If you’ve bought anything from an online retailer, you may have seen an option to use a coupon code during checkout and you may have even used one yourself. But if you’re selling things online yourself, would it be a good idea to make coupons available to your customers? There are many reasons why this strategy can be beneficial for you in the end. Here are some of them:
Drivers Budget Conscious Customers and Comparison Shoppers
One of the main reasons people shop online is because they have the ability to quickly and easily compare prices between different retailers. An ever increasing number of people are more conscious of how much money they’re spending when shopping online and they want to get the best deals. This is why searches for coupon codes are getting a lot of traction on Google. Sure, some people may simply buy something because it had a flashy ad, or will just buy whatever they want without considering the price. But unless your target audience is “lazy rich people”, including coupons as part of your marketing strategy will be a good idea.
Encourages Affiliates to Promote Your Site
There are now thousands of websites which list coupon codes for various e-commerce sites. If you do a search for [merchant name] + coupon on Google, you will see plenty of them pop up. Some are specific to a certain genre of retailer, while others are more general coupon sharing sites. But those who run these websites don’t do this simply for fun. As you’ve probably noticed, they include affiliate links to the sites that they have coupons for, so that when someone uses a coupon from their website and clicks through to the merchant, they will get a commission. There are many other affiliate sites which promote specific merchants more simply because they offer discount and coupon codes that make them more attractive to their audience. Therefore, making coupons available gives an incentive for your affiliates to promote your site more. It can create a win-win-win scenario for everyone: the customer gets a lower price, the affiliate gets a commission and you get increased traffic and sales to your business.
It Encourages Social Sharing
Coupon codes for online shopping sites are rapidly becoming an item that is shared a lot on various social media sites. In fact, people are far more likely to talk about an online shopping site if they offer discounts, special promotions and coupon codes. If you include coupons on your social media page, this draws more attention to your post and makes it more likely that it will be shared. Tomorrow we will take a more detailed look at how coupons can be a part of your social media marketing strategy. If you’re thinking of making your social media use more efficient, including them in your posts can be a definite way to turn things around for your business.
