3 Tips for Running an Online Coupon Business

A majority of publishers are adopting coupons and seeing great results. Actions by consumers on coupons grew 42% from 2400 in December to over 3400 in January. The number of coupons grew from 417 in December to 516 in January.

If you are considering adding digital coupons to your site, but haven’t yet then you should read this article from Emarketers.

eMarketer estimates that 92.5 million people in the US redeemed a digital coupon in 2012. By 2014, US adult digital coupon users will surpass 100 million.

We don’t believe that coupons are replacing deals, but we 100% believe that offering deals and coupons will lead to a bigger opportunity.

As a result, we are going to be sharing a lot of market knowledge and to start here are three tips to running a successful coupon program.

1) Make Sure You Get a Great Image From an Advertiser

We see so many merchants use bad photos, out dated photos, cheap stock art in advertisements and wonder why they don’t get a response

Here is a great example of an image that is awesome from, Cafe Ventana, a St. Louis bistro. They have a great picture and their logo placement is clean and clear.

2) Use Great Tags, Not Just the Business Name

Remember consumers aren’t typically looking for a specific business, but a business type.

So use tags that help a customer find what they are looking for in a certain category or neighborhood.

We recommend at a minimum: City, Neighborhood, Zip Code, Specific Services or Food Type.

3) Create Incentives to Sign-Up & Advertising Packages

When you first launch your coupon program, give new advertisers an incentive to try online coupons:

• $29 a month for the first 3 months, then $49 a month
• Get 3 months free, when you sign up for 12 months

Create packages to entice advertisers to run more than one coupon at a time to increase your revenue faster. In our system, you would just divide the monthly spend and enter that for each coupon.

• $99 per month for one coupon
• $179 per month for two coupons ($89.50 a month)
• $249 per month for three coupons ($83 a month)

Bundle coupons with additional advertising to increase performance and your average sale.

• $99 per month for one coupon
• $199 per month for a coupon and 20,000 impressions promoting the offer
• $499 per month, 30,000 impressions, and a 15 second radio or TV ad (if applicable)