Coupons have been around since the late 1800s when they were printed on paper and distributed by mail. Today, they’re offered online, via social media and email. While the form has evolved, they still remain an important part of business.
In this post, we’ll give you a crash course on coupons and share coupon design ideas.
The Basics of Coupons and What You Should Include
A coupon is a type of sales promotion in which consumers can save on an item or service. Some choose to clip coupons and others browse the web, but there’s no question they’re still as popular as ever.
According to the CouponFollow report, 96% of the 1,300 people surveyed actively search for coupons before making a purchase.
Coupons can only be effective if you include the right information for your customers to redeem them. Otherwise, your business won’t benefit and neither will the target audience.
These pieces of information to include in your coupon design ideas are:
- Your business name and website or location
- The discount amount
- Expiration date for the coupon
- How many coupons can be redeemed per customer
- What products or services the coupon is valid for
You may also want to consider putting a unique ID on your coupons. This can help you track usage and the performance of your campaign.
3 Types of Businesses That Often Offer Coupons
Businesses of all kinds can benefit from offering coupons to their customers, but there are some industries where coupons are more common than others.
1. Grocery Stores
The most common type of business that uses coupons is the grocery store. Grocery stores often have weekly sales and offer coupons on a regular basis. These coupons are usually available in print but may also be “digitally clipped” for redemption.
2. Restaurants
Restaurants also use coupons to attract new customers and increase sales. Many restaurants offer discounts when you purchase a certain type of meal or may offer promotions on menu items they want to sell more of.
3. Retailers
Retail stores have a lot of merchandise flowing in to keep up with trends, and sales are one way to help get that inventory out the door. Clothing sales and coupons attract frequent shoppers and keep them coming back to pick up items.
If you are in one of these industries, customers are likely to be searching for discounts. Offering coupons and interesting promotions can help you stand out from the competition in your area or online.
We all love a good deal. Coupons can be a great way to get your customers to purchase your product or service. These are five ways that you can use coupons as part of your business promotions:
- Offer coupons for new products/services
- Use incentives to increase sales volume (such as “Buy One Get One Free”)
- Use coupons as rewards for customer loyalty (“Refer a friend, get $5 off”)
- Use coupons to encourage people to try new products/services without having to make up the cost difference
- Provide discounts to your customers on holidays or other important dates
You may also experiment with a combination of offers or different kinds of coupons to figure out what your audience responds to the most.
Digital Coupons vs. Paper Coupons
Digital coupons and paper coupons usually serve the same purpose, but you may need to design them differently depending on how you want people to redeem them.
For example, since people don’t hand over digital coupons, you may need to include a promo code in a prominent place on the design. This may not be necessary for paper coupons where customers will hand them over at a business location.
You may also be able to include unique design elements on digital coupons like textures or graphics that may not translate well to print. This is particularly important to pay attention to if you offer both paper and digital coupons.
How to Make Your Own Coupons with Shutterstock Create
Want to start offering coupons to your customers? It’s not as time-consuming as you may think to put your own coupon design ideas together. Using Shutterstock Create and our library of templates, you can craft your own coupons in minutes.
Here’s how it works:
Prepare Your Canvas
In Create, select Custom Size and enter the dimensions you’d like to use for your coupon design.
Find a Starting Point
From here, search templates or continue on with a blank canvas. You’ll have access to thousands of fonts, graphics, textures, effects, and color combinations to pick from.
If you want to start with a template instead, simply click Templates then search and select one that meets your needs. No matter what you choose, you’ll have access to the same customization options.
Make Design Changes
Click on any element to make your adjustments and see what options are available to you in the toolbar on the left side of the editor.
Select Your Visuals
Update images or graphics to meet your needs by clicking Images or Graphics. From here, you can upload, browse through the photo library, or select from your catalog.
Download Your Coupon
When you’re ready to download, click the Download button in the top-right corner and select your preferred format. From here, you can save the coupon design to your system and prepare to either print it out or distribute your coupon digitally.
So easy!
License this cover image mockup via Kokorina Mariia, Andychi, and THE YOOTH.
