How to write a coupon promotion plan?

This article will explain the following four points:

1. Coupons need to capture user psychology
2. Key points of coupon function design
3. Coupon gameplay creation based on the four elements of user operation
4. How to evaluate whether the coupon design is reasonable

1. Coupons need to capture user psychology

The first part will be explained from the following three points:

1. The balance of price anchors;
2. Create a tense and exciting atmosphere;
3. Make good use of the price bait principle.

(1) Balance of price anchor

What is a price anchor?

In the eyes of consumers, the value of a commodity is "relative". Whether this commodity is worth so much money requires a reference standard. Therefore, when merchants set prices for goods, they have already made comprehensive business considerations before giving a suitable price.

Therefore, in the course of business development, the price anchor point cannot be easily adjusted, and the stability of commodity value must be guaranteed. However, the market changes too much and too quickly, and prices need to be adjusted in different regions at different times.

So, the charm of coupons lies in this. It can fully preserve the original value of the goods and enable companies to carry out targeted marketing and promotional activities in different periods and regions. When users use coupons to buy goods, they seem to be happy about getting a bargain, but in fact, they are happier about the feeling of getting a bargain. Therefore, coupons can effectively achieve the purpose of protecting the value of goods and cannot be replaced by other marketing and promotional methods.

(2) Create a tense and exciting atmosphere

The issuance of coupons has become almost rampant among mainstream e-commerce companies, especially platform-based e-commerce companies. Both merchants and platforms issue coupons every day, and users have actually developed a certain immunity to them. Therefore, as vertical e-commerce and self-owned e-commerce, in addition to ensuring the quality of coupons, it is more important to create a tense and hot atmosphere when designing coupons. Users' emotions are easily infected, and a small detail may trigger them to place an order.

Therefore, we can use third-party information distribution channels or make some clever designs in the product design itself to let users feel the tense and popular atmosphere of the coupons.

(3) Make good use of the price bait principle

What is price bait?

Let’s take the case of The Economist magazine, which came up with an advertising plan:

• Option 1: You can subscribe to the magazine online for $59.
• Option 2: You can buy the printed version for $125.
• The third option is to spend $125 to buy a package of printed paper and electronic version for reading;

Once this plan was launched and put on the market, the subscription feedback received showed that the third plan was purchased by the most people. Analysis shows that users are somewhat hesitant when choosing between ordering the electronic version or the print version.

Then the marketing staff of The Economist magazine gave us a choice without hesitation, launching the option of increasing the quantity without increasing the price for a print and electronic version package, which made the user's choice clearer. Naturally, the first and second options are used as bait to lure users into purchasing the third option.

So back to our coupon design plan. Which kind of coupon do you want users to use? In addition to optimizing the copywriting and software operation, you can also use the price bait principle to create more disruptive coupons to guide users to choose the coupons you want them to use.

2. Key points of coupon function design

The second part will be explained from four words: create, develop, use and remember.

Create: Create Coupon

There are two aspects to consider when creating coupons:

1. Information about the voucher itself;
2. Coupons are used as activity information under activity types.

(1) Information about the voucher itself

It needs to be considered and designed in combination with the actual business scenarios of your company, generally including the following points:

Coupon name: Operations can customize the name of the coupon.

Coupon type: meet the coupon usage demands of different product lines (for example, if your company has multiple product lines, such as e-commerce, games, finance, etc., different product lines will have different coupon usage demands. Depending on the business types of different product lines, some coupon rules will definitely be different. Therefore, if there are multiple product lines, you need to consider adding this field to facilitate the distinction of complex business logic).

Coupon discount types: such as full-amount discount, discount, no threshold, etc. (designed according to the specific form required by the operation in the course of business development).

Face value: Set the discount amount of the coupon (for example, a discount type coupon defines the amount of the discount, a discount type coupon defines the discount value, etc.).

Usage restrictions: define the restrictions for using the coupon (for example, for a discount coupon, you need to define a certain amount before it can be used, while for a no threshold coupon, there is no need to define it, depending on the different coupon discount types).

Usage channel: Coupons are used in various channels under different product lines: such as client, H5, PC, etc. (I just mentioned the coupon type field. The usage channel here means that different coupons may have different channels of use. PC and mobile terminals may have different operation plans, so the business logic of coupon use will also be different, so they need to be distinguished).

Voucher validity period:

• Absolute time: To set a time period, you need to set the start time and end time;
• Relative time: Set the number of days after the receipt date that the payment will be valid.

(Coupons need to set a usage time for a coupon. Currently, there are two common methods: absolute time and relative time. Absolute time refers to manually setting a usage time period for the coupon. This design method needs to be coordinated with the activity time in the activity information to be discussed later. The end time of the coupon must be greater than the end time of the activity; the setting of relative time is simpler, which is to define the business scenario. For example, the current listing of how many days after the receipt date is valid only requires setting a value. You can choose a suitable design solution based on the actual situation.)

*Scope of use: platform coupons or store coupons (this is mainly applicable to platform-type products. There will be many merchants on the platform. It is necessary to distinguish whether the platform coupons or merchant coupons are created).

* Product range: all categories, all products, restricted categories, restricted products, etc. (The coupons are used for products, which include physical products or services, so the applicable scope of the products needs to be set, whether it is a certain category or a certain product, or all categories or all products, these must be defined).

(2) Coupons as activity information under activity type

The operation of setting coupons can actually be regarded as an activity behavior, so I defined the content of an activity information part for design, which generally includes the following content:

• Recipients: Unlimited, new customers, members, old customers, etc. (People can be defined according to the actual business scenario, so that corresponding coupons can be pushed to different groups of people);
• Acquisition methods: issuing, receiving, purchasing, and redeeming (the most common ways to obtain coupons are receiving and issuing. Generally, after the coupon creation is completed, these two acquisition methods can be used directly; while the acquisition methods of purchasing and redeeming may involve more business elements, such as setting redemption conditions and purchase conditions, which will not be described in detail in this section);
• Display area: business details page, coupon center page, shopping cart page, marketing activity page, coupon link, etc. (Different channels in each business product line need to provide display locations for coupons, and display locations are provided according to the design page of their own products);
• Activity time: Set the time period for collecting coupons (as the name implies, it is the time for collecting coupons. It should be noted that the time for collecting coupons and the effective time of coupons need to be designed with care. The end time of the effective time of coupons needs to be greater than the end time of collecting coupons. It should not cause the coupons to be expired before they are collected. These details need to be paid attention to. This block is also described in the first part of the coupon information);
• Issuance: the number of coupons issued within the total activity time, the number of coupons issued per day, etc. (mainly used to set the number of coupons);
• Limits on receiving: limit on receiving per person, limit on receiving per person per day, etc. (used to limit the number of times users can receive).

Send: Send coupons

There are two perspectives to consider when distributing coupons: active acquisition and passive acquisition.

Active acquisition: The coupons will be leaked in the display area we set up. Users will actively obtain them after seeing the coupons. The ways to obtain them are collecting, purchasing, redeeming, etc. Here we need to design the product to guide users to actively obtain them. In the actual project cases in the next section, we will talk about some examples of letting users actively obtain coupons.

Passive acquisition: The system actively sends coupons to users and can distribute corresponding coupons based on precise user portraits. The prerequisite for using this function is that the team must have the ability to create user portraits. There are simple and complex methods for creating user portraits.

A simpler approach is to design simple and easy-to-handle marketing population types, such as users who have purchased more than 3 times, users who have added products to shopping carts, users who have browsed products more than 5 times, etc., and then send corresponding coupons to the defined populations; an even simpler approach is to group them by gender, age, region, device used, etc.

A more complicated approach is to use big data capabilities to combine multi-dimensional and multi-indicator marketing groups, and to deeply define them through configurable items, so as to issue coupons accordingly. Generally, only medium and large companies are capable of doing this.

Use: Use coupon

When using coupons, what we need to consider more is how to make users enjoy using them. How can we make them enjoy using them?

It is best to choose the best discount plan for users without letting them think, so that users will naturally feel good. So according to this principle, we can design better functions to enhance user experience.

For example: we can pull out all the coupons that can be used under this order and let the user choose; further, we can select the available coupon with the greatest discount and display it to the user first; further, we can make this most favorable coupon the default selection for the user, saving the user from having to choose again; further, we can comprehensively select the best discount combination based on the various discount information in the order and give it to the user. This approach does not require users to think, and the user experience is very good.

Therefore, if users enjoy using the coupon as a prerequisite, the value of the coupon will be better improved.

Calculation: Statistical effect

Whether the issuance of coupons has a good effect needs to be verified through data, which is generally divided into two layers of data: basic data and composite data.

• Basic data: statistics can be designed to show the quantity distributed, the quantity used, the users, the time of use, the goods used, etc.
• In-depth data: By screening and organizing basic data, we can analyze some in-depth data, such as whether the issuance of this coupon will help increase the repurchase rate of a certain product? For example, the activity comparison, conversion comparison and sales comparison of a certain product when using coupons and when not using coupons.

Therefore, deep data mining is based on certain business demands. We need to do a solid analysis of the basic data, so that subsequent deep data mining will be more accurate and faster.

3. Create a coupon game based on the four elements of user operation

After understanding user psychology and the key points of coupon design, how can we turn coupons into a complete marketing and promotion strategy and apply it to products?

This is also a question I have been thinking about constantly, because our company's 3D clothing customization project is a vertical merchant-owned e-commerce, we need to create a unified, highly recognizable marketing and promotion plan , and coupons are the basic content we choose to create this plan. Currently in this project, my team and I have sorted out and planned a set of plans. Now I’d like to share it with you all.

The overall idea of ​​this plan is: paid customer acquisition - promotion - profit - self-propagation - free customer acquisition.

The four elements at the user operation level: attracting new customers, promoting activation, retention, and conversion are used as the connecting line for program design. Different forms of coupon design plans are given at each stage on this connecting line, and the plans at each stage are closely linked and integrated, eventually forming a closed-loop marketing and promotion plan, moving from paid customer acquisition to free customer acquisition.

The following is a stage-by-stage explanation:

(1) New customer acquisition stage

Purpose:

1. Increase user stay time
2. Marketing and promotion methods should attract users' attention, and should be exaggerated but not false
3. The threshold does not need to be too high
4. Payment Model
5. The quality of new customers is more important than the quantity of new customers

Design:

According to the goals listed in the new customer acquisition stage, the product design plan emphasizes more on the concept of getting it for free. Our company is an e-commerce platform for 3D online men's light customization. The concept of customization has not yet formed a large-scale industrialized form in the clothing industry, and users' consumption behavior has not yet been fully educated.

Therefore, during the stage of attracting new customers, the team planned an activity called "Get a free coupon and get customized pants for free". The payment model here is not cash, but products. We have abandoned the simple and crude method of distributing cash, which may result in a small number of new customers, but our focus is on the quality of new customers.

We designed a sharing activity with a very low threshold. After sharing it, only 3 people help click on it, and then you will have a chance to get a free coupon (if you don’t get a free coupon, you can also get a 100-yuan coupon). Through the free coupon, users can experience our company’s 3D online clothing customization model at no cost. This not only completes the task of attracting new users, but also allows new users to fully experience our products and receive activity rewards.

We hope to allow these high-quality users to spread the word naturally through free orders, thereby spreading the influence and eventually forming a word-of-mouth effect, thereby driving other users.

(2) Activation stage

Purpose:

1. Increase exposure in more preferential forms;
2. Create a tense and exciting atmosphere.

Design:

In the new customer acquisition stage, users who participate in the new customer acquisition activities will receive coupons. So in the activation stage, the first thing to do is to expose the discount information to as many users as possible. At this time, you need to analyze which page of your product is the page that users open the longest.

It is usually the home page, so the first solution our team came up with was to add a newsletter module with scrolling information on the home page. Generally, the flashes on the homepage of e-commerce are mainly news information, but we put the discount information here, which keeps scrolling to remind users, so that users can always know what discount information they have, when it expires, and how much discount they can get on the homepage, thereby encouraging users to place orders. You can also design more exposure forms according to the actual situation of your product, such as floating windows, pull-down second screen and other designs.

The second thing we can do is to create a tense and hot atmosphere for the discount information. As I said at the beginning, why do we need to create such an atmosphere? Then we can adopt two methods:

1. Add a countdown display to each coupon;
2. Increase the usage rate of each coupon.

The first is to create a tense atmosphere, and the second is to create a popular atmosphere. The countdown will make it more tense, and the usage rate will create a popular feeling. However, these atmospheres cannot be created too much. Unnatural atmosphere creation will be counterproductive and make users feel negative emotions. This kind of emotion will make users form a tone for the product. Therefore, when designing to create an atmosphere, we need to consider more about what users need to see and what they can accept in the current scene, so as to create the most suitable atmosphere.

(3) Retention stage

Purpose:

1. The method should be natural and clever;
2. The temptation to stay must be great enough;
3. Don't make users think, give discount information in appropriate business scenarios.

Design:

In order to make the retention stage natural and clever, the best approach is to give certain preferential rewards after users complete the order on their own. This is because we have ensured that users have a coupon to use in the stages of attracting new users and promoting activation, and in order to achieve better activation effects, the coupon amount is deducted by 100 yuan (our operating costs have been calculated here, and the 100 yuan discount is our long-term marketing strategy). We hope to give the greatest discount back to users, so users will place orders with a sense of "cost-effectiveness", and after the operation is completed, the users will feel very satisfied.

But at this time we give him/her another discount. He/she can get another 100 yuan coupon by sharing the product. This will make the user feel that he/she is "getting a bargain" to a higher level. First share and then get the coupon. The action is smooth and natural. In addition, the coupon obtained will remind him/her of the discount information at all times through the newsletter module designed in the activation stage, thereby promoting his/her repurchase next time.

The marketing and promotional designs in the retention stage should not require users to think, but should be provided naturally in appropriate business scenarios. For example, we choose to give it to users when they complete an order, and the strength of the promotion discount should be consistent with that in the new customer acquisition stage (both are 100 yuan off), so that the user experience can be brought into the new customer acquisition scenario, further stimulating users and naturally allowing them to share and obtain coupons. Such acquisition will make users feel that the value of the coupon is very high, which will help increase the repurchase rate.

(4) Conversion stage

Purpose:

1. Create a sense of honor for users;
2. Maximize the value of your coupons.

Design:

In the conversion stage, what we actually want to do is to maximize the value of the coupons. Why do we start from this idea? This is because we have taken into account the current positioning and category of our products. We are an online 3D men's customization e-commerce platform. Currently, our only category is casual pants, so repurchase of a single category is still relatively difficult at this stage.

Although we have made some attempts and optimizations in the retention stage, marketing promotions are only auxiliary means after all, and the repurchase rate of e-commerce is more determined by the quality and repurchase rate of the products themselves.

Therefore, in order to promote conversion, we thought about designing product solutions from the perspective of the reuse of coupons.

Let’s recall how people use coupons in offline scenarios? For example, a hot pot restaurant gives you two coupons. You use one and the other one is unusable. You might think it would be a pity to throw it away, so give it to a friend or relative. Someone happens to be going to eat there, so giving it to him/her can help him/her save money and also gain his/her favor.

So based on this idea, why not create a coupon giving function? Moreover, the purpose of the action of giving is clearer than that of sharing to get coupons. The act of sharing is relatively passive on the part of the person being shared with, as it is done for the purpose of helping others, and the person being shared with will not care. However, the meaning of giving is different, and the person receiving the gift will feel that there is a certain emotion involved on the part of the giver.

So following this idea, we designed a gift-giving method with a sense of ceremony. The coupons are sent in the form of gift boxes. Blessings can be written on them, and pictures can be attached. The sense of ceremony is very strong, which ensures that users have a strong sense of honor, and also achieves the purpose of maximizing the value of the coupons. Such conversion is of high quality.

So to summarize the above:

1. To form a system, the promotional content and coupon amount settings at each stage must be highly unified and recognizable. Do not easily set up meaningless small coupons. Once users are given the impression that the value of the coupons is invalid, it will be difficult to recover after users resist.
2. The stages of attracting new customers, promoting activation, retaining existing customers, and converting customers all follow the principle of price anchor balance, without destroying the value of the product itself, maximizing the value of the promotion, and allowing the systematic marketing concept to penetrate into the hearts of users.

4. How to judge whether the coupon design is reasonable

(1) Functionality

It depends on whether the function design truly meets the needs of the business and operation parties. Especially in the marketing and promotion functions, the accuracy of reward distribution, certain lottery functions and other functions involving probability must be precise in algorithm design and comprehensive in testing to avoid large-scale losses in operating costs due to product design loopholes or bugs in the product itself.

(2) User

The best way to verify the design of a marketing promotion on the user side is to see whether the activity has been improved. This can be verified by comparing the data before and after the new marketing promotion function is launched. The data here includes but is not limited to click-through rate, conversion rate, order rate, etc.

(3) Benefits

Compare the data and calculate whether the order conversion rate has increased between the period when using coupons and the period when not using coupons. The most important thing is to check whether the rate of return has increased after comprehensively weighing the cost increase, product sales increase and single product gross profit decrease caused by the use of coupons. The most feared thing in the actual operation of the product is that the design of the marketing promotion does not bring profit growth, then the purpose of the promotion is basically a failure.

Through the above three perspectives, we can comprehensively analyze whether the design of the coupon is reasonable.

Author: James che

Source: James che (James1027)