Affiliate tracking software for coupon sites

TikTok influencers, high-traffic review sites, magazine publications — the options are endless for affiliate types. But one type of affiliate marketing business is taking the affiliate marketing sector by storm: coupon sites.

If you’re inclined to let out a groan, we understand. Brands either love or hate coupon sites. 

But imagine this: 

Your target audience eludes your latest campaigns. Meanwhile, they’re quietly scrolling through the latest deals on a coupon website. They come across your latest coupon campaign, a 10% discount on a $150 spend. That small discount is enough for them to click on the referral links and check out your website for the first time. Plus, the coupon website already primed them to buy, and BAM — an affiliate sale. 

Feeling hesitant? Coupon websites have their fair share of criticisms in the marketing world. 

But today’s affiliate marketing programs need them.

We’ll walk you through how coupon websites help you drive affiliate sales and traffic. Then, we’ll teach you how to leverage them fully with the right affiliate marketing software solution.

How do coupon websites drive more sales for brands?

Coupon sites have always felt cheesy — you might exclusively attribute them to your ferociously frugal aunt Milly. But she’s not the only one on the coupon site grind. 

In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic saw digital coupons surpass physical coupons in popularity. So much so that business giants like Capital One and Goldman & Sachs added sites like Honey and Slickdeals to their network of affiliates. The price tag overall? Billions in affiliate payments — but the extra sales and improved metrics were worth it.

The truth is that coupon sites help thousands of online brands drive sales and traffic, not just the big ones. How? A few reasons; namely, it’s their far-reaching appeal across a wide range of potential customers. 

Your target audience might be high-income, mid-40s, and interested in environmental activism. Guess what? Some of them might like coupon sites, too. 

The PMA’s Coupon and Deals Council describes the internet coupon consumer demographic as “ubiquitous.” They span income brackets, geography, age groups, and interests — but the most common age range is 35-44. Their purpose? Finding a great deal, even for a brand they’ve never seen before. 

So, we know coupon sites attract potential customers from all walks of life. 

But if you’re still uncertain of their utility, chew on this: 

Cashback and coupon sites add up to 51% of the performance marketing spend. 

Of course, influencer campaigns and SEO content take a good chunk, but they seem ostensibly minor at a mere 5% and 15%, respectively. 

What are coupon sites doing right? Almost everything, but here’s a start: 

Customer “Purchase” Stage: Even your most loyal customers started at stage #1 of the purchase journey — awareness. That’s when they first started seeking a solution to their pain points. Stage 2 is the consideration of your brand and competitors, and stage 3 is the purchase. Your marketing efforts often start by attracting customers in stage #1. But coupon sites catch them already on stage 3. And to visualize how many late-stage customers you can access, keep in mind that Slickdeals has an estimated 2.4 million in organic traffic per month, according to SEMRush. Even with an average 0.05% clickthrough rate, that’s still a lot of traffic to your site based on pure search volume. 

Hubspot tells us that a “now or never” sales close is one of the most common ways to seal the deal. And nothing says now or never like a limited-time discount. 

Coupon site evolution: Today’s coupon sites follow all the laws of digital attraction. They’ve beefed up their offerings over time to surpass mere coupons. Now, you’ll see cashback incentives to attract loyal customers and blog or review content, to catch your target audience in Google SERPs. 

But perhaps the most powerful attraction is how coupon sites make consumers feel a sense of belonging. 

How? 

First, through an email newsletter, with regular deals and news, to establish a relationship. 

Second, through a flourishing online community. Today, you can discuss deal-related topics of your choice on SlickDeals’ forums, from the latest Black Friday finds to online freebies. We’re talking traffic, conversion, and engagement rates through the roof. 

The cherry on top is the branded paid searches you can now access on coupon sites. 

Location targeting: Of course, Google Ads lets you use location targets to find your ideal audience. But you’ll pay a solid chunk of change before seeing results. Coupon sites can see your location, too — that’s why they started highlighting relevant coupons for brick-and-mortar stores nearby each customer’s location. 

Unique perspective: You research your web visitors, social media audience, and then some, right? But your affiliates do, too. Just like your influencer marketing affiliates have exclusive insights about their audiences, coupon sites have insider knowledge about your targets. This makes it easier for them to target unique deals for specific customers and maximize sales. 

But coupon sites won’t track coupons for you. Even if they do, investing in your affiliate coupon tracking software is prudent.

We can help — sign up for our 👉 14-day free trial.

Why are coupon sites so popular in affiliate marketing?

So we know coupon sites can help you drive sales and traffic. But why have they become a flagship partnership in the affiliate marketing game? The answer lies in more than just conversion rates. Here’s how brands can leverage coupon sites in their affiliate programs: 

New customers: We mentioned how coupon sites find your target audience in the “purchase” stage of the customer journey. But the beauty of this is in the fact that they’re often new customers. Every marketer knows it’s much cheaper to encourage return customers than to find new ones. That is, unless you’re talking about coupon affiliate campaigns. 

Coupon sites have massive audiences that your eCommerce marketing campaigns can only dream of attracting. They present one of the quickest ways to capture a new customer ready to buy — an anomaly in the initial stages of marketing campaigns. 

On top of that, coupon sites offer you free word-of-mouth marketing. Just look at the thousands of posts and hundreds of topics on Slickdeals’ community forums. People share the good news after a satisfying purchase, recommending your brand to thousands of other potential customers. 

Waste not: What do you do with excess inventory? Even if your product lasts years, it’s easy to quickly pile up old stock in a storage locker. What happens when you run out of space? Clearance sales and BOHOs on your social media accounts are good starting points, but not always effective. Your current customer base isn’t large enough to use these deals frequently enough to be meaningful. But if you have a deal to share, millions of coupon site visitors will happily take some excess stock off your plate. 

Higher AOV (average order value): AOV is one of your most important affiliate marketing KPIs. It reveals your most desirable, top-selling products and shares some insight into your customers. The story goes that you can easily manipulate AOV by introducing affiliate coupons to the mix. Who better to do that than coupon sites? They offer an easy way to improve AOV. For example, an AOV of $120 is quickly improved with a “10% on $150” coupon code. 

But you’re a marketer, which means you need a visual. 

What does a coupon code from a coupon site look like?

Coupons on flyers look like barcodes — but affiliate coupon codes are a little different. You’re not working with something easily scannable, like affiliate links. Instead, coupon sites need unique codes to translate their affiliation to your latest customer. These coupon codes also need to allow for online to offline purchases. 

While coupon sites use thousands of different coupon codes, they still look similar.

Coupon codes are alphanumeric, with all letters, all numbers, or a mix of both. Some brands offer them in exchange for a newsletter sign-up and other marketing tactics. But coupon sites provide them for free. 

Here’s an example from Slickdeals, using their partnership with HP: 

Here’s another from Amazon:

On other sites, coupon codes might look a little different. For example, influencers might use coupon codes reflective of their names or handles. A sleep hygiene enthusiast, let’s call him “@sleepwithjim” might use this coupon code for a sleep supplement partnership: 

JIMSLEEP10

Of course, exact coupon codes will vary across the board. Now, which brands and affiliate partners can actually use coupon codes? Hint: it’s not just coupon sites. 

Who can use coupon codes?

Do you sell anything online? Then you can use coupon codes. But if you’re in a heavily regulated industry like tobacco, or cryptocurrency, for example, you might need to tread carefully. 

As for the eCommerce clothing stores, SaaS businesses, handmade furniture crafters, and pretty much everyone else? Coupon codes beckon this way! Every single type of customer can access coupon codes on coupon sites, offering a plethora of engagement and sales for the brands who use them. 

Is there a specific brand more ideal for a coupon site affiliate program? Not really — a quick browse through Retailmenot shows deals from apparel retailers like Nike to home stores like Bed Bath and Beyond. And don’t forget the immense variety of tech gear on SlickDeals!

But let’s address the elephant in the room: brands don’t always want coupons in their business strategy. 

Some see coupon codes as agreeing to devalue their products. We’ll explore why that’s not the case if you have a top-notch affiliate program and accompanying affiliate marketing software. 

Why do some brands dislike coupon codes?

First of all, let’s get something straight: we’re big advocates for coupon codes. We know they’re effective. Our clients use them regularly. Why? Our detailed reporting shows ample increase in traffic and sales through coupon codes. 

Still, many brands have their hesitations. We’ll discuss a couple of coupon code disadvantages and the best ways to combat them. 

Discounts are business as usual: Of course, no brand wants to see its prices discounted in every transaction. The problem with coupons is that some customers love them too much —- so much that they might not bother purchasing from you until you offer a coupon. And that’s true if you constantly offer coupon codes. Your dog won’t wait for dinner if you always offer it your home-cooked pot roast. The solution? Make coupon codes a treat. You don’t need active coupon deals every day of the week.

Influx of one-time customers: Coupon sites will open your brand to a cost-savvy audience that places the need for a deal above any other pain point your product could solve. Meaning? You might get a few one-time customers, never to be heard from again. But instead of scoffing at them, think about ways to make them come back. If you offer enough coupons, those one-time customers might look to you in the future instead of competitors. Plus, coupon sites help you leverage customer loyalty with cashback and reward programs to retain even the most frugal new customers.

Undeserved commission: Your customers might happily fill their shopping carts after finding your site through your hardworking SEO strategy. But once they see a promo code box, they leave your site and hunt for one. So if they find one and the coupon site gets a comission, do they really deserve it if your customer came across your site on their own? 

Customer churn: On the other hand, a customer seeking a coupon might abandon their shopping cart if they don’t find one and having your coupon displayed on deal sites can help to ensure a purchase.

We’ll dive into more strategic ways to combat these potential coupon pitfalls later. But first, you’ll need quality affiliate management software to assess your affiliate performance. 

What is affiliate tracking software for coupon sites?

So you partnered with a coupon website. But how much of your transactions come from their audience? You could ask them — but every marketer and business owner knows to take more ownership of their data. 

That’s where affiliate software comes in. A tracking solution helps you see exactly which people end up on your webpage due to the coupon site. Same for transactions, automatically. 

The best affiliate software makes it easy to track coupon usage. Once your coupon site affiliates are signed up, you can seamlessly assign coupon codes and commission rates to each one. Then, your affiliate software will track each instance of the code being used and link it to the coupon site. On top of that, affiliate software will show you useful insights, like AOV and total revenue for each affiliate. 

From there, it’s easy to see which coupon sites drive sales and calculate ROI. 

Our advanced features, customization, and reporting capabilities will help you scale your affiliate program 👉 try our 14-day free trial!

How does affiliate tracking software work with coupon sites?

You might have hundreds of affiliate publishers and notice a few differences between them. Influencers might show different results from magazine publishers — coupon sites are also unique. 

But the right affiliate software will maintain tracking just as seamless for coupon sites as every other publisher. 

Here’s a quick breakdown: 

Create a coupon code: You’ll usually need to do this on the backend of your shopping site, whether it’s WooCommerce, Shopify, or something else. 

Share the coupon code: You’ll assign the code to your coupon site affiliates through your affiliate marketing software. 

Coupon promotion: The coupon sites will post and promote their unique code to their audiences. 

Money rolling: Your coupon code will start working its magic and generate new sales. 

Sales tracking: The affiliate marketing software will track each transaction and visitor to the correct coupon site affiliate using the coupon code. 

Affiliate reports: You can check your affiliate dashboard for a bird’s eye view of results. Plus, access real-time insights and detailed reports about your coupon code performance, number of sales, and total revenue for each code, campaign, and coupon site. 

ROI-informed strategy: Once you have a strong set of KPIs at the campaign’s end, it’s easy to calculate your ROI for each coupon site. Think about the results — do any bring more revenue than others? Is each coupon site affiliate furthering your affiliate marketing goals? These insights will help you tweak and perfect your affiliate marketing strategy to be more effective. 

But that transparency doesn’t end with brands. Remember, affiliates need to feel confident in your process and credibility. That’s why the best affiliate marketing software allows publishers, including coupon sites, to view those metrics. It’s easy for affiliates to cross-reference results with their affiliate commissions.

The coupon site affiliate’s bread and butter is clickless tracking. This enables brands to understand how much of their revenue comes from unique coupon codes — without the need for affiliate links. Tapfiliate offers clickless tracking with every tiered plan to help you assess revenue, sales numbers, and performance for every coupon code you disperse! 

We’ll get into setting up coupon codes shortly. First, let’s quickly examine how a coupon code works for your affiliate program. 

How do coupon codes work?

Brands create coupon codes and then distribute them to customers through: 

• Marketing channels
• Coupon sites
• Email marketing
• Other publishers in their affiliate network 

A browsing customer notices the coupon code and visits your website. They might browse around through your products. 

If they see something they like, they’ll add the item to their shopping cart and use the coupon code to apply a discount to the purchase. 

Or, they’ll search directly for the promoted product dedicated to the coupon code and make a more direct purchase. 

How do you set up a coupon code?

Before setting up your coupons, you need a solid number in mind. 

What will your discount be?

• A dollar-amount discount? 
• A percentage off? 
• Will either be dependent on the order value? 
• Is the coupon code applicable to all products or only specific ones?
• How about free shipping? 

Of course, the answers depend on your pricing goals and your shopping cart platform. For example, Shopify discounts are pretty versatile. They offer: 

• Dollar value discounts
• Percentage discounts
• Buy X get Y discounts
• Free shopping discounts

Memberful, which caters to many subscription businesses, offers similar versatility: 

You can toggle discounts to be: 

• Recurring or one-time
• Percentage based
• Time-limited

And the list goes on, depending on your shopping cart. But what if your affiliate tracking software doesn’t integrate with your shopping cart? You’ll risk losing out on coupon tracking capabilities. Luckily, a little help from an API and developer should do the trick. However, it always helps to use software with plenty of integrations. 

Tapfiliate supports seamless coupon tracking for the following shopping carts: 

• Shopify
• Lightspeed
• Teachable
• Memberful
• WooCommerce

But if you’re using Zapier, Make, or Pabbly? You’ll just need to put in a little extra work in the setup process, but Tapfiliate supports those as well. If you’re using a shopping cart not listed here, you’ll need to integrate coupon tracking through JavaScript, NPM Module, and the REST API. 

Now, how does it all work from the customer’s side?

How do customers redeem the coupons they found on a coupon website?

Coupon sites will list a coupon code, as well as a link to your brand’s website. That’s the ticket in for potential customers. They’ll access your site, add products to their cart, and click “check out.”

Before they finalize the purchase, a prompt asks them for a coupon code. Customers will add the coupon and the page will refresh to reflect the applied discount. 

The example below displays the coupon code and the resulting discount on the overall price: 

But coupon website affiliates aren’t willy-nilly marketing tools. They need structure, just like any other affiliate marketing campaign. 

Let’s talk strategy. 

How to create a coupon strategy for a coupon site

Coupon websites alone result in more customers yet less revenue for each product. But a carefully curated coupon strategy leverages coupon websites to maintain and surpass your existing traffic and conversion levels. 

You might think, well, I already did the math on a comfortable discount amount. Hold your horses — that’s just one part of the equation. A coupon strategy for coupon websites answers seven important questions regarding: 

• Marketing goals
• Coupon types
• Frequency
• Discount amount
• Coupon website selection
• Discount duration
• Results

First things first: 

What are the goals of your coupon?

You might have a few affiliate publishers under your belt already. Maybe @taliatablets is killing your traffic goals for your supplement brand. Or that camping gear review site is pumping serious transactions for your tent product. You work with each affiliate’s strengths. 

So, how can coupon websites help your brand? Or, more importantly, how do you want them to help you?

New customers: Your data shows that you haven’t had a new customer in a while. Yikes. You love your loyal customers, but they just don’t purchase enough products to meet your marketing goals. You could invest in some targeted remarketing, or use coupon websites to acquire new customers. A discount for minimum spend and referral incentives are great ways to snag new buyers. 

Slow season movement: An eCommerce seller of college agendas might experience a dry spell halfway into the school year. How do you deal with excess stock during the slow season? Coupon sites are a great way to promote your products and gain conversions from customers who otherwise might not have looked twice. 

AOV increase: Tired of your minimal AOV? Sometimes, products are simply lower-value and can’t surpass certain AOVs. But don’t limit yourself to that reality until you give coupon websites a shot! A little discount is sometimes all you need to bring a customer from a $50 to $75 spend. 

Upsells: Do you have smaller products that just don’t get enough traction? How about upgraded services that slump compared to your cheaper tiers? Your product photos, eloquent sales copy, and overall value might not be enough to convince your customers to buy. People like cheaper options — unless they’re getting a deal. Coupon websites are great for upselling. 

Stand out from competitors: Hopefully, you have a few extra value-adds to stand out from competitors. But if your product is just too similar, competitors might steal your potential customers. So, why not compete? Use your coupon websites to incentivize purchases for your products vs. competitors. 

Early payment: SaaS subscription businesses, listen up. You’re itching for more customers to opt for your annual plan, but your 10% discount isn’t enticing them at checkout. You might have better luck using the same discount on a coupon website. 

Customer loyalty: A customer community isn’t functional without exclusive perks. Cashback, exclusive discounts, and insider knowledge are great ways to build a loyal customer base.

Of course, these are just a few coupon site goal examples. You might have a laundry list of goals for your new coupon affiliates. Whatever they are, your coupon strategy should always align. 

Now, let’s talk coupons. 

What type of coupons will you use?

Your coupon strategy should clearly outline the types of coupons you’ll use to further your affiliate marketing goals. 

We covered a few different coupon types earlier in this piece, but let’s just cover a quick refresher. 

Free shipping: Retail giants like Amazon have made free shipping so commonplace that customers now expect it. One study shows 79% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase with free shipping, followed by same-day shipping at a mere 42%.

Percentage off (with a minimum spend): Trying to increase average order value? Twenty percent off is music to the frugal customer’s ears. Everybody likes a little discount — especially at the 20%, 33%, and 50% marks. Still, use these discounts strategically to increase AOV to sky-high heights or empty excess stock in a one-day clearance special. 

Dollar amount off (with a minimum spend): Similar vibe as a percentage off, but which one is better? Email marketer Craig Simpson sees dollar vs. percentage discounts as equally effective unless one sounds like a more significant discount than the other. For example, $50 off will always sound more appealing than 20% off — even if it’s the same amount of dollars in the end!

Free upgrade: Upsell, anyone? A nice example: a few months free for the upper-tier subscription. Of course, they can cancel anytime — but after tasting the sweet upgrade, they might not want to!

Buy one, get one: These are great coupons to move out excess inventory or add a little pizazz to slow seasons. The beloved BOGO deal is known to increase AOV and conversion rates. 

Free product with minimum spend: Try this one during the holiday season. Your customers will appreciate the gift — just ensure it’s relevant and useful. For example, if they’re purchasing a sweater, a bonus cozy pair of socks might appeal more than a keychain. 

Next order of business? Frequency. 

How often will you issue coupon codes?

The conservative marketer might limit coupons to a once-a-year affair. And there’s nothing wrong with that as long as it’s strategic. For example, a blow-out sale once a year is a fantastic way to leave a lasting impression on customers and power through excess stock. 

You might also consider offering coupons regularly but only exclusively to one coupon site. The benefit? A laser-sharp insight into how effective one coupon site affiliate is at driving sales, since you can compare their performance with your discount to other affiliates without the discount. 

Is there a right answer? Not really — your frequency depends on your sales goals, brand values, and personal preference. But either way, you should know how often you plan to use coupon websites before dispersing coupon codes. 

How much discount should you give?

Here’s the thing: you won’t know the answer until you start using affiliate tracking software. Why? Because you need solid results and reports to understand coupon performance. 

Now’s a great time to experiment with some A/B testing. Here are some ideas to compare: 

• One coupon website’s performance with a coupon code compared to affiliates without coupon codes
• Different coupon amounts for the same coupon website
• Different coupon amounts for different coupon websites

These are just a few ideas to start with. Overall, you’re looking for the minimum discount that still brings enough engagement and sales to meet your marketing goals. 

Which channels will you use (or coupon sites)?

Again, you won’t know which coupon websites perform best until you jump in and try them out. Continue the A/B testing trend to see if you can narrow in on the best-performing coupon websites. 

And if one brings you more sales than the other? Don’t automatically dismiss the other site. Certain product discounts might be more appealing to customers on one coupon site than others. 

Here are some coupon site affiliates to consider: 

• Slickdeals
• Retailmenot
• Topcashback
• Groupon
• Coupons.com
• Befrugal

Some of these sites also offer app versions.

Learn more about how 👉 SMBs can leverage coupon apps to drive sales.

How long will your coupon be valid for?

Nothing says cheap more than a lifelong coupon. Your coupon code shouldn’t be a long-term tenant on a coupon website. You need to nurture some urgency and exclusivity with a time limit. But the timing needs to be reasonable, too. If it’s too short, you’ll lose out on customers that miss the redeemable window. Worst case, you might even upset them! 

The sweet spot is around 2-4 weeks, but your coupon validity depends on your goals. Remember to consult with your affiliate, too. They can help you understand how long other brands keep coupons active, which could be a nice starting point for consideration. 

But the most important part of your coupon site strategy is the results. How do you know if your new affiliates are successful? 

How will you assess results?

Signing on with a couple of coupon websites shouldn’t be a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. You’ll need to know whether you’re actually meeting your original coupon strategy goals.

What does success look like? Is it a certain ROI figure? Increased AOV from X to X? Or perhaps an uptick of new customers? Affiliate tracking software helps you assess results by helping you view and calculate: 

• Number of sales per channel
• AOV per coupon site sale
• Revenue per coupon website
• ROI

Here at Tapfiliate, we help hundreds of brands improve their coupon affiliate strategies with accurate reporting and customizable dashboards. Try our 👉 14-day free trial today!

Start working with coupon sites today with Tapfiliate

Coupon websites are an increasingly valuable asset to every brand’s affiliate program. They appeal to cost-savvy articles across various demographics and help brands improve countless KPIs like AOV, conversion rate, and click-through rate. 

If you’re feeling hesitant about coupon sites, we’re confident two things will ease your worries: 

A detailed coupon website strategy outlining your affiliate marketing goals, coupon frequency, channels, and metrics for results; and Affiliate tracking software to compare hard, cold data with your coupon strategy goals. 

Tapfiliate can help you with the second part of that equation. Our top-of-the-line affiliate marketing software helps you track performance for individual coupon site affiliates, showing you AOV, revenue, and transaction numbers. From there, calculating ROI and informing your coupon strategy is easy as pie. 

Ready to start leveraging coupon website affiliates? Start with Tapfiliate’s free 14-day trial!