Customers love saving money. No one is arguing against that statement, isn’t it?

One of the oldest tricks in the book is to offer special deals to customers to make them buy more from you. For a business that is looking to increase its bottom line or to attract newer customers, coupon advertising is a terrific option.

In this article, we will look at how businesses can use coupons to bring in more eyeballs, revenue, and whatnot.

Here’s how businesses should use coupons:

1. 1. Set realistic goals for your coupon campaigns:

The first step towards making your coupons attractive for you is to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish.

1. 1. • Do you want to collect customer data to build your customer base or to increase the size of your email list?
      • Do you want to increase your revenue?
      • Are you trying to reduce excess inventory?
      • Would you like your existing customers to buy more from you?
      • Do you want to attract the market of your competitor?
      • Are you looking to increase your conversion rate?
      • Do you plan to boost brand engagement?

When you know the rationale behind your coupon campaigns, it becomes easy to evaluate the market accordingly. Find out what your competitors are doing. What are the types of reward programs that they are offering currently? Find out where your target market accesses information from, and which are the places they will search for coupon codes.

1. 1. Employ limited-time offers:

A limited-time offer is a discount that your customers can only use for a certain period of time. It could be for a few days or hours or during a particular festive season. The goal of such an offer is to make customers act quickly to avail the offer. 66% of customers say that their spending behaviour changes when they know that there is a chance to earn rewards.

Such offers are extremely influential during a product launch or a special time of the year when there are a lot of customers ready to buy from you. It also works perfectly for customers who are considering your products among many as this little incentive gives them the necessary push to buy from you.

1. 1. Use customer rewards program:

Do you want to increase loyalty? A rewards program is a great way to do that. Customers who buy consistently from you will be delighted to know that their behaviour is being recognized. If they receive exclusive offers based on their spending patterns, not only will they buy more from you, they will also recommend your brand to their friends and family. The customer lifetime value (CLV) will increase, and your churn rate will decrease.

84% of customers say that they are more likely to stay with a brand that offers them some kind of reward program. You need to reward loyalty, and one of the best ways to do that is by offering them special discounts. Add a few more perks and you are golden for them.

But before you set up a rewards program, it is imperative that you try to figure out what they want. Send them a survey where you ask about the kind of rewards that will make them happy. Do they want a discount? Or are they looking for exclusive access to new products and events?

1. 1. Segment your audience:

You cannot apply the same offers to every customer. People are different. They have unique tastes and want different things. To ensure that the rewards you offer match the expectation of your customers, you need to categorize your customers into different cohorts based on multiple factors.

Here is a list of questions that you can take inspiration from to segment customers:

1. 1. • What’s their favourite rewards program from another brand?
      • Ask demographic questions like age, gender, location, occupation.
      • What are some of the most frequently purchased products from your competitors?
      • What is their annual income?
      • What are the things that they are passionate about?
      • Have they ever been in a rewards program?

The answers to the above questions will help you segment your customers. Based on their responses, you can decide on the kind of coupons you think will work best for each segment.

1. 1. Offer Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) coupons:

Do you want to move your less popular items off the shelf? If you are selling physical merchandise, items that move take up space and it isn’t good for business. One way to sell them off is to bundle them with other products that sell better. This way, you can make your high-value items look much more attractive and move your inventory at the same time.

Give the 1+1 offer as coupons. Your customers will feel better about getting a deal and you will also be thankful that you were able to get more space in your store. It can also help with more sales as the word spreads around about your 1+1 offer. Everyone loves a good deal, isn’t it?

1. 1. Use gamification:

People love playing games. It makes even a mundane task seem much more interesting than it really is. Gamification adds to the shopping experience and people will feel more attracted to your brand. There are multiple ways in which you can incorporate gamification into your coupon strategy. Make sure that the customers don’t feel as if they are being taken for a ride, the consumers should feel that the rules of the game are the same for everyone.

Here are examples of how you can add gamification to your coupons:

1. 1. • Scratch card or spin wheel
      • Scavenger hunts
      • Personality Quizzes
      • Instant win sweepstakes
      • Leaderboards
      • Offer points or other virtual currency that can be redeemed later
   2. Monitor your coupon’s campaign efforts:

After your coupon campaigns are underway, you need to measure how they are performing. Find out the campaigns that boost your sales and which are the ones that are not yielding any results. If you find that some of the rewards are not met with any excitement, you might want to change them. Like any other marketing effort, coupons take time to show the results that you want, that’s exactly why you need to keep track of their performance.

Conclusion:

Incorporating coupons into your business is a great way to drum up more business. But you need to do it right to get the most from it. The success of your coupon campaign depends on the quality of your campaign, the strategy that you employ and the tools you use for it. The best part about coupons is that no matter which type of industry you are in, you can use them to your advantage. Combine your coupon strategy with other promotional tactics to get noticed.

If you want to add coupons to your business offering, check out how 99minds’ tool can make a big difference.