, longer staying power or the increase in value of the community with such incredible people in it than you’d have gotten by running a sterile “freebie for email signups” promo on Facebook.

Human-centric commerce means we see the humans, we see their struggles, and we try to be a reason they struggle less. It always comes back around when we approach it with pure intentions.