Repeat customers are important for ecommerce success as they help you maintain a steady income, but retaining them can be tricky due to increasing competition and changing consumer preferences. This is where bounce back coupons come in handy—they motivate customers to return and shop again, reinforcing the cycle of repeat business.
In this guide, we'll explore bounce back coupons—what they are, their benefits, and important strategies to use them. We’ll also discuss best practices to craft the perfect bounce back coupon and examples to learn from to boost your ecommerce store business.
Table of contents
What are bounce back coupons?
Coupons that come with a delivered item, either in its box or with its invoice, are known as bounce back coupons. These coupons encourage customers to return and purchase additional items soon.
Here’s how it all works:
When a customer makes a purchase, they receive a coupon with a discount or a similar incentive to buy more items. This offer typically has limited validity, creating a sense of urgency. The goal of these coupons is to boost customer loyalty and repeat purchases, providing a good reason for customers to purchase again after their initial purchase.
What are the benefits of bounce back coupons?
Now that we know the meaning of bounce back coupons, let us talk about their benefits for a better understanding.
- Encourages repeat business: Bounce back coupons make customers return by offering discounts on future purchases, creating a habit of repeat shopping.
- Increases customer lifetime value: The use of bounce back coupons leads to frequent repeat purchases, which, over time, results in customers spending more overall. This improves their value to the business throughout their relationship duration or CLV.
- Creates a sense of urgency: Since these coupons are usually only valid for a short period, customers feel the need to act fast and buy before the offer ends or the coupon expires.
- Helps in inventory management: Bounce back coupons can be customized to sell slow-moving or dead-stock items in the next purchase, efficiently clearing them out on the customer's return visit.
- Cross-selling and upselling opportunities: These coupons encourage customers to buy related or more expensive items. This helps in cross-selling by giving offers on complementary products and in upselling by giving offers on more premium products.
- Cost-effective digital marketing: These coupons are a cost-efficient marketing tool, focusing on customers who have already made a purchase and are easier to sell to again. They keep engagement high and encourage repeat visits, achieving effective coupon marketing at a lower cost than traditional advertising methods.
How to design effective bounce back coupons
Now that we have covered the benefits of bounce back coupons, the next step is to understand how you can design an effective one for your ecommerce store. Here’s a step-by-step process to design an effective bounce back coupon.
Step 1: Select the offer type: Begin by selecting the type of offer you want to provide, such as a percentage discount, a fixed amount off, free shipping, or a gift with purchase. This step sets the foundation for your bounce back coupon.
Step 2: Determine coupon conditions: Define specifics like a minimum purchase requirement, applicable categories or products, and expiration dates. This step helps target your offer and ensures it aligns with your business goals.
Step 3: Design your coupon: Aim for a design that’s both attractive and straightforward, ensuring it reflects your brand's identity and resonates with your customers. Stick to your brand's colors, graphics, logos, and fonts for a recognizable look.
Your coupon's message should also be clear and engaging, with an easy-to-spot call to action like 'Redeem Now.' Avoid any ambiguity to ensure customers understand the value and how to redeem the offer.
Step 4: Review legal compliance: Before you launch your coupon, review all legal requirements and compliance issues related to promotions in your jurisdiction.
For example, be clear about the coupon’s terms and conditions to avoid any confusion. Also, check laws about expiration dates and make sure your coupon is fair for everyone. This helps keep your business safe and builds trust with your customers.
Step 5: Test and launch: Conduct tests with a small audience or internal team to ensure everything works as intended. Verify that the coupon applies discounts correctly, meets all design and compatibility standards, and resonates with your target audience. Once that is done, distribute the coupon using various coupon marketing techniques.
Bounce back coupon distribution ideas
Here are some bounce back coupon distribution ideas that you can employ to make sure that your coupons reach the right customers at the right time:
Send in post-purchase emails: Send bounce back coupons in follow-up or post-purchase emails to encourage customers to return. This keeps your brand in the minds of your customers and motivates another visit, enhancing customer engagement.
Include in packaging: Include bounce back coupons in your product packaging. It's a direct approach to tempt customers who have already bought from you to make future purchases. You can make use of inserts that you place in the delivery boxes with coupons or QR codes that they can scan to get the code.
Display during checkout: Show bounce back coupons during or at the end of the online checkout process. This plants the seed for a future purchase, increasing the likelihood of customers returning.
Loyalty program rewards: Use bounce back coupons as special incentives in your loyalty program. This strategy targets frequent shoppers, giving them more reasons to continue buying.
Event-triggered distribution: Distribute bounce back coupons on special occasions or to mark customer milestones. You can distribute coupons when it has been a month or year since a customer bought a product and offer discounts on similar products or the same category.
Best Practices to follow
To maximize the impact and efficiency of your coupon campaigns, consider these essential best practices:
- Set a reasonable redemption period for your coupons.
- Design your coupons to be clear and easy to understand.
- Customize your coupons to fit your customers' buying patterns.
- Use coupons strategically to move surplus or outdated stock.
Examples of bounce back coupons
Here are a few real-life examples that might be inspirational for your next campaign.
1. Bath & Body Works
Consider the Bath & Body Works holiday promotion in December 2019. They offered customers a free item for a minimum purchase of $10, valid from 20th December to 24th December.
The idea was to motivate shoppers to return and buy more during the holiday season, with the bonus of a gift valued up to $16.50. It's a smart way to boost sales at a special time of year, showing how a well-timed bounce back coupon can be a win-win for both the store and its customers.
2. Disney World
Disney World is offering a magical deal for guests: book your next trip within a week of checking out, and you could save up to 35% at select Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resorts, 30% at Moderate Resorts, and 25% at Value Resorts.
This offer applies to many nights throughout 2024, encouraging guests to extend the Disney enchantment to their next stay. You can claim it on a call shortly after your current visit ends.
3. Karmaloop
Back in 2022, Karmaloop presented a bounce back offer where customers who had just made a purchase were given the chance to add a black, grey, or white tee to their order for an additional $9.
This time-sensitive promotion, which required customers to act within 60 minutes using a specific promo code, was a strategic play to boost immediate post-purchase sales. It was a tactic that took advantage of the customer's shopping momentum.
Conclusion
Bounce back coupons are like a little nudge for customers to come back and shop again, offering neat discounts on their next visit. To really get the most out of them, it helps to match the deals to what customers usually like or have purchased and what you're trying to achieve, like selling out older stuff. When you get it right, these coupons don't just bump up your current sales; they help your business grow over time and make your customers stick around, making your online store a buzzing place to be.
