How SMBs Can Use Coupon Apps To Drive More Affiliate Sales

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) around the world are always looking for ways to boost their profit margins. Finding the secrets to success can be difficult whenever your resources are limited, but the digital age is constantly inventing new ways to enable growth.

Creating opportunities for your business to grow often requires you to invent ways to generate positive shopper experiences. The more positive experiences that a shopper has with your store, the more loyal they will become. One bad experience, however, can lead them to leave your company forever.

Generating larger profits through positive experiences can often be done by offering coupons, promotions, and discounts. Today, learn more about how your SMB can use coupon apps to drive more sales for your affiliate program.

Why is incorporating digital tech and coupons into your affiliate program so important?

SMBs that haven’t yet put many resources into digital technology may be hesitant to invest in a sector that they don’t have experience in. What is it about digital technology, digital coupons, and coupon apps that can improve your business plans?

SMBs need to focus on the simple fact that customers use their phones while shopping and as an intricate part of their product selection process. Additionally, phones play a significant role in how items are marketed to customers around the world.

Phones are part of the shopping experience.

Customers prefer to use their phones while shopping, and they often use them to store and redeem coupons. Even while shopping in person, more than 75% of customers say that they use their phones to search for discounts and coupons that they can apply to their purchases at a brick-and-mortar store.

Many SMBs assume that digital couponing is only important when buyers are shopping online, but that is far from the truth. Digital access to coupons and discounts is key even for buyers deciding on a purchase in person.

Immediate discounts create loyalty.

Loyalty incentive programs provide a reason for some shoppers to keep coming back to your business, but that isn’t always effective. In fact, more than 70% of shoppers say that loyalty programs aren’t going to make them loyal.

Instead, customers say that they prefer mobile coupons that they can easily use. This motivates them to make a purchase, browse your inventory online, or visit your store in person.

By setting up ways for customers to access immediate discounts that they can apply to their purchases, you can create more relevant types of loyalty among your customer base.

Why coupon apps drive more sales for SMBs

Now that you know more about how technology generally helps to improve numbers, let’s talk more specifically about why coupon apps can drive more sales for SMBs. What is it about these apps and websites that lead to better numbers?

Mass exposure

One of the primary reasons that SMBs should consider taking advantage of finding coupon app affiliates is that the coupons will reach a much larger audience than they may reach through their own marketing lists or email campaigns.

This is particularly useful for SMBs that have an eCommerce site rather than only a brick-and-mortar location. For example, buyers searching for products in your industry may come across your coupon and decide to view your inventory to see if they can get a good deal.

The more exposure your coupons get, the more likely those coupons are to generate a sale. You might even reach former customers that forgot about your business; reactivating this type of buyer is an excellent goal for small businesses.

Viral marketing

Another benefit of using coupon app affiliates and coupon website affiliates to drive sales is that sometimes, a deal can go viral through these services.

All it takes is for one customer to find a great deal that they think is worth sharing. Then, as word spreads about the deal, more and more people look for those coupons. If you are offering a huge discount on a gift card, for example, word-of-mouth recommendations may lead to a huge number of sales on that promotion.

New customers, new sales

Coupon apps will introduce your business and products to new customers. This will certainly boost your sales as some of those customers may make a purchase. By giving new customers a good experience, you may even be able to turn them into repeat customers. Repeat customers are worth the most to your business, so this is the type of sale you want to generate.

Cheap advertising

SMBs often have minimal advertising budgets, and it can be challenging to get the word out about your business when you don’t have a lot of funds. Thankfully, digital marketing is cheaper than ever before!

As long as you are sure that you can maintain a strong bottom line while honoring digital coupons, advertising through coupon apps can be cost-effective for your small business.

Proximity couponing

Some coupon apps offer what is known as proximity couponing. Essentially, these apps use the location of a consumer’s device to send them coupons that are local to where they are physically located.

Proximity couponing through native apps, coupon apps, and store apps is becoming a widespread phenomenon in the digital space. Customers nearby the store that has visited before or never even heard of you may be drawn in by a particularly good coupon. Using this to your business’s advantage can drive sales.

Coupon apps attract determined buyers

Shoppers that use coupon apps to shop for discount coupons or browse for deals they could use are dedicated and determined buyers. These shoppers are looking to make a purchase, and they are trying to make sure that they get a great deal while doing so.

By getting your coupons somewhere visible to this type of shopper, you have a great chance of driving more sales. Consumers with a purpose and goal for buying will make a purchase; your goal is to make sure that your deal is the most appealing while they look for coupons.

Generate interest

Using apps that allow you to set up a specific promotional coupon is a great way to generate interest in your business from those in your target audience that may never find your business organically. In addition, submitting coupons to coupon sites like this generate brand awareness, which you can then convert into brand loyalty and increased sales.

Designing your first digital coupon campaign

Planning a digital coupon campaign can be stressful for SMBs that haven’t set up this type of targeted marketing before. Work through the following steps to set up a successful coupon strategy for the first time ever!

Make a specific and achievable goal

What is the goal of your coupon? Are you trying to reduce inventory, sell off a specific product, or just bring in more customers? Consider what your goal is before you choose the coupon that will be right for your needs.

Choose coupon apps

The next thing that you need to do is consider which type of coupon app will make the most sense for your business. For example, where do the coupons need to be delivered, and what will reach most of your target customer base?

Write your offer

What type of offer will motivate your target customer to act on the deal you are designing?

Make your offer simple but beneficial to your customers. Whether you choose to do a dollar-off amount, a buy-one-get-one-free promotion, or another type of deal, it needs to be straightforward and easy to understand.

Write your coupon in a language that is appealing to your consumers.

Make contact with the coupon apps to add them to your affiliate program

While making the coupon app or website isn’t a prerequisite for being featured there, many will expect to receive some sort of commission for driving sales to your site. You can easily create, track and grow your own affiliate marketing programs, using software like Tapfiliate.

Sending an email to the coupon app to invite them to join your affiliate program is as simple as telling them you want to promote your coupon code on their website or app and give them a commission for any sales they generated. Most will be happy to join your program. Once they have signed up, you can create a unique coupon code for them and track the results easily..

Launch the promotion

Ensure that you give customers enough time to take advantage of the deal when you launch your promotion. Set your sales systems up to use the coupons properly and check that the apps chosen all have the coupons loaded correctly.

Check your results

One of the most critical things for SMBs like yours to do when running a digital coupon campaign is to monitor the results.

Compare your sales before and after the promotion to find out if your promotion made a considerable difference in sales or not. Then, cross-check the results with your original goal from step one. Did you achieve that goal? If not, what are some reasons why that goal might not have been achieved?

Use this information to continue to improve each and every digital campaign that you design. As you get more experienced with this type of marketing, you’ll see better results that continue to drive more sales and improve your bottom line.

Take advantage of coupon apps

In most cases, small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of coupon apps without investing a lot of money. Of course, there is always a time investment when adding on a new type of marketing campaign, but coupon apps have been shown to drive more sales, so this cost is well worth it, and one major benefit of using an affiliate marketing program is that you only pay for results.

Prepare your business for its next stage of growth by investigating different coupon apps to find which ones will help you reach your target audience. With just a few promotions, you could expand your customer base and generate more sales than you have ever seen before.

Denise Langenegger

Denise Langenegger is part of the team at Instasize – a content creating tool kit for anyone editing photos and online content on mobile.