7 Smart Ways to Use Promo Codes In Your eCommerce Business

People love a good deal. In fact, 96% of Americans use promo codes and coupons. But how can you get promo codes to work for you so that you don’t break the bank?

As an eCommerce store owner, you’ve always got to be looking for inventive ways to bring in new customers, as well as retain existing ones.

Discounting via promo codes can be an awesome way to improve your brand experience while delighting your customers.

Though they may not always seem so cost-effective to you at the time, their ROI can be stunning because coupons encourage loyalty and repeat purchases.

However, you have to be careful with this one because, when done wrong, discounting can be harmful to your business.

In this article, we share with you 7 of the smartest ways to use promo codes to boost your eCommerce business.

New Visitor Codes

Imagine it: Your click-through rate is sky high and even your on-site engagement is good.

But your conversions are way down.

According to common belief, just 2% of new visitors convert. This means that most of the new visitors you’re working so hard to drive to your website don’t do anything.

For example, you could offer 10% off the first purchase a new customer makes. Alternatively, you could offer a monetary discount, such as $10 off their first purchase.

For a new visitor code to work, a customer has to submit their email address in exchange for the code.

As a result, not only do you have a brand new customer who will probably make a purchase, you also have their email address. This means you can send them future deals and offers, too.

Abandoned Cart Coupons

There are many reasons why 73% of desktop users abandon their cart. Extra costs, for example, is a major reason. That number is higher for mobile devices.

Worse still for you as an online merchant, the number of abandoned carts is only expected to increase. Fortunately, there are things you can do to bring a customer back into the game.

As long as you’ve already got the customer in your database, you can send them an email reminder that they’ve got items in their shopping cart.

If that doesn’t work, you can send them a coupon code that offers them a discount if they complete their purchase within the next 24 hours.

This creates urgency, a fear of missing out, and it also ramps up their desire to claim a deal.

Naturally, you won’t be able to target first-time customers with these emails, as you need a customer’s email address before you can then send them their coupons.

However, for all those existing customers? Abandoned cart coupons are an avenue well worth exploring.

Be cautious, though. Savvy loyal consumers might decide to put items in their cart and wait for the discount coupon they know is coming. Make sure you can afford that or do not do it on every order.

There are many e-commerce marketing companies who can help you analyze the data behind why those carts were abandoned and craft a strategy to ensure the maximum ROI.

This often requires top copywriting skills to prepare a a non-salesy and compelling email follow-up to give your existing customers a gentle push to come back and complete the transaction.

Seasonal Coupons

If you don’t yet have a customer’s email address you can’t send them coupons via email. A great way to catch new customers’ email addresses is to celebrate seasonal holidays with a fun quiz.

For example, you could use a Christmas quiz to give away X number of prizes throughout December — including discount coupons.

The only way someone can get involved is if they answer one simple question before giving you their email address.

Then, you send them a “thank you!” message before sending seasonal coupons out to all the winners.

Seasonal coupons work as a part of the sales strategy for many businesses because anyone who’s in a festive mood won’t think twice before answering a simple question if there’s the possibility of a great prize at the end of it.

And once you’ve got everyone in your database, you can then send out more enticing coupons in the future whenever you need to bring customers back into the game.

There are many seasonal holidays and events you can celebrate, too, including Black Friday, Thanksgiving and even Valentine’s Day.

Just make sure that each holiday is relevant to your brand and product. Or, you could even do what Pottery Barn did when they took advantage of the President’s Day Sale:

Free Shipping Codes

Free shipping won’t fit into every eCommerce stores budget, but 9 out of 10 customers say that free shipping is their biggest incentive for making a purchase.

As such, if your budget has room for it, add free shipping for those consumers who spend a certain amount of cash with you. It’s also often a given that large orders will come with free shopping.

Once existing customers have spent X amount of money, consider sending them a promo code that offers them free shipping.

Loyalty Reward Codes

Customer loyalty is super important to you because research has shown time and time again that it’s much more cost effective to retain existing customers than it is to go out and find new ones all the time.

There are a number of reasons why a customer stays loyal to a brand, and these include price, value, quality, and experience.

Experience is key here. We only buy from brands when we actually enjoy the shopping experience. If we don’t feel respected or well-treated by a brand, why would we stay loyal to them?

First impressions are key, which is why it’s important that you treat your customers well from the start.

To keep hold of them, however, you need to keep treating them well, and surprising them every now and then.

This is where loyalty reward codes come in. Consider sending your loyal customers a coupon code after they have made another purchase.

Also consider personalizing the experience, too. For example, along with the coupon code, send them tailored product suggestions you think they’d like to use the coupon on.

Loyalty reward codes combined with personalization are a sure-fire winner.

Social Media Codes

If your social channels aren’t generating enough leads and sales at the moment, you could incentivize your followers to convert by offering them promo codes.

For example, when someone shares your page or post, they receive a coupon code. All of a sudden, you’ve got a customer who’s probably going to make a purchase now that they’re getting a discount.

Even better, they’re in your database and can be emailed at any time with future offers and product recommendations.

Because social media is where your customers are, social media promo codes are well worth exploring.

You can also connect your codes with a targeted Facebook ad to ensure that you reach out to the right audience.

Pre-Launch Promo Codes

If you’ve got a new product that will be launched soon, or if you’re a totally new store that no one’s heard of, you might be finding it hard to build a buzz.

No one’s heard of you and no one seems to care. A great way to start building your brand and creating a buzz is to offer pre-launch coupons.

Pre-launch coupons mean that new customers receive a one-time-only discounted special offer. There’s a catch, of course. They have to take some sort of action first.

For example, you might have them like your social media page(s), share your social media page(s), or otherwise spread excitement about your new brand or product.

And, of course, you’ll want to get their email address and put them in your database.

Pre-launch promo codes are great for new eCommerce stores as they help you to hit the ground running while building that all-important buzz.

The Not-So-Smart Ways To Use Promo Codes

Before we finish, it’s worth reminding you that promo codes can be hazardous for eCommerce stores if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Be careful not to over-sell your offer — and especially not too often — as it can lead to excess demand that you’ll find hard to honor. This, in turn, leads to bad reviews.

Be careful not to go too high with your percentage discounts, too. If “50% off!” becomes the new normal, you’ll soon find that your customers are completely underwhelmed with mere 10% discounts.

Constant discounts will mean that you’ll find it hard to ever sell at full price, and it will also convince the customer that something is wrong with your business.

Never let yourself become addicted to promo codes in a desperate bid to win new customers and always keep your goals in mind.

Codes are great but you don’t need to get carried away with crazy deals for them to work. With that, you should be A-okay.

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Kas Szatylowicz

Kas Szatylowicz is a social media manager at Nightwatch — a search visibility tool for the next generation. Check out the Nightwatch blog and connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter @KasSzatylowicz.

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• 7 Smart Ways to Use Promo Codes In Your eCommerce Business - June 17, 2019