Many vendors offer online coupons as a way of attracting customers to purchase their goods. But with various scams out there as well as coupon sites not being well-liked by search engines, can coupons still be an effective way to increase sales?
The ways to implement a coupon code program have changed, but the short answer is that, yes, incorporating online coupons can help your sales. You may remember several years ago, major retailer JC Penney removed its coupon program and sales plummeted. They also lowered prices across the board in hopes that people would always look to them as having the lowest prices. The stock of the company also took a major hit and the CEO at the time was dismissed. His successor immediately put the programs back in play.
Pricing Psychology
The JC Penney situation is an example of pricing psychology. Consumers look to department stores as having quality merchandise. This implies that the prices are going to be higher. The minute you lower prices across the board, it gives the consumer the impression that the quality is no longer up to snuff.
But at the same time, people love deals. Even if retailers mark something up and then offer their customers coupons, they are going to jump on it.
Online coupons carry this to a whole other level. Many vendors offer deep discounts with these types of coupons. Typically, they create a coupon code and then distribute these codes to websites that offer coupon codes. It makes consumers that use them feel like they have scored big in finding these deals.
Does Google Penalize Coupon Sites?
Google has supposedly set out to penalize these coupon sites, saying that they add little in the way of interesting content, yet they still exist in abundance. This is because many consumers have them bookmarked. Shopping blogs will also alert their viewers as to where to find these discount sites. And still, if you search for coupon codes online, you will find these coupon sites do appear in the search results. So you have to wonder just how much of a penalty Google has really implemented in this regard.
Online coupons are a great way to bring more customers and increase sales accordingly. You will need to figure out what price points you want to set and whether or not you want to increase your prices, to counteract for the discounts that get applied. In the end, it is a great strategy that every e-commerce vendor should implement and it seems like it will continue to be great for years to come.
