Discounts are bad for your customers.

The constant ones.

Discounting.

It trains them that only price (without context) is the decisive factor.

Makes you think of how little you could go for and still make a profit (if any).

Risks them to shit customer service. Since your margins are low, going the extra mile —or even care for after sales— for what they need as an extra will only seem like a high expense on your side.

It makes you go for more effort (to get more sales), with the same result.

Turns into a vicious loop of trying to beat everyone else based on the lowest price. And that never ends well.

If you’re going to do discounts, do them right.

• Framed in a time and specific window.
• Making it clear the customer is receiving this discount under X specific conditions.
• Show the full price and the discount given. We all use to “forget” why we got a discount; we only remember what we paid.

It’s all about balance.