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Email Marketing

Sending Online Coupons Increases Sales And Promotes Your Local Business

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By: Jeff Schuman

An effective way to promote your local business information and also increase sales at the same time is to include coupons with an email marketing campaign. Those receiving the promotional emails are more likely to open them when discounts for products or services are involved.

A recent survey by Experian discovered that when marketing emails also included a coupon there was a higher transaction-to-click rate than those without. The results were the same whether the full list received the email or if only a segmented group received it.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s important for all small local businesses to understand the importance of having an auto-responder and some type of opt-in subscription form on their website. Once in place, business can be more efficient and effective with sending marketing emails.

With most consumers now thinking of ways to save money, businesses need to be keenly aware of the importance of offering deals. Those that understand this and meet those demands will be more successful than those businesses that underestimate the importance of doing so.

In fact, Experian has also found that 66 percent of United States households now use coupons. It’s important for businesses to send out coupons via email because there’s an increase of nearly 50 percent of people using coupons from that source since 2007.

The value of email coupons is that they increase interaction or participation of the readers and can be seen in these statistics: marketing emails including coupons are opened approximately 25 percent of the time compared to only about 17 percent if they don’t include them. When coupons were redeemed online, there was a 17 percent higher click-through rate.

There are some best practices that local businesses should consider when planning an email marketing campaign that includes coupons:

– Make sure the offers you send out match the type of list you’re targeting.

– To find out what gives you the highest return, test your coupon amount and frequency.

– To make your coupon recipient feel special, use the words “exclusive” or “selected” on the coupon.

– To create an urgency for people to “react now”, it’s best to mention a time frame or a specific date for it to be used.

– To help get rid of unwanted inventory, time your coupons to your business cycles by offering deep discounts on products nearing a season’s end.

– Add a link to the email that gives the recipient the opportunity to “share with a friend” or “tell your group”, etc.

Coupons can be a real win-win for everyone. Customers get the deal they’re looking for and you get extra sales while clearing out inventory, and a chance to promote your local business information.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
If you enjoyed this article by Jeff Schuman on local business information and emailing coupons please visit our local business website today. Learn how you can use local business marketing to rank high on search engines and drive more traffic to your small business website.

Mobile Marketing

HO, HO, HO! Bring Christmas To The Masses By Using Mobile Marketing

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Digitalks #11
Photo by _dChrisby Drew Barnes

Think about it for a second. Who is ready to make a purchase more than the consumer searching on their phone? They are most likely searching locally either for the nearest store or a particular item. Get in front of these consumers and they are most likely to come into your store and make a purchase.

Marketers need to be aware that using mobile media during the holidays will put your product or store in front the people who are looking for it already. They have a question you give them the answers and scene.

Not to mention all the consumers out there checking prices, sending photos of potential gifts sharing them on Facebook and Twitter, and let’s not forget about checking in on mobile social networks like Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Yelp and Facebook’s Places. That may me all it takes to get someone to your location. Someone checks in and his or her friend notices and thinks, “I completely forgot about that place they have great gifts. I am going over there right after work”

Consider this for a second. How many freaking ads do you see over the holidays? So many that most are simply blocked out. Me personally, if I see another jewelry ad it may end with a hurt jeweler. With mobile this opens up a way to get in front of the consumer when they are away from all the competition and when they are in a buying mood. Great combination. Don’t you think?

Most people who have the capability use their phones will user their phones as a shopping tool from anything to price comparisons, sharing purchases and links with other and to stay entertained in a long checkout line.

According to Webster Lewin, senior vice president and director of digital innovation and strategy at MS&LGroup Digital, New York .’Providing useful mobile applications that actually help the holiday shopping process is a great way to stay top of mind and drive repeat brand engagement. However, the challenge of discovery is one of the biggest hurdles in mobile.”

‘Fortunately, there is a wide range of mobile advertising opportunities within applications that support the shopping process,’ he said.

‘In many cases the consumers that spend the most time doing those activities are also the ones most likely to have more disposable income,’ Mr. Lewin said. ‘Also, consumers that engage with your brand on their mobile devices are more likely to have a favorable brand impression, and purchase intent.”

Just those quotes alone should spur any marketer into action!

Here are a few facts to consider:
1. An analysis done by Microsoft of their mobile search data found that 53 percent of mobile searches on Bing have local intent.
2. Google suggest that 20 percent of all search is related to location.
3. Differences between mobile search user behavior and PC search: 70 percent of PC ‘query chains’ are completed in about one week while 70 percent of mobile users do so in one hour. Talk about being motivated to buy!
4. Over 50 percent of the mobile search queries are about things that are not very far from the user or right in front of them.

One thing to consider is to make sure your doing local search optimization as well so your store or product can be found on mobile devices when people are searching nearby.

Ramp up your mobile marketing campaign this holiday season and make sure you track your results so you can tell your boss the ROI and watch his job drop.

Happy Holidays Kiddos

About the Author

Drew Barnes is an expert in the area of local search optimization. Read more about local search marketing at the http://www.turnuplocal.com