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Consumers in today’s digital world are always on the lookout for savings, coupons, and other discounts, making them an important aspect of their overall buying experience.
According to a survey conducted by Hawk Incentives, 97 percent of consumers (both eCommerce and otherwise) said that they look for discounts and coupons while shopping, with 92 percent admitting that they are always looking for promotional offers. Online coupons and discounts are a good way to increase revenue.
Discounts vs. Coupons
Although coupons operate under the same basic premise as discounts, coupons are typically used to make a one-time purchase for a certain percentage or amount off of an item. Discounts allow customers to buy products at a lowered rate or price on an ongoing basis.
For example, if you own an online store that sells t-shirts, coupons would be great ways to offer customers money off items on their next purchase after they have purchased their first t-shirt. They can be easily distributed through email marketing by sending coupons for future purchases right after the first order is placed.
Discounts are more permanent and work best when the customer has already bought from your store before. A good example would be sales during holidays or other events based on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis.
Benefits of Coupons and Discounts for eCommerce Stores
As a customer acquisition strategy
First, coupons and discounts can be used as a customer acquisition strategy. Today, it is very easy for customers to buy from online stores because of coupons and discounts. If you have never heard about coupons or discount coupons before, they are coupons that enable shoppers to get an additional percentage off of their purchase amount.
In general, companies will give out coupons with a limited time period so users who want to use the coupon must purchase the item immediately after receiving the coupon code. For example, if a user receives a 25% off coupon, she must spend $100 in order to get $25 off the item.
To increase customer retention
As coupons are one of the main ways to encourage customers to buy products, coupons can increase customer retention. As users start to shop with coupons and discounts, they tend to stay with the online store because coupons provide them with something that no other store does—discounts or free shipping. This means that your company is able to retain customers who will continue shopping on your website for future purchases.
To maximize revenues and profits
When coupons started to become popular for shopping purposes, businesses began to understand that there was a limit to the amount of money they could save from coupons because the coupon only offered a percentage off of their purchases. In order to further entice customers, companies began introducing discount coupons that offer double or triple percentages off of products in order to maximize revenues and profits through discounts coupons and coupon codes.
To minimize losses
In addition, by offering coupons you can minimize losses incurred when products do not sell because this way you know how many products will need to be sold before realizing a profit. This is very helpful especially when launching new products or dealing with seasonal products because coupons show exactly how much money each product needs to make in order to be profitable.
Help get rid of your products quickly
It is also helpful if you are trying to sell a product that would usually cost more than users are willing to pay for it. This way, coupons can help get rid of your products easily even though they do not sell for the price that you originally intended them to be sold at. When this happens, coupons can help get rid of these items easily without incurring any costs since coupons only involve discounts on the final amounts paid by customers after coupons are applied.
In addition, coupons can offer general discounts or free shipping deals instead of general percentage off offers which is why coupons and online coupon codes have become one of the main tools used today for customer acquisition and retention by eCommerce stores. Creating an effective coupon strategy is important because it can help give you that extra edge over competitors with less effective coupon strategies.
Best Ways to Use Discounts and Coupons
Here are some best practices when leveraging coupons and discounts to your e-commerce business:
Include free shipping coupons
Free shipping coupons are one of the best ways to encourage customers to buy products because there is no cost involved in receiving or purchasing an item. When coupons offer free shipping, it allows users who may be on the fence about making a purchase online to do so more easily.
Use social media channels discounts
There are always coupons that can be shared on different platforms such as Facebook and Twitter by using the “share” button. For example, if you use the share button with coupons for Facebook, your friends will automatically see what coupons you have used or what coupons you plan to use; this way they will also know how much money they need to save when shopping on your website.
Add new visitor discount
Sometimes coupons can incentivize existing shoppers who were planning on shopping to buy something but didn’t or coupons can incentivize users who were not familiar with the online store before and coupons help them become familiar with your website.
Leverage customer loyalty program rewards
They say that coupons are one of the best ways to build customer loyalty. This is because coupons let users know that if they continue using your website, coupons will be offered constantly for future purchases which mean better deals and lower prices in the long run. Individuals who get used to coupons also tend to shop online more often because coupons always exist while general discounts do not since they disappear once a certain number of products has been sold after the discount period ends.
Use limited-time offers
When you use coupons offering discounts for a limited time period, coupons appear more appealing to users who know that coupons for discounts will disappear once the period has passed. This helps maximize coupons and coupon codes because coupons no longer feel like a permanent thing and coupons always feel fresh and new for fast-moving products so you can give your eCommerce store a boost in sales.
Use abandoned cart coupons
Among the many coupons used by online stores today, this one is one of the most effective forms of coupons since these types of coupons are specifically targeted at individuals who had already added items into their shopping cart but decided not to check out or finish buying something on an eCommerce site after forgetting about it or considering other options first. Abandoned cart coupons then help remind them that what they were looking for is still available even after they have been gone from the website.
Include exit discounts
Exit coupons are coupons that give individuals leaving your eCommerce store a discount before they actually leave which means coupons incentivize people to stay on your site longer and help keep them in the buying mindset so when it comes time to checkout, there is no hesitation about whether or not to purchase an item because coupons help reduce doubts involved in online buying.
Create monthly or weekly deals
Coupons can also be used as limited-time offers by creating coupons with short expiration dates to maximize their impact when customers realize that coupons will expire soon without any chance of renewing them which means coupons always feel new and different giving users the chance to feel as if coupons are a rare commodity.
Create coupons instantly with coupons printer software!
These types of coupons can always make people rush to purchase an item more quickly which means your eCommerce store will see a boost in sales especially for products that do not have a lot of stock available or may be running out soon.
When customers know they only have a limited number of days left to use coupons, it motivates them, even more, to buy what they want before coupons expire because coupons never run out of expiration date except when users continue using coupons over and over again until the end of time.
Use referral coupons and discounts
Referral coupons and discounts provide valuable incentives to individuals who refer their friends and family members – usually through social media sites – so coupons and discounts motivate referrals to spread by word-of-mouth which means coupons help drive sales.
Create coupons for non-purchase actions
Non-purchase coupons are coupons that reward individuals for completing certain actions like filling out a survey or creating an account with your eCommerce store which means coupons provide incentives to get new users on board with your site by making them feel like they are getting free stuff just for participating in activities that do not cost money.
Coupons can also be used to increase the number of repeat buyers, give individuals rewards for shopping more often, and many other things so coupons always remain valuable to consumers who want more than what coupons can offer so it is important to create coupons with unique characteristics depending on the goal you have set out!
Increase coupons visibility
In order to spread coupons and coupon codes around, coupons can be shared on social media sites, in newsletters, and in a lot of other places where it is easy for coupons to reach a lot of people so coupons will not only benefit your eCommerce store but also help create more awareness about coupons in general. Increase coupons quality.
Use bundling tactics to increase overall value with coupons
Coupons can be offered together along with another product or add-on that increases the total value of coupons being purchased. This means discounts are packaged into one coupon code which lets users save even more when they buy something from your eCommerce site.
Why? Because when you have multiple products featured on the same page and customers know that if they purchase one item, coupons for other items will be included at no additional charge or very low cost. As a result, coupons will definitely become more popular and increase the overall value of coupons and deals on your site.
Conclusion
Coupons and discounts can be used in many different ways to increase your eCommerce site’s conversion rates and overall number of sales which means coupons and discounts give users a reason to buy more, provide incentives for referrals and repeat business, and promote coupons in the marketplace because people will naturally want coupons when they see other sites using coupons effectively.
Although coupons and discounts may seem like free giveaways that do not require any effort to achieve results, they are still an effective growth strategy that gives you control over how discounts are presented which means they help get people excited about trying something out just by glancing at an image or clicking on a unique coupon link.
Acowebs are developers of Woocommerce bulk discounts that will help you add bulk discounts to products on your stores. It also has developed various other plugins like the popular plugin for managing the checkout form fields in WooCommerce, called Woocommerce Checkout Manager, which is highly feature-oriented yet lightweight and fast. There is also a free version of this plugin available in the WordPress directory named WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor.
