Trash! Why is the usage rate so low every time a coupon is issued?

Coupons are widely used, from offline stores to online e-commerce , especially in e-commerce, O2O , financial management and other industries. However, not every merchant’s coupons can arouse users’ interest. Some coupons have a high usage rate, while others have a very low usage rate. So how can we use operational means to increase the usage rate of coupons?

What types of coupons are there?

I open various types of apps on my phone. Common coupons include: full-reduction coupons, cash coupons, discount coupons, new user coupons, redemption coupons, etc.; and according to the scope of use, there are: brand coupons, general coupons, category coupons, single product coupons, etc.

Coupons for purchases over a certain amount are widely used, including e-commerce apps, ticketing apps, group buying/takeout apps, etc.

New user coupons are also very common, but in fact, new user coupons are more often presented in the form of discounts on purchases over a certain amount.

Cash coupons are more common in financial and wealth management apps . A common thing is that new users can get a cash red envelope of XXX amount after completing real-name verification. In fact, cash coupons are used to stimulate users and encourage them to invest .

How to increase the usage of coupons

What kind of coupons are good? Of course, only those with high usage rate can be considered good. So how to increase the usage rate of coupons?

1. Design of coupon content

Generally speaking, a coupon must have the following elements: name, type, face value, conditions of use, platform of use, validity period, product range, scope of application, etc.

(1) Pay attention to the validity period of coupons

Coupon delivery is generally time-limited, and there are skills in how to set the validity period of the coupon. The coupon must be valid from the moment the activity starts, otherwise two bad situations will occur: first, the user cannot use the coupon after receiving it; second, when the user gets the coupon on the last day, he finds that the coupon is about to expire. The occurrence of these two situations will greatly reduce user usage.

Therefore, when setting the validity period of the coupon, I suggest that the validity period should be greater than or equal to the coupon distribution time, and the validity period should generally not exceed 7 days.

(2) The face value should be attractive and the setting should be reasonable

Recently, I don’t like using food delivery apps very much. The reason is very simple: the face value of the coupons is not high, and the threshold for using coupons with a higher face value is high. In fact, it’s not just food delivery apps, the same is true for taxi apps. The discounts are not as great as before, so I rarely use food delivery apps now! Of course, this is related to their development business lines.

The use of coupons is divided into two types: with a usage threshold and without a usage threshold; generally speaking, the discount of coupons without a usage threshold is relatively small

① Most of the no-threshold coupons have a face value of 3 yuan, 5 yuan, and 10 yuan. Since the face value of 3 yuan and 5 yuan is relatively small, they are must-have coupons with no threshold and are usually used in customer spending ranging from a few dozen yuan to around 100 yuan. One of the purposes of coupon marketing is to attract new and old users and increase purchase conversion rate . Another purpose is to…

②In addition to increasing e-commerce purchase conversion rates, coupons are also used to increase average order value. Previously, I saw an article on Zhihu about “What is the coupon distribution strategy of e-commerce companies?” 》It says that the threshold for using coupons should be set based on the average customer spending on the platform. For example, if statistics show that the average customer spending in the past month fluctuates around 50 yuan, then in order to increase the average customer spending, the threshold for the 5 yuan coupon can be raised to 68 yuan.

Of course, if the threshold for using the 5-yuan coupon is raised to 68 yuan, what will the purchase conversion rate be like? We should use data to speak;

In summary, the content design of coupons should make users enjoy using them while increasing the sales of e-commerce apps.

2. How to get coupons

A good article will be difficult to spread without some good channels , and the number of readers will not increase. The same goes for coupons. No matter how tempting they are, if they are not delivered to users within the APP through operational means, the final conversion rate will not be very high. If coupons want to increase usage rates, the way they reach users must be scenario-based and refined.

(1) How to get the coupon

The reach of coupons needs to be scenario-based. Coupons are widely used in all walks of life, and the operation of APP applications is becoming more and more advanced.

①Trigger the coupon after launching the APP

• Takeaway apps: Coupons are usually triggered after launching the app, such as Meituan Waimai and Ele.me.
• Taxi APP: In the early days, Didi Taxi and Uber also triggered taxi coupons when users launched the APP. The threshold for using the coupons was low and the discounts were very large. As a result, Didi ’s Express became popular and taxis became more urgent.

② Various advertising locations and information flows within the app

The advertising position within the app also plays an important role in the distribution and use of coupons. Advertising locations within the app include: startup page, banner location, information flow location, etc. Displaying coupons through advertising space can increase the issuance and usage rate of coupons.

③Coupon pool: collect coupons of various platform products and categories

Coupons are distributed in the form of coupon pools. Two classic apps are JD.com and UnionPay Wallet. The coupons in JD.com’s Coupon Center are mainly category and store coupons. UnionPay Wallet mainly provides store coupons, and the discounts are very large and very tempting, usually coupons from convenience stores and large shopping malls.

On the left is the UnionPay wallet, on the right is the JD coupon center

④ SMS, EDM, APP message push to guide users to receive coupons

The above three forms of contact are suitable for active APP users. For users with low stickiness, they may open the APP only once in a long time. Even if there are good coupons, this type of users will miss them.

The significance of delivering coupons through SMS push and EDM is even greater. In addition to increasing the user's purchase rate, it is also to recall dormant users.

APP message push requires the use of a third-party push tool to push the coupon content to users who have downloaded the APP.

Compared with EDM and SMS push, APP message push allows users to click on the push content and quickly enter the APP application to receive coupons. EDM and SMS push can only rely on links to guide users to download the APP, or use deeplink technology to achieve seamless jumps. After downloading the APP, users can directly jump to the page and receive coupons. Both of these have one or two more steps than message push.

Of course, the activity box can help operators achieve the above-mentioned coupon contact form; the activity box can trigger, push and deliver activities in a refined manner through user scenarios and user tag attributes, which can help operators conduct more refined coupon activity marketing !

Among the three, push has the best effect, followed by SMS and EDM. The push opening rate of EDM is actually very low. You can refer to my previous article "Four channels for APP to recall users: EDM, Push, SMS, and Official Accounts", which explains in detail the advantages and disadvantages of these contact methods;

(2) Coupons also need to be operated in a refined manner

There are many categories of coupons, including category coupons, brand coupons, general coupons, single product coupons, etc., and many coupons also have thresholds. Different coupons target different groups of people. If you want to increase the usage rate of coupons, you must carry out refined operational management.

① Category coupons, brand coupons, and single product coupons need to be refined in their reach: To give a very simple example, if it is a brand coupon for women's products, and you reach all users in the app (including men), this will greatly affect the user experience . For female users , there is no impact, but for male users, if they often receive coupons but cannot use them, it will reduce their favorability towards the APP and even lead to user loss . Therefore, when distributing coupons, it is important to clearly identify the target user group.

② The APP should enable the reminder function: Each coupon has an expiration date. If the user has unused coupons, when the coupons are about to expire, the APP operator can/needs to give the user a sense of urgency.

Let’s take an example: Nuomi APP held a coupon distribution activity. The coupon could only be used on the same day. At 9:00 p.m. that evening, when the coupon was about to expire, a text message was sent to the user, reminding the user to use it quickly. The coupon was about to expire. He distributed coupons to users that could only be used on the same day. At around 10:00 p.m. that evening, a text message was sent to the user, reminding the user that the coupon was about to expire and to use it quickly. After he sent the message, the coupon usage data continued to grow and reached a peak at 11:59. Generally speaking, the last day can greatly increase users’ sense of urgency and pressure, and the data on the last day is usually the highest.

In conclusion: Using operational means to promote the usage of coupons has a very good effect. Find the user growth path, set up corresponding coupon activities in the most appropriate path, and improve operational efficiency. Coupons are distributed in the hope that users will use them. Even if users don’t use it, there is no cost burden for the company, but if users use it, isn’t it better?