Are Freelance Writers Wise to Offer Student Discounts and Coupons?

Most everyone enjoys a good discount but a number of disadvantages arise for both freelancers and academic writing and research companies that work with freelancers. This post examines how discounts and coupons can benefit freelance income and increase clientele, reviews the risks of too many discounts, and provides recommendations for effectively offering promotional savings.

To understand the advantages and disadvantages of offering discounts and coupons in the academic writing industry, one must first understand the different types of promotional savings typically offered. Some companies use a generic coupon code that can be applied by any customer at any time while others use a one-time coupon good for one use per customer per semester or during special events (e.g. holidays). Others might offer savings when customers book a writer for a full semester. The only discount that freelancers are wise to offer continuously is a new customer discount. Any other discount should be offered carefully and with clear limitations.

Generic code coupons

Some companies offer an open-ended discount for all customers where the discount typically ranges from 5 to 15 percent off any service. While the offer is admirable in one's efforts toward engaging customer loyalty, it also presents some problems when the complexity of projects mean the discount risks cutting into what the freelancer is or can be paid. Essentially, this type of coupon offers a blind discount before the freelancer or company knows that the project entails. For example, offering a discount on a general research paper would be wise whereas offering a discount on a major project such as a Master's thesis or dissertation would be risky. Many large academic projects involve data collection and analysis, meaning there is no way to predetermine the total cost of a project without having all the information upfront-something that is not always possible with large projects. In these cases, any discount should apply to general writing only with clear limitations on what is excluded (e.g. data collection, data analysis, interviews, appendices, etc.).

One-time use per semester coupons

The one-time use coupon is highly recommended as the wisest choice for academic freelance writers and companies. This gives the customer the opportunity to save and lets them know they are appreciated while it restricts the risks of price haggling. For those opting to offer the one-time coupon, make sure the terms of use are clear. If certain types of projects are not included, list exclusions and restrictions in a clear and easily accessible way.

Book-a-writer discounts

Most freelancers appreciate on-going and long-term work and are willing to offer a better rate to customers who will be bringing repeat business. In academic writing, the shorter the project the higher the rate in most cases. Freelancers have stated that it often takes as much time to research for 1-2 pages as it does for 3-5 pages so the rates for shorter projects are typically higher. When a customer books a writer for an entire semester, they might still have several short (1-2 page) projects but they are getting a lower per page rate because the writer knows their work will carry forward for the coming months.

New customer discounts

Virtually every freelancer and company across all industries should offer some type of new customer discount. It's simply good business practice. The new customer discount gives a possibly skeptical individual the change to try one's services at a lower rate. However, it is the responsibility of the freelancer or company not only to provide a high quality product or service that encourages the customer to return but that the quality is continuous. Offering savings on a single order does nothing to further the growth of one's clientele if the quality of subsequent services decline.

Recommended discounts and why

Of the discount types discussed, the most beneficial are "book-a-writer" and "new customer" discounts. Why not offer all types of discounts, all the time? Discounts that are not specifically limited open the door to hagglers. What is a haggler? Someone who constantly asks for a lower price, even going so far as to argue that "you gave me a discount last time, so you can do it again". Similar to other freelance writing industries, academic writing is filled with tight deadlines and no time for back and forth over price. When much of the time from the onset of the order to quoting and receiving payment (whether one's policy is partial or full payment before the work begins) is spent haggling over price, the time that should be spent researching and writing high quality work is lost. The risk of rushing is increased, thus increasing the need for revisions. In these cases, such types of revisions could cost the customer more in the long run. As such, there is no real savings in these cases and everyone walks away disappointed-an outcome that no freelancer or company should ever want.

In short...

There is much more that can and should be said about discounts and coupons but these examples and recommendations give an idea of what works best for most freelance writers. Holiday discounts are often effective and worthy of further discussion. What types of discounts or coupons do you like to see?

Book-a-writer discounts are both friends and enemies of freelance writers ;)

I've had a longstanding policy in place that every 100th paper is absolutely free.

how do you keep track?

I use punch cards like at the submarine sandwich shop (they are BIG cards).

My website offers discounts for first-time users (usually) and discounts towards the end of the semester when business is busier.

Conversely, I usually charge full price for first-time clients and offer a discount for repeat clients (as well as for active duty military/veterans, firefighters and larger assignments).

At some point, I wanted to include discounts for those who served in some line of duty. Unfortunately, there just isn't an official method of verifying that. I'm also positive that some jerks would lie about it.

This occurred to me as well, but I don't think I've had any abuse of this policy (as you say, though, it's impossible to tell).

Finding a writer that fits your scholastic needs can be a challenging process with all of the competition in the industry, so I prefer to give discounts to students on their first order so they can have confidence and feel good about the partnership. If it's a subject I'm very interested in, I also sometimes take on the work for a reduced price.

Normally, discounts should not be given to the client upfront. It should not be something that you advertise immediately on the site because that is the ploy of academic writing companies. A freelance writer should instead, offer a discount to a client who has come forward with an inquiry regarding securing the writer's services. It should be something offered to the client at the end of the negotiation as a sign of good faith.

If the first working experience is beneficial on both ends, then a second discount can be offered upfront to the returning client. The increase in discounts should not be more than 10 percent at a time in my opinion. However, the increasing discount should depend upon the number of papers ordered. For example, 20% after ordering 10 papers or something similar. A student who successfully refers x number of clients to your service can get an increased discount at a faster rate. The rate of discount and method of providing the discount should really depend upon what the freelance writer would be comfortable offering. You can learn from the more experienced freelance writers here and their business practices. They are very sound and help them to retain their client base.

It's funny to see mostly foreign essay services offering a discount instantly calculated into the total price. Quite often, a writing service offers a discount to 'first-time customers' (who then end up using multiple emails to quality for it ;) I agree that referral discounts are the most productive ones for both the student and the academic research service.

If they cheat their own writers, one may expect a similar behavior towards their customers who count on getting "purchase rewards." Virtually all ESL / suspicious essay services offer discounts to all visitors (they usually call it a "Discount for a NEW Customer"). I'm not sure about the reasoning behind this; to me it's like going to a home furniture store and having this conversation:

Buyer: How much is this chair?
Seller: It's only $160.
Buyer: Ah, seems very expensive to me.
Seller: But this price includes a 20% discount!
Buyer: Wow, that's a great price, I'll take two!

I've never given a "discount," per se; but a few years ago, I did (once) charge a lot less than usual to help out someone in a military family who was going through some very hard (tragic) circumstances. Another time, (around 2008 or 2009), I purchased the exact same used IBM laptop on eBay that I was using at the time and had it shipped directly to a client who had indicated that the reason she needed my services was that her house had burned down with her computers, books, class notes, and all but 1 or 2 of her 5 or 6 dogs and cats. It was an essay-company client and that laptop cost me about 3 times the roughly $50 or $60 I received from the company for that 3-pg project. I forget whether I asked for her name and address through the message system or if it was on her source materials (as happens sometimes) and just surprised her with it.

Sometimes, I do charge a little less than normal (only) for the first project, because I know the client doesn't yet even know for sure that I'm legit, let alone why I'm worth the higher end of the price spectrum. I explain all that when I quote the next order and it's pretty rare that I'll lose the client over the price difference between the first and second project, although that happens occasionally. When new (or prospective) clients ask whether I give discounts for repeat customers, I explain that the answer is no, simply because just about every client who uses me once becomes a repeat client, typically, for years.

I've experienced a few "liars" who used multiple email addresses to get a first time discount but in the end, they have to live with the lie. I accepted the order and pay, albeit at a lower cost to the customer. Still, it was more than the zero I probably would have received if I had called them out. ;)

@writer4life the Chinese businessmen have an old saying, roughly translated, it means something like; "it doesn't matter if you charge by the cents, that'll turn into a dollar eventually. If they keep coming back, you get more from them over time." I see that you also follow the same work ethic. I applaud you for that. You earn based upon the number of clients you get per month. I am confident that this has translated into a steady income for you in the long run.

While it does hurt to know that we are allowing the students to run a con by us, the fact that the con brings in money, albeit not the in the amount that we would like to have, makes it worth ignoring in my opinion. It is truly better to have something, in the form of the lower priced order for a "liar" client, than to have nothing because we knew the student was running a con and we would rather lose income because the student refused to pay our asking price. That's what haggling at the start of the negotiations is all about for independent writers.

My first inclination is that it should be relatively easy to promote just about any type of coupon site, especially in the current economy. I don't know what kind of budget you are working with, in terms of marketing, but things can be done relatively inexpensively.

A couple of ideas that I would start with would be creating ads to be posted on Craigslist. You could also do a very simple YouTube video introducing the site. It doesn't even need to have actors - it could just provide several slides that explain some of the key points about how the site works, etc. The video would of course link to the your freelance writing site. You could also create an "Research Paper and Essay Writing" channel on YouTube that hosts videos/presentations that provide various writing tips and/or success stories from your site users and/or clients.

You could also advertise an affiliate opportunity for the placement of banner ads. I am not sure if the affiliate program will work right now though, since your site is currently totally free to everyone (as I assume at least, after having reviewed sites similar to EssayCoupons.com)....I am not sure how you plan to produce a revenue stream for the site that would in tern allow you to compensate affiliates. Anyway, those are some of the ideas of how I would promote your essay writing site, with YouTube being the priority, followed by Craigslist in second place.

I find that clients will normally ask for a discount the minute they place an order. They try to haggle everything down during the order placement process. During the early years of my company, I often allowed the students to get away with early discounts because I wanted to build a client base. This was something that I did not regret because it resulted in repeat business for my company. Later on, I began to offer affiliate discounts as well since they were already referring my company to their peers and family members in need of writing help.

These days though, I have stopped offering affiliate and per project discounts. Yes, I have succumbed to the "Rewards Cards" route. My new company policy is to offer a permanent discount to any client who has placed at least 5 orders with the company within the semester. They get a company member ID number and receive perks and privileges that they can use during the current or succeeding semesters. I offer rebates on an order price once they "cash-in" their rewards points. The whole system works in a similar fashion to any normal discount / rewards card out there. The clients are happy about it and so am I. It helped me build an even stronger relationship with them because they get listed as "legacy" users who get concessions where others do not and cannot.

I actually did some research not so long ago about the impact of discount codes and the frequency of discount cards in the research market. Surprisingly, I found that only one company in the market currently has discount/reward card program, and it was one of the sites in the Ukranian conglomerate. I too gave students discount codes until couple of years ago, but decided against it because it seems to perpetually increase their demands so I just instituted one-and-done policy. First time around you pay a fixed price and subsequent orders get a small discount. That said, I certainly hope that's not your company, because it's well known as being illegitimate.

When clients approach me directly and ask for a discount, I give the client a discount of no more than $5 per page. The amount of the CPP discount will depend on the gravity of the work, the deadline, and the history of the client with the company. New clients do not get a discount. Returning clients, get a discount only if they ask nicely and depends upon how much the assigned writer would want to offer as a write-off on his per page income. Hey, we all have bills to pay so students should not feel entitled to a discount. They should earn that privilege, it should never be seen as their right as a client.