Coupons are a great way to attract new customers towards your store. According to the history of coupons, the trend started in 1887 with Coca-Cola. Later on, marketers introduced many different types of coupons to grab new customers which are listed below.
QR COUPON.
QR represents a quick reaction. These codes were invented to be filtered and decoded rapidly. I’ve just originally observed them appearing mid-2011, however, they’ve been around for any longer. In Japan, where they were developed in 1994, they were initially used to follow vehicles all through their assembling procedure. Recently they have begun to be utilized for promoting purposes around the globe.
QR codes are two ways dimensional codes. they can be read horizontally and vertically which allows for more information to be encoded in a reduced amount of space.
A $ OFF Coupon.
There are two types of coupons a store can offer. A percent off coupon and a $ Off Coupon. Further, they are classified into different types and can be used differently. A $ coupon offers a certain amount of discount to the customers to avail while at the checkout page. For example:
-$5 Off Coupon For A New Customer.
-$10 Off All Orders This Black Friday.
-$8 Off Orders Over $100.
Tip: Calculate the price, cost, revenue, profit and discount very wisely as offering the discounts without calculations may lead towards a loss.
Percentage OFF Coupon
Offering a certain discount in terms of percentage to the customers. These types of coupons are mostly used to increase the number of sales, revenue, branding and get new customers. For Example:
-5% OFF Any order.
-10% OFF Over Order Of $100.
-20% OFF Over Order Of $300.
Tip: Calculate the price, cost, revenue, profit and percentage very wisely as offering the discounts without calculations may lead towards a loss.
Free Shipping Coupon.
Customers love the stores that offer free shipping. Shipping is the only cost which a customer hates as it does not add any value to the product. Free Shipping coupons can be offered in many ways.
- Free Shipping On Orders Over $50.
- An Exclusive Free Shipping coupon (no minimum)
Tip: It’s better to offer free shipping on all orders. Add the cost of shipping to the cost of the product, add the profit percentage and set your price.
Refer A Friend Coupon
Referring a friend to buy from a store to get a discount. For Example.
- Refer a friend to buy from example.com and you and your friend will both get a $5 coupon.
Tip: Do not send a coupon code to the customer before a referred person completes their purchase.
BOGO Coupon
Buy one Get One. Buying a product and getting another one for free or buy two get one etc. BOGO offers are unique and they are only seen occasionally as they may cost high to the retailers.
Tip: Only use BOGO deals on your slow inventory and high-profit margin products.
Gift Certificates
Gift Certificates are an amazing way to acquire two new users although you’ll get the money once but from two different customers. They are not the coupons basically but here you’ll provide your customer with a unique coupon code to gift to their dear ones which can be claimed to purchase from your store.
Rebates/Refunds
Here, we are not advising you to return the money to the customer but rather offering them to earn digital points/currency on their purchase from your store. For example.
- Offering 1 point on every $10. Make a “point” equal to 10 cents and customers can use those points to purchase from your store.
Tip For Retailers: Do not offer points to the customers who opt to use any coupon or buy from sale/clearance section of the store.
Get A Free Product:
Offering free product coupons to sell out your slow-moving inventory is a great idea. Offering a free/complimentary product with a purchase of above $100 or more will get you more sales and will even free up a space in your warehouse.
Tip: Offer slow-moving, cheap or out-of-fashion products only.
Subscription Coupons.
A subscription or a signup coupon is really important for any e-commerce store. Offering coupons to first-time visitors lets you get their email for your marketing, expanding your customer database and much more.
Tip: It’s a must-have for any online store. Will help you in your email marketing and remarketing campaigns in future.
Cart Abandonment.
Cart Abandonment is very much common nowadays. Customers visit your website, choose products, visit the cart, check the price and then boom, they close the window. There might be numerous reasons for abandoning the cart but you can try to get those customers back with effective re-marketing campaigns and offering extra discounts to those confused customers.
Tip: Calculate your remarketing budget and make a profit analysis before offering coupons to unhappy customers.
Social Sharing
Social Sharing coupons are a great way to promote your store and acquire some new loyal customers. A store can offer many different types of coupons for their customers to share about their products on Social Media.
- Share the coupon to your Instagram and get $5 Off Over $50.
- Write a review at your social media profile to get a $5 Off coupon.
- You may even offer special coupons to influencers who’ve got more than 2000 friends/followers like share a coupon/write a review and get $10 off your next order.
- You may experiment with different equations and decide the discounts yourself by calculating the cost and ROI of your products.
Tip: It’s better to offer discounts to influencers rather than normal customers as they might not give you better ROI and might use malicious means while sharing about your stores on their profiles. Like using fake profiles etc.
Coupons For the Professionals.
Offering exclusive coupons to firefighters, Policemen, Veterans, Students, Teachers and other professionals may help your store to grow more and help you to enter public hearts by offering discounts to reputable professionals. They are a community and it’s a better chance that they’ll share the information about the discounts with their colleagues.
Tip: Beware of scammers and get full proof of any person before sending in any coupon.
Joint Venture Coupons
These coupons are mostly used by big brands and companies where they make a joint venture and create a win/win situation for both of them. Both companies promote each other and offer discounts and coupons in different way. The costs can be decided mutually. For example:
- 10% Off When You Pay through Barclays Bank Account.
Competition
Setting up a competition between your customers is another great idea and this will help you to get more new customers. The competitions can be of different types. For example:
- Wear your brand clothes, post it on Facebook, and mention your brands and the first one to get above 1000 likes will get a $50 coupon.
- Post about your store on their blog and a random winner will get a $50 coupon.
You may use a good email marketing campaign or a social media promotion to inform your customers about the competition.
Tip: Held at least 4 competitions per year. Spend equal time/money to announce about the winners which you spend on promoting. It will eventually create a sense of curiosity within your customers and your brand name will be saved in their subconscious.
Holiday Coupons
Every day is a special day. Avail the holidays as much you can. Starting from January’s Blue Monday till December’s Christmas Holiday. Offer different deals and coupons to keep your customers engaged with your brand whole year. You may offer like.
- $5 Off Swimwear at this Bikini Day.
- 25% OFF this Christmas Day.
Limited Coupons
Offering Limited coupons is yet another great idea to keep your customers engaged with your brand like just offering coupons to a limited first 100 customers.