The Experian Marketing Services’ 2013 4th Quarter email trends and analysis study found a 50% year-over-year increase in the number of email campaigns offering coupons. For consumers, “couponing” has become a tradition, says the report, with many reading the Sunday paper with scissors nearby to cut coupons with the best deals and offers. There are even wallets sold just to hold coupons, boxes to organize them, coupon-only direct mail fliers and coupon clubs.
Email campaigns with coupons outperformed other promotional mailings on open, click, and transaction rates, and had 48% higher revenue per email ($0.10 for coupon mailings compared to $0.07 for other promotional mailings) in the 4th Q, 2013.
Emails offer coupons that can be redeemed online only, in-store only, or both online and in-store. 80% of the coupons reviewed in the study were able to be redeemed in-store, while 70% were able to be redeemed online. Emails with coupons out-performed other promotional mailings
Lift For Promotional Coupon Mailings: | |
Measurement | % Lift Increase (versus other promotional mailings) |
Revenue per email | 48% |
Transaction rates | 27% |
Unique click rates | 34% |
Unique open rates | 14% |
Source: Experian Marketing Services, March 2014 |
As the percent of emails opened on mobile devices continues to rise, the added flexibility of redeeming coupons from these devices is a great way to encourage in-store visits in real-time, says the report, as opposed to first having to print out the coupon and then go to a store. In fact, this year, 21% of the in-store coupons emailed encouraged customers to show the coupon in-store on their mobile device.
3 ways to redeem emailed coupons:
Whether for online or in-store redemption, all coupon redemption types had higher unique click rates than other promotional mailings, which averaged about 1.6%
All Coupon Types Had Higher Click Rates Than Other Promotional Mailings | |
Location | Unique click rates |
In-store or online | 2.7% |
Online only | 1.8% |
In-store only | 9% |
Source: Experian Marketing Services, March 2014 |
To see the role coupons play in driving these higher click rates, The report analyzed the total clicks received on the coupon links within each mailing (coupon clicks/total clicks per mailing). 58% of the clicks for mailings with in-store only coupons came from the coupon link.
Coupons Are Clearly Major Contributors To Click Rates | |
Location | Percent of total clicks on coupon links |
In-store or online | 46% |
Online only | 48% |
In-store only | 58% |
Source: Experian Marketing Services, March 2014 |
The report suggests that marketers should test the offer value of their coupons in order to preserve as much margin as you can. While deep discount coupons offering 50% off or more play a large role in late holiday mailings, coupons offering lesser amounts are also be very effective throughout the rest of the year.
Dollar-Off Coupons
Percent-Off Coupons
Source: Experian Marketing Services, March 2014
The report concludes by noting that coupons are a valuable option for email campaigns. Key points are summarized as:
Email volume rose by 11.2% in Q4 2013 compared to Q4 2012.
Looking at coupons in emails:
To access the complete report in a PDF file, please visit Experian here.
People like online coupons because using paper ones makes many feel "poor" - http://www.itsinthestarsonline.com/online-coupons-are-cool-but-paper-ones-make-you-look-poor/