Motivating Shoppers with Online Coupons (Part 1 of

Motivating Shoppers with Online Coupons (Part 1 of 2)

by: Gary Gray

Online shopping continues to grow at leaps and bounds. Depending on who you ask, the numbers for increase in ecommerce have been consistently coming in at 2030% year over year. These numbers present a great opportunity for online stores of both products and services. But despite these staggering figures, increasing competition continues to dilute the marketplace. One great opportunity for sellers to increase traffic and revenue in their virtual stores is to offer online coupon codes and discounts through an affiliate program and their advertising. Coupons and discounts have always been a great way to motivate buyers in brick and mortar stores, and now that opportunity has migrated to web shopping!

Coupon codes with expiration help motivate buyers into taking advantage of a onetime discount. Suggesting creative such as ข10% off home and garden orders over $50,ข for instance, gives not only buyers a great opportunity for a deal, but it allows sellers to push a sale or take advantage of seasonal fluctuations in the marketplace. Online coupons can also be a great way to push a specific product in excess inventory or a service that is high demand. By offering a coupon like ขSave 20% on Rossignol Zenith Ski’s,ข or ขWeb hosting only $3.99 a month – hurry expires in 5 days,ข sellers are able to create a real or fictitious supply or demand by offering these deep discounts to their website visitors. A great place to find examples of these online coupons is www.couponchief.com

Another great opportunity to use coupons is with free shipping discount coupons. Many smart online shoppers are beginning to realize the incremental cost to purchasing online due to shipping, sometimes increasing their end price by 10 – 20%! One source of substantial motivation to these buyers can come from giving a free shipping deal. This allows those customers who can’t leave the house or prefer to shop in the privacy of their home to realize the same (or even discounted) cost to making their purchases online.

And don’t forget the code! Offering a coupon code or promotion code that a buyer can enter at checkout is a great way to give them a sense of entitlement and make them feel like they’re getting the best deal out there. Think about it to yourself for a minute – when you’re using coupons at a grocery store, don’t you feel that you’re getting the most for your money and stretching your dollar in the most significant way? Shoppers of any product or service get this same feeling when they can input a special coupon code into a box to get an additional savings at checkout.

Another great aspect of coupons is expiration dates. Coupons with expiration can give a sense of urgency to a sale. Again drawing on an analogy to grocery coupons, when you have a coupon for toilet paper that is expiring within the week, do you go ahead and make that purchase knowing you will eventually need to buy the product [without the coupon]? Of course you do, you want to make sure you’re getting the best deal! It’s easy to see that by putting a time limit on a coupon or discount, you easily can add a sense of urgency to the sale to get a higher conversion.

Online coupon codes can be a great way to market your web store, and is a unique tool to increase sales and boost traffic to your ecommerce website. Next time we’ll talk about landing pages and the use of affiliates to further maximize the benefits of online coupon codes, so stay tuned!

About The Author

Gary Gray

www.couponchief.com provides free online coupon codes and discounts for hundreds of popular internet retailers. With a newsletter and RSS feeds, they syndicate new coupon codes and discounts to motivated online shoppers.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 01

by Gary Gray

How To Put The ProfitProducing Power of Couponing

How To Put The ProfitProducing Power of Couponing To Work For You…

by: Thom Reece

Coupons have proven themselves to be highly effective sales tools for every conceivable size and type of business.

Because coupons กpull in the businessก they have gained remarkable acceptance and popularity among astute marketing managers. A simple explanation for their acceptance by advertisers is their overwhelming acceptance and use by the consuming public. In fact, Advertising Age (the Bible of the advertising industry) reports that 87% of all shoppers use coupons.

Another independent marketing research firm, the A.C. Nielson Co., reveals that 95% of all shoppers like coupons. And 60% actively look for coupons.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, กIn a Pinch, Snip.ก, states that coupon use rises, as the economy in any given area slides. 54% of shoppers surveyed said they had already stepped up use of coupons, and even more are expected to do so.

Itกs very easy to see why coupon advertising is sweeping the country. Regular use of good couponing strategy will provide a steady stream of new customers and high quality sales leads.

Savvy marketers cite these reasons for heavy reliance on couponing:

A. Coupons have the effect of expanding or increasing your market area. We know that consumers will travel far to redeem a valuable coupon.

B. Coupons will entice new customers that have been shopping at your competitor. Itกs a proven fact that consumers will break routine shopping patterns to take advantage of a good coupon offer.

C. Coupons attract new residents when they are actively in the market for products and services.

D. Coupons will reactivate old customers. Those customers that have been lured away by your competitor will start buying from you again when you give them a good reason to do so.

E. Coupon advertising provides the opportunity for additional profits through sale of related items. (Business owners often forget this.) When you offer a special กdealก on a coupon to invite a customer to do business with you, you have to remember that this same customer will probably end up buying additional items that carry a full profit margin.

In addition, you also are being given the opportunity to กsellupก to a more profitable product or service. You would not have had this opportunity had it not been for the coupon getting the customer through the door in the first place.

F. Coupons build store traffic which results in additional impulse purchases.

G. Coupons are measurable and accountable Don’t overlook that couponing is the most measurable and accountable form of promotion.

Itกs simply a matter of counting the number of coupons redeemed to judge the effectiveness of the offer. Wise use of this consumer feedback will guide you in creating future offers that improve your results.

Understand that the media delivering the coupon has very little to do with the response. Publications simply deliver your offer to a specific audience. Itกs up to you to determine what offer produces the best response from that audience. You do this through methodically testing various offers. Savvy use of this กcoupon testingก technique will give you the specific knowledge you require to greatly improve all of your advertising response, your sales, and your profits.

How do you go about creating a coupon promotion that will work for YOU? Hereกs what I like to call…

THOMกS TWELVE TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE COUPONING:

TIP#1…MAKE A SOLID OFFER!

* OFFER DISCOUNTS…ก$50.00 OFF!ก, ก60% OFF!ก, (percentage discounts are only good when they are high percentages and the value of the product or service is well known.)Dollars Off discounts work best.

* OFFER BONUSES…กBuy One/Get One Free!ก, or ก2 Free with Each Case Ordered!ก, กFree Batteries When You Buy One Super Flashlightก, or กFree Drop Cloth with Each Gallon of Super Paintก, etc.

* OFFER PREMIUMS…Offer premiums for a presentation, for a trial order, for a subscription, for a demonstration, for a new customer referral, for an order amounting to $xxx or largerก, etc.

* OFFER FREE INFORMATION…กFREE bookletก, กFREE brochureก, กFREE estimateก, กFREE detailsก, กFREE samplesก, กFREE trialก, กFREE consultationก, กFREE quoteก, etc.

TIP#2….USE BOLD, COMMANDING AND SPECIFIC HEADLINES!

* กSave $50.00 on Any Portable TV….This Month Only!ก

* กFREE BROCHURE…กBeauty Secrets for Career Womanก!ก

* กFree Catalog Saves YOU 70% on Office Supplies!ก

* ‘rent Two NEW RELEASE Video MoviesGet One FREE!ก

* กBuy One Dinner EntreeGet One FREE!ก

* กBuy Five Cases of Copier PaperGet the Sixth Case Absolutely Free!ก

TIP#3…USE LINE ILLUSTRATIONS OR PHOTOGRAPHS.

* Illustrations work best when you show products inuse.

* Illustrations enhance credibility, aid understanding, and create desire.

TIP#4…USE YOUR LOGO IN YOUR COUPON.

* Use of logo: builds company identity and awareness in the marketplace, enhances your image, lends credibility to your offer, and improves response.

TIP #5….MAKE EFFECTIVE USE OF WHITE SPACE.

* Don’t clutter. Don’t cram.

TIP#5…SELL THE BENEFITS.

* Save time, save money, increase profits, protect your family, improve your standard of living, be happier, improve your health, increase your income, increase your comfort, more convenient.

TIP#7….APPEAL TO THE SELFINTEREST OF YOUR CUSTOMER.

* Your customer is only interested in what you can do for him or her. Your customer will only buy the benefitsofuse of your product or service. Let me say that again…your customer is only interested in the benefits of use of your product….not the product itself.

TIP#8…MAKE EFFECTIVE USE OF THE 18 MOST POWERFUL WORDS IN ADVERTISING.

* free, now, new, how to, save, guarantee, money, easy, simple, you, proven, love, results, discovery, fast, amazing, sex, profit.

TIP#9…ALWAYS UPSELL.

* Offer extras when a customer requests information or places an order. Always suggest related items. Point out the added features and benefits of a higher priced item and then show the customer specifically how these features will make his life easier, safer, etc.

TIP#10…SPREAD YOUR SPECIALS AROUNDCONSIDER THE TRAFFIC PATTERN IN A RETAIL STORE.

* Set up product displays so that you force your customer to walk the entire expanse of your store. Your กimpulseก buys will increase dramatically when you expose your customer to more products by well planned placement of กsale itemsก.

TIP#11…CAPTURE YOUR CUSTOMERS NAME, ADDRESS, AND TELEPHONE NUMBER. DEVELOP AN INHOUSE MAILING LIST FOR ONGOING DIRECT MARKETING USE.

* Your customer list represents your most valuable asset. Your greatest potential for sales and profits lies in the customer database. To ignore this potential is pure folly.

TIP#12…DON’t STOP AFTER THE SALE.

* Create a planned program of continuous followup to your customer list.

* Use ridealongs, invoice stuffers, new catalogs, new product brochures, special sale flyers, preferred customer sales and discounts, customer appreciation events, more coupons. Keep your customers coming back to YOU!

© Copyright 2005 Thom Reece All Rights Reserved

About The Author

Thom Reece is the CEO of OnLine Marketing Group, a direct response marketing agency with headquarters in Hawaii. He is the creator of the Online Marketing Resource Center [ http://www.ecomprofits.com ] . Thom can be reached by email at: thomATecomprofits.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 02

by Thom Reece

10 Ways To Improve Your Print Ads

10 Ways To Improve Your Print Ads

by: David Coyne

1) Include a coupon in your large ads. This can increase response from 25 to 100 percent. Your coupon could offer the prospect your brochure or catalog.
2) Use a benefit headline on your coupon that affirms the prospect is getting valuable, needed information. E.g. ขYes, I want to reduce my inventory costs by 50 percent.ข
3) Include a picture of your brochure or catalog in your ad.
4) Use a sidebar in your ad packed with tips that your prospect will find useful. E.g ข10 Ways To Reduce Your Phone Bill.ข
5) Concentrate your copy on the prospect, not on your company. Tell your prospect how your product or service will solve their problems. Use the words ขyouข and ขyourข frequently and ขIข and ขWeข less.
6) With a smaller ad, you can ask the prospect to tear out the ad, attach their business card and mail it to your company.
7) Consider converting your ad into an advertorial. This format looks more like an article and contains valuable information. It attracts people who normally skip over ads because advertorials look like editorial content. If the publisher will allow it, use the same typeface as the publication the advertorial appears in. To see advertorial samples, visit the ขPortfolioข section of my website http://www.dcinfobiz.com/
8) Put quotation marks around the headline. This can draw 28 percent more attention than a headline without quotation marks.
9) Consider running your ad in black and white if you’re using mostly text in the ad. Without colour, the ad looks more like an article.
10) The headline is the most important part of an ad. Spend time creating a powerful, benefit packed headline. If you don’t stop the reader in their tracks with a good headline, few will bother to read the rest of the ad.

About The Author

David Coyne is a copywriter and marketing consultant. Need help writing your brochures, ads, web pages and other marketing materials? Contact David at his web site: http://www.dcinfobiz.com

This article was posted on July 24, 2004

by David Coyne

5 Ways How To Be Successful By Selling Online

5 Ways How To Be Successful By Selling Online

by: Petr Sejba

Are you selling online? You are maybe looking for some solutions how to succeed in your business. There are several ways how to get more clients and earn more money. In this article I will introduce you some of them.

1. Affiliate marketing:

Affiliate marketing consist in relationship between web site owners and merchant. Web site owners put merchants advertisement (usually text link or banner) on their page and merchant pays commission from each deal to the site owner. The advantage of this promotion method is the fact that you can never loose your money for inefficient advertising because you pay only in case you earn some money. If you want to start your own affiliate program you can buy one of many available scripts or use some of affiliate networks like Link Share or Commission Junction.

2. Search engine optimization (SEO):

Search engine optimization is one of the most effective (and one of the hardest) ways how to get the large number of very good targeted customers. If you are a search engine optimization specialist, make a SEO analysis and optimize your web site for some effective keywords. If you know nothing about SEO try to find some basic information on Internet and optimize for easy keywords or hire some SEO company. The advantage of search engine optimization is the fact that you get the visitors who want to buy the goods (or services) which you offer. The disadvantage is the long time necessary for successful optimization.

3. Pay per click (PPC):

There are several search engines offering pay per click program. Advertiser choose the keyword and the bid. If the visitor search for this keyword, advertisements targeted for this keyword are displayed. If more advertisers select the same keyword the advertisements are sorted by the bid (except google AdWords, there the advertisement position depends on the bid and click rate). The big advantage of pay per click system is the fact that you can start your campaign during a few minutes.

4. Banner exchanges:

You include a HTML code to your web site and each time somebody visits the site where the HTML code is placed a banner will be displayed and you get some credits (usually 1/2 1 credit depending on the exchange ratio). For each credit you กearnก your banner will be displayed on another banner exchange members page. This type of promotion is good for branding but it will increase your traffic just about 0,1 1 % only (depending on click rate of your banner) so always combine this method with another strategies.

5. Promotional coupon codes:

Everybody is happy for a free gift or some discount and a lot of online marketers take advantage of this fact. So why don’t make your customers happy too? There are many promotional coupon code directories on Internet. Put your coupon code to most of these web sites. Try combination of promotional coupon codes strategy and affiliate marketing. Give away to your publishers promo codes or special affiliate link. If the visitor click this link he gets some discount, free gift, free shipping or another benefits.

About The Author

Petr Sejba is the owner of Promotional Coupon Code directory at http://www.promotionalcouponcode.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 23

by Petr Sejba

Motivating Shoppers with Online Coupons (Part 2 of

Motivating Shoppers with Online Coupons (Part 2 of 2)

by: Gary Gray

Last time we discussed how online coupons and promotion codes can motivate buyers. We discussed examples of coupons and some of the aspects of these offers that can boost sales and generate urgency to a purchase. Today we’ll focus on how to create great landing pages and the use of affiliate programs to further enhance your marketing efforts.

Creating good online coupons to offer customers is not the only thing you need to do to maximize your sales. Using an enticing landing page that meets the customer with the deal they’re being offered is also an effective tool leading to a sale. There are two ways that let the customer know the benefit of the coupon they’re using, and both can be equally appealing choices.

Option 1 to creating an appealing landing page for a coupon is to restate the coupons terms and offers and to reiterate the promotion code that needs to be entered upon checkout. This way the customer knows they are getting the deal they had anticipated receiving, and makes them aware of potential expiration on getting the discount. As we discussed in our previous article, that sense of urgency is a good way to provoke your shoppers into a buy mentality.

Option 2 takes this a step further by automatically applying the coupon at checkout, so when the customer gets to the checkout page, their discount code is applied and actively showing them their deal. This also benefits the customer because they don’t need to go back to get the code, where they can be distracted from the point of purchase. By adding something to the landing page like ขYour 10% coupon code will be automatically applied at checkoutข in a highly visible area, you are able to keep customers from being confused about what they’re getting. You can also use cookies so the next time they visit, if they remember their coupon, they will be more likely to realize they can still get a great discount.

Affiliate programs can also be beneficial when used with coupons to promote your products or sales. New and expiring coupons are littered on coupon web sites throughout the internet bringing more attention to you! Just check out CouponChief.comกs homepage for an example of who can be displaying your coupon. In addition, many affiliates will be happy to promote your store when you have a great coupon code or promotion to offer. These high traffic sites bring a ton of added exposure and drive a large customer base of shoppers ready to buy you know this because they clicked on your coupon! Another secret tip to getting affiliates to put your coupons on their homepage is to increase commissions temporarily upon proof of good placement. Sometimes these affiliate sites can get many more buyers than your own!

Coupons have migrated to the web in a big way, and should be a part of any serious marketing campaign. If you aren’t using online coupon codes and one time deals to promote your site, you’re missing the boat on driving incremental customers to buy your products.

About The Author

Gary Gray

CouponChief.com provides free online coupon codes and discounts for hundreds of popular internet retailers. With a newsletter and RSS feeds, they syndicate new coupon codes and discounts to motivated online shoppers.

This article was posted on April 03

by Gary Gray