TL;DR:
- Promo codes are a strategic way to drive sales, reward customers, and boost engagement across your online company store.
- Coggins Promo lets you easily create customizable promo codes for discounts, free gifts, or product-specific deals.
- Use promo codes for store launches, seasonal promotions, new product pushes, and customer loyalty programs.
- Always set a clear goal, define a promo code expiration date, and target the right audience to avoid common pitfalls.
- Track promo code performance to refine future campaigns and make sure your discounts support your bottom line.
When it comes to branded merchandise and custom company stores, promotion codes are more than just quick discounts; They’re strategic tools to boost engagement, drive conversions, and expand your brand’s visibility. When used wisely, marketing promo codes can increase order frequency, clear old inventory, and encourage new purchases.
While it is true promo codes can backfire if not used wisely, you can easily avoid the pitfalls by sticking to promo code best practices that help ensure you’re offering a discount but still making a profit.
What Is a Promo Code in Marketing?
A promo code in marketing is a personalized alpha-numeric code that gives customers a discount or reward at checkout. It might be a producter discount code for wholesale buyers or a promo code for loyal customers, and when used strategically, these offers can have a big impact on customer behavior.
Promotion Code Options
Promotion codes typically allow for a variety of deals, ranging from percentage discounts on select items to a set dollar amount off the entire order.
With Coggins Promo’s online store platform, you can create tailored codes using up to 10 alphanumeric characters. These on demand promo codes allow you to:
- Offer percentage discounts (site-wide or item-specific)
- Provide flat dollar savings
- Include a free item with minimum purchase (e.g., “Free mug with $100 order”)
- Reward shoppers for ordering from new categories
- Promote overstocked or discontinued items
These codes are flexible enough to be a smart tool for any business looking to boost employee gifting, customer rewards, or new product launches.
How to Market a Discount Code
Successfully marketing a promo code takes more than just sending a quick email blast. Here are some proven methods:
- Email Marketing: Send exclusive promo brand codes to your subscriber list with a clear call to action.
- Social Media Campaigns: Reward followers with platform-specific discount codes to boost engagement.
- Seasonal Promotions: Tie your codes to holidays, company anniversaries, or industry-specific awareness months.
- Influencer & Partner Features: Work with blogs or media partners to offer limited-time promo codes tailored to their audiences.
When to Use Promo Codes
You can use discount codes any time you wish, of course, although using them regularly on a set schedule can condition your shoppers to wait until you run the sure-to-come promotion before they buy anything. Here, you’ve just created a customer base that will probably never pay full price. A more strategic choice is to use promo codes with a specific purpose in mind.
See Also: Gift Codes for Online Company Stores
Seasonal Promotions
Promotions run during certain seasons can raise awareness of your shop during slow or busy seasons or specific holidays. These can also be useful for clearing out last season’s merchandise, especially if you use a promo code expiration date.
Launching a Store
Get employees or other shoppers to place their first order at your newly launched shop with a discount on their first order.
Promoting a New Category or Item
Start the sales rolling on a new item or category of items with discounts on those select items.
Moving Discontinued Items
Those water bottles you’re no longer carrying? T-shirts that showcase last year’s design? Use promo codes on those select items to help move them out of your shop.
Encouraging Shoppers to Make Bigger Purchases
Pick an enticing free gift, then set up a promo code that rewards shoppers with the gift when they make a purchase of at least $100, $200 or $300.
Thanking Customers
Include a special promo code in a thank-you email sent to repeat or big-spending customers, offering a discount on their next order.
Rewarding Winners
Run promotional contests on your social media sites, rewarding the winners with a discount code worthy of their efforts.
Testing Marketing Campaigns
Running a variety of campaigns with a different promo code linked to each campaign allows you to see which campaigns are netting the greatest results based on the promo codes being used.
You can also use a specific promo code with a specific online ad you run to track that ad’s effectiveness.
Celebrating Fans
Creating different codes for your social media fans on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other sites can encourage them to keep sticking around to check out your social media feeds.
Turning New Readers Into Customers
If you’re partnering with a blog or media outlet for a feature, or writing a guest blog or feature for a specific site, consider creating a promo code that can be used specifically for their readership.
Tips for Avoiding the Pitfalls
While good promo codes can supercharge engagement, poor execution can result in profit loss.
The biggest problem with promo codes is the risk of losing money, and that can happen when the codes are shared, re-shared, end up on coupon websites, and never expire. Avoiding the pitfalls is possible with a few strategic tips.
Set a Promo Code Expiration Date
Not only does setting an expiration date ensure your promo code can’t be used for years on end, but it also creates urgency with a set time limit for using the code.
Make Sure Your Discounts Are Sustainable
While you want to consistently draw in business, you don’t want to consistently lose money while doing so. Make sure the discounts are high enough to generate interest but low enough to ensure you’re still making a profit.
Issue Codes to Select Audiences
Instead of making promo codes readily available to be shared and re-shared across the web, consider sending them to specific, targeted shoppers.
For instance, set up specific codes you share with employees, loyal customers, email list subscribers, and other categories of shoppers. Send them the codes directly instead of posting them freely on your website.
Measure & Adjust
Increasing sales is a catch-all goal for any type of promotion, but you can fine-tune your promo code strategy if you fine-tune your goal. Figure out what you want the promo code to do.
Draw in new customers? Encourage repeat or lost customers to come back? Increase sales during a slower season? Beat last year’s sales during a busy one?
When possible, assign specific numbers to your specific goals. This lets you track your promo code’s progress, giving you insights into areas of the campaign that may need to be adjusted or further developed.
Start With a Trial
One final note is to err on the side of caution when creating any type of promo code campaign.
Before you break out the big guns and serve up a hefty discount, you may want to test the waters with a trial run that offers a smaller discount. This can give you an idea of the type of response you may receive, which allows you to adjust your promo strategy accordingly so you make money instead of losing it.
Want to see how Coggins Promo helps brands implement impactful marketing promo codes? Book a live demo of our online store platform.
We’ll walk you through setup, show you how to create and manage on-demand promo codes, and discuss how to align promotions with your business objectives.
