Driving Your Ecommerce Strategy with Universal Coupons

We talk a lot about personalization at Eagle Eye, but there are still some instances where businesses need to put "big bang" marketing messages out into the world to achieve specific objectives.

Universal voucher coupons

Universal voucher coupons are simple, easy-to-remember codes that can be entered at the checkout to provide eligible customers with an instant reward. We’ve all used them - SALE20, for example, to get 20% off your basket total. More often than not, these provide discounts, but other mechanics can be used such as free delivery, gifts with purchase and more.

Why are they effective?

Mainly because they can help to drive customers in their masses to your website and form the center of mass marketing campaigns, giving you a headline offer to communicate to your audience. In particularly competitive markets such as fashion, universal codes can act as the required prompt to get new customers browsing on your site vs. that of a competitor in hope of gaining a saving. Once you’ve got them on the site, that is when you can begin leveraging the power of personalization and tailoring the shopping experience to them.

At Eagle Eye, we’ve recently partnered with Bloomreach. Bloomreach's data engine personalizes the ecommerce experience based on real-time customer and product data insights. Our partnership means that loyalty data can be added to the equation, further enriching the possibilities of personalization and ensuring that each customer is sent the right recommendations at the right time.

Why use universal voucher coupons?

Sometimes, using these codes can feel like the only option to keep up with the competition. During key seasonal events such as Black Friday, the majority of retailers work to drive traffic to their sites using mass marketing and promotional efforts and by not doing so, you can put yourself at risk of missing out. At other times of the year, you may choose to actively deploy universal codes in order to fulfill specific objectives. For instance, offering 10% off your new collection at the start of the season to drive a surge in initial sales could mean that you're less likely to have to offer deeper discounts to customers when the next season’s range hits the shelves.

You might also be looking to stretch average basket sizes having noticed that your average transaction value is stagnating at around $50. Offering mass universal discounts to drive this, e.g. "10OFF60", providing 10% off any $60 basket, or "FREEDELIVERY60", can be a great way to incentivize the behavior you seek.

As part of the online flow, you should absolutely let customers know they're just a few dollars away from making a significant saving, nudging them up the value chain. We do this through our pre-built integration to commercetools.

Should I use universal codes to run mass or targeted campaigns?

Probably both! It all depends on what your objectives are. If you have specific aims like acquiring new customers, you would likely set up a targeted campaign, redeemable for new customers only – e.g. NEW10. If you’re just looking to boost overall sales or gain a quick competitive advantage, running an open-to-all campaign could be a significant driver of traffic, as long as your budget allows. Of course, you could put some simple but precautionary measures in place, capping the total number or redemptions, limiting usage to specific dates/times, etc. - all very easy to do via the Eagle Eye platform.

How do I get started?!

With zero developer time required, you can get up and running fast. Your marketing team can create and manage universal coupon campaigns in minutes by following a few simple steps as detailed below:

Once you've completed the straightforward set-up, all you need to do is get your marketing message out into the world and then sit back and watch as customers flock to your website, redeeming the codes seamlessly as part of their checkout journey. And with real-time reporting, you'll be able to track and optimize your campaign performance while it's in-flight. Easy.

To get started, please contact us and we'd be happy to help.