How to Sell More With “Store Credit Cashback” Promos

Store credit promos are a nice alternative to your typical discount promo. Give the customer some “cash” to spend instead of a discount.

But here’s a nifty trick:

Why not move the reward from before to after the purchase?

Why not make the customer buy FIRST to get their credit?

This is what I call a “store credit cashback promo.” 

This generates more full-margin up-front sales… meaning quicker profits and better cash flows.

Below, I’ll show you how I run these with clients and a strategy I use to strengthen customer loyalty (that only works with this type of promo offer).

Table of Contents

Why Run Store Credit Cashback Promos? How to Run a Store Credit Cashback Promo The Post-Promo Flow Reward Your Customers With More Than a Discount What To Do Next

Why Run Store Credit Cashback Promos?

Store credit cashback promos offer four big benefits:

Profit Margins

The biggest benefit is wide profit margins. This is because customers must place an order first to get the credit later.

The result:

A flood of full-margin orders.

You can offer a LARGER store credit than a discount OR front-end store credit. Instead of “buy $150+, get a $5 or $10 credit”, you could offer a $25 credit. 

“But Bradley, won’t this just cancel your wider margins out?”

Perhaps it will. 

But it improves your cash flows because your full-margin sales happen FIRST. 

Would you rather earn $1,000 now… or $800 now and $200 later? I don’t know about you, but $1,000 now sounds better.

That’s the worst case. 

You’ll often net out AHEAD, even if the store credit is big. Which brings us to the second benefit…

“Forfeited” Credits

When you run a discount or front-end credit promo, you can either:

• Discount/give the credit automatically
• Require a code

The former means EVERYONE will get a discount or credit. The latter might cause a few customers to miss it, but most won’t. 

Regardless, both are at the point of sale. And if a customer misses it, they’ll likely contact you about it anyway.

Store credit cashback promos are different. Some people get it and don’t use it for many reasons (whether not wanting to use it or just forgetting). 

“Forfeited” credits = no lost margin.

This sounds bad or unethical. It’s not. Companies offer cashback, credits, etc with expiration dates all the time.

If you clarify expiration dates and notify them of their new credit when they get it, you’ve done enough. It’s not your responsibility to manage their finances. It’s on them to use the credit.

“But what if there’s no expiry?”

That’s fine. Some will never use it, meaning permanent margin improvements. 

Some will use it, but not for many weeks or month. 

For instance, someone might wait six months before using it. Yet you made the full amount NOW, giving you more capital to put yourself in a better position LATER.

Again, you “delay” the “loss” on the store credit… vs. the immediate loss with a discount.

Dollar Value Psychology

The % and $ symbols cause different reactions in the brain. 

A $ feels more tangible because, well, it’s DOLLARS. It’s not abstract like a %.

You can even frame it as “free money.” 

Furthermore…

In my experience, % discounts generally work better on orders under $100. 

A $ discount tends to work better on orders over $100. Might be the “triple digit” thing.

For instance, 15% off $100 is just $15, but “15%” sounds bigger (even though the number itself is the SAME). Or how about 15% off $80, which is $12. 15% off sounds nicer than $12.

15% off $200 is $30, which, numerically, sounds way bigger than “15%”. 

The point here:

You can give a big store credit for larger orders (such as $30 for orders $150). That psychology could pull more high-AOV front-end sales.

“Free Money”

Similar to the last point, but not exactly. A store credit feels like “free money.” Like you have something you can spend.

A discount does not.

It’s like credit card cashback. If credit cards gave you an upfront discount, I doubt you’d spend as much.

How to Run a Store Credit Cashback Promo

Store credit cashback promos use thresholds to qualify for the store credit. I recommend aiming for a 1.5-1.7x AOV threshold.

For instance, if your AOV is $80, set the threshold at $120 – $140. It’s a store credit, so don’t be afraid to aim a bit higher.

I recommend the credit be around 25% of the AOV. So in this case, $20-30. Big enough to feel valuable, not so big that they can grab a TON of stuff with the credit.

You can structure a store credit cashback promo like most others:

• 2 announcement emails (hype + offer)
• An email a day for the duration of the promo
• 2 closing emails (urgency + final push)

Each middle-promo email is your average marketing email — content + offer. Listicles, problem/solution, so on and so forth (21 ideas here).

Pretty simple.

The Post-Promo Flow

The Post-Promo Flow reminds them of their store credit and nudges them to buy.

The Purpose Of the Post-Promo Flow

It’s good for you in the short term to quietly hand them their credit and shut up about it. Higher chance of forfeit.

However, this flow goes above and beyond by encouraging them to use the credit. 

You’ll STILL have some store credit forfeits, albeit fewer. Yet you’ll earn trust and goodwill from your customers.

That pays off long-term.

Email Content

I recommend 3-4 emails over several weeks, each one at least a week apart. 

This flow should:

• Thank them for participating in the promo and give them their store credit
• Make it clear they are special and exclusive
• Emphasize the “free money” aspect of the credit
• Give any exclusions or expiration dates
• Recommend some products to use the credit on

On the last point… it’s a GREAT time to try and nab high-AOV orders. Bundles, bulk amounts, larger sizes, and so on.

You might lose margin on the credit, but selling a bunch at once still puts cash in your coffers. Trading margin for cash flow here.

Triggering the Flow

Apps exist that let you build these flows.

However, one of my clients lacked an app for this.

So instead, we created a regular Shopify code for the store credit. 

I then built this flow in Klaviyo by forcing it to trigger ONLY for people who buy during the promo dates AND meet the criteria to get the credit.

Now…

Some of those apps might not let you build full-on flows like this — even if you can handle their store credit in-app.

No matter. You can still build a flow that sends them to the right place to grab and redeem their credit. Or, if that app integrates, said integration might streamline things.

Reward Your Customers With More Than a Discount

People love “earning” things. People love cashback. People love to buy good products.

Put these three together, and you have a lucrative promo just waiting for you to put into action. Doing it right means better cash flows, faster speed to profits, and MORE customer goodwill.

Got a promo coming up soon? Consider a store credit cashback promo. See what kinds of money you can make. I’d love to hear about it.

What To Do Next

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