19 Effective Coupon Code Ideas to Boost eCommerce Sales

The growing number of eCommerce stores across industries is giving way to fierce competition. In addition to offering high-quality products at cost-effective prices, it is important to market your products effectively to build a loyal base. Running marketing campaigns that highlight your products’ benefits is an effective way to grab the consumers’ attention. However, adopting strategies such as floating discount offers, offering coupons and giving away promotional merchandise is crucial for boosting sales. Accessing and using coupon codes to avail of discounts is easy which is why consumers look forward to them. As per a survey, nearly 40% of shoppers look for coupons before shopping on digital platforms. Thus, coupons must form an essential part of your marketing strategy.

In this article, we have shared several coupon ideas for you to choose from and incorporate into your marketing plan. We have also shared their benefits and possible drawbacks in addition to the commonly asked questions related to coupons. Read on to find out!

Is it Possible to Use the Coupon Ideas Free of Cost?

Depending on the tools you employ, you might be able to use coupon ideas for free. Certain eCommerce platforms enable you to provide discount coupons free of cost. However, you may be required to pay some extra charges while dealing with others.

Do Coupons and Discounts Help With Sales?

Coupons and discount offers grab the customers’ attention and help boost sales directly as well as indirectly. They attract your prospects as well as existing customers to explore your products and services. You can introduce a new product and encourage its purchase by offering coupons or discount offers. If your coupon idea is attractive then it may help boost sales.

You can also use this strategy to collate customer information and generate leads. Here is how!

• Create an Email Marketing List

Before sharing the coupon with the customer you can make it mandatory for them to enter their name and email id. This will help you build an email marketing base over time. You can use this data to encourage repeat purchases or inform customers about new products and offers via Email. Email marketing is said to be one of the most effective marketing techniques. Research shows that for every USD 1 spent on email marketing, you are likely to get a return of USD 36.

• Increase Social Media Reach

It is a good idea to direct your customers to your social media handle to avail coupons. You can even go ahead and make it mandatory to follow your page to be eligible to use the coupon. This will drive traffic to your page and widen your reach. Social media handles are a great way to provide information about your product and services and generate the customers’ interest in the same. Interesting and well-maintained social media handles also help drive sales.

19 Coupon Ideas To Attract Customers to Your Online Store

Here are some popular coupon ideas to generate customers’ interest in your product/ service and boost sales:

Percentage-Off Coupon

This is a popular choice among brands. You can set the percentage depending on your budget. You may even set a minimum order value to avail of the percentage-off discount on the total order value. eCommerce giants such as Flipkart and Amazon often provide percentage-off coupons.

Money-Off Coupons

Just like percentage-off coupons, you can also float money-off coupons to give a flat discount of a certain amount to your customers. Dominos is known to offer money-off coupons regularly. You may set a minimum order amount to avail of the money-off coupon discount.

Referral Coupons

A referral coupon rewards your customers if they invite their friends to shop in your store. You can give them a small discount as a reward for spreading the word and boosting your sales. Ola provides referral coupons that may translate to free rides or rides at a discounted price.

Pre-launch Coupons

An effective way to promote a new product and increase the chances of its sale is by giving prelaunch coupons for the same. Customers are likely to try a new product if it is available at a discounted price.

Free Merchandise Coupon with Every Purchase

You can give a free merchandise coupon on every purchase from your store. Using this coupon, the customer can get free merchandise from your store when he visits the next time. Alternatively, you may give the gift instantly. You may allow the customer to choose the gift by giving him a few options. For instance, McDonald’s gives a gift with its Happy Meal.

Buy One Get One Free Coupons

Everyone loves heavy discounts. Free merchandise attracts customers all the more. When you offer two items for the price of one, your sales are likely to increase substantially. Pizza Hut provides BOGO free coupons to attract customers. It is suggested to offer these coupons on the items that you have in bulk.

Automatic Coupons

Consumers look forward to automatic discount coupons. This coupon code gets applied automatically. Thus, the procedure to avail of the discount is easy. Snapdeal is known to offer automatic coupons.

Special Loyalty Coupons

Loyalty coupons can be rewarded every time a customer comes back to you for a new purchase. These coupons keep the customers coming back to your brand. Shopper Stop is known to reward its customers with loyalty coupons.

Free Shipping Coupon

Providing a free shipping coupon can enhance the customer experience and increase sales. Statistics reveal that 90% of consumers are expected to shop more often if they get free shipping. Companies that provide free shipping reportedly have a 20% higher conversion rate. Nykaa leverages this coupon strategy to boost its sales.

Social Media Coupons

You can give discount coupons to your social media followers. Amazon leverages this strategy by offering social media promo codes. This is a good way to encourage them to explore the products on your online store and try them. It is a good idea to give limited-time offers through such coupons to prompt customers to make quick purchases.

Abandoned Cart Discount Coupon

An abandoned cart discount coupon can be given to customers who keep adding items to their cart but hesitate to click the purchase tab. A special discount on their chosen merchandise can encourage them to make the purchase. eCommerce portals such as Myntra send follow-up mail for abandoned carts offering discount to the customers.

First Purchase Discount Coupon

To attract new buyers, giving away a first-purchase discount is an excellent coupon idea. Swiggy offers such discount coupons.

Free Gift Coupon

You can give a gift coupon that allows your customers to choose free merchandise worth a specific amount from your store. The Body Shop offers such gift coupons.

Influencer Discount Coupon

Many businesses collaborate with popular social media influencers who promote their products and give special discount coupons to their subscribers. This is becoming an increasingly popular means to increase sales. Many beauty and cosmetic brands such as Plum Goodness are offering this discount coupon.

Mobile Coupons

When a brand shares a coupon through SMS, it is termed a mobile coupon. This coupon idea is being used by many businesses including Uber to generate profit.

Holiday or Festival Coupons

Most people shop around the holiday or festival season. Giving special holiday or festival coupons can encourage them to shop from your store. Many businesses including Reliance Digital offer festival coupons.

Contest Coupons

It is a good idea to run contests on your online store and give away discount coupons to the winners. Coca-Cola usually runs contests and rewards the winners with discount coupons. This is a good way to attract customers and encourage sales.

Bundle Discount Coupons

You can pair unpopular products with popular ones and give bundle discounts on them to increase their sales. Samsung often encourages buyers to purchase more by offering bundle discounts.

Exit Intent Coupons

You can make a prospect stick around and explore products on your site by giving exit intent coupons. You can leverage technology to flash this coupon when the user moves the cursor to close the tab or change the URL. Clothing retailer Milledeux offers a coupon code for their exiting visitors to ensure they return to the store.

The Negative Aspects of Using Coupons

While coupons help drive sales, they can also have a negative impact on your brand. How? Well, if you give coupons regularly, customers will get accustomed to discounts or freebies offered by way of these coupons. In such a case, if you withdraw the coupon discount for a while, you may experience a dip in sales. Customers wouldn’t like to shop at your store during times when there is no coupon or other scheme going on. They are likely to abandon the cart upon finding out that the coupon is no longer available.

Moreover, though coupons help increase sales, they often lower the profit margins. It is advised to give coupon discounts only if you are making a substantial profit as a result. If they seem to add to the financial strain then avoid them or lower the amount of discount being offered.

Utilise Your Best Coupon Ideas Right Now!

After going through the risks involved in using coupons, you might want to refrain from employing this marketing strategy. But with almost every brand offering coupons to boost their sales, not using them may be a riskier business. Customers expect online stores to offer coupons and failure to fulfill this expectation might work against your brand. Thus, it is important to provide coupons but the move should be strategically planned. You determine which coupon ideas work best for you and implement them tactfully to make the most of this marketing strategy.

Conclusion

We are sure the coupon ideas shared above will help you devise an effective marketing strategy. It is important to figure out which one is suitable as per your business model and incorporate it. 96% of the participants, in a recent survey, mentioned that they look for coupons before buying a product online. It is recommended to closely monitor your sales after floating a coupon to understand how it impacts your business. You may decide to go ahead with it or change your marketing strategy based on your findings.