Why You Should Never Send Discounts Over Email

Nobody cares about your 20% signup discount. There, I said it. And while I'm on the topic... Stop including a discount code in every email flow you have just to try to boost your conversion rates. Most brands think: "Hook them in with an offer, make it irresistible, and they’ll buy. It's an easy win." Except… it’s not. Here’s the truth: - Relying on discounts in your email flows is lazy marketing. - It trains your customers to expect one every time. - It devalues your brand and slashes your margins. - It doesn’t build loyalty. It builds bargain hunters. Here’s what actually works: Focusing on value over discounts. Instead of throwing pure profit away, your email flows should highlight why your product is worth the full price. • In your Welcome Flow, tell the story of your brand and showcase how your product solves a real problem.    • In your post-purchase flow, tell customers how to get the most out of their purchase, build trust, and reduce buyer remorse.    • Address objections in your Abandoned Cart Flow. Use customer testimonials, FAQs, or “you might have missed this” benefits to make them reconsider. You don’t need to convince people to buy with a discount—you need to make them want to buy because they believe in the value of what you’re offering. The best part? No more racing to the bottom. Instead, you’re building long-term relationships with customers who buy because they see your product’s worth, not just because it’s 20% off. So, let’s stop making discounts the default. Focus on storytelling, education, and building trust, and watch your flows do more than just convert—they’ll create loyal customers who keep coming back. Want a bit more of this? Grab a copy of our Step-by-step Klaviyo Flow Strategy Guide. 📌 Find the link in the comments (select ‘most recent’ if you don’t see it).

#100RulesofThumb — Rule 35 If you wish to really test your product's value proposition, avoid offering discounts. —— First off, discounts are a lazy way to compete. If you're resorting to price cuts, you're essentially admitting that you can't differentiate your product in any meaningful way. You're using discounts as a crutch, masking deeper issues with your product or service. Sure, you might see a short-term spike in revenue, but it's a mirage. The moment you pull the plug on those discounts, watch your customer base evaporate. You're left with a product problem that you've ignored for too long, and now it's too late to fix it. Secondly, discounts distort your brand message. When you slap a 50% off sticker on your product, you're screaming, "Hey, the best thing about what I'm selling is that it's cheap!" You're shifting the focus from the actual value your product provides to the price tag. Even for customers who weren't initially price-sensitive, you've now made price the central issue. You're undermining your own value proposition. Additionally, offering discounts might get you a flurry of sign-ups, but it also trains your customer base to wait for sales. You're basically rewarding them for not committing, and then you're stuck in a perpetual cycle of discounting, which further erodes your margins. In other words, discounts set a dangerous precedent. You're training your customers to expect future discounts. They'll start to think, "Why buy now when it'll be cheaper later?" Discounts also affect perception of quality. When you offer a discount, especially in the early stages, you're signaling a lack of confidence in your own product. Customers pick up on that. They start to question, "If they're willing to lower the price, is this product really as good as they claim?" If you still think discounts are the way to go, at least be smart about it. Don't offer them predictably; keep your customers guessing. Limit the discount to a reasonable range, say 10-15%, to avoid raising red flags about your product's quality. And if you *must* offer discounts, tie them to actions that benefit you in the long run, like customer referrals or repeat purchases. Remember, you're in it for the long game. Quick wins might feel good, but they can cloud your judgment around how good your product or service really is. Don't miss out on important reality checks by offering discounts that may only serve to delay inevitable failure.

When every email looks like a grocery store flyer — just products and prices — you're not building brand loyalty, you're building discount addiction. Deal sheets don’t build relationships. They build habits that hurt your margins. The problem with deal-only emails: - They teach customers to wait for the next sale - They reduce your products to commodities - They make you blend in with every other dispensary doing the exact same thing If the only thing your dispensary emails are doing is listing today’s deals, you’re training your customers to only buy when there's a discount. Want better results from email? Start treating it like a relationship tool, not a clearance bin. Here’s what great dispensary email marketing actually looks like: + Product storytelling: Why is this strain on the shelf? What makes it special? + Behavior-based targeting: Showing customers products similar to what they’ve bought before + Retention-focused messaging: Nudging someone who hasn’t been in for 30 days with a personalized reason to return + Value-building content: Education, brand features, usage tips, and exclusive perks + and many more highly intentional and data-backed strategies Deals can still be part of the strategy. In fact, we've sent out millions of emails pushing deals/specials/discounts. But they shouldn’t be the whole thing. Because if every email is a discount, you’ll start to lose full-price buyers, lose brand value, and lose margin. The goal is not to sell products. The goal is to build a relationship that makes profitable people want to buy from you over and over. If your email strategy isn’t doing that, then it’s just noise. Expensive noise. At Tact, we help dispensaries turn email from a discount machine into a retention engine. Because real marketing isn’t just about what’s on sale... it’s about why customers come back even when nothing is. If that’s not what your emails are doing, it’s time to start over.

My controversial opinion on email Welcome promo codes for fashion brands: I think they’re mostly worthless. Here’s why: Most customers who sign up via the welcome popup are high intent. They were going to purchase from you anyway. You just paid them (via the discount) for the privilege. In fashion, average return rates can be as high as 25% for some categories (shoes, tailored items). When you’re trying to make a profit on your first purchase, you can’t afford to spend 10-25% of your AOV on a non-incremental discount. The subscribers you capture this way who were not high intent will either buy from you within 7-10 days of signup (rare) or disengage. The popups are annoying and drive down the conversion rate on your website. The default Klaviyo A/B test measures the wrong metric. It doesn’t matter how many emails you capture, it matters how much revenue you get from those emails. That requires a test where you’re measuring cohort behavior over 30-90 days. Almost no one has the patience to do that, because folks are often hungry for “quick wins”. Also…it pains me to say this…but the fashion brands who obsess over email welcome discount offers and popup design rarely put much thought into their email content strategy. If you’re sending boring, repetitive emails, it doesn’t matter how many subscribers you capture. If the most interesting thing about your emails is the periodic discount, then you have a bigger problem. This is just my opinion, and I’ve seen data to back it up. If you disagree with me, that’s fine, but I urge you to test it the right way and use a meaningful KPI, like revenue per new subscriber in the 30-90 days after opt-in. I cover how to do this (and many other fashion-focused growth topics) in my newsletter DTC (fashion) Decoded. Link to sign up is in the comments.

3 Email Marketing Myths Destroying Your Email Revenue After auditing hundreds of e-commerce email accounts from small startups to 9fig behemoths, I've uncovered three dangerous myths that are silently sabotaging your marketing strategy. Myth 1: Discounts Are Your Golden Ticket Most brands treat sales and promotions like an ATM machine, thinking they can flip a switch for instant cash. Here's the brutal truth: constant discounting is a path to destruction. When you run promotions every 2-4 weeks, you're doing three devastating things to your brand: - Cheapening your brand's perceived value - Slashing your profit margins - Training customers to ONLY buy during sales Imagine a customer who sees your product, signs up for your email list, gets a welcome discount, but never purchases. Why? Because you're not addressing the real barriers: product belief and value perception. A 50% off tag won't make someone buy a shirt that won’t fit them. Customers need to believe the product solves their core problem. Focus on building trust, not just cutting prices. Myth 2: More Automated Flows = More Revenue I've seen e-commerce accounts with 20-30 active flows, when only 3-4 actually generate meaningful revenue. It's like trying to navigate a maze. The "set it and forget it" mentality leads to: Difficult performance tracking Potential bad customer experiences Increased complexity in managing your email system My recommendation? Consolidate. Focus on core flows: - Welcome Flow - Abandonment Flows - Post-purchase Flow - Cross-sell Flow Use Klaviyo's dynamic blocks for personalization instead of creating multiple redundant flows. Intention and quality beat quantity every time. Myth 3: AB Test Everything, Everywhere AB testing is critical, but most brands turn it into a wild goose chase.  Remember: if your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Common mistakes: - Testing multiple variables simultaneously - Running endless tests with minimal returns - Losing sight of what actually matters: understanding your customer The key to effective testing: - One variable at a time - Clear control group - Enough time to reach statistical significance Your ultimate goal isn't to become a testing machine. It's to deeply understand what truly motivates your customers to buy. Want a deep dive into these strategies? Check out the full video below, where I unpack these myths with real-world examples and actionable strategies. Stop leaving money on the table. Revamp your email marketing approach today. Drop your thoughts below, and let me know what you think of the video?

“We HAVE to give all abandoned carts 10% OFF. The eCom gods demand it!” I recently ran a split test that may put this myth to bed. Our plain text email with ZERO discount beat the client’s “conventional” control email. Higher conversion rate & better profit margins.  People were following through because they genuinely wanted to buy… not because they had gamed the system & could save a few bucks. A genuine connection (built through strategic communication) is much more valuable than any discount you could throw around. It protects your margins on the front end. It instills in the customer that your brand can’t be cheapened at the first sign of resistance.  So before you say: “Would 10% OFF make this purchase easier?” Stop and take a minute to THINK about your customer. Get in their brain. What do they actually need to pull the trigger?  More often than not, price isn’t the problem.