Not everyone expects to pay the full price for products and services when they order or book online. With so many online stores now offering new discounts and coupons, it’s highly unlikely a discount coupon code doesn’t exist for a product you wish to buy online.
Retailers add discount coupons into their marketing strategies in order to increase sales conversion rates which further increases customer loyalty.
Clever online shoppers are perfectly aware of capitalizing on deals and utilizing discount coupons in conjunction with other offers to maximize savings. For online stores, this could mean a less profitable sale.
However, marketers are ever-increasing their issuing of discount coupons in order to meet the demand of shoppers buying online.
How can online stores provide a digital discount coupon strategy and meet revenue and profit goals? Let’s find out.
Discount Coupons Aren’t Going Anywhere
More and more, shoppers expect discount coupons along with product and promotional messaging. Online stores that don’t provide these risk being overlooked and thus losing to a competitor.
90% Of Shoppers Use Discount Coupons.
Let’s face it, everyone loves to feel as if they received a ‘good deal.’ It’s a positive feeling to complete a purchase with some discount applied.
63% Of Shoppers Say They Want More Available Coupons
And who doesn’t? Plus, shops that provide discount coupons regularly see returning customers that may have been costly to get and have become familiarized with receiving such treatment.
Emails With Coupons Have Also Lead To Revenue Increase
An email has become a very effective means of providing personalized content. Marketing plans that include even a basic level of personalization generally perform much better than more generic messaging.
Incorporating a discount coupon into such an offer can boost its effectiveness quite a bit if the recipient, offers, and timing combination is right.
Downsides To Coupons
Despite having many pros, including discount coupons in a marketing strategy has its flaws.
Lower Perceived Value
Discount coupons can diminish the value of a product and even the whole brand, especially when abused by online stores to drive volume. Discount coupons are generally associated with close-out items, end-of-life products, and the strategy that just moves a not-so-successful product.
Although there’s no intent on the retailer’s part to decrease the value proposition, the negative connotation that’s connected with discounting an item or service that should be priced right, in the first place, will somewhat diminish the value and raise shoppers’ expectation to get the product at a lower price.
Less Profitable And Delayed Sales
When discount coupons are used in marketing on a regular basis, there’s a risk of delaying sales. As a retailer, you’re essentially training customers, especially returning ones, to wait for a better deal.
In addition, discount coupons are creating risk in the form of marketing expenses – whether the goal is to acquire new customers or keep current ones. This is an unsustainable strategy, and you will most likely lose customers at a higher rate than if you were to competitively price your products and provide an excellent overall purchasing experience.
Increased Shopping Cart Abandonment
Have you ever placed a product in your cart at an online shop only to abandon your purchase? Without realizing it, many retailers cause shoppers to do this every day by including a discount coupon code area in their checkout menu.
Those shoppers who intended to buy a product without an additional incentive have now found a reason to search for a discount coupon online, leading to an abandoned cart if they don’t find one.
Types of Discount Coupons
Even though there are many coupons out there, you’ll find these ones most often.
Downloadable Discount Coupons.
Consumers can access these coupons from various different locations. They can download discount coupons from a brand’s website, from an email, or even via social media.
Mobile Discount Coupons
Ecommerce websites that have integrated mobile apps into their business model provide mobile-only discount coupons to increase further sales.
Promo Codes
The growth in online stores’ popularity has led to the rise of promo codes. These codes are a combination of letters and numbers that are unique to the brand and generally applied during the checkout process.
One particular online store that does its operations in Dubai provides a great example of these promo codes. Carrefour offers groceries, home products, beauty, and health products, and one of its business strategies is offering discount coupons in the form of promo codes.
Automatic Discounts
Automatically applied discounts have become more popular since the shopper doesn’t have to do anything to get a discount. These discounts work well for online stores because they entice consumers with an offer of a discount, thus reducing the abandonment of shopping carts.
Conclusion
Discount coupons can drive business to online stores and help create a discount marketing strategy to increase long-term sales per customer. Coupons can also attract clients to more profitable items and services that the store offers. However, it’s crucial to compare the new revenue generated from a coupon strategy to the expenses of the discount or lower profit per product from customers.