1887 marked the beginning of the use of coupons; Coca-Cola co-owner Asa Candler realized that utilizing coupons to increase brand exposure would boost sales and benefit his business. Since then, the popularity of coupons has risen steadily. The early 1900s offered shoppers coupons on dry goods like cereal; but their heyday came with the storm of the Great Depression.
Since that time, coupons have remained a popular way for consumers to save some cash and for brands to push their products. Despite a brief decline in use during the early 90s, coupons were popular during the 2009 recession and have experienced an upswing in popularity ever since.
Coupon and promo codes have emerged in recent years as a means for shoppers to save money at checkout on eCommerce platforms. Retailers can offer site wide discounts, alleviate shipping costs, and give access to special products by simply sharing a code with consumers. These promotional codes can be the defining reason customers move through the online checkout process.
The fact of the matter is that consumers have been conditioned to expect the availability of coupon codes when they shop online. A host of retailers run various promotions on a near-constant basis to pull shoppers in and convince them to finalize sales. If you don't offer some sort of coupon code for your products, many of today's online shoppers will simply walk away.
Coupon codes should be seen as an absolutely vital aspect of your marketing toolbox. Provided you understand the best strategy for maximizing profits and driving sales, you should never be losing sizable amounts of cash from running promotions. Coupon codes that incentivize buyers to add more items to their carts or hit higher checkout totals are ideal.
Unique and innovative coupon codes and promotions can drive conversion. You can push consumers onto your site based on impulse alone if the deals you advertise are enticing enough. Cart-level discounts offering things like a free product if you buy two others push conversion rates up sizably.
There are a few key things to consider as you integrate coupon codes into your eCommerce platform. As with any other sales decision, it's critical that you adhere to best practices in order to minimize customer issues.
With the unspoken understanding that you should never execute a plan that'll put your business at risk, it's rare that merchants will have a reason not to offer shoppers some form of coupon code. Coupon codes are an excellent solution to:
As technology advancements and innovation come faster and faster, it's no question that coupon codes will see changes as well. The implementation of chatbots across many online platforms, for example, now allows consumers' attention to be caught before promotional codes are presented to them.
The influence of AI has also come to the world of eCommerce. Computers and machines can now work on their own to improve consumers' experiences and provide personalized assistance where it's needed. Marketers can utilize AI and predictive technology to understand what consumers want when they land on a website-- sometimes before the consumers know it themselves. This translates to more targeted and effective marketing through promotions and coupon codes.
If you're interested in integrating your eCommerce and marketing automation platforms to make the task of marketing through coupon codes easier, check out Unific's coupon code generation capabilities.
Identify actionable differences in your ecommerce customer behavior to focus your marketing efforts. Our subscription eliminates many workflow and report building steps from this article.