Most marketers know that coupons are a golden strategy. Once the province of Sunday newspaper supplements the coupon is no longer an old-fashioned favourite of thrifty housewives, but a cutting edge tool which can be incorporated in many brand marketing strategies. Customers can load their coupons on a smartphone app, and of course redeeming them generally requires a visit to a website where numerous opportunities abound for brand engagement. Understanding how major players are using coupons gives us a keyhole view onto the emergence of this powerful strategy, offering the chance to understand the mechanics of coupon marketing and how it can be put to use for any business.
Of recent interest in the Coupon industry, French food-products multinational corporation Danone announced its partnership with Coupons.com, the market leader in Coupons based in Google’s own hometown of Mountain View, California.
Esme Rodger, Danone customer relationship management manager explained: “We are looking forward to the launch of our new programme that will give us the chance to reward the loyal customers of our well-known brands.
“Integrating coupons within our eCRM activity enables us to reward our loyal customers directly and drive on-going product trial for all of our yogurt brands.”
For those who may not know the term, eCRM stands for electronic customer relationship management, the science of increasing loyalty and retention by improving customer satisfaction. By adding digital coupons to their marketing efforts, we’ve shown businesses receiving:
- significantly increased click through rates
- Increased customer satisfaction and brand loyalty
- Improved data capture and registrations
- New insights and key analytical data
Taking a closer look at Coupons.com efforts to promote the Danone brand, we notice their strategy is on raising brand awareness via Facebook and Twitter, to encourage product trial. The Facebook competition will offer prizes to eight fans, with the runners-up offered the chance to claim a free pot of danio via the use of a print at home coupon.
Their Twitter campaign cleverly uses the hashtag #makemybreak, offering competition entrants the opportunity to win their ideal break, again with smaller prizes offered for runners up. Twitter followers will submit their ideas for a perfect 20 minute break, thus tailoring their own prize. The first 5000 people to enter will also be rewarded with a print at home coupon for a free pot of Danio yoghurt.
Oliver Felstead, managing director at Coupons.com UK & Europe, remarked: “We are delighted to be working with Danone to support the launch of danio. By combining ‘social sampling’ with traditional sampling methods, brands like Danone can cost effectively extend the reach of their sampling activities and leverage social networks to engage consumers.”
Here at Barefoot, we’re watching this campaign closely. Coupon offers give businesses access to new markets, while boosting revenue during lean economic periods. As coupons come of age in the digital era, they’re a strategy too powerful to ignore for brands with the capacity to successfully harness their power.