Coupons & Vouchers in South Africa These 10 Tips on Creating Value in Coupon & Voucher Marketing will help you discover and realise the power of coupons in social media marketing |
Coupons Can Close the The Sales Viral Loop The use of 3rd party coupon vendors is a large and established industry that is often a quick fix in that the coupon vendors have an established audience. The disadvantage lies in it not centering around rewarding and promoting customer loyalty. The sale of coupons by third party vendors is not designed to turn coupon shoppers into loyal advocates who share, write reviews and network to the advantage of the business. Coupons have the power to boost the closing of the loop by customers convincing and converting their friends and connections to become new customers who will grow your business. When the short term price drop ends will loyalty prevail? Often it does not. When customers believe that they belong to a community of shoppers that benefit from their association with the store, they will attract new customers by sharing, reviewing, advocating and referring! |
Popularity - Coupons are here to stay Times are tight and shoppers are price concious. Price is a huge coupon driver but value does not lie in price alone. From the early days of coupon distribution by Coca, Cola, back in 1887, to today where over 90% of Americans are estimated to be shopping with coupons, the rest of the world has been playing catch up. Across the board coupon and voucher use has become a highly effective sales tool in all sectors of the market. In the past restaurants, experiences, gadgets, health and the beauty service industries used to attract new business with coupons. Today, coupon use has few boundries. Clearly, coupons and vouchers are popular and have the potential to reward customer loyalty and get them to buy more and more often. They also allow Sellers to enable their customers to become advocates of their businesses by giving customers something of value to share with friends and colleagues and this way to boost their and your popularity. A contributing factor to the rise in coupon marketing popularity is the falling cost as a result of the growth in the use of digital coupons. Sellers can cost effectively e-mail links to online sites, that are phone friendly, for coupon reviews, acquisition and redemption. |
Objectives - Set goals and measure results Be clear on campaign objectives. Do you want to attract new customers or promote a new product range. Perhaps you want to move slow moving stock or get customers to shop on slow days when you will be able to offer a better user experience. Coupons can be used to promote or reward customer engagement for offering feedback, sharing on social media and for wring reviews. Having a clear objective will help to explore coupon value opportunities that are not price related. |
Tip No 1 - Promote the Benefits Coupons and vouchers offer the opportunity to target specific groups with benefits. Benefits are not restricted to discounts, consider service and quality upgrades, availability and expedited order benefits. Ease of collection. Free deliveries. A coupon that can be gifted. Bonuses eg 2 movie tickets when buying XYZ! Would you save customers time by having a coupon service counter as a reward to loyal shoppers? |
Tip No 2 - Boost the Ownership Experience Boost the ownership experience. What can you add to ownership to improve the user experience? |
Tip No 3 - Create Something of Value Designed to be Shared Send your customers a promo code that they can send on to their friends. Their mail has more chance of being read than yours! |
Tip No 4 - Promote a #hashtag Reward customers for sharing a picture showing the use of your product on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. Googling the #hashtag will link you to what has been shared and you could, for example, post a promo code on that customers page for their friends to benefit from the post. |
Tip No 5 - Promote Last Minute Deals When is the peak time for sales - SMS coupon deals to redirect traffic. Will receiving an SMS early on a week-end evening about a special deal at "Joe's" catch your attention and get you to change plans and go to "Joe's." |
Tip No 6 - Expand your Market Reach with Buddy Deals Buy ABC from XYZ and we will give you a promo code for.... eg Reward diners with a promo code for a coupon redeemable at the local pet shop. By promoting your buddy to each others customers you broaden the read into your community. |
Tip No 7 - There is Value in Exclusivity Offer a coupon that is restricted to VIP customers.... Offer clearance items to a select group. Offer coupon discounts that enable loyal customers to benefit from a season end sale a week before the sale begins. |
Tip No 8 - Impulse Buys are Easier to Upsell With this coupon you get a popular consumable (eg box of chocolates) at a 50% discount. Research and promote the impulse buy products that you stock. |
Tip No 9 - Double offers eg Get the second experience or service free/at a discount by submitting your voucher with your honest suggestions on how we can improve your experience. |
Tip No 10 - Rewards Offer a reward for eg 10 returns to a clothing store, home improvement centre, restaurant etc. |
Bonus Tip - Use Coupons to Test Customer Appetite Test the market appetite for new products and then follow-up with deals on related items. |
