Offering discount coupons on purchases can draw people to your store. Statistics show that 37% of customers purchase more items than usual when coupons are involved. 25% of buyers admit to spending more overall due to the same.
When done right, both parties involved will feel the positive impact that comes with it. As customers enjoy discounted prices, businesses are also likely to generate more sales. Brand awareness, brand reputation, and customer loyalty are other advantages of employing discounts as a company.
Given the benefits mentioned, coupons can offer a great marketing strategy. At the end of the day, your enhanced brand awareness and reputation may attract more customers. It can also increase the number of returning customers. But how do you create a working coupon marketing strategy? This article will discuss some of the most important tips to keep in mind.
Set your goals
The first thing you should do before launching your coupon campaign is to set goals. What do you want to achieve at the end of the campaign? These objectives will determine how you’re going to plan your campaign and the resources you’ll need.
Here are some of the most common coupon marketing goals you might want to consider:
- Boosting your product sales
- New customer acquisition
- Acquiring customer data such as contact information
- Engaging your existing customers, especially those who are inactive
Of course, you can focus on more than one of these goals in your campaign. Provided you have the necessary resources to run the program and monitor its performance.
Coupon distribution strategy
How will the news reach your potential customers? Whichever option you choose here will have a huge impact on the success of your marketing project. There are many channels you can use but not all of them are ideal for your campaign. It all depends on your audience and where they’re likely to spend most of their time.
For instance, if you’re targeting the younger generation, you might want to leverage the power of social media rather than emails. You may also want to partner with micro-influencers or various coupon sites for better results. The main benefit of such partnerships is that you get instant exposure since these websites and influencers already have a huge following. For instance, you have a high chance of attracting potential customers when your coupon code is posted on DontPayFull.com or any other similar platform.
Research the market for the best incentives
Once you’ve decided on your main objective(s) and distribution strategy, the next step is to choose the best discounts for your campaign. Remember, your competitors are also looking for the most effective ways of winning the market. Therefore, it’d be prudent to analyze what they’re offering and see if it works for your business. Strive to give your customers better offers, especially if your main aim is to attract new customers.
Another option would be to ask the customers what they’d appreciate the most. You can do this by sending questionnaires to your prospects and existing clients. This task is even a lot easier today given the growth of social media and other digital communication platforms.
Still not sure what to offer? Consider the following incentives:
- Free shipping: ideal for e-commerce businesses
- Percentage discount: for instance, a 10% off on specific items
- Free item: for instance, a free dessert for every dinner on Wednesday
- Buy one get one free: quite common in both e-commerce and traditional shops
- Amount discount: special discount is given for orders exceeding a given amount
Decide on the ideal discount amount
How much should you discount in your coupon campaign? Choosing the best incentive is one thing but deciding on how much to cut from your original prices is a crucial part of this project. Customers may not be attracted if the discounted amount isn’t appealing enough. As such, you may not get the desired results even if the incentive class you’re offering is ideal for your customers.
But then again, giving out too any discounts can mess up your cash flow. So, which is the best amount? Well, there is no right or wrong answer here since it depends on many factors, one of them being customer needs.
Perhaps the best way to go about it is trial and error. Start with the least possible coupons and monitor the results. Keep increasing until you find the sweet spot that works for your business and your customers. But never go beyond your margins unless you want to clear expiring, slow-moving, or discontinued products. After all, the business will still need to generate revenue to cover production expenses.
Segment your customers
Every business has different types of customers, and yours is no exception. As such, it’d be prudent to segment your customer base and send a different coupon to each group. Of course, you’ll need to consider consumer needs and behavior while creating these target groups. Other data that might be useful include age, occupation, and location.
Keep in mind, though, that your business is different from your rival enterprise. A customer segmentation strategy that works for your competitors may not work for you. That said, you must analyze your sales data to come up with the best customer segment criteria.
Conclusion
Coupon marketing can be a very effective way of attracting customers and building your brand. To make this marketing strategy a success, you’ll first need to come up with your main goals. Whatever you list here will guide how you decide on the rest of the factors. These factors include coupon distribution strategy, the type of incentive, and the applicable discount amount. Make sure you analyze your sales data as well as your competitors’ statistics before launching your coupon program.