Guest post: Why digital vouchers and conversion rates go hand-in-hand

In this guest post by ReadyCloud CRM, Michael Lazar takes a look at the latest statistics surrounding digital vouchers and shares why they’re vital to improving your ecommerce conversion rates.

Vouchers used to be a brick and mortar mainstay and were designed to accomplish two goals: Entice shoppers with a unique value proposition and increase average order value at the time of checkout. Today, vouchers have been digitised and are a successful part of any ecommerce marketing plan. Here are a few powerful reasons why.

Digital voucher statistics for 2019

How are digital vouchers helping marketers get bigger returns in 2019?

Here’s a look at the most recent facts:

• More than 8 million digital vouchers were used by consumers in 2016, with predictions finding that as many as 145 million will be used in 2021
• More than half of all shoppers in the U.S. have used a digital voucher at least once in the past year to save money on a purchase
• Almost 70% of shoppers believe that digital vouchers improve brand awareness and loyalty

Conversion rate booster

When determining how digital vouchers can improve sales, it’s important to look at the average ecommerce conversion rate.

According to online think tank Econsultancy, the average ecommerce conversion rate ranges from 1%-3% and averages out at about 1.4% across the board (as of 2018).

Improving your conversion rate requires doing a combination of things properly, such as having a competitive offering, making shipping easy, offering hassle-free returns and using smart marketing. From testing your landing pages with A and B versions to implementing a loyalty campaign, one method has been proven to be a staple: Offering customers added value will encourage them to make the sale.

Seeing as around 45% of shoppers are predicted to redeem at least one digital voucher this year—in combination with the fact that 25 million American consumers use couponing apps daily—adding a way to gift customers for their loyalty is a surefire way to improve conversions.

Proven marketing tool

Few marketing tools have the long-term yield or conversion data that discounts and money off can offer. In fact, they are proven to have mass appeal and to increase average order value.

Just look at these recent facts:

• Nearly half of U.S. companies use discounts and deals for marketing
• Money off is well received by more than 60% of consumers
• More than 58% of consumers think digital and mobile vouchers are exciting and well received

By showing customers that you will reward them with money-off their favourite products they’ll be more likely to return to your store and purchase from you sooner.

Helping email marketing

Email marketing is as popular as it ever was. Things have changed, of course. No longer does it involve buying some spammy list from a shady provider and sending out mass ads to random recipients. Today, it’s evolved to highly focused, opt-in marketing experience that consumers want.

But how do money-off rewards help improve your email marketing?

Let’s first look at these facts about email marketing:

• One-third of opt-in emails are opened by recipients
• Almost 45% of recipients will make a purchase from a marketing email over the course of a year
• Around 50% of all email lists contain active users

Now that we have a better understanding of just how effective email marketing can be, how can adding rewards improve the results?

Well, studies find that special offers in emails improve open rates by as much as 14%. They also help increase click-through rates by 34% and boost transaction completion rates by as much as 27%. Sending rewards in emails are also a great way to re-engage customers in between purchases as they’ll be enticed to return to your store and make a purchase sooner.

The case for digital rewards

So, there you have it, not only are online vouchers embraced by almost 70% of consumers, but they are seen in a positive light, with consumers wanting to receive the special offers.

What’s more, they’re proven to increase spend, awareness and loyalty, while also supercharging other marketing methods like social ads, PPC, SEO and even email marketing.

So, if digital vouchers are not a part of your marketing plan, there’s never been a better time to add them to your arsenal.

About the author 

ReadyCloud CRM gives retailers a competitive advantage. It’s packed with powerful, relationship-building, team management and reporting tools that give e-tailers better insight into their cross-channel customers.