There’s still this misunderstanding among consumer packaged goods marketers that coupon fraud is not under control and, unfortunately, it is perceived as a risky program and hard to budget. This is an even stronger perception for on-demand, online printable coupons (such as those from www.coupons.com), but it is greatly due to the confusion around e-coupons.
In fact, sophisticated sites, like www.coupons.com, may be more secure and fraud-proof than regular on-shelf grocery coupons! My experience has shown me there is still a good portion of on-shelf coupons being torn down and redeemed on regular volume sales by the store!
The real sophisticated online coupon technology (with unique barcodes associated to the profiled consumer) is the most powerful tactic any marketer can integrate into its interactive marketing mix, whether you want to reward your loyal customers, build your opt-in list or simply gain additional insights on your consumers.
Having said that, what would you say is the percent of fraud captured on regular offline coupons (either Sunday paper FSIs or typical on-shelf/display coupons) in the U.S. and Canada, and how is that different from advanced online coupon technology offered by players such as Coupons.com?
Christian Dion
President and Founder
Eblink Marketing Inc.
Response from author Peter Meyers: Here is a statistic I consider relevant: 0.2% of 302 billion coupons distributed last year were online. Clearly, this remains a small percentage of overall coupons.
I would caution against adopting a sweeping brushstroke that treats all consumers the same, and limits online or offline coupon options. Such a strategy will not allow marketers’ expectations to be realized and will drive consumer response down — not up.
Network
