As an ecommerce marketer, there’s one truth you have to remember: consumers love coupons.
No matter what customer segment your business targets and how luxurious the products you sell, consumers can’t resist the opportunity to pay less for a product they want to buy.
In this episode, we're talking about coupon marketing:
Tune in to hear answers to all these questions.
Want to read the text version of this episode? Check the guide to coupon marketing on our blog.
You may also like: How to promote discount coupons on Shopify.
Guides to creating coupon codes for major e-commerce platforms:
Create beautiful email signup forms, coupon boxes, and pop-up surveys for your store with Getsitecontrol.
As an ecommerce marketer, there’s one truth you have to remember: consumers love coupons.
No matter what customer segment your business targets and how luxurious the products you sell, consumers can’t resist the opportunity to pay less for a product they want to buy.
In this episode, we're talking about coupon marketing:
Tune in to hear answers to all these questions.
Want to read the text version of this episode? Check the guide to coupon marketing on our blog.
You may also like: How to promote discount coupons on Shopify.
Guides to creating coupon codes for major e-commerce platforms:
Create beautiful email signup forms, coupon boxes, and pop-up surveys for your store with Getsitecontrol.
Hi,
You’re listening to Getsitecontrol Insider, a monthly podcast where we talk about tactics to help you grow your ecommerce store.
Today, we are going to talk about COUPONS.
What are the different types of coupons you can use? How to create one? And how to promote it in your online store?
If you want to hear answers to all these questions, stay tuned.
As an ecommerce marketer, there’s one truth you have to remember: consumers love coupons.
No matter what customer segment your business targets and how luxurious the products you sell, consumers can’t resist the opportunity to pay less for a product they want to buy.
With a coupon marketing strategy, you can increase your sales while fostering brand loyalty, among many other benefits.
So, why coupons are such a big trend right now?
Coupon marketing is a strategic approach that uses time-sensitive discounts to acquire new customers at scale.
Companies have been using coupons since Coca-Cola’s first marketer, a man called Frank Mason Robinson, decided to give away tickets for free tastes of Coke back in 1888. The coupon marketing campaign paved the way to becoming the leading cola manufacturer in the US in the early 20th century.
With the proliferation of online stores, coupons are equally popular like they were 140 years ago. They allow brands to:
Coupons also boost consumer purchase habits. A recent study by Blippr found that online shoppers who use coupon codes spend 24% more than shoppers who don’t use them.
What's more, retailers experience 26% higher average order values from customers who use coupons than those who don't.
Now, that you know why coupon marketing is such a big thing in ecommerce, let’s talk about the exact steps you need to take to start using them in your marketing strategy.
How to create a coupon
Step 1: Define the type of coupon to use
Coupons come in different shapes and forms. Even though they all share the same mechanic, the minor differences between each coupon type can affect how consumers perceive them and behave afterward.
The most commonly used coupon types are:
· Percentage reduction off the original price.
· Vouchers – which offer a discount equivalent to a certain dollar amount
· BOGO - Buy one, get one free (also known as “two for the price of one”)
· And free shipping coupons.
If you aren’t offering any type of coupon in your store already, we recommend you start with a percentage-based coupon as it's the most popular and simplest to use. However, you can test any of the other coupon types to see which one converts the best and drives the highest average order value.
Step 2: Define the discount size
Coupons can be a great addition to your marketing strategy, but you must analyze how they affect your finances before you can use them. A poorly-planned coupon strategy can end up causing unnecessary losses your small business can't afford.
To define your coupon’s discount size, you should think about your profit margins and overall marketing strategy.
Some retailers make no profit in the first sale — or even lose money — and regain the initially lost money through “the back end,” which includes:
However, you need to set up all of these systems and make them work before you can execute an aggressive coupon marketing strategy.
If you lack the resources to take such a long-term approach, here is what you can do. Calculate your coupon discount by taking your average profit margin — say 30% — and setting your discount to a smaller amount — say 20%. The same idea applies if you use vouchers or any of the other coupon types.
Step 3: Create the discount code
Before you create your coupon, you need to set up a discount code on your ecommerce platform (this is the code you will promote in your coupons once you create them later on).
In the description to this episode, we’ve included a list of the guidelines for the major ecommerce platforms, such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.
Now, here are a few more tips for creating a coupon code. First, give it a short and obvious name. For example, a 10% discount should be called “10OFF” and one for new visitors should be called “WELCOME.”
It’s also a good idea to create different discount codes for different segments, such as:
In a moment, we’ll talk about how to promote each discount code for each segment.
Step 4: Time your coupons
The effectiveness of your coupon strategy will depend on its timing. Ideally, you want to present your coupons when your visitor is pondering about making a purchase. As a consequence, you need to consider a few things.
First, the pages where you present your discounts. For example, showing a coupon on a product page will target higher-intent visitors than those on the homepage.
Second, the time on site & number of pages per session. For example, a visitor who has spent more than the average time on site and who has visited more than the average number of pages per session is more likely to convert than one who has spent a few seconds and visited one page.
The third factor you should consider is user behavior. A visitor who has added a product to the cart but is about to leave is on the brink of purchasing; however, something stopped them from doing so. An exit-intent coupon may help them finish their purchase.
Purchase history is another important factor. Past customers are more likely to act on a coupon because they are familiar with your brand.
And finally, season. You can run more aggressive coupon marketing campaigns closer to holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Father and Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
You must factor in all of these aspects when creating your discounts. A poorly-timed coupon may devalue your brand and lower your profits for no good reason, so make sure to show your coupons at the right time and place.
Step 5: Promote your coupon
Now, to the fun part! Once you’ve calculated the discount and created a coupon code, how do you promote it to your customers? Well, there are a few proven tools to help you do that.
Popups
Considering everything we said about timing, popups are an ideal method to present your coupons. Popup tools such as Getsitecontrol allow you to use highly specific targeting rules to offer your coupons to the right customer segments.
Popups often get a bad rep due to the fact they interrupt the visitor’s experience. Although there’s some truth to this point, popups can work great if you make them relevant for the visitor and use them sparingly.
On the one hand, you want to promote your latest products, offers, or seasonal discounts. Using behavioral-based triggers and the other factors we discussed in the previous step, your visitors will see that the popups appear for a good reason.
Sticky bars
Sticky bars work like popups, but instead of showing up by surprise, they “stick” to the top or bottom of a page. For this reason, sticky bars are a less intrusive alternative to popups that can work equally well.
You can add a sticky bar to your store using the same triggers as popups. Ultimately, sticky bars should complement popups, not repeat the same message.
For example, you can offer a 10% discount through a popup, and remind the visitor about it with a sticky bar that says, “Don’t forget to use the code “10OFF” in the checkout to receive a 10% off on your first purchase.”
Email list building
So far, we’ve shown two coupon promotional methods where the visitor isn't expected to do anything but using the discount during their checkout. Sadly, the majority of the visitors won’t get to that point right away.
To get your visitors ready to buy, your brand needs to build trust with them over a long time — how long depends on your industry, products, and marketing efforts.
For that reason, you want to promote your coupons with the intention to get people to join your email list. For example, you can display an email opt-in form right before a visitor leaves your website, using an exit-intent trigger.
This, you can target those visitors who aren’t ready to buy but might actually like your brand. Then, you can create an automated email marketing campaign that nurtures them until they make a purchase.
And this is where email marketing comes into play.
Email campaigns are one of the most popular channels to promote coupons. Blippr’s study found that 88% of consumers like to receive coupons through email, while 56% indicated email was their favorite platform to get coupons.
A common and simple way to send coupons to your email list is through an “email blast”, which is a fancy way of calling an email that’s not part of an automated email campaign.
Online retailers usually use email blasts to promote their latest discounts and promotions.
You can also add a coupon along with a sophisticated email automation campaign that mixes educational content — such as a tutorial — with branded content — such as a story that explains the founding of the company.
Another option is to send a coupon in a cart abandonment campaign to recover lost sales. Such a campaign will target small groups of people, but those who open and take advantage of the discount will convert, leading to highly profitable results.
Social media
Social media is another channel consumers love to use to communicate with brands and receive coupons. Blippr’s study found that 76% of consumers follow brands on social media to find coupons.
You can promote your coupons on every major social network, both using text-based copy and images. However, you will see much better results by running a paid campaign.
Facebook currently offers highly advanced targeting options that allow you to target people who already follow your brand and who have visited your store (that includes Instagram).
For example, you could create a custom audience that targets people who have visited your store in the last seven days, and message them directly.
A coupon marketing strategy is a no-brainer for any ecommerce brand looking to acquire more customers while building stronger relationships with the existing ones.
Try multiple promotional tactics to find the one that’s most effective for your goals, and once you do, your business won't be the same.
This is it for today,
Thank you for listening and don’t forget to subscribe.
Until next time!