10 best practices for digital coupon promotions Experiencing strong growth – the number of people using digital coupons rose 58% from 2010-2014 (to over 61 million consumers).* This points to an opportunity and mandate for marketers. You need a strategy that combines print and digital coupons. Fact is: 95% of digital coupon users seek coupons from traditional print and in-store as well. In particular, digital offers help manufacturers engage millennials and gen X households (18 - 44 year olds) and expand geographic reach to those who may not be receiving the cooperative free standing insert (FSI), which is delivered via newspaper and mail. Take note:
Millennials’ Coupon Redemption**
54% cut
coupons from advertising inserts
44% print
them out from a website
24% scan
them on mobile device at checkout
23% download
coupons to frequent shopper cards
How should you distribute, integrate and design secure digital offers to reach and activate more consumers, especially younger, affluent consumers?
Learn how and make the most of Valassis’ delivery options: Clip2Card (C2C) and Print@Home. These best practices are designed to help drive success for your digital coupon promotions.
Sources: * Scarborough Multi-Market 2014 Release ** Prosper Insights & Analytics MBI Survey, Jan 2014
STRATEGY TIP #1: Keep offers simple
Promoting multiple products within a single digital offer can create consumer and coupon settlement confusion. There is limited space both on the coupon and within the barcode to showcase the featured product(s), so to maximize consumer engagement consider creating multiple offers for your promotion if multiple products are involved.
OFFER 1
OFFER 2
OFFER 3
on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
STRATEGY TIP #2: Consider using unique offer values
Rather than creating promotions for print and digital using the same offer value, consider a different digital offer value that complements your print offer to incorporate multi-channel testing. In general, offer codes/barcodes for digital must always be unique and not the same as a print promotion.
OFFER 2
OFFER 1
on any TWO (2) Savvy Advertiser Brand Products
on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
Print promotion
Digital promotion
Offer 1 example: “Save $1 on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser product”
Offer 2 example: “Save $2 on any TWO (2) Savvy Advertiser products”
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
STRATEGY TIP #3: Avoid high value and free offers
Coupons for free products or for high values ($5 or more) are not recommended for Print@Home distribution. If a campaign includes these kinds of promotions, alternative distribution methods that offer additional fraud controls should be considered. See ‘promotion security’ for more information, page 11. Note: Complex offers are currently not supported for C2C promotions (i.e. Buy X, Get Y, Free or BOGO)
High value and free offers: Additional fraud controls are required
FREE OFFER on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
Not recommended: - Free products - Values over $5
TIMING TIP #4: Set expiration dates carefully
To motivate timely consumer activation consider using an expiration date that is limited to 21-30 days for your online coupon. Also, avoid hard-coding an expiration date into the barcode. Doing so will cause extra work and additional set up fees if you want to extend the promotion.
Consumer activation
21 days
Barcodes: OFFER Avoid hard-codingon any ONE (1) Savvy expiration datesAdvertiser Brand Product
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
30 days
TIMING TIP #5: Consider social sharing
Viral sharing functionality that enables consumers to share links to digital coupons via email, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are great for branding and consumer engagement, but need to be planned for. Social sharing buttons are available on redplum.com and across Valassis’ coupon galleries and landing pages.
OFFER on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
DIGITAL
SOCIAL 40%
71%
30%
START SEARCH
2K12 Consumers who look online for a coupon after hearing about it on social media*
+10%
2K13 UP FROM 2K12
More and more consumers share and trade coupons on social media websites*
Source: *2K14 Valassis Shopper Marketing Report (Base: Searches the Internet for coupons on food, over-the-counter medications, paper products and health & beauty care products)
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
TIMING TIP #6: Promote your shopper marketing programs
Take advantage of opportunities to integrate retailer co-branding in your campaign and promote new product introductions in key retailer markets. Additionally, include specific retailer Clip2Card opportunities to ensure you’re driving brand sales at key retailers.
OFFER on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
DESIGN TIP #7: Leverage your space
To make a great first impression, use only one product image rather than multiple that may be confusing or too busy for the eye when viewed online.
Multiple products view much smaller due to size restraints; making the offer confusing
One large product makes the offer stand out and is very clear
OFFER 1
OFFER 2
on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
on any ONE (1) Savvy Advertiser Brand Product
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
DESIGN TIP #8: Reinforce branding
Better brand recognition will inspire more clips as well as sharing. Brand your Print@Home coupon with a retailer or brand logo within the additional branding area, beneath the main product image on the coupon template. All media channels should support each other and collectively build greater brand awareness in an integrated fashion. 90% of advertisers believe consistency across their brand’s engagement points has an effect on customer loyalty. 92% say that consistency has an impact on consumers’ tendency to spend.*
90%
say brand consistency effects customer loyalty
Source: *Infosys “Rethinking Retail,” 2014
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
92%
say brand consistency impacts consumer spend
DISTRIBUTION TIP #9: Select your desired level of targeting
National: Distribute across Valassis’ entire digital coupon network. Recommended selection to maximize exposure and support retailer relationships. Note: retailers will not accept offers when they don’t carry the product on their shelves. Print@Home distribution
Clip2Card distribution
1,700+ deal & lifestyle sites 17,600+ retailer locations 50MM+ shopper reach 145MM+ shopper reach 14.9% average redemption rate** 15MM+ mobile user reach 8.3% average redemption rate** Geo-targeted: Should only be considered for Print@Home offers. Secure printable coupons can be distributed surrounding store locations via ZIP Code targeting to support shopper marketing programs or to reach high penetration areas for your consumer audience. Retailer specific: Distribute Clip2Card offers via specific retailer websites participating in our retailer network.
National
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
Geo-targeted
Retailer specific
DISTRIBUTION TIP #10: Integrate print & digital offers effectively Print integration: Consider running a FSI or other print campaign in combination with digital to give your promotion a mass-market splash. Watch both your print and digital campaigns drive overall engagement and response. Based on a case study, we found that only 3% of households redeemed both the digital and FSI coupon, indicating incremental reach.*
Coupon Redeemer Overlap
DIGITAL
61%
incremental digital redemptions
1,095
FSI
13,328
BOTH MEDIA
Depending on your campaign objectives, test and learn whether it is better to run print and digital together during the same timeframe, digital before print, or print before digital. Events: Create and expand print promotional events online utilizing custom landing pages.
Source: *Valassis Frequent Shopper Card Studies
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
PROCEED WITH CONFIDENCE In 2013, digital coupon media (print-at-home, download-to-card, mobile, and social) continued to experience double-digit growth. While digital formats accounted for less than 1% of all coupons distributed, they delivered slightly more than 10% of the market redemption volume due to the consumer engagement that occurs when marketers reach and activate purchases with digital coupons.
Valassis promotion security
— 2014 Annual NCH Coupon Facts
The Internet opens up great marketing opportunities. However, it is a channel that must be effectively managed in order to limit your promotional liability. Valassis technology uses distribution control to prevent fraud, over-delivery and over-redemption. Without these control measures, you may find the viral nature of the Internet to be very costly.
Valassis Digital Offers security features: • • • • • • • •
Global / offer clip limit Device clip limit (1 for C2C and typically 2+ for Print@Home) Crisp barcodes (ideally GS1) Expiration date Clear purchase requirements Clear product / brand images Watermarks behind savings value on Print@Home coupons Complete retailer instructions
Additional measures provided by Valassis:
• •
•
• •
Offer registered with clearinghouse with accurate total clip limit Safeguards to prevent usage of virtual printers / machines on
Print@Home coupons Lock-down functionality options to limit access to a coupon to a defined audience Unique ID / serial numbers on Print@Home coupons 24/7/365 real-time system activity monitoring
1.866.558.7338 valassis.com/intelligentmediadelivery
