Ecommerce Coupon Marketing Strategies: Give Discounts, Get a Lot More

Very few shoppers expect to pay full price for products and services when purchased online. With so many retailers now offering new customer discounts and digital coupons, it’s likely a coupon code exists to apply towards your next online purchase.

Retailers regularly add coupons and discounts into their marketing strategies to boost sales conversion rates and increase customer loyalty.

While discounts are certainly attractive to shoppers, digital coupons can also be a successful means of growing a social media following and email marketing list or encouraging mobile website usage.

Savvy online shoppers know how to capitalize on deals and use coupons in conjunction with other offers and cash-back discounts to maximize savings. For retailers, this could mean a less profitable sale.

But marketers are ever increasing their distribution of digital coupons (another 27% vs prior year and will likely continue to grow) to meet the demand of consumers shopping online and via their mobile devices.

How can retailers offer a digital coupon strategy and still meet revenue and profit goals? Let’s find out.

What Are Digital Coupons?

Digital coupons are discounts and promotions offered by retailers to current or prospective customers. Digital coupons are most often aimed at enticing a consumer to make a purchase at the retailer’s website by offering a certain percentage discount, free shipping, or other discount.

Screen Shot 2019 12 16 at 2.07.47 PMKohler incorporates urgency and a specific coupon code for customers to take advantage of during a limited-time offer.

Physical vs. digital coupons.

Although their purpose is primarily the same, there are a few minor differences between physical coupons and digital versions.

Physical coupons are much more expensive to incorporate into your marketing strategy. Physical coupons incur printing, insertion, and distribution costs, whilst digital coupons can be sent by text, email, and automatically generated communications.

Digital coupons are incredibly easy to send but can get lost in the sea of emails most inboxes now face daily.

Digital Coupons Aren’t Going Anywhere

There doesn’t seem to be any slowdown in the inclusion of digital incentives from retailers. We can expect it to peak during the holiday shopping period, with more incentives selectively offered well into the new year.

More and more, consumers expect coupons along with product and promotional messaging. Retailers that don’t offer them risk being overlooked or losing to a competitor.

[“source=bigcommerce”]