Everyone gets excited about sales.  Sales promotions are a great way for your business to incentivize potential customers to purchase.   Aside from the obvious objectives of gaining more customers and increasing sales figures, promotions can be highly effective in exposing new and existing customers to products for the first time and can serve as key promotional components in the early stages of new product launch.  That's why sales promotion has always been an integral part of  the marketing mix. 

So, what seems to be the trouble?

Well... 

Let's start by looking at these possible causes of promotions mishaps:

1. Insufficient incentives - Too little discounts, undesirable special offers, etc.

2. Not enough marketing hype and buzz 

3. Target the wrong audience

4. Inappropriate promotional ads or messages

5. Unable to access the promotional products or services - e.g. Products not yet available online or in-stores, geographic restriction such as countries or locations, etc.

6. Inadequate inventory - Sold out? What? Already?

7. Delays and glitches with your marketplace system

8. System failure due to heavy traffic

9. Insubstantial capacity and resource to manage purchase orders 

10. Inadequate backend order management system

11. Deficient shipping and delivery services

12. Substandard policies on cancelled, change orders or refunds

I guarantee you that a message like this will not make your customer jump for joy.

"... Your order is currently processing! Orders typically take 3-5 business days to process and 3-5 business days for shipping within the US (7-21 business days if going internationally). However, due to our recent promotion orders may take up to 14 business days to process. Please note, business days don't include weekends or holidays. We are working to speed up this time! Thank you so much for your patience!"   

The best way to avoid sales promotions disasters -- Do the opposite!

"Without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing!" -- P. T. Barnum