The Challenge
Appliances Direct is a go-to retailer for home appliances, from fridges to washing machines and everything in between. Like many ecommerce brands, they used generic discounting to drive sales. But discounting everyone isn’t just unnecessary. It’s a revenue drain.
Without intent, Appliances Direct’s discounting approach was broad and untargeted. Discounts were applied too early in the journey, often without real-time context, leading to margin erosion and unnecessary incentives for visitors who didn’t need them.
Why were they doing this? Simple. Because that’s how discounting has always been done. But their team knew they could take a more strategic approach.
The Hypothesis
By only offering delivery incentives or discounts when intent signals indicated a visitor was at risk of abandoning, Appliances Direct could maintain conversion rates while reducing unnecessary discounting.
Not everyone needs a discount to buy. Some visitors are price-sensitive and need an extra nudge. Others are already committed and would convert regardless.
In fact, The èƵ Gap report shows that 83% of shoppers have used a discount code despite being ready to pay full price. This is proof that many discounts go to those who don’t need them. The key is knowing the difference.
By using real-time intent signals, Appliances Direct could reserve discounts for the visitors who actually needed them. Those hesitating at checkout, about to abandon, or actively comparing prices. Everyone else? Full price, as intended.
The Solution
Instead of blindly firing discount codes to everyone, Appliances Direct used Made With èƵ’s AI agent to target Convert Abandon segments. In our segmentation framework, these are defined as visitors with high intent to purchase displaying clear exit signals and low likelihood of returning to the site. We targeted these visitors with tailored discount offers, fired in real-time as they matched this criteria.
By identifying these behaviours in real-time, discounts became a targeted persuasion tool, not a giveaway. Just by integrating our intent data with their Bloomreach setup and adjusting the triggering. This prevented unnecessary discounting while also nudging hesitant buyers towards conversion at a more impactful moment.
The Impact
Without èƵ, discounts were applied to everyone, regardless of whether they actually needed them, resulting in reduced margins and minimal gain.
With èƵ, Appliances Direct identified the most likely to abandon visitors and prioritised incentives only for those who truly required them.
Key results: 42% margin saved by limiting unnecessary discounting, plus more conversions from high-intent visitors at risk of abandoning.
This approach didn’t just improve efficiency, but made discounting feel intentional. By targeting visitors who were deep in the buying journey but showing signs they were about to exit, Appliances Direct proved that intent signals could unlock more precision and more profit. It validated their hypothesis that smarter discounting starts with better timing.
Discounting to everyone is easy. But for retailers, that approach often means giving away margin to customers who would have purchased anyway.
This Play shows how layering real-time intent data into your existing stack can stop the leakage, without impacting performance. And it’s just one example of what becomes possible when you start thinking with intent.
Want to stop leaking margin and start to do smarter discounting? Learn more about Discounts with èƵ.
