Simple Research-Backed Tips on Effective Coupon Campaigns

Several business owners hardly make use of a coupon campaign in marketing their businesses; this is due mostly to the conception that it’s a waste of money. Many of them believe that coupon marketing campaign only attracts discount-conscious customers. However, Brian Warfield, a senior product manager for Mitchell CRM product line believes that coupon marketing can be an innovative strategy that has numerous benefits for businesses.

Nevertheless, the truth remains that, any business can embark on coupon campaign marketing, but, only a select few can laugh an effective campaign. Many business owners go about launching a coupon campaign the wrong way. Launching a coupon marketing campaign without adopting the right strategies will only result in loss of money and effort without a corresponding result.

Benefits of a Coupon Marketing Strategy

There are a lot of benefits in using coupon campaign in marketing your business. Some of the numerous benefits include:

• Coupon presents a chance for extra profits from the sales of related items.
• Coupon enables businesses to attract new customers. This is especially effective when they are keenly seeking for specific products and services.
• Coupon helps to lure new customers that have previously been buying from other brands. It’s an established truth that customers will change regular buying patterns to benefit from a nice coupon offer.
• Coupon helps to pull in business. It also has the effect of growing or expanding your market scope. A number of consumers won’t mind traveling a lot of distance in order to cash-in on an exclusive coupon.
• Coupon marketing campaign helps to reactivate old customers.
• Coupons can also very helpful in sustaining business during a slow phase in sales

Research-Backed Tips for Effective Coupon Campaign Marketing

Coupon campaign marketing has been established to be a highly effective marketing technique for any type and size of business. According to a report by Advertising Age, 87% of all shoppers make use of coupons.

Similarly, A.C. Nielson Co, also reports that 95% of all shoppers fancy coupons and 65% of shoppers actively lookout for coupons.

Making use of good coupon campaigning strategy regularly can present a steady inflow of new customers as well as high quality sales leads. Below are a number of research-backed tips a business can utilize for an effective coupon marketing strategy:

• Personalize Your Coupon Strategy

Human beings are emotional beings and as such tend to respond to things that stir their emotions. That is one of the reasons why good marketers always try to appeal to the emotional sides of consumers in an effort to convince them to buy their product and services.

Your coupon campaign should not be different. Design your coupon strategy in such a way that the customer is made to believe that the coupon is specifically created for their benefit.

 This has been proven to be very effective by Gorjana & Griffin. The company launched a “secret” coupon sale at some stage in an on-going campaign in 2013, which resulted in unbelievable results. In the middle of an already successful campaign, the brand’s Twitter account sent out a tweet, which stated, “SHH, SECRET SALE JUST FOR YOU. Additional 40% off Sale Section using the code SECRET. Can you keep one?”

This tweet made the offer sound very personal and touched the emotional side of customers, which resulted in a huge result for the company. It also helped to convince a lot of potential customers who were undecided about the offer.

• Utilize Creative Design

According to Inmar, 321.3 billion manufactures-funded coupons were distributed in 2015. This statistic indicates that a lot of companies are already jumping on the coupon campaign bandwagon.

Nordstrom alone offers close to 31 coupons daily. When you add other numbers from other retailers, you will discover that to be able to stand out and attract customers with their coupon campaign, a brand has to employ great creativity in designing their campaign.

This creative design should not only involve the right color, font, test placement and ease on the eyes, it should also entail creativity in terms of what is being offered and how it is being offered.

• Avoid Confusing Customers

Coupons should be uncomplicated, streamlined, and to the point. When you cannot describe your coupon in a sentence, you’re probably doing something wrong and confusing customers. Coupons benefits that are not clear in a simple way will confuse and drive away customers instead of attracting them.

A quick check about Kohl and their confusing coupon marketing campaign will attest to the wisdom of avoiding confusing coupon campaigns.

• Use a Limited Time Offer

It’s no secret that limited time offer strategies have been used in bringing in more sales. When a product or service is an irresistible one, and there is a limited time to purchase it, customers are certain to cash in.

The timing of a coupon campaign is very decisive! You need to consider such things as  time and  the season of the year, what deals or coupons your competitors are offering, what inventories you’d like to clear out and a lot of other factors.

But, most importantly, you need to set a limited time offer for your coupon. Characteristically when customer examines a coupon and perceives they have time, they’re almost certainly going to forget about it if they don’t act immediately.

According to Tehnomic reports, that two-thirds of consumers — including 73 percent of women — said they’d be likely to order limited-time-offer foods that match flavors from the specific time of year. Likewise, three-fifths of consumers, aged 18 to 44, said the same regarding beverages that feature seasonal flavors.

• Employ Coupon Campaign for More Emails Open and Click Rates

 According to Experian CheetahMail data, on the average, 70 % of coupons-based e-mail marketing campaigns have a much higher open and click rates compared to other mailings sent out by the same brands. Latest analysis point to the fact that e-mail coupons accessible for online redemption offer a 34% average boost in open rates (23.9 % VS 17.8 percent), even as those with in-store redemption have an even superior average boost in open rates of 51% (24.6% VS 16.2%).

Conclusion

More and more businesses are making use of coupons to create a dedicated client base and this has proven very valuable so far. An astounding 91% number of coupon redeemers have indicated that they will buy from a retailer again after they have been presented with a coupon. A reasonable number (57%) of buyers indicates that coupons were the reason for their decision to purchase a product in the first place.

These days, more people than ever are seeking for coupons to help them save when buying products and services they need. As businesses strive more and more to attract customers to their product and services, coupons are bound to prove even more important for marketers in the future.