Coupons Inc. unleashes viral marketing coupons

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on April 19, 2004

Coupons Inc. unleashes viral marketing coupons

The consumer-printed coupon marketing provider, Coupons Inc., has launched its next generation of print-at-home coupon technology, including a viral marketing programme that encourages friends to tell each other about coupons.

The Bricks Tell-A-Friend programme provides a way for consumers to alert friends and family members to consumer-printed coupon offers. Manufacturers and retailers can customise the programme's features, including setting the number of recipients that each customer can e-mail and the message that each friend receives. In addition, the e-mail that is sent to friends can include a link to the promotion web site or a link to print the coupon immediately.

Campaign metrics The system incorporates security and anonymous tracking features, both to prevent fraud and to measure campaign results. Each time a user shares an offer with a friend, that friend is assigned an anonymous-but-unique identifier, which is then linked to the original sender in the system's database.

The system can then track how many e-mails each participant generates, and the number of coupons that are printed and redeemed as a result.

Coupon numbers up According to Coupons Inc., the results so far have shown an average of up to 9% increase in the number of coupons distributed due to Tell-A-Friend activity.

In addition to the coupon sharing feature, the company has also enhanced the Coupon Page Layout (CPL) page description language (which manufacturers and retailers can use to control the layout of promotional pages and coupons) to provide increased flexibility in the design of consumer-printed coupon pages.

The updated language allows a coupon to be positioned at the top or the bottom of the page, and any full-colour graphics and text accompanying the coupon can be in arranged on the page outside of the coupon. This means that advertisers can distribute full-page advertising along with a coupon, increasing the value of each consumer interaction.

More Info: 

http://solutions.coupons.com