Exploit your money with mobile coupons

Mobile has come on the scene faster than any other new medium in the last 90 years, and mobile coupons are the category to watch, according to Borrell Associate’s “2010 Local Mobile Advertising & Promotions Forecast” (Mobile Commerce Daily Newsletter). , April 2010).

A recent survey of more than 2,250 US adult Internet users conducted by Harris Interactive found that nearly half (46%) of those with a mobile phone are somewhat likely to try mobile coupons. Mobile coupon redemption rates average 10 times higher than traditional coupons and with US mobile phone penetration well above 90%, it’s the most direct marketing channel around. Mobile coupons will become more and more popular.

mobile vouchers

Mobile coupons are permission-based promotions where merchants send electronic coupons to subscribers’ mobile phones. Unlike other forms of electronic coupons (email/web), mobile coupons are read instantly with a 95% read rate. Mobile coupons can be delivered in a variety of digital forms, such as QR or Data Matrix barcodes, Universal Product Code (UPC), or via a unique coupon code. The coupons can then be redeemed via special barcode scanners that read them or by entering the unique number into a relevant website or a point-of-sale (POS) machine that prints a paper coupon. Typically with small businesses, the customer is required to simply show the coupon at a retail store or restaurant to redeem the coupon.

Benefits of Mobile Coupons vs. Traditional Coupons

Mobile coupons (m-coupons) are much more efficient in both delivery and cost than paper coupons. The use of newspapers and coupon books sent through the US mail does not provide any direct link between your business and the person using the coupon. A legitimate mobile coupon campaign is permission based; In other words, there is a direct connection between your business offering the mobile coupon and the person who chooses to use it. Therefore, advertising and promotions using mobile coupons have a higher value and offer a direct link to the person using the coupons. For this reason, mobile coupon promotions are an excellent loyalty program.

By comparison, paper coupons cost $0.25 to $0.40 per coupon mailed, with average redemption rates of around 1-3 percent, according to Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm. According to Frost & Sullivan, effective mobile coupon solutions can benefit from high redemption rates. Email coupons have an 8 percent redemption rate, but lack the instant open rate of M-Coupons. For example, in August we launched a multi-channel campaign with Amigos Tex-Mex restaurant that resulted in a 24% redemption rate or 109 guests redeemed the mobile coupon, plus through a “refer a friend campaign” we added 70 new additional subscribers during the 30-day campaign, supermarket chain A&P launched a mobile coupon campaign with double-digit redemption rates and recently iHOP mobile coupon redemption reached 12% according to Mobile Commence Daily.

business ROI

“For businesses, m coupons offer great ROI,” said Peter Conti, junior executive vice president, Borrell Associates, Richmond, VA. “Redemption rates are 10 times higher than coupons delivered by mail or newspaper. Small businesses are turning to the mobile channel because it’s profitable and drives results. For example, lately traffic has been light, you can formulate and execute an m-coupon promotion in a matter of minutes (no printer or mail required) and when you consider that 95% of text messages are read within 30 minutes of receipt, you can see double-digit results in hours, depending on the value proposition of your promotion of course.My small business clients get on average a 12-15 percent increase in traffic with just a single channel mobile promotion (no print or radio).

Consumer Benefits

According to Frost & Sullivan, consumer expectations regarding mobile coupons can be summarized as follows:

• Convenience of portability: consumers do not have to carry paper coupons with them
• Ease of use (trade in)
• No additional costs to receive offers
• privacy protection
• Non-intrusive coupon delivery (spam)
• Single interface for multiple offers
• Effective storage and presentation of delivered coupons
• Automatic Updates
• Improved interactivity options
• Simple device requirements

Mobile Coupon Challenges

The challenges associated with m coupons are how redemption is handled to prevent abuse and how to achieve mass distribution. Unlike direct mail, where you can basically spam your community with paper coupons, both email and mobile coupons require the consumer to give permission or “subscribe” to the mobile coupon campaign.

redemption abuse

Redemption or coupon abuse is when a guest or customer presents the same coupon multiple times to redeem the offer. Unlike paper coupons, the restaurant or merchant cannot cash the coupon upon redemption unless they use barcode scanners, so the coupon could be redeemed over and over or forwarded to a friend for use it again. Paper coupons don’t have this problem, but they have a big problem with counterfeit coupons.

In my experience, most of the small businesses I consult with to develop mobile coupon programs do not experience widespread abuse. Best practices require that all promotions have a fixed expiration date, train staff on the promotion and redemption requirements, and track redemptions, typically with a designated “promotion” key at the POS or register. Adding unique coupon codes is another affordable way to track redemption, although it requires your staff to manually record the code. The recent development of QR code scanning apps, which you can download to your smartphone, will be the solution to overcome the problem.

We also need to keep in mind that the goal of a promotion is to drive business and if a customer gets away with redeeming a mobile coupon twice, that means they made two purchases, which is the goal of the campaign anyway.

Creating your “Mobile VIPs”

In order to achieve mass distribution you need to build your subscriber bases, the more customers opt in to your mobile marketing program, the greater your reach, therefore the greater your distribution. Mobile subscriber lists are not as easy to build as an email list, since most people don’t have spare cell phone numbers like email addresses. Mobile works best as part of a multi-channel campaign. Other words, including your short code (5 or 6 digital numbers) and keyword (“Pizza” text) in your print ads, Facebook page, website, radio campaigns and even your email campaign with a marketing proposal exclusive value to choose to participate. Based on its existing marketing plan and advertising budget, a business needs 60-90 days to build a suitable mobile subscriber program. Restaurants that now use cell phone pager systems have an advantage. They have the guests cell number to seat them, now they just send a follow up message offering a promotion if the guests sign up for their “Mobile VIP” program. Building that initial database is essential going forward and choosing the right mobile marketing partner will determine how successful you will be in the long run.

the forecast

Market researchers have found a strong correlation with the growth of smartphone users and the use of mobile coupons. We know that the iPhone revolutionized the cell phone like the Swiss Army knife for consumers and businesses and smartphone adaptation will grow exponentially in the next 3-5 years. As for the use of mobile coupons, more than 300 million consumers worldwide will have used mobile coupons by 2014 and this use will generate a redemption value close to 6 billion dollars worldwide, according to a forecast and report. from Juniper Research. Do your customers have mobile phones? If so, offer them the opportunity to receive and redeem your mobile coupons.