Coupons are a great way to bring new customers into your restaurant. People come in initially because they’re tempted by the lower prices and special deals, and they end up being converted into repeat customers after they’ve had a good first experience. It’s an age-old business tactic that has worked time and time again, especially in the restaurant industry.
As mobile devices continue to become more prevalent in just about every area of our lives, so too do they increase in importance for marketers of all industries. Consumers are using mobile devices for purchases more than ever before. So why not cater to these tendencies and start offering digital coupons?
However, in an increasingly paperless world, printed coupons do carry some disadvantages, especially when compared to digital coupons. Here are a few of them:
- Larger investment. When getting started with printed coupons, you have to make the initial investment for printing and getting them published in newspapers, magazines and other sources, if that’s the route you choose.
- Difficulty in reaching target audience. You don’t have as much control with printed coupons in terms of reaching out to people who are likely to want to come to your restaurant. It’s much easier to target who gets your coupons through digital marketing—with print marketing you’re essentially throwing out a bunch and hoping the right people grab them.
- “Coupon clutter.” One of the biggest disadvantages of paper coupons is the idea of “coupon clutter.” People are inundated with coupons every day from mailers they didn’t ask for and from stuffers in newspapers and magazines. For many people, it’s become second nature to throw them out without looking at them. This creates wasted resources as well as wasted opportunities for the restaurant offering the coupon.
- Customer Convenience. More and more customers want to present coupons on their smartphones. Digital coupons allow customers to show the coupon on their phone and still allow the restaurant to limit the coupon to a single use.
You can avoid these issues by taking advantage of FansRave®, the digital coupon service provided by That’s Biz. Take advantage of the secure, traceable and modern nature of digital coupons and bring more customers into your restaurant!