Essential “Need to Knows” for Affiliate Coupon Management
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Earlier this month I had the opportunity to listen to Todd Crawford speak about coupon affiliate management at the Online Marketing Summit. He made some really great points. Here are my immediate takeaways:
A Few Top Coupon / Loyalty Affiliates:
- Offers.com
- Shopathome.com
- Cheapsally.com
- Bradsdeals.com
- Clickdeals.com
- Dealtaker.com
- Couponsurfer.com
- Mrrebates.com
- Deals.com
- Savings.com
- CouponCabin.com
- Amazing-Bargains.com
- RetailMeNot.com
Two Types of Buyers on Coupon Sites:
- “Penny Pinchers” – can only afford to buy if they get a discount
- “Deal Seekers” – will buy (and up their order volume) only if there is a deal on
Challenges with Working with Coupon / Deal Sites:
- Margin Erosion
- Increased media cost (pay for affiliate plus ppc)
- Brand dilution
- Poor customer satisfaction (the coupon doesn’t work)
- Loss of control (once you let it loose where do you go? It gets out of control)
- Inaccurate analytics
- – how do you measure the effectiveness of one particular coupon on one particular site when it gets let loose and picked up everywhere?
Alternatives to Giving a Discount Coupon
- Free shipping
- Minimum purchase amount
- Product, Brand or Category Specific
- Deal of the Day
- Limited Quantity
- Bundling
- Gift with Purchase
- Clearance
- Seasonal Sales
Marketing Goals of Working with Coupons (and you should be measuring these):
- Increased AOV
- Acquire new customers
- Re-engaging existing customers
- Limit Exposure
- Control media costs
- Extend Brand
How to Manage your Coupons Properly:
- Test with select groups of partners – try a coupon with only one or two affiliates first and see how they work.
- Use exclusives / vanity code
- Negotiate for premium placement
- Limit use to channel or partners
- Determine the right metrics to measure before you start