A little backstory on me. I've been in and around the coupon world for many years now. I started at an internet conglomerate that owned an entire vertical of coupon and deal websites. From there, I went to a startup that was coupon-adjacent with heavy affiliate integration in marketing. Couponing has always held a special place for me. Along the way, I developed ideas on how to improve the customer experience for couponers. Now I have the opportunity to try building out those ideas.
Affiliate marketing and couponing have been labeled undesirable by some brands and networks due to bad actors in recent years. Browser plugins and apps like Honey inserted their affiliate links and took attribution from customers whether they were part of the purchase inspiration or not. I always felt bad seeing influencers promote Honey, only for them to lose future attribution from their fans as a result. Recently, there have been class action lawsuits regarding the unfair practices those companies engaged in.
Hopefully, these lawsuits help level the playing field and return attribution to influencers and publishers where it belongs. "So you're saying there's a chance!" is the vibe I'm feeling and decided to jump back in. Affiliate marketing can be a great way of tracking and rewarding publishers and influencers who are actually inspiring sales. Now of course there is a new attribution problem with AI. I am hoping working with AI in the short term and in the long term providing a real valuable unique product with the latest tested deals will work. I also have some ideas on how to match consumers with the best coupon.
I do believe coupons inspire purchases. They leave both the customer and brand feeling good about closing a sale. For example, I buy flowers online often and I always feel robbed when hitting checkout only to see delivery prices (with fees, etc.) double what was presented initially. That's why I always use a coupon code when buying flowers. Even though the final price may be nearly identical to competitors without a discount, I still feel like I got a bargain. And the brand closed the sale with me because of it.
Coupons done right help build brand recognition, inspire impulse purchases, and close deals customers are unsure about. They also bring value to consumers during tough economic times.
Enough about me. Let's Coupon!
