Online coupon could mean different things: A small clickable banner on a homepage, an email offer which is redeemable online, over the phone, or in-store; or a printable coupon consumer’s use in a shop or office. You can even an offer a limited-time deal to your company’s Twitter followers or Facebook fans.
Whether or not you’ve used online coupons before now is the time to test the waters. If your visitors need that final push to buy, then this could be the deciding factor. Try online coupons and see if your conversion rates increase.
First of all, you need to decide how much discount you want to offer and how long you wan the promotion to run. When you’ve decided, write it up clearly and directly, for example, “20% off this week” or “Buy one get one free today only.”
Next, you’ll need to create your online coupon. Smaller businesses will need to reach a targeted, local audience with their promotions so it’s best to create a coupon on a site like Craigslist or Local.com. This will allow you to create and distribute coupons with just a few clicks. You can also create a “coupon” by simply coming up with an offer to send out via e-mail.
Once you’ve created your coupon, you need to think about distribution. Here are some ways for you to distribute your online coupons.
- Email a coupon to your client list. Allow recipients to print out your coupon and bring it into your store.
- Blog about it. Even if you only have a few followers, posting deals may encourage recommendations and new subscribers.
- Post your coupon on a social networking site that automatically distributes coupons to targeted audiences, such as Facebook.
- Use your Twitter and Facebook accounts to offer friends and followers a special discount. Make sure the promotions you offer are compelling and make your followers feel special.
- Film a short video clip showcasing your business and post it on YouTube. Add text to the video offering a discount to customers who mention they saw the clip.
Make your coupons shareable, allowing people to pass the deal along to friends. Each coupon you send out via e-mail, on Twitter or Facebook, or post online should include a link to “Share this coupon with a friend” so people can easily forward the discount.
Remember, always put an expiration date on your coupon and then, once your coupon promotion is over, don’t forget to measure how well it performed. If you have a transactional website, you can do this using Google Analytics.
Finally, don’t think that coupons have to be a one-off. This is your opportunity to create ongoing customer loyalty. Therefore each time a customer redeems a coupon, why not ask them for their email address, or encourage them to write a review of your products or services on local directory listing sites. Ask them to follow you on Twitter or join your Facebook Fan Page, and always follow-up with further promotions down the road.
