3 ms·

Ask HN: Details regarding the offering of discounts?

3 points by cdvonstinkpot 10y ago

Hi, I'm gearing up to offer the following as a reseller: a) Domain Name Registration b) WebMail / Calendar / Cloud Storage c) Small Hosted WordPress Websites It's crossed my mind that it would help fuel referrals if I were to offer discounts to specific groups. Specifically: "100% 'No-Profit' Discount for Police, Active Service Military Personnel, Paramedics, & Animal Shelters", where they're only charged 'cost' for the projects I do for them. For those who've done something similar in their work, what did you wish you had known before offering this type of discount? And what did you learn after doing so? What comes to mind first to me is, how should I go about verifying qualification for these rates? Maybe I should restrict it to full-time work at these professions, to be sure someone's not doing the bare minimum to qualify. ...But that's as far as I've got with it. Thanks, -c

taprun 10y ago
The usual method in the US is to require clients to prove that the are 501(c)(3) organizations.
codegeek 10y ago
"it would help fuel referrals if I were to offer discounts to specific groups" Offering discount is not necessarily a trigger to get referrals. Referrals happen when clients love your product/service and hardly due to discounts. You could surely offer discounts to non-profits as a nice gesture but don't get your hopes on them getting you referrals. Instead, I will even say that offer the same pricing to everyone and do a great job at providing service to clients. Also, in my experience, a client who gets a discount does not magically become great and sends referrals. In fact, they may remain the same and now they are costing you more by you charging them less.