To de-mystify this i thought of penning down this blog helping ecompreneur’s like you to define your promotion strategy for the upcoming festive season just few months ahead.
TYPE OF COUPON CODE :-
Free Shipping
This is the most popular coupon code used both by merchants and buyers. There are an astounding abandonment of 44% due to lack of free shipping option on the website and at that time a coupon code for Free Shipping can be your life saviour. You can create a free shipping coupon that pop’s up on the checkout page and even customise / cap it for a minimum order amount thus helping you increase your average order amount. Remember the last time you ordered for food and the guy told you “Sir! minimum order amount for free delivery is Rs. 250/-“.
Flat Amount Off
This is a coupon code that gives a flat amount off an order total when applied on a cart Example : Rs. 500/- off on your next purchase.
Percentage Off
Well this is the percentage cousin of Flat amount coupon where instead of the flat amount you suggest a percentage amount off on the next order. This coupon works well with the average order value as a percentage off on a lower cart value will not mean much to a buyer, besides we also recommend you to cap the maximum off that a user can take in terms of percentage Example – 10% off on your next order (fine print – minimum order amount of Rs. 2500/- and maximum discount that can be availed can be of Rs. 1500/-) that means it will act like Flat amount after Rs. 15000/- of cart value.
Minimum Purchase
I have mentioned it separately as the above mentioned coupon codes can be used without a minimum cart amount too but in case you are scared of running a promotion without an upper capping you should use the Minimum Purchase value to feel safe.
Buy X, get Y
“Buy 2 get 1 free” or “Buy 4, get 10% off” must have read or heard about these promotions. These promotions are a good way for you to try coupon system on a certain category or a brand. It also assures that you are getting a certain order total before offering a discount.
Loyalty Coupons
Raving Fans or Loyal Customers you must be having lots who love your products and love to come back again and again. Well this coupon code is just a nice way to ask them to come back once again and provide you with an opportunity to serve them.
Daily Coupons
Daily coupons can be like deals which could run site-wide or a category wide or on a product providing discounts to your buyers only for the day.
Holiday-based Deal Coupons
These could be coupons that are valid for a period say a week or a month for the buyers to redeem. Another great way to make best out of your holiday store selling strategy.
Pre-Launch Coupons
There will be times when you will hear about iPhone 7 or 7S and offer a pre-launch booking offer discount over the same. Create a story and invite your buyers to be amongst the first few to purchase an item which is yet to hit the markets.
Refer and Earn Coupons
Who else can be a good advocate of your products and services than your own existing client. Give them the opportunity to refer your store to their friends thus passing on a unique code which can be redeemed by their friends. For each refer you offer them a coupon code as a store discount while for the friends offer them discounts for their first signup or first purchase.
Miss You Coupons
They bought and then forgot, customers whom you have not transacted since many days ago, they made a purchase and then never came back, you can send them a Miss you coupon and offer them an opportunity to come back to you.
First Purchase Coupon
This coupon can and is used extensively by our clients who have recently launched their store. This allows them to create coupon codes to discount first purchases made buy a buyer coming on the store. To know more about How to Make Your First Online Sale click here https://goo.gl/6rEbC1
HOW CAN YOU SHARE THESE COUPON ?
Now since you know about the coupon codes and can create them too how do you share them with your prospective customers is a question. You can use the following techniques to get best out of this :
Social Media
Share this coupon on social media website, groups and even on your own Facebook page.
Subscription based newsletters
It is always a good idea to start a subscription based newsletter and use the coupon code as may be a banner or an offer in your newsletter.
Coupon Sharing Websites
Share these coupon codes on various coupon sharing websites like couponduniya.com, couponraja.com or couponrani.com.
Abandoned Carts
Share these with cart users who have just abandoned your carts. On an average a user comes back in a maximum of 3.35 hours to finalise an order post adding an item to his cart. In case the order is not finalised then you have missed the purchase and it is the right time to push him a coupon code. Abandoned cart conversion has 29% conversion rate as per industry study.
Your Signature
Not to forget you can use coupon banners in your signature.
Danger Ahead – Cruise with Caution
Though coupon codes look like a legitimate way of conversion but overdoing or mindless coupon creation can do more harm to your business. A small work of advise will be to check if they are not getting coupled with your other offers leading to double discounting like:
- Do you want to offer discounts to affiliate forwarded customers as you will be bearing the burn of affiliate commission too.
- Does your coupon codes stay valid along with the in-store promotions you have.
- Make sure your coupon codes have an upper order limit to restrict use above an order amount.
- Make sure your coupon codes expire after a certain period.
- Make sure your coupon codes are restricted for the number of tine it can be used by a buyer.
- You can also make the coupon codes usability restricted to registered users thus increasing your registered user base.
- Be sure that your system check and re-checks for a coupon code validity on checkout as they can be users who had applied a coupon code but did not checkout few days ago and now since they have returned the code has expired but your system accepts it as it was applied during the validity period
I hope with this knowledge and information you will be able to manage your coupon promotion strategy effectively and will have a great holiday selling experience. In case you think you have questions regarding the same do write back to us at info@retaxis.com
You can even ask us at Retaxis to help you create your e-commerce store Call us at 0120-4222758 to schedule a NO OBLIGATION FREE ONLINE DEMO of the e-commerce solution offered by us.
This post is Written by Manish Gupta, who loves to share latest technique about E-commerce & provide E-commerce Solutions with fully loaded features in India