Businesses need to be constantly find ways to promote their offerings and attract more customers onward. Regardless of their types and size, they have to come up with an aggressive marketing plan to successfully achieve their sales goals and one of the best ways to do that is by couponing.
Coupons are popular sales tools that can be given away to consumers in various ways. Research has shown that majority of shoppers use coupons while some are actively looking for them. This only means that more people these days, especially those with families, are conscious of their spending habits and don’t hesitate to use coupons to save money.
To use as a marketing tool, companies can have coupons printed in catalogs, in-store magazines or in local newspapers and magazines or post them online in their own websites or in coupon-exclusive sites. For the print version, though, businesses have to invest a certain amount. The online version, on the other hand, is less costly as businesses can simply post them in their own websites. Another option is to partner with the well known coupon websites to increase exposure of your products or services.
Apart from the regular coupon, the use of coupon codes is also a popular trend today. This is done by providing a discount coupon code for specific products being sold online and people wanting to buy that product just need to enter the coupon code at checkout to enjoy a lower price.
When to Give Away Coupons
Giving away coupons can be done on certain occasions. Popular clothing brands such as Nordstrom and Forever 21 are among those that offer coupons and promo codes not only through their company websites but even via Groupon Coupons and other exclusive coupon sites. Just make sure you’re not giving very big discounts as this can have a negative effect on your business.
Use on inventory. When you have products that failed to sell for quite some time, it’s best to create coupon codes in order to move theseitems. You can give a specific percentage discount on individual products or you can give away the item for free when they purchase other items that reach a certain amount.
Use on new customers. Coupons are a great way to encourage new customers to purchase from your business. You can do this by surprising them such as automatically giving them a discount to their first purchase. Or you can waive their shipping fee on their first purchase.
As a token of appreciation. It’s also a good gesture to give away coupons to loyal customers. With competition in the business industry very stiff these days, it is just fitting that companies thank customers who have been loyal to them. You can email coupon codes to old customers on your company’s anniversary as a gesture of appreciation for continuously supporting your brand through the years.
The use of coupons dates back to the olden days, around 1887 to be exact, when Coca-Cola created them to entice customers to buy its products. The year 2009, however, was the boom year for coupons during which some 3.5 billion coupons were redeemed.