'Net Features : coupons

Customers Save with Coupon Extension

Allison Howen — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:30:00 GMT

When it comes to making a purchase while shopping online, something as simple as a coupon or promo code can impact a customer’s decision-making process.

In fact, many online consumers conduct searches to find discount codes on sites like Retailmenot.com or Coupons.com prior to completing their purchase. That being said, a new browser extension from Couponfollow.com aims to shake up the online savings industry, and merchants can use it to their advantage.

The Coupons at Checkout extension for the Chrome browser automatically displays relevant discount codes when a customer is ready to complete their checkout. Not only is this tool valuable for customers looking to save a little money, but it also has the potential to influence customers to make a purchase when they are hesitant.

It is important to note that the extension is backed by CouponFollow.com’s database of coupons, and merchants who want to ensure that their promotions are displayed by the tool can submit their promotional codes either on the CouponFollow website or to the company via Twitter. Moreover, CouponFollow provides additional tools for merchants, including the ability to monitor each coupon’s influencers.

Increase Exposure with Facebook Coupons

Allison Howen — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:00:00 GMT

There are many ways that marketers can promote their brands on Facebook – and Trumpia has just added another.

The multi-channel marketing solution provider has launched Facebook Coupons, which enables businesses to offer printable coupons directly from their Facebook Page. The coupons can be found within a business's Facebook Tabs, which act like additional Web pages on a Facebook Page. Trumpia clients can also customize Tabs and coupons by applying a template or by using the platform’s HTML editor. Additionally, graphic coupons can be added to the Tabs by entering valid barcode numbers from a POS system.

Launching social coupons can prove to be a valuable marketing strategy because they can help businesses go viral within an online community. This is because businesses can set up their coupons to only be redeemable after customers “Like” their Page, and the more "Likes" a business collects, the more exposure it will gain by having its updates appear on fans’ newsfeeds. This means that businesses are not only offering their customers money-saving deals by offering coupons, but can also use the coupons to strengthen their brand, increase visibility and boost sales.

“We've seen firsthand how Facebook can help businesses grow. What we’re doing to magnify that growth is adding features and capabilities that Facebook doesn’t directly offer,” said Ken Rhie, CEO of Trumpia. “Businesses can target their online audience to gain exposure in today’s digital world and bring in revenue.”

Share a Coupon, Make a Buck

Michael Garrity — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Website review and coupon code platform provider Knoji is getting into the affiliate marketing field in a big way with the beta launch of the new Share a Coupon Code affiliate program.

This new program will let community members submit and earn revenue on coupon codes for any of Knoji’s more than 5000 retail partners. Anytime shoppers use one of these codes, the member that submitted it will get paid, a process that allows individuals to earn affiliate marketing commissions without owning their own website.

Knoji designed the program for simplicity, so all users have to do is find a coupon worth sharing, enter it to Knoji’s submission page, and track their clicks and earnings – which are updated in real-time – on the personal dashboard. Members are able to share up to 250 coupons codes per day based on their individual Coupon Karma scores, which track shopper feedback about their coupons.

The site is currently visited by more than one million consumers every month.

BrandCaster Retail from Coupons.com

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:33:00 GMT

Coupons.com just announced the launch of Brandcaster Retail, a free, self-service platform for Internet retailers to offer a digital coupon gallery on their website.

Retailers will, without any programming knowledge required, have the ability to showcase a full Coupons.com coupon gallery, or publish coupons exclusively for only those products they have in stock.

Brandcaster Retail could help merchants reach an attractive demographic in digital coupon users. The audience demographic is proven to shop more (with 23 percent more trips) and buy more each trip, resulting in a 50 percent larger annual spend than the average shopper.

“More and more retailers are embracing digital coupons as a means to engage with their shoppers, and we’ve successfully created coupon galleries for grocery, drug and mass chains that span more than 52,000 store locations. But, we’ve only been able to do this for the largest retailers,” said Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons.com Incorporated. “Brandcaster Retail automates the process, so now retailers of any size can launch coupon galleries on their websites and can do so without programming knowledge and without any cost whatsoever.”

See the coupon gallery from Coupons.com below:

Consumers Love Coupons, Merchants Reap Benefits

Allison Howen — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:35:00 GMT

Merchants are reaping benefits from the online coupons that they are marketing, according to a recent study that was conducted by Forrester Consulting.

“The Impact of Online Coupons and Promotion Codes” study was commissioned by coupon and deal marketplace WhaleShark Media. The study establishes a direct correlation between online coupons and increased consumer spending, and reveals that online coupons and promotion codes drive new business to merchants, reinforce brand image and influence the purchase cycle.

Additionally, the study illustrates that customers who use coupon websites shop more online, and also spend more than the average online shopper. Active coupon users reportedly spend over $800 more per year with e-commerce merchants than less active coupon users, and are also 74 percent more likely to try a new brand after receiving a coupon or promotion code.

Online coupons are also reducing shopping cart abandonment, which improves conversion rates and reinforces a positive brand image. Eighty-eight percent of participants claim that promo codes “close the deal” in their purchasing decisions. Furthermore, 80 percent of respondents say that coupons and promotion codes improve a company’s brand image, with 88 percent saying that they have positive feelings toward companies that offer coupons.

And according to a separate study, merchants may want to provide location-based coupons to stay ahead of an emerging trend.

A study by Prosper Mobile Insights shows that 67 percent of consumers somewhat/strongly agreed that location-based coupons are very useful and convenient.

The study shows that most participants (51.1%) prefer their coupons via email, however more than a quarter (25.6%) would like to automatically receive coupons when they are near a store. Other ways consumers like to get their coupons include manual search (32.2%), QR codes (31.9%), text or instant message (31%) and check in through social media (10.3%).

And with only 18.1 percent of respondents claiming they didn’t want to receive coupons at all, it just goes to show merchants that coupons are big business and have the capability of bringing in big business too.

Image Credit: Coupon Audit

LivingSocial Users Younger, Richer, Smarter than Groupon Users

Mike Phillips — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:45:00 GMT

Want to reach the young, smart and affluent with your daily deal offering? Then use LivingSocial instead of Groupon.

According to a survey* by Nielsen Co., LivingSocial buyers are 49 percent more likely than the average American to earn at least $150,000 -- compared to 30 percent for Groupon. LivingSocial users are also more likely to be under 35 years old than Groupon's audience. Also, LivingSocial's users are smarter -- 46 percent of them attended or graduated college, compared with 39 percent for Groupon.

This is a pretty interesting study and could be quite useful. Based on this, an upscale restaurant (should they even offer a deal), might find a better target audience on LivingSocial instead of Groupon, for example. In all, depending on the product or service offered and the intended audience, businesses might find success with a little targeting.

Of course, both LivingSocial and Groupon have bigger things to worry about right now -- the 800 lb. gorilla known as Facebook Daily Deals.

*Nielsen surveyed a panel of 200,000 Internet users.

Bing Beats Google to the Daily Deals Market

Linc Wonham — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:30:00 GMT

A new partnership with daily deals aggregator The Dealmap is the springboard for Microsoft’s entry into the explosive local-buying space.

Called Bing Deals, the new service will deliver discounted local deals and coupons through Bing’s search engine results on desktop and mobile devices. The offers will be aggregated by The Dealmap's DealExchange network, providing Microsoft with more than 200,000 offers in more than 14,000 locations from leading daily deals sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial.

The service is designed to make it possible for consumers to search for, discover and share the best local deals by using just one resource -- Bing search.

In desktop searches at Bing.com, the deals will appear in local listings and on business profile pages. On mobile devices including the iPhone and Android, users can use the new Deals tab on the Bing app and search for discounts by category, keyword or “daily deals”.

The service may also be very similar to what Google had intended when it offered $6 billion to acquire Groupon late last year. Since that offer was rejected, Google has said it is working on its own daily deals entry called Google Offers.

Google Offers could align very nicely with all of the changes occurring at Google Places over the past year and potentially disrupt the daily deals space currently owned by Groupon. For now those top companies competing for daily deals dollars stand to benefit from Bing Deals, but the long-term effects remain to be seen.

What we do know is that Microsoft has now entered the hottest category on the commercial Web with fairly little risk on its end, and also managed to ruffle the feathers of its fiercest rival in the process.

Want Social Media Fans? Offer Coupons.

Mike Phillips — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:30:00 GMT

A newly released survey from AdAge and Ipsos Observer finds that consumers are very willing to receive communications from brands in a digital media environment – as long as that communication is a discount or coupon. Of those surveyed*, 65 percent said they want coupons and discounts from brands in these environments. Following that was "Better customer service", at 42 percent.

When asked why they "friending" a brand online, the top reason consumers gave was "I hoped to get discounts." Another popular reason was because it was suggested by a friend online.

Take this as a clear signal that consumers expect something in return for their "friendship." And that "something" is not an announcement from the CEO or news about company profits. This survey shows it's about cold, hard cash.

The survey also found that consumers prefer Facebook as the top means for brands to communicate with consumers, by a factor of 41 percent. The next highest preferred method was Twitter, at 18 percent. But the most preferred way consumers want to communicate with brands? None at all, with 48 percent. Still, when added together (including MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare and 'Other') it appears that consumers are, for the most part, willing to hear from businesses during their regular digital media consumption.

*1,000 consumers were surveyed about their "digital-media habits."

Game On, Groupon. LivingSocial Makes a Splash

Mike Phillips — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:13:00 GMT

UPDATE: Looks like Google is about to get in on the game, too. This fact sheet uncovers Google Offers. That didn't take long, after Groupon famously rebuffed Google's $6 billion buyout offer.

In one swift motion, LivingSocial emerged this week as Groupon’s most serious competitor. On Wednesday morning, January 19, LivingSocial offered a $20 Amazon.com gift card for $10. And by that same evening, 1,000,000 had been sold – at a rate of 85 per second. That’s faster than any of Groupon’s deals including The Gap, which sold about 10 per second.

Of course, Amazon invested $175 million in LivingSocial in December 2010. It makes sense, then, that LivingSocial’s coming out party was hosted by Amazon. It’s particularly interesting that the first big deal from the newcomer is an online deal. While LivingSocial also offers localized, brick-and-mortar deals, the Amazon coupon has done enough to claim some online-only mindshare with consumers and advertisers. Groupon, on the other hand, has branded itself as a local deal site.

LivingSocial might have delivered a very public uppercut to Groupon but they are hardly the only ones looking for a piece of the group-sourced pie. Yelp.com recently started offering daily deals, YouSwoop and Woot.com have been around a while, Restaurant.com is in the mix, Tippr.com is new but gaining momentum and Facebook has been very quiet about their daily deal offerings … for now.

Your move, Groupon.

Yahoo! Local Offers Arrives - Worth a Look

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:42:00 GMT

Yahoo! has seen the future - and it's local.

The Web technology and content company announced the launch of Local Offers this week, a program (which is still in beta) in which Yahoo! has partnered with online and offline providers to build a repository of local offers on the Web. Sound appealing? Keep reading.

“The local landscape is exploding with new sources of content and advertising, and consumers want these experiences personalized just for them. Yahoo! is taking the complexity out of finding the great local deals that are most relevant to their interests and needs,” said Matt Idema, vice president, Yahoo! Local. “With more than 180 million unique visitors1 to Yahoo!’s sites in the U.S., we are uniquely positioned to deliver our local-offer partners the massive scale and targeting needed to reach engaged audiences, grow their businesses, and drive foot traffic to local merchants.”

Yahoo! launched the Local Offers program with more than a dozen partners including Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City, BloomSpot, BuyWithMe, DealOn, Zozi, CrowdSavings, Lifebooker, FreshGuide, Scoop St, Goldstar, HomeRun, Tippr, Coupons.com, and Valpak.

“Consumers are inundated with offers, both online and off. I think a service that aggregates several different special deals sources will give consumers great deals and make the marketplace much more transparent,” said Karsten Weide, research vice president, Digital Media & Entertainment, at IDC. “For partners in such a service, the audience reach of a large partner will give them a lot of much needed distribution.

Yahoo!’s Local Offers program is open to all "deal" providers, including local “deal of the day” partners and traditional direct-marketing partners.

So how can you get involved with Local Offers which is still in private beta? Tippr.com might be one option to consider. The group buying site is participating in the Local Offers program and its daily deals be available to Yahoo's audience, but sites using PoweredByTippr (Tippr's white-label, group buying platform) will also have the option to promote their own daily deals through the Local Offers program.

“Our partnership with Yahoo! means more consumers are getting more deals, and more merchants are getting more customers,” said Martin Tobias, founder and chief executive officer of Tippr. “The best part is that any publisher using the PoweredByTippr platform can expose their own branded group buying site to the Yahoo! audience with the proverbial flip of a switch. This is something no other group buying site can offer its partners.”

WM Radio: Crowd-sourced Couponing, Reader Questions Answered

Mike Phillips — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:30:00 GMT

Crowd-sourced couponing is hot. Groupon.com ushered in the era but there are alternatives with new business models. We speak with the Founder of KnowtoriousDeals.com about their new website. Also, we answer a user question about sitemaps and another about the proliferation of WordPress and other CMS-style sites.

Listen now, and subcribe to Website Magazine Radio in iTunes!

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If you would like to have your questions answered on Website Magazine Radio, please send email to mike@websitemagazine.com with "WM Radio" in the subject field.

Dex One's Digital Coupons: Solution Without a Problem?

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:54:00 GMT

Local business marketing purveyor Dex One has given its customer the ability to create and publish customized digital coupons Via DexKnows and DexKnows Weddings. But will it work and does it matter?

According to comScore, 36 million people visited at least one coupon site in December 2009. But according to a new Ipsos Public Affairs survey conducted on behalf of Offers.com, Three-quarters (73%) of online shoppers are not regularly looking for online coupons or deals before making a purchase.

Frequent online shoppers report looking for online coupons or deals: “sometimes” (22%), “once in a while” (19%) or even “never” (18%). Less frequent shoppers (those who make online purchases monthly or only a few times a year) are seeking online coupons or deals even less often.

The sorry state of online coupons didn't seem to slow down Dex Knows. It's new online coupon service allows local businesses to reach out to consumers by giving businesses an opportunity to create digital coupons and post them on their DexKnows or DexKnows Weddings profile pages. Businesses using Dex Knows can develop customized, printable, online-only coupons that include unique messages and logos. Dex One will also continue to convert print directory coupons into digital format and highlight these coupons in results listings and profile pages.

“The purpose of DexKnows is to allow active shoppers to make informed buying decisions about where to purchase the products and services they seek on a local level,” said Sean Greene, senior vice president of interactive, Dex One. “We know that digital coupons, similar to video and ratings and reviews, are a critical piece of the decision process for consumers, and allow local merchants to differentiate themselves from other providers.”

What say you? Are Dex One's Digital Coupons a solution without a problem?

Coupons.com Goes Local, Offers New Affiliate Opportunities

Mike Phillips — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:53:00 GMT

Coupons.com has launched a couple of new products for consumers, as well as new earning opportunities for publishers.

The Online Savings Center (while not a new concept) offers consumers coupons for online purchases. The Daily Deal features coupons that are good for a limited time and include discounts targeted at local consumers. Both are now available to publishers to post on their own sites or network of sites through Coupon.com's partner program, Brandcaster.

Coupons.com looks to capitalize on the rapidly growing trend of online couponing, particularly local online coupons. These have been made very popular by Groupon, a pioneer in the online local coupon industry that has seen wild success offering deep discounts to a group of consumers when a minimum sign-up threshold is met. The savings are significant and consumers have responded. For websites with a local focus, Coupon.com's Daily Deal could make a nice addition to the advertising mix.

Learn more about Coupons.com's Brandcaster program.

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Mobile Coupon Redemption

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:45:00 GMT

Juniper Research is forecasting that consumer usage of mobile coupons will generate close to $6 billion globally in retail redemption value by 2014.

The report does caution however that "user apathy amongst the wider public, as well as lack of willingness to change and learn a new method of making financial transactions are potential stumbling blocks," despite trial results which show high levels of acceptance. The vast majority of mobile coupon redemption value will be generated by the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America in 2014.

“Marketers can use the mobile device as the ultimate personal marketing channel. It is almost permanently switched on and physically with the consumer. This makes a great opportunity for brands and marketing agencies to access clients immediately, driving footfall and encouraging an instant decision,” explained Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research and lead report author

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CouponFollow Indexes Coupons Mentioned on Twitter

MaureenA — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Businesses, marketers and consumers are quickly learning to leverage Twitter for promotions, discounts and coupons. And a new site, CouponFollow looks to take advantage of this growing trend by indexing coupon codes mentioned on Twitter.

According to the announcement, CouponFollow tracked more than 8,000 promotional codes and more the 27,000 related postings on Twitter. "We are seeing an average of 350 new codes posted a day with about 3-4 times as many related tweets," CouponFollow creater Marc Mezzacca said in the release.

To participate in the program, users connect to CouponFollow, allowing the company to access profiles. Users can search coupons by company, newest, most popular and more. Coupons are ranked by votes which on this site are tweets or retweets – one per Twitter account.

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