Shipping orders - what to include in the box?

Recently started up an ecommerce site as a side project and have been getting more and more orders lately. I want to be able to include some kind of coupon or business card in all my shipments but im not too sure what it should be. I'm thinking of going on vistaprint and either getting business cards, flyers or post cards printed. Either that or just make my own flyer with a coupon code on it and print them out at Kinkos on a regular sheet of paper. What does everyone think? Ideally I'd like whatever I include to be something people don't just toss away; rather come back to the site for another order with the coupon. Thoughts?

Cheers,
Marc

 

nice idea. i think you could make some custom pens/paper weight/refrigerator magnets/mug etc etc.

if you would print out coupons i think cheapest would be printing them yourself.

 

I used to have a retail site that I built up before flipping it.

As nice as novelty items are (free gifts etc...) they soon bite into your profit margins.

Something that people will always notice is how the parcel they receive looks. Make sure it's presented nicely - wrapped neatly, in nice quality paper. Or if you're using boxes make sure they're nice quality boxes. Even high quality packaging costs peanuts from the cash & carry.

My items were not large so I used to use large B5 envelopes. I used to print my logo at the top with a 'thanks for buying' message that looked friendly. I did always include a 'coupon' as a tear-off strip on the bottom of the invoice. The percentage you should offer depends entirely on the product and your profit margins.

 

I run a successful eBay business and we wanted to direct users to the e-commerce site. What we found worked well was flyers advertising a special promotion for "new members" whereby we would offer a 10% discount on their first purchase. We also shown a selection of new products on the flyer. Make it polite and not to pushy and include a "thank you" for their purchase. You could use vistaprint if you want more a professional job but to save some money there is nothing stopping you making it yourself.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I've bought a lot of things online and I always remember the ones who go the extra mile (heck, it isn't even a mile) and drop something unexpected in with the package, even if it's just some candy.