In the competitive Internet marketing business the basics of getting new customers frequently boils down to the same thing, the discount. Consider using the tips below to avoid a marketing strategy that is dependent on providing your goods or services at the cheapest price around.
Make sure your strategy has at least one additional goal for its coupon marketing besides getting a consumer to try your business or service. Additional goals could be obtaining an email address or phone number from your customers.
If your business’ current Internet marketing uses promotions or coupons, consider providing those discounts only on more expensive services and products.
In order to save time and money in generating and posting new coupons, consider having a basic coupon for a more expensive service or product that you leave up on your website and that can be used for a single order or a specific number of orders.
Take steps not to be anonymous because people are cautious about providing their information to unknown or unfamiliar sites. Include your face somewhere in your marketing materials and what your credentials are.
Don’t compete with yourself by having a coupon on your website and a more valuable coupon for people who provide you with personal information from their Smartphones and so on.
If most of your customers are coupon users, consider lowering your price instead of offering a coupon all the time. Once customers are accustomed to using a coupon for your business, they will not use your business without a coupon.
Decide whether having a day when you advertise that a percentage of your proceeds from sales will be donated to a specific charity might be an alternative to one of your coupon offerings.
Periodically ask your customers whether they’d like to continue receiving your messages rather than forcing them to initiate an opt-out action. Such an invitation reflects a consideration for consumer time.
Consider providing coupons for a “next” purchase instead of a first purchase so that you are rewarding your repeat customers.
The complexity of business presence on the Internet is not only a challenge for you but is a challenge for your customers. Indicate that the coupon they are seeing is your current best offer regardless of the device or site they are accessing you on.
Do not advertise that you will beat any competitor’s advertised price and attach a lot of contingencies onto the plan concerning what evidence of a cheaper price you will accept or how it has to be processed. Clearly identify what will be accepted as proof of a lower price and how you will refund the difference in cost.
Identify special features about your product or service that justify higher costs such as products made in the U.S. or better customer service.
The coupon remains a valuable tool for getting customers to try out your business but should not be overdone. Consider using the tips above to avoid racing to the bottom in terms of price in order to get customers.