How To Create a Mobile-Coupon Campaign

The Purpose of Coupons

If you look up “coupon” in the dictionary, you are likely to read a definition that has something to do with a detachable portion of a print advertising that can be redeemed for obtaining a discount for a service or product. Now that we have crossed the mobile threshold and have seen the popularity of mobile as a means of communication, coupons aren’t detachable and are not restricted to print advertising. Their underlying purpose remains the same. Coupons are used to drive people to patronize a business and spend their money there. This should always be kept in mind when running a mobile marketing campaign. Gathering subscribers is great, but if none of those subscribers convert your text messaging offers into sales then a large subscriber base will be useless.

Using Mobile Coupons with Auto-Responders and a Call-to-Action

Using auto-responders is a great way to run a mobile coupon campaign. Your call to action will encourage them to opt-in to receive your mobile coupon. Once they do, the auto-responder will trigger and send a message that can contain a mobile coupon. Once the person has opted-in, additional messages can be sent to them with additional coupons to drive them towards your business and keep them coming back.

Forming Effective Coupon Campaigns

What you offer with your coupons will determine whether or not your advertising is wasted or not. Coupons can go both ways by either not generating revenue, or by not peaking the interest of the consumer. To form an effective coupon, you must stay within the gray area of making sure the coupon is effective for the business to make money, but also provides a good incentive for the consumer. A couple of “rules of thumb” to keep in mind when forming an effective coupon campaign:

1. Don’t just give away your product. Yes, it is good to provide great incentive for people to opt-in by giving away something for free, however this isn’t making the business any revenue and the consumer is likely to just redeem the free coupon and nothing more. Combine your coupon offer with purchase of some other product that will bring you revenue.
2. If time is a factor, be sure to send your coupons at the appropriate times to increase likelihood of coupon redemption and conversion. For example, a restaurant who uses text marketing could formulate a coupon to be sent out with a lunch offer of 1/2 off an entree with the purchase of an entree. A strategic time to send those messages to the subscribers would be about an hour before lunch time. This is when people are thinking about what to have for lunch and once those coupons reach them, they can then make up their mind to patronize the restaurant.
3. Continue providing value to your customers by making your coupons valuable and worth the subscriber’s time. As mentioned in previous articles, marketing is a constant effort of keeping consumers happy and excited about patronizing a business. It has also been mentioned in a previous article titled Permission Based Mobile Marketing – The What, the How, and the Benefits that consumers essentially trade their consent to receive something of value. For them to trade their consent, make sure the messages are of value.

Mobile coupon campaigns don’t require much as far as sending the messages out. The work and effort required for a mobile coupon campaign is making sure what you are sending to them is of value to both you and the consumer. Therein lies the challenge of marketing. Hopefully this article will have given you a basis for beginning your own mobile coupon campaign. Remember, the TXT180 staff is always pleased to assist you with your mobile marketing needs. If you ever need help or a question answered, please contact us.

Originally Posted on: September 8, 2021

Posted in: Text Marketing Tips
Tags: mobile coupons, send customers text message, text coupon