Choose which actions to incentivize
Much like everything else in digital marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to discounting. Your pricing strategy is core to your business, so only you and your team can determine how much you’re willing to discount, if at all. Some brands never offer a discount, and they still see great success by delivering a tremendous customer experience and high-quality products.
Many brands reserve set times of the year to offer their biggest discounts, predominantly Black Friday / Cyber Monday (BFCM). Based on our 2024 BFCM data, discounts in the 10–15% and 20–25% ranges performed better than steep price cuts, underscoring a shift toward value-driven purchasing.
Generally speaking, there are a few pivotal moments throughout the customer journey where offering an incentive can help you improve the customer experience, resulting in higher sales and increased lifetime value.
Those pivotal moments include when someone:
- Opts in to receive emails or text messages
- Downloads your mobile app
- Makes their first purchase
- Leaves a review
- Makes a repeat purchase or additional purchase
- Celebrates their birthday or other customer milestones
- Requires attention or a remedy for a bad experience
Each of these behaviors can be incentivized with some sort of an offer. Coupon codes are a popular delivery method because they’re easy to set up, manage, and track.
Compare static codes versus unique codes
There are 2 types of coupon codes that you can use: static codes and unique codes. Let’s explore the recommended applications of each type.
Static codes
A static coupon code is a phrase or alphanumeric string that unlocks a specific discount.
Pros
- Shareable across messages because every customer can input the same code (for example WELCOME10 could be a static code).
- Easy to manage from your ecommerce platform.
- Easily redeemable because they are usually easy for customers to remember.
- Quick to generate; simply type the code into your message after you’ve set it up in your ecommerce platform.
Cons
- Code can be widely shared, meaning you may lose more margin on your products than originally intended.
- Limited control over which specific customer segments can use the code.
- Feels less exclusive and urgent than unique codes due to the easily shareable nature of them.
When it works best
Static discount codes tend to be a great alternative to in-cart discounts. Static codes can be marketed as a central call-to-action within your overall campaign message. For instance, if you’re having a Fourth of July sale, you can send a campaign with the call-to-action of Save now with the code REDWHITEBLUE at checkout! You may also want to use a static code if you want to easily track how many times a code has been used and who used it.
Unique codes
Unique, sometimes called “dynamic,” codes are a random series of numbers or letters that a recipient can use 1 time. Each recipient will receive their own coupon code, and no 2 recipients will have the same code.
Pros
- Builds urgency with users since they each have their own unique redeemable code.
- Limits code abuse and oversharing of discounts since codes are unique to each recipient.
- Can provide greater rewards or discounts for higher value activities due to the more controlled nature of the unique code.
Cons
- Extra steps are required to generate unique codes on most ecommerce integrations.
- Reporting or tracking may be difficult depending on your ecommerce integration.
When it works best
Unique discount codes work best when you are rewarding a recipient for taking a specific action, like signing up for your email newsletter. You only want that particular recipient to receive the benefit of their action, so using a unique code makes the reward experience feel more personal. Plus, customers are less likely to share a unique single-use discount code with someone else because they’ll lose the ability to use it themselves.