Favourite word for all customers? SALES. Coupons have become a sophisticated marketing tool for many business and acts as a motivator to make more purchases for customers. That is the reason why products are likely to go out of stock once coupons are offered related to them. People tend to shop recklessly when they’ve received a coupon which is why many businesses try to come up with an effect coupon marketing strategy.
Research shows that the higher the value of the coupon (e.g. higher percentage off), the higher the incentive to make purchases, which can multiply your sales easily. What else comes with the incentive to purchase? The psychological factor involved here is the release of the hormone, ‘oxytocin’ within the body. This is a hormone which creates happy feelings, therefore we are likely to buy a product without scanning a lot through its details or specifications.
So what should you keep in mind before creating a coupon code? Below are the list of things to consider.
1. Expiry Date and Countdown
Do you want the sales to keep getting delayed by customers even when you’ve given them a coupon code? No one wants that. Therefore, an expiration date of the coupon code is extremely essential part of it to ensure that customers use it to make purchases as soon as possible.
- Including a time frame, for example, 26th November to 1st December, Valid for 15 days, etc. within which the coupon will be valid for use is a great idea, because as humans we have FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) which is the number one driving factor in making us have urgency and make purchases sooner.
- On the other hand, the same applies to coupon codes which come with a countdown timer. This is sure to drive up your sales at an unbelievable amount. These coupons come with a timer which constantly feed ‘FOMO’ (Fear of missing out) and sense of urgency within the customer, only more intense. These type of coupons tend to come with a 24 hours timer, 3 hours timer, 1 hour timer, and sometimes can even come with 48 hours timer.
2. Coupon Code itself is Important
Though many tend to shrug off this important factor, but the look of the coupon and the code along with ease of use should be on point. For your coupon to be effective, make sure to design it well by adding a bit of colour and image to it. You can also make sure the code generated is easily copied by the customers or generally, the coupon should be easy the use. The simple copy paste method works best for many customers, but you can also opt for the one without a code.
People are naturally attracted to aesthetics and therefore, an appealing coupon code becomes irresistible in this highly competitive e-commerce market. Digitalised coupons should particularly be carefully generated and rigorous marketing should be done, as there are many coupons available on the internet already. Therefore, yours should be unique and easy to use. The key take always from this point are:
- Appealing and unique - design factor.
- Easy to use and simple - No over writing or complicated procedures.
- Ease of availability - Easily accessible via official website
3. Who Can Use the Coupon Code?
Anyone can use a coupon code easily if he or she complies with the set of rules that a coupon comes with. For example, exceeding minimum order, for one person only, etc.
You can specify the target audience and the coupon code itself. For example, the coupon code can come with a set of rules like, applicable only for those whose orders are above $25 or applicable only for particular products.
4. Category Specification and Eligible Products
This is the most essential part about your coupon marketing strategy. Within this, you should carefully specify the categories in which you want to drive sales upwards. For example, applicable on electronics only or applicable only on edible products, etc.
Most businesses are very particular about this factor and ensure that the coupon instructions clearly define the eligible products. Though it may be a bit demotivating for customers, but if your eligible products are the most popular ones, you’re sure to remain profitable.
Final Thoughts
Having read all the above factors, you should be able to create an excellent coupon code for your business easily. Make sure that the coupon is easily available and accessible to customers. That is, it should be on your website’s homepage and digital coupons will work best for this. Social media pages may also come to the rescue for this purpose as the chances are that many customers already follow your pages. Keeping track of how many coupon codes have been used is also important just as the sales records are. We hope this article suited you well. Good luck.
