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Did you know that some of today’s fastest-growing digital brands are using coupons and offers as a core part of their growth marketing strategies? Did you know that coupon usage among US consumers is higher than its even been? Are you missing out on a huge opportunity to propel your business to growth? At Dealspotr, we work with thousands of brands that run all types of coupon marketing campaigns, and we’ve seen what works and what falls flat. From our experience, here are the essential ingredients of the most successful coupon marketing campaigns.
Offer a significant discount
A good deal will convince a shopper to buy, a great deal will convince them to tell their friends about it. In today’s social media-driven marketplace, you need to rise above the noise and offer a really great deal that will get people to share and talk about your deal. Word of mouth distribution is the most powerful form of marketing, and people do like to tell their friends about great deals - they just won’t do it unless the deal is really great.Create a sense of urgency
One common mistake marketers make with coupon offers is to offer them indefinitely, or over very long time periods. If you’re going to let a coupon run for a long period of time, you should consider making it permanent and building it into your brand value, like how many stores offer free shipping and returns all the time and promote that as part of their brand message.Ideally, you want to create a sense of urgency with your coupon campaign so that your customers have a clear deadline before which they must act before missing out on the deal. Another way to create urgency is to limit the deal to a set number of customers, or based on available quantity. The bottom line is that you will see higher conversion rates by compelling your customers to act based on a specific deadline or limit.
Create a theme or meme around your coupon
While simply running a great deal, like 50% off store-wide, is great, you can make an even greater impact by branding your coupon campaign around a holiday, major event, or other theme. People are more likely to share things that tap into current events and happenings, and you can leverage the fact that people might already be thinking about Back to School, Halloween, 4th of July, or whatever the current time may be.If there are no major holidays or events around the time of your campaign, not to worry, there are obscure and wacky “holidays” every single day of the year which you can find on various calendars online. And there’s no reason to limit yourself to any type of holiday, some of the most successful coupon campaigns have completely original themes developed by retailers built around their own brands and their customers interests. The important thing is to give your coupon campaign a personality to make it more approachable and sharable.
Use a multi-channel marketing blast
Some marketers make the mistake of limiting a given coupon campaign with one specific channel, like “this is going to be our Twitter promotion” or “let’s send out a deal to our email subscribers.” By doing this, you’re leaving a lot of value (and conversions) on the table. Now that you have a compelling offer animated with a great theme with a compelling call to action, you need to get the word out through all of your channels in parallel. This includes:- All your social channels, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc
- Influencers / ambassadors
- Affiliates
- Mobile notifications
- Coupon sites like Retailmenot and Dealspotr
- Your website
Use a code
Shoppers are increasingly attuned to promo codes, some statistics show a significant number of shoppers who are reluctant to complete a purchase without a code. The fact is, every e-commerce site displays a big, juicy “Promo Code” box and this has trained shoppers to look for these.Even if your deal is openly offered on your site and does not require a code, you can create a sense of scarcity and a more compelling call to action by including a code with your promotion. Codes, by their very nature, have an elusive nature to them, you can make people feel special by putting a code in their hand that “unlocks” something of value. In this way, people are more likely to share deals that include codes in them. This feels more like insider knowledge that’s being passed around as opposed to simply telling your friends about a sale that’s open for all to see.
An even more compelling strategy is to give customized codes to each of your customers, and letting them know they can share this code with their friends. By making your customers feel like “insiders” or ambassasdors of your brand, you can greatly increase the likelihood they will share your offer with their friends.
Make the deal shareable
When designing your coupon, you should be thinking from the get-go about how it can be shared. Since one of your top priorities is word-of-mouth distribution, you’ll want the coupon to be easily shareable with a click. Some easy ways to do this:- Include an image with your campaign
- Include a code
- Create a video about your deal
- On your website, include a social sharing button
Promote through influencers
Did you know that 90% of online impact is driven by 3% of people on social media? Influencers have outsize impact on what people see, hear, and share. In this way, brand ambassadors are a powerful form of marketing. Giving your influencers access to special deals they can offer their readers, or providing them an incentive to share your deal through affiliate payments or sponsorship fees, can be one of the most effective ways to promote your deal.Social platforms such as Twitter and Instagram are great places to locate and connect with some of these influencers. To an increasing extend, more specialized community platforms that cater to deal shoppers like Slickdeals and Dealspotr are also great places to find influencers who can drive huge brand impact. The key to influencer marketing is to approach it as a high value partnership. Take the time to get to know an infuencer, understand her audience and her brand before approaching with a business proposition. Also recognize that most influencers will require a significant monetary investment to promote your brand, and this scales with the size of their audience.
