As a Shopify store owner, you’re always looking for ways to engage customers, increase acquisition, improve retention and loyalty while maintaining healthy profit margins. That’s where easy wins like offering Shopify student discounts can be hugely helpful. But as the question is with any discount offering, how do you optimise it for maximum ROI?

Take your Shopify student discount offers from good to great with these five best practice moves.

1. Shout your student discount offer from the rooftops (of your homepage)

According to Shopify statistics, it takes customers 13 milliseconds to judge your site. Including a student discount in that first impression is communicating your values as a company: you know your target market, you care about giving them a good experience, you know they’re on a budget and you’ve got their back!

Even in the midst of Black Friday sale madness, London indie fashion retailer The Ragged Priest highlights their 15% student discount through an animated scrolling element at the very top of their homepage.

Display your student discount links in your header and footer as well. While the homepage is your first impression, the header and footer are constant visual companions in your customer’s shopping experience. No matter where on your site your users may wander, always have a small reminder that you’re offering student discounts within scrolling distance.

2. Tell your mailing list and social media fans about your new student discount

If you’re offering student discounts, chances are you know that the student market is a key demographic who get their news from social media instead of hanging around your website looking for updates.

Leverage social media and your mailing list to make sure that students know what discounts you offer, and increase your reach for new customers by using hashtags such as #studentdiscount on Instagram and Twitter.

Let happy customers find your #studentdiscount offers on social media

3. Offer a student discount of 10% or more

While students are on a budget, they are still discerning consumers at the end of the day, and signing up for a discount only to find it’s a measly few percent may make them abandon their cart and create negative sentiment around your brand. If you’re willing to offer student discounts, be sure to make it ten percent or more to make your prospects excited about their purchase.

4. Create urgency with limitations and expirations

Students have a tendency to not think about the future too much, so it’s easy for them to assume their student discount status will be around forever. That’s why we recommend sparking a sense of urgency and exclusivity with tactics like including an expiration date on their student discount. Don’t let the discount linger longer than a year.

Pictured: hundreds of students keen for a discount

Limiting the offer to one per customer can also increase average order value, as your buyers want to fill up their basket to get the most bang for their buck with a one-time discount.

5. Use a reliable app like Easy Student Discounts to legitimise your discounts

As the adage goes: “trust, but verify.” Don’t let bargain hunters take advantage of your student discount by simply checking a box that says they’re a student when they’re not.

Luckily for Shopify store owners, Easy Student Discounts does the legwork of verifying a student’s registration at hundreds of institutions in over 206 countries around the world, to make sure you’re only serving discounts to real students.

If you haven’t implemented Shopify student discounts in your store yet, why not do a trial run over your 2021 holiday sales? It’s the perfect time to test and learn what works best for your store, so you’re ready for a big student discount campaign push around back-to-school season in 2022.