How Coupons Can Help You Boost Your Conversion Rate This 2018?

When it comes to boosting conversion rates, I’m sure you’ve heard enough about landing page optimization and CTA placement for one lifetime.

But in my experience, the major CHALLENGE for any marketer is to attract new customers who may not be aware of your business, and your existing customers who need a reminder to come back to your business.

The bottom line?

If you want better conversion rates, you’ll NEED to constantly attract new customers and retain existing ones.

How?

By adding COUPONS to your marketing mix!

Don’t take my word for it; check out these stats: 

• 91% customers revisit a retailer if they are offered a coupon. (Source: Convince and Convert)
• Coupon users spend 24% more than regular shoppers. (Source: Deal Nerd)
• 31 Billion eCoupons will be redeemed globally by 2019. (Source: invespcro)

Still want proof?

Pennsylvania based popular weight loss products and services provider, Nutrisystem was able to increase its conversion rates by around 88% by offering a discount coupon to its customers.

I’m sure you’re surprised! Aren’t you? 

But you’ll be even more surprised when I say that optimizing conversions is just one of the many benefits of implementing coupon strategy in your marketing mix.

Let’s check out some other prominent benefits of using coupons as the fuel to run your marketing machine.

1. Generate More Traffic – Coupons attract online shoppers. In fact, 85% consumers actively look for coupons before buying a product. So promoting your coupons on review and coupon sites can easily help you tap into a large pool of web traffic.
2. Increase Brand Recall Value – 59% consumers think positive about a brand if they receive coupons. And 91% consumers recall a brand if they are offered a coupon. So, you can increase positive brand perception and recall value by adding a coupon strategy to your brand’s marketing campaign. Remember, the better will your brand’s recall value, the more will be your conversion rate.
3. Enhance Brand Awareness – Coupons can instantly amplify your brand awareness. Remember, 91% consumers consider coupons as an important reason to visit or revisit a site. Usually, popular review sites have broad reach and a fairly larger subscriber base. And promoting your coupons on such sites can easily help you tap into a large pool of potential customers and build brand equity.
4. Acquire New Customers – Coupons make for the best way to attract new customers to your business. In fact, 81% online consumers prefer buying from brands that offer promotion targeted to their product preferences. Once a customer website your website, you can turn them into repeat visitors by offering them coupons and discounts. Remember, for 91% consumers, coupons remain an important factor to revisit a website.
5. Introducing New Products – Let’s face it – it’s difficult to make consumers try newer products. This happens majorly due to the product price or buyer preferences. But by offering discount coupons for such products, you can easily reintroduce such products to your target audience. You’ll be surprised to know – 86% consumers don’t hesitate to try new products if offered discount coupons.

I’m sure now you’re wondering:

How do I add coupons to my marketing strategy?

Well, don’t worry; I’ve put together a five step guide on building an effective coupon campaign to boost your conversions manifolds, without having to run from pillar to post.

So let’s get started! Shall we?

Step 1: Think About Your Target Audience

First things first – you’ll need to mull over who you’re going to target with your coupon campaign. Will it be your existing customers, or new ones?

If you’re planning to target existing customers you’ll need to consider their purchase behaviour and carefully craft a personalized to match their product preferences. But if you’re planning to target newer customers, you’ll need to put up a great offer through your coupons. Remember, 80% shoppers are ready to switch brands if offered an exciting promotion.

Here’s an example:

Crocs started its coupon campaign with an objective to reconnect with its existing customers aged between 18 and 50 years. The company provided its customers with a discount coupon for 15% off of Croslite range.

As it turns out:

Crocs received a whopping 94,000 requests for the 15% OFF discount coupons in the very first month of its coupon campaign.

Here’s a piece of advice:

Don’t forget to offer follow-up discount coupons to both new and existing customers to encourage retention.

Step 2: Ponder Over the Type of Coupon & Offer

Now that you have figured out who you are going to target through your coupon campaign, it’s time to think about the type of coupon and offer you are going to extend to them. 

But:

There are many different types of coupons easily available at your disposal. Some of the most notable are:

• Digital coupons
• Printable coupons
• Mobile coupons
• Hangtags
• BOGO Coupons
• Store coupons
• Dollar Value Discount Coupons
• Percentage Based Discount Coupons

Well, it could easily be confusing and intimidating for even the most seasoned of professionals to choose the best from amongst such wide variety of coupons.

But here’s deal:

Not being careful when selecting the type of coupon for your campaign may result in nothing but disappointment.

Carefully mull over the offer that you’re planning to extend via your offer, when selecting the type of coupon for your campaign. Is it discount deals you’re offering to your buyers via text messages or you’re planning to reward your buyers with a small incentive percentage?

Judiciously selecting your coupon type will go a long way in ensuring success for your campaign.

Here’s how Birchbox offers 20% off discount coupons to visitors who abandon the cart.

This strategy really works well for the company in terms of bringing back the dropped off customers.

Step 3: Market on Coupon Directories & Review Websites

If you’re really looking to make your coupon campaign a huge hit, you’ll need to put your coupons on websites that can help you drive a lot of traffic, a lot of leads and a lot of sales.

I’m sure you’re wondering:

“What type of websites do I choose to publish my coupons?”

Answer:

Coupon Directory & Review Websites!

Why?

Because 96% buyers look for coupons on online coupon directories and 88% buyers trust online reviews and make purchase decision only after consulting review websites.

As it turns out:

Review websites and coupon directories get a lot of traffic and posting your coupons on such sites can help you tap into a fairly large pool of potential buyers looking for discount deals on the products you sell.

Here’s an example:

In a bid to promote its weight loss products, Nutrisystem started a coupon campaign with a Dollar Value Discount Coupon on offer.

The Pennsylvania based company was able to increase its conversions by 88%. In addition, the company also experienced an increase of over 70% in its website traffic.

Step 4: Leverage Email & Social Media to Promote Your Coupons

I’m sure you’ll agree when I say:

Success or failure of your coupon campaign depends on how well you’re able to promote your brand coupons.

But here’s the BIG QUESTION?

How will you effectively promote your coupons?

The answer is simple!

By leveraging social media and emails!

You’ll be surprised:

71% consumers follow brands on social media to get coupons and 58% consumers prefer receiving coupons via email.

Wait! There’s more:

40% buyers share email coupons and 28% consumers share coupons via social media platforms.

What does this mean for your brand?

Lower marketing expense, increased exposure and better ROI!

Want proof?

Popular global apparel and fashion accessories brand Gap was able to achieve a turnover of more than $US10 million in one day with its coupon campaign.

How did GAP do it?

By using a blend of social media and emails to promote their 50% off discount coupons!

Interestingly, the GAP coupon was tweeted by more than 30,000 people on Twitter and shared and liked by 606,000 people on Facebook.

Step 5: Stop, Analyse & Repeat

Now it’s time to track and optimize the performance of your coupon campaigns. You’ll need to find out if the campaign is really working well for your company or not.

Check your website traffic data to your landing pages to understand if you’re getting desired traffic from your coupon partners and affiliate. Don’t forget to track your customer’s journey to understand at what stage of their journey they consume your coupons.

Here’s something you must keep in mind:

False positives can ruin your otherwise better test results. So, make sure to avoid random results. Make sure of following these 3 steps to ensure there are no chances of randomness:

1. Measure everything carefully and look out for any data that’s noteworthy.
2. Ensure tracking every conversion point.
3. Once you’ve your results, reiterate the entire process.

If you’re getting positive results, don’t get complacent. Remember, it pays to constantly track and optimize your website performance.

If you won’t track and optimize your coupon campaigns’ performance, you’ll be left in a lurch and your competitors will be miles ahead of you. 

Now it’s Your Turn!

So there you have it – how to use coupons to boost your conversion rates manifolds this 2018 and beyond!

Now go on and out these easy tips into practice and see your conversion graph rise higher and higher. Have something to add? Or maybe you have a quick question?Either ways, leave a quick comment below.