Using Coupons to Measure Marketing Performance

Coupons are one of the simplest ways to measure the performance of your current marketing campaign. They can be integrated simply into both retail and online sales and will assist you in improving further marketing efforts. In this article, I will describe a few strategies for setting up a coupon program.


Design

Printed coupon design should be simple and attractive. Include the coupon or coupon code on a monthly newsletter, promotional flyer or direct mailing. For online campaigns, think about designing a banner or attractive graphic for your website's home page. The theme of the design should reflect some current event or holiday of importance to your business and its customers. Right now, Valentine's Day would be a good choice.

Integration



For online stores, the easiest way to begin accepting coupons is to sign up for a free Google Checkout account. Google Checkout is much like PayPal, which most people are familiar with, but funds are automatically deposited in your bank account after around 3-5 business days. For most businesses, this is a significant benefit. The Google Checkout account administration page provides an easy way to activate, deactivate and customize coupon campaigns. You can also track how many people have used the coupons.

One of the best features of the Google Checkout coupon system is its flexibility. If you choose, you can set the coupon to either a percentage discount (e.g. 15% off) or a dollar amount discount (e.g. $50 off). You may also permit the coupon to only be used by first time shoppers or shoppers with a minimum cart value (e.g. 15% off with a minimum purchase of $100).

Google Checkout integrates with a number of popular shopping carts including Zen Cart and OS Commerce (an open source shopping cart) in addition to providing it's own pop-up shopping cart. Click here for a demo store.

Analytics & Future Campaigns



Allow about 2-3 weeks after launching the marketing campaign featuring your new coupon then using Google Checkout, calculate your completion rate by dividing total orders by total mailings sent out. According to DirectMag.com, The average response rate for direct mail campaigns was 2.61%. Within sectors, nonprofit fundraisers enjoy the most success with direct response, getting rates of 5.35%. Close behind are retail stores (with 3.36%) and establishments selling services to businesses (3.34%). Your rate may be lower than this because the number of people who respond to an ad is typically higher than the number who complete a purchase.

With these numbers, you can calculate your ROI, or return on investment, and determine whether the campaign made money. If not, consider the following options:
- Redesigning your marketing pieces
- Target a more specific sector (i.e. if you're selling technical products/services, approach more technical companies)

Feel free to post any quesitons or comments below or by emailing: questions [at] EcoMailMarketing.com