The powerful effects of coupon marketing are becoming more widely known by the minute, and if you’re not yet using coupons as part of your marketing strategy, you’re inevitably missing out on countless sales opportunities.

Essentially, coupons are simply discounts – and who doesn’t like to feel like they are getting a bargain? However, there are many different and fun ways that you can implement coupon marketing beyond simply offering a discount, and each of them can result in significantly more sales.

What is coupon marketing?

The basic strategy of coupon marketing is simple. You provide codes or vouchers to your customers that they can redeem in exchange for either discounts or free products/services. 

There are numerous benefits to this strategy, including:

• Making tempting offers drives more sales.
• Giving people great deals encourages repeat business.
• Offering discounts and deals can help to drum up more interest on social media and drive more traffic to your online store.
• Offering discounts can be a great way to clear out any unwanted stock.

Ultimately, every shopper loves a bargain, which is the simple reason that coupon marketing is so effective. In 2020, a staggering 92% of shoppers searched for online discount coupons on sites like Koopy before making their purchases. However, simple discount coupon offerings can be a little too simplistic when it comes to successful e-commerce marketing, so let’s explore some other options.

Coupon marketing strategies that increase sales

The size of the discount that you wish to offer your customers will depend largely upon your profit margins, the urgency with which you need to make sales, and other factors, too. Instead, then, we’ll focus on how and when to use coupons more effectively in your marketing strategy.

1. Offer coupons to both first-time and existing customers

The hardest part involved in running an eCommerce business is getting new visitors to make their first purchase. Once they’ve invested the first time, you can begin to build their trust and increase the chances of them returning.

A popular tactic that many online businesses use is to offer enticing discount coupons for first-time customers. You can even create pop-ups to display such an offer, particularly targeting any new visitors that are on their way out of your virtual online door.

This approach can result in sales that you would not have otherwise made, and once you have a new customer on the hook, you can keep your store in their minds by sending out further coupon offers via your email marketing.

2. Drum up seasonal excitement with coupons

Whenever a popular holiday or seasonal change comes along, most inboxes get flooded with discount coupons. Some dates, such as Christmas, are better than others, although date-specific coupon offerings are almost always a good option to drive sales.

To best do this, you can either contact your subscribers via email marketing, or display coupon offers directly on your home page. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you from doing both. Remember, though, that seasonal offerings are fraught with competition, so make sure you take the time to design a coupon that is appealing, fun, and/or stands out in the crowd. 

3. Increase your per-sale averages by offering price-minimum coupons

Your average earnings on each purchase are one of the most important metric measures for an online store. Understandably, you want this figure to be as high as possible, and implementing a coupon marketing strategy can be a great way to achieve this.

Research shows that, when discounts are offered, consumers typically end up spending more than they otherwise would have. In fact, data shows that shoppers using coupons will spend an average of 24% more than those who don’t. You can benefit from this trend by offering discount coupons that only activate once purchase amounts go over a specified monetary figure.

For example, let’s say that you offer your customers a 10% discount once they spend over $20. When you’ve already run the numbers and know that, either way, you’ll still be making a profit, it’s a win-win strategy. This approach can drastically increase earnings, as it can significantly drive consumer impulse purchases.

4. Move less popular items with ‘buy one, get one free’ (BOGOF) coupons

In an ideal world, every single service or product in your store would fly out of the door in equal measure. Unfortunately, it’s common from time to time to run into situations whereby particular products simply don’t perform as well as you hoped.

When this happens with physical products, it proves a problem, as it leaves you stuck with merchandise that is taking up valuable space. A practical solution to this problem can be to ‘bundle’ such items alongside more successful sellers by using coupons. Using this approach, you can simultaneously make high-margin items even more attractive and rid yourself of unwanted inventory. Another win-win.

Bundles won’t make you as much money as you would have if you’d successfully sold each product separately. However, this approach can often drive considerably more sales, meaning that you come out ahead overall.

Summing up

The world of eCommerce enables you to get far more creative with coupon marketing than simple discount offerings alone. With a smart approach, coupons can assist you in significantly boosting sales, and you can try and test out a variety of approaches anytime you see fit. 

The pandemic accelerated the emergence of online shopping in a big way, and competition is fierce. Coupon marketing is a highly effective strategy for staying in the game, cultivating raving and repeat customers, and dramatically increase your revenue.