While shoppers today don’t necessarily cut out paper coupons anymore, they are still always looking to get the best deal. In fact, 90% of consumers use coupons both online and offline! The holiday season is the perfect time to offer promotional discounts to attract more customers and make more sales!
Here’s everything you need to know about the types of coupons available on Amazon Seller Central and how to use them.
How Coupons Benefit Sellers
You may be hesitant to create a promotion at all. Because Amazon charges sellers $0.60 each time a Seller Central Coupon is redeemed, it might not seem like a good deal. But it’s worth it!
Like we mentioned in our post 5 Amazon Seller Central Features We’re Grateful For, coupons are a persuasive tool that can help potential customers make the decision to buy.
During the holidays, people are looking for the best deal. With so many gifts to purchase, saving a few extra dollars can feel like a huge win. If a shopper has never bought anything from your brand before, a coupon can help them feel more confident trying something new.
But that’s not the only reason why you should implement coupons this season.
Coupons also give you more visibility on Amazon. Seller Central Coupons show up on Amazon search results pages, product detail pages, the Gold Box deals page, and their own landing page. Plus, customers who are eligible for the discount will see an orange badge next to the selling price of the product.
The additional exposure could be just what your brand needs to beat out the competition. So if you’re looking to attract new customers this season, coupons are a great way to go!
Types of Coupons
Amazon Seller Central provides several types of coupons for you to choose from to get the most out of this busy shopping season. Essentially, coupons come down to the following two types of coupons:
- Money off discount
- Percentage off discount
To find coupons in your account, you have to be logged in. You can find the section under the “Advertising” tab.
Choosing Your Discount
Picking the right coupon can be tricky. You want to ensure that you still have decent profit margins, but you also want shoppers to feel like they are getting a good deal. The only constraint Amazon has on their Seller Central Coupons is that the coupon value must be between 5% and 80% of the product’s lowest price in the last 30 days. But that’s a wide window….
Performing competitor research can help you get a better idea of what your product is selling for this season. However, don’t forget your own profit margins and the $0.60 fee per sale. You don’t want to end up losing money by accident.
In addition to picking a monetary value, you will need to think about the audience who will receive your coupon as well. Amazon allows sellers to offer coupons to all shoppers or to a specific segment. You can offer coupons to one or all of the following customer segments:
- All customers
- Amazon Prime members
- Amazon Student members
- Amazon Mom members
Setting Up Coupon Codes
Once you have decided on your coupon type and amount, setting it up is pretty easy. Just follow these steps:
- Select the ASINs that you want to apply the coupon to. Your coupon can apply to up to 50 different products.
- Set your coupon limits. Select your discount and choose how big of an offer you want to provide to your customers. You will also set a budget limit so that the coupon is automatically deactivated by Amazon when you’ve hit your limit.
- Schedule the coupon. You can choose to make a coupon go live after 3 days, or you can select a future date. If you haven’t set up coupons yet, we recommend that you start as soon as possible to make use of the holiday season.
- Choose your audience. Do you want the coupon available to all Amazon buyers? Or just a portion of your target market?
That’s it! After your coupons are live, however, don’t forget to check back in and monitor their performance.
Best Practices for Using Coupons
While we do recommend that you use coupons, there are a few things to keep in mind so you don’t get carried away.
- Don’t dip below your margins. With the competitive nature of the holidays, you may be tempted to engage in price wars with your competitors. However, you don’t want to end up losing money, so carefully plan your coupons to avoid any losses.
- Utilize the audience targeting features. Just like in PPC campaigns, showing your coupon to the right people is usually better than showing it to more people. Figure out who your high-value customers are and set promotions specifically for them.
- Coupons can be a great tool for new sellers to get an increase in clicks and conversions during the holidays. If you are willing to swallow the $0.60 per sale, you may gain the competitive edge over other sellers in your market who can’t afford to run coupons.
- Don’t run coupons in the long run. Long-term coupons aren’t a good idea. During the holidays, YES! But not all year long. When a coupon is run for a long period of time, it loses its exclusivity; it isn’t really a deal anymore.
Now you know everything you need to know to effectively utilize coupons this season! For additional information on how you can stand out from the competition, get a Free Listing Analysis.
About the Author: Alyssa Ball has been working in digital marketing for several years. She graduated from Brigham Young University with her degree in English linguistics and is currently pursuing an MBA. Alyssa’s position as a content writer and keyword strategist at Nozani has allowed her to master both Google and Amazon SEO.
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