The Discount Code Hunter – How to turn a problematic customer behavior into an opportunity | Blog Post

The Discount Code Hunter Ahh yes, we all know the type! This is the customer who is traveling along your conversion funnel nice and steady, until they reach the checkout page and see the “Do you have a discount code?” textbox. Most people who don’t ...

Skärmavbild 2019-11-01 kl. 10.13.11-1

The Discount Code Hunter

Ahh yes, we all know the type! This is the customer who is traveling along your conversion funnel nice and steady, until they reach the checkout page and see the “Do you have a discount code?” textbox. Most people who don’t have a discount code will look at it, shrug their shoulders and think, “No, I don’t.”, before peacefully converting their basket to an actual order.

Not the Discount Code Hunter. The fact that there even exists a discount code textbox and they don’t have a code to use makes them irritated and curious at the same time. It’s really quite entrepreneurial in a sence, these are the people that go, “No, I don’t have a code. But maybe I can get one!”. So they open up a new tab, go to their favorite search engine and search for “(Store Name) discount code”, or some variation of this search.

Fun fact: Did you know that this is the second most common search query for almost any e-commerce website in the world?

#1 Brand Name
#2 Brand Name + discount code


A frustrating behavior

This behavior may be frustrating in and of itself, but what happens next is worse. The customer (who was just about to finish their checkout) is hit with literally 10 000’s of search engine results, mostly from different discount code websites (who all claim to have a valid discount code to give). The only problem is, most of the time they don’t. These websites (if we’re being nice) is not always serious or truthful in what they actually offer, luring the customer into their site in search of a valid discount code and then redirecting them back to the store they were already at, without giving the customer a valid discount code. BUT, they did give them something else – a pixel for an affiliate network, telling the merchant that this visit came from their website.

This is (if we’re being honest), a scam. The consumer did not get a valid discount code (as promised), the merchant did not get a new visit (the customer initially came from their own website), but the discount code website will invoice this visit and conversion through the affiliate network and claim the purchase was value created through their website. In other words, it’s a lose-lose situation for both the merchant and the customer, the only one who benefits is the discount code website and the affiliate network they’re connected to.

discounts_code_error

 

In the worst case scenario, the customer will get agitated enough to contact customer support (or abandon their purchase altogether) with frustration about being promised a discount they never received. This is hardly a good situation for any merchant.

Why don’t you try it yourself? Open up a new tab, search for your brand name followed by the words “discount code” and see what you get. Is the results of that query a benefit or a problem for your business? Just don’t forget to come back and finish reading!

What if there was a smart solution to all of this? What if we could harness this frustrating customer behavior into something positive and create value instead of angry customers and unnecessary cost? Well, we would hardly be taking your time reading this if we didn’t have a suggestion!

 

This is how it works using Redeal, and it’s proven to work:

1. Create a landing page on your website with the H1 “Brand Name discount code” and fill it with a copy designed to rank your website for this query, as well as an informative text to the customer that they CAN get a valid discount code, if they help you out by referring one or more friends to your business. If you want to be really cheeky, use a meta description along the lines “Want a discount code that actually works? Get it directly from us at “Brand Name”."

As long as your website has decent SEO metrics, this landing page should rank 1st-3rd on most major search engines in a matter of weeks, since you have both the domain and landing page H1 to match the query in question.

Oh, and don’t worry about ALL your customers being offered discount codes! This is not a landing page that should be easy to find through navigating your website (unless you want it to be), it’s specifically designed to catch Discount Code Hunters when they use a search engine as described above.

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2. Create a Redeal referral campaign that activates when a link or button on this landing page is clicked, letting the Discount Code Hunter easily make a personal referral to one or more friends and sharing an offer with them.

Skärmavbild 2019-11-01 kl. 10.13.11-1
 

 

3. After completing their referral, the customer is rewarded with a valid discount code they can use to finish placing their order.

What’s happened here is that we’ve turned the lose-lose situation into a win-win-win situation! The Discount Code Hunter got a valid discount code that actually works (and is much more likely to convert to order instead of getting frustrated and angry with the whole process), the friends have gotten a recommendation and an offer to shop at your store and you as a merchant have kept the customer inside your own ecosystem, converted the basket to an order, received one or more friend referrals. All at a fraction of the cost of paying CPO to an affiliate website that created zero value! Another way of putting it is, “instead of encouraging a negative customer behavior (searching for discount codes online) you are now rewarding positive customer behavior (recommending your business to their friends)”.

happy
 

 

Get started now

This is just one of many creative ways to use Redeal’s referral platform to encourage positive customer behavior and get your customers to make personal recommendations directly to their friends.

Make sure to get started with this now, before Black Friday and Christmas shopping starts taking off! For most merchants, this is the time of year with most traffic and the greatest opportunity to gain new customers through friends referrals, plus you still have enough time to rank your “discount code hunter landing page” in search engines if you make a quick decision!

We are happy to help you get your own Discount Code Hunter landing page in place, so don’t hesitate to contact us right away!


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About Redeal
Redeal develops referral marketing solutions for the future of digital retail

We have developed the digital solution that leverages one of the most important marketing phenomenons of all time - satisfied customers who recommend their favorite stores, products and services to their friends and family.

 

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