If you're not using some type of couponing system in your marketing efforts, you probably should be.
And if you are using one, you're probably doing it wrong.
Actually, in my opinion, most businesses do it wrong. The overriding rule of couponing is to ALWAYS ask for contact data when redeeming a coupon. If the person turning in the coupon is already a customer, verify that the contact info you have on file is correct.
The exception to this is the king of couponing, the grocery store. But many of them have customer reward programs in place, and they simply match your couponing data with all the other data they have about you. They take this data, twist it and squeeze it until all the demographics fall out, and then hand some of that data back to the manufacturers who produced the coupons in the first place.
The ultimate object of issuing coupons for most business is to take people who seldom or never visit your business and draw them in, giving you the opportunity to convert them into customers who visit on a regular basis.
I'm not stupid. I realize that a lot of people who use coupons are only looking for the lowest price possible, and will only visit your establishment if not using the coupon left them somehow in worse shape. Lowball prices are the only thing these people love. There is no loyalty here, so why would they join a loyalty program? Why would you want them to?
Your first focus should be to design a membership program, and move couponers into it. The membership program, with contact permission, should work to build a repeat customer base. You do this by fostering a community. Use newsletters, email, Twitter, Facebook Page posts, text messages and even plain old post cards if you have to. Anything to make them feel like a member of a loyal group, and to encourage them to come back time and time again. You can and should build in perks that make them forget the low prices they got from the coupons.
There was a chain sandwich shop that opened in the town where I used to have my office. At first they were packed. I signed up for emails from the corporate offices. I'd print out my coupons and bring them in. Even when I didn't have coupons I was there a couple times each week.
Then the customer stream started drying up. It went from a river, to a stream, to a trickle. One day I went in with a coupon, and the franchisee was the only person behind the counter.
"You need more business," I said.
"Yup."
"If you're capturing the email addresses on all these coupons, you can send your customers a special offer."
"What? There are email addresses on these?" He pulled my coupon back out of the drawer, and I saw a look of dismay spread across his face. He'd never paid any attention to them, and never harvested the contact info for his own use.
I drove in to the plaza the next Tuesday to get a sandwich, and they were just finishing loading the equipment into a moving truck. The place was closed.
I can't say for certain that the place would have lasted if they'd captured and used contact info from the coupons, but I know it would have lasted longer.
One final note: daily deal coupons. You know, the kind that get sold for X number of dollars that eventually are worth Y number instead. I've seen restaurants get hooked on these. Margins are so low with most restaurants that they end up taking these just to stay above water. These things can be almost like financial crack, keeping you out of trouble today but making the books worse tomorrow. If you need an immediate shot of cash, sell your own gift certificates at a discount. Give people a set time period in which they have to use them. This way, it's a win-win. If you promote these exclusively to your membership or loyalty program members, they'll get a discount they never could have gotten with a coupon, and you'll get at least one large influx of cash.
Just remember, if you decide to use coupons, get the contact info for the people using them and convert them into regularly returning clients.
