Back before I sold Erin's Faces, we used to do two sales a year: 10% off in May and 20% off for Black Friday. Those percentages never changed. I ran the numbers, they worked, and after that I pretty much copied my own homework every November.

I think there's more pressure now to offer a bigger discount than there used to be. Plenty of brands don't give in to it, though, and before you match what everyone else is doing, I'd love for you to look at what that discount actually costs you. You still have time to do this in October, before your emails and graphics get made.

Start with what the discount costs you

Here's an example with made-up round numbers. Say a customer places a $100 order, and the products in that box cost you $25 to make. That $25 is your COGS (cost of goods sold). At full price, you have $75 left to cover everything else: shipping, payroll, rent, marketing, and hopefully some profit.

Now take 20% off. The customer pays $80, the products still cost you $25, and you have $55 left. That $20 came straight out of your side. At 30% off you have $45, and at 40% off you have $35 to cover the very same expenses.

So before you pick a percentage, run this with your own numbers. Use your real average order and your real costs, and decide how much you can give away and still be glad you ran the sale.

Add a gift before you add a bigger discount

As Erin's Faces grew and we had more money to work with, I wanted Black Friday to feel bigger. I left the 20% alone and added a step-up gift, which is a free gift customers get when their order reaches a certain dollar amount. Ours started at $125, and in the last few years we added a second gift at $250. We planned for plenty of the $125 gift, but the $250 gift was usually a limited-edition tote bag that very few people got. It was gone within 24 hours, thanks to the diehards who wanted in on all the free stuff.

At first, the $125 gift was a makeup bag or a brush. Every gift we ever gave, the tote included, cost me less than the 20% discount itself did. Go back to that $100 order: the discount costs you $20, and going to 30% would cost you another $10. A gift that costs you $5 is half of that jump.

Later I changed the gift to a product, and that's what I'd recommend to you (you'll see this called a GWP, or gift with purchase). We gave a mini of a more expensive item, like a serum or an oil, or a full size of a less expensive one, like an eye gel. Pick something universal that almost anyone can use. A makeup bag is nice, but a product gives your customer one more thing of yours to fall in love with.

The math is friendly too. The customer sees what the product sells for, and you only pay what it costs to make. In our made-up example, a $24 product that costs you $5 feels like $24 to them.

Some brands skip the percentage altogether, and OSEA is a good example. Their Black Friday offer last year was free gifts at three spending levels, plus sets priced lower than buying the products separately, with no percentage off. I think that's a genius model. They choose what you get, and my guess is it eats into their margin (what's left after their costs) far less than 20% off the top would.

Check your free shipping minimum

Free shipping is part of your offer too, and it just got more expensive. As of October 4, USPS has temporary holiday prices in effect on Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select, and they stay in place until January 17, 2027. For a package of 3 pounds or under going Priority Mail or Ground Advantage, that's 40 cents to $1 more per order, depending on how far it's traveling and whether you pay retail or commercial rates.

We offered free shipping during our sale, always with a minimum. Ours started at $50, and I moved it up to $75 because it was expensive. If you haven't looked at your minimum in a while, look at it now, with the new rates in front of you.

Pick it, then keep it

Once you land on an offer your numbers can support, I'd keep it steady from year to year. People start to expect it, and you get to stop reinventing your sale every fall. And for what it's worth, our May sale was only 10% off, and almost every year it doubled or tripled our revenue for the month. A bigger number isn't the only thing that gets people to buy.

So run your numbers this week and choose the offer you can afford. If it works, you get to copy your own homework next year too 😊.

If you want support from someone who has navigated the realities of building, scaling, and eventually selling a product-based business, you can learn more about coaching here.