Coupon Crazy

The world of coupons has changed; digital coupons are all the rage in the digital space. People are coupon crazy as they’ve ever been!

Why? Coupons have always been a driving force for marketers. You may have noticed that printed coupons are still being delivered and the reasoning is sound. For the consumer, coupons build awareness, drive traffic, provide favourable impression, show purchase intent and positively influence sales.

As such, if you are looking to promote your business, coupons are a necessary marketing tactic and can be leveraged in a variety of ways. Here are some random stats about coupons:

• Online coupon downloads continue to increase
• Coupon redemption has continued to grow at double-digit rates
• Google Insights confirms that the term “coupon” continues to grow in search
• One in five US consumers use digital coupons (that’s 20%)
• Comscore reports that visitors looking for a coupon increased by 10 million

Contest marketing platforms are a great way to find and engage with new customers and products. What makes your coupon valuable? What makes it count?

• A great coupon or offer must be enticing
• A great coupon or offer must be engaging
• A great coupon or offer must be shareable
• A great coupon or offer must create urgency
• A great coupon or is one that can be reused

When designing your coupon begin with the end in mind. Naturally, you don’t want to “give away the store”; we’ll all hear the horror stories of groupon coupons putting a small business out of business. Here are a few considerations:

• Offer 10% off
• Offer a product specific offer
• Offer a buy one, get 50% off the next
• Offer a free gift with purchase
• Offer free shipping

Keep in mind today’s consumers have expectations of openness and transparency. Larger brands can expect that consumers will hold them to a much higher standard than they would the local hardware store. As an example, Home Depot and Lowes will be expected to live to the letter of the law, verses some flexibly for the local retailer. The point here, be clear and explicit, marketers do not want any pushback. The offer is expected to earn and build on the brands goodwill. Keep the fine print to a minimum and ensure that the offer or coupon is real and provides real value.

Mobile coupons and offers via email should be part of your strategy. Mobile users and mobile integration continues to grow at amazing rates, as such, if you want your customers and prospects to use your offer, make it easy to get, easy to find and easy to validate on mobile. Starbucks is doing tremendous work and I’d suggest you look to them as a leader in this area, so check them out.

As a final note, coupons and offers are a must today because they work on so many levels. Consumers are crazy for coupons, marketers must engage with coupons, and contest marketing is the perfect interface for coupon distribution as social sharing is built right into the process of the coupon download.

Michael Bickerton, Raven5 Ltd December 2014

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