History of Coupons
The word coupon has been named after the French word “COUPER” which means to “CUT”. The coupons are started from 1886 when a pharmacist named John Pemberton created a special recipe for Coca Cola which was initially sold for 5 cents a glass. He started a campaign to distribute free coupons throughout the street so people could try Coca Cola for free and then somehow buy it next time.
After two years, a businessman Asa Candler purchased this today’s billion-dollar recipe for $2300 and subsequently acquired Coca Cola. Asa Candler continued with the same marketing strategy and kept distributing free coupons enthusiastically. Coupon marketing campaigns have been used first by brands since the launch of the paper coupon by Coca Cola in 1887. Those coupons were distributed within the magazines, street and placed inside post boxes.
The Rise of the Digital Coupon
With the rapid development of digital technology, coupons have also changed over time becoming predominantly distributed through online channels. Nowadays There are so many amazing coupons and deals website where Customers enjoy being able to search easily the deals & discounts from their favorite brands and the ease of sharing them among family & friends.
Coupon marketing has already become a sophisticated strategy, which not only drives sales but also helps in building the image of brands and customer loyalty. In general, coupon campaigns have also become a source of tracking data for CRM which is typically used to build and continuously improve the marketing efforts. Coupons can help boost every business type and size if only a marketing strategy is well thought enough and planned accordingly to the budgeted amount. The way you run coupon marketing campaigns must be consistent with the way your marketing department works.
Almost 93% of Americans shop with coupons and 29% of them uses mobile coupons. Consumer shopping lifestyles have surely changed over the years, with many consumers becoming more price-conscious and selecting to purchase one brand over another if they are offered some sort of a deal or a discount coupon. It is even said that on average, consumers will spend 2 hours a week being enthusiastic to hunt for online deals and discounts.
It is not a secret at all that customers love deals and discounts. The beginning of using both smartphone and tablet has made coupon and code usage so much simple. Even with no coupons to clip, no emails to print out, consumers can simply take their smartphone to a store and can enter a code online for a great deal and discount.
However, it is not a good approach to marketing blindly. There are some effective ways to promote your coupon marketing campaigns which can somehow increase revenue while increasing customer loyalty.
Set a Clear Objective with Incredible Ideas
Keep your first promotion simple and clear, until you get the hang of digital coupon marketing. Some of the most common ones are ‘Buy One Get One’ (BOGO) or free shipping. Provided that your strategies and objectives are clear, you can somehow offer consumers free samples or items that are only available through a special discount and not to the general public. Always remember! Understand your market before launching a perfect marketing campaign.
- When a consumer buys an item for the first time, send a 10% off coupon to them for a next product if she/he leaves a positive review.
- Offer a $15 off coupon if a consumer buys at least three products so that the discount can be applied on entire order or just on a specific product.
- Make a coupon with a $10 discount accessible if the price of anything in the cart is more than $100.
- If a consumer buys one product from any category, send an email with a coupon for another one 20% off.
- Offer an additional 20% off coupon for a particular item if a customer purchases anything from the same category within the next two weeks.
- Offer a $5 gift card deal if a consumer purchased at least two items this month spent a min of $50.
- Make a good deal of a coupon for a more expensive variant of a product available in the price of a cheaper variant if the order value is more than $100.
Engage your consumers with a limited-time offer
A limited-time offer is a deal that consumers have access to a particular time limit. For example, you can set availability for a few hours or a few days. The goal is to get consumers to act sooner than later by limiting their access. Research shows that millennials are especially accessible to limited-time offers. 50% of consumers say that they find these offers appealing.
Limited-time offers are a treat for consumers during the product launches or special times of the year, like over the holidays. This approach also works well to attract consumers who are a little bit concerned about the stage of their customer journey. They’ve already done the research and limited down their options. When they visit your site and see the offer, they do understand the value of your offer.
To make your offer best among the competitors, do a little research to see what type of offers they are already making. Then find a solution to go one step further from them. For example, if they are offering consumers a 10% discount on their first purchase, do the same but add in free shipping as well.
Social Media
Social media are a free source of regular and new users. You can start with a detached code and publish it at different times. Results will somehow let you know when the traffic brings the highest conversion. Remember! Don’t give up too soon; social media is like any other distribution channel which requires lots of tests, patience, and creativity.
Keep in mind that social media doesn’t just end up on Facebook and Twitter. You somehow need to have a presence on all of the big networks to keep customers interested. Consider to make a YouTube channel and make sure that you have other social media platforms, for example, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat account too. Make sure to inter-connect all of your social media accounts together.
Email Marketing
Coupon campaign that is supported by E-mail marketing has many advantages. It can be highly personalized which means extra points to their marketing power and a golden chance to build interactions with potential consumers. It can be beneficial for brands large and small, bundled with good quality service, good quality products, and strong brand identity.
In a Nutshell
In this digital marketing era, things are changing constantly. It is perfect to just keep on the top with latest technologies wherever possible. If you somehow understand your target market, digital coupon campaign will no doubt boost your sales with a blink of an eye.
Take enough time to get to know your potential consumers and their expectations. You can build a coupon marketing strategy that gets you in limelight and converts many consumers for you.
Author Bio:
I’m an enthusiastic writer who loves to write on lifestyle, fashion, money saving, and travel blogs. I’m currently writing for Discount Codez. An online discount coupons and promo code site. She holds a bachelor degree in computer science. I love reading books and making new friends. Say hello to me on Twitter
