For all that’s said about the voucher code industry, you can’t knock its popularity among British consumers.
Research by iVoucher, an incentive marketing software company, claims that over half (53%) of UK citizens use voucher codes at least once a month when they make a purchase.
Additionally, over two thirds (68%) claim a voucher would influence them to try a brand they hadn’t purchased from in the past
All this suggests that brands who eschew discounting may be missing out on a chunk of new business as well as new customer data, with 55% of Brits prepared to exchange email addresses for a better deal.
Value exchange
Debbie Barnes, iVoucher’s commercial director, says that nowadays consumers “fully understand” the value of personal data to online businesses, meaning they’re open to trading it for a discount.
The benefits should go some way to outweighing concerns around voucher codes ‘cheapening’ a brand, while the new customer acquisition and sales driven can offset the cost of cutting profit margins.
Despite being willing to share this information and the cost benefits for both parties, however, consumers are still struggling to find their discounts.
While a number of affiliate publishers specialise in providing discount codes, 35% of consumers are still going direct to brand’s website in search of a voucher code. With little success there, email is proving to be the most popular channel for voucher discovery among 57%.
When it comes to social media, Facebook far exceeds competition as the predominant network for finding deals (84%) – making advertising discounts on the social network an easy win for acquiring new traffic and data. Yet, with only 27% of consumers seeing a deal on social media, it appears a gaping opportunity is being missed by UK brands.
Consumers cited better value for money as the top reason for using a voucher, but interestingly enough, the second most common reason (24%) was the feeling of being rewarded for their loyalty to a brand.
