Tuesday, August 4, 2009

3 Worn Out Coupon Offers You Should Not Make

You are not really helping your company when you make any or all of the following three offers. These offers are worn out, over used, and if you are not careful do not ad to your bottom line. All they do is reduce your margins and help the cheapos in the market place reap the benefits. What you really want to think about is a compelling offer, than you would like yourself and take advantage of. Any ways, here are three offers yo should eliminate from your marketing campaign and why.

Offer #1: Buy 1 get 1 free.
You have to be very careful with this offer, because very often nobody wants two of what you are offering. And if they do, they will probably buy them anyway. Smart shoppers work together and take advantage of two for one offers, and two people can get the item for half price, ( one for you, one for me ). You probably never thought about the fact that there can be a hidden purchaser in this type of an offer. If you even think about using this type of offer, make it very compelling like Buy 1 semester of college, get one free !

Offer #2: $1 off any diapers (You pick the brand).
Almost all Sunday newspapers contain coupons for diapers. Women, for the most part, cut out and use these coupons to buy diapers. They would have bought them anyways, but since the coupon is available, they use it.
Neighbors often trade coupons with each other, if they know the brand their neighbor likes. So what is happening here? People who are sharp accumulate coupons for items they would buy anyway and get them at a discounted price. The trick to making compelling and margin increasing coupons, is to offer something that your potential customer does not buy regularly and will only try with a coupon offer. You do not want to make coupons for routinely purchased items.

Offer #3: Buy 12 ( of ___ ) get the 13th Free !
Many businesses use punch cards, or keep track of your purchases of a certain item. The person coming to buy the 12th item, to get the free item is certainly a buyer of that item. For example, buy 12 pairs of shoes, get the 13th pair free. If your customer buys 11 pair over a period of time, do you have any fears that he/she won't buy the 12th pair, to get the 13th free. This merchant would be better off pushing his other merchandise, by saying that if you buy 12 pairs of shoes, you get a discount on boots, purses, coats, or other items in the store that do not move as well as shoes.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joel_Helfer

No comments: