Tips for Giving Away Discount Coupons on WhatsApp

César Rodríguez
César Rodríguez
The number of purchases made via smartphones grows year by year and companies are giving increasing importance to communicating directly with customers via their mobile phones. The instant messaging app WhatsApp has become an essential part of this trend. Its approximately 1,200 million users have made it into one of the most important communication channels in marketing strategies. Via this app, businesses can provide rapid customer service, distribute surveys and disseminate sweepstakes. Why not give away discount coupons via WhatsApp too? Here are some tips for doing this via WhatsApp Business, the business version of the app.

The WhatsApp Business app is free and has been especially developed for small and medium-sized businesses. It helps companies interact with their customers very simply, using tools to automatize messages, organize contacts and shipments, respond quickly to messages, etc. Here are some tips and ideas for getting the most out of this app when giving away coupons and more.

Give away discount coupons on WhatsApp using your database

The first rule to mobile phone communication is don’t bother the customer more than you need to. Your customer has probably supplied his or her telephone number by registering on your page or subscribing to your newsletter. These are actions that help nourish your customer database and define the topics that interest users most. You can then send customers exclusive content or discount coupons/codes based on the themes they have expressed interest in. For example, one way of rewarding customers’ loyalty is with winning codes that can be redeemed by filling in a simple form.

This type of strategy for giving away discount coupons on WhatsApp is similar to that used in SMS marketing. The difference is that WhatsApp enables you to send images and videos as well, costs less, and makes it easier to share and viralize your message. Using this method of contact to transmit exclusivity to each individual customer will help you build a friendly, approachable brand.

So the two big questions are: when should I contact the customer? And, if I want to avoid annoying them, how often should I contact them? Here are a series of guidelines to help you respect your customers’ space and avoid being overly intrusive when distributing coupons and codes:

WhatsApp messages during specific campaigns

Use WhatsApp to advise customers from your database about specific featured campaigns. Send them a message to ensure they find out before anyone else about the discounts you’ll be offering via social media or your website.

Send unique codes on specific dates

Would you like to celebrate special occasions like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day with customers from your database? Send them a unique code via WhatsApp that only they can redeem. They’ll be very grateful to be among your contacts. But act with moderation and don’t abuse the trust of those who have entrusted their phone numbers to your company.

Promote a family of products

Obtaining data from potential customers, via sweepstakes with registration for example, or from direct purchases of your product, enables you to segment your contacts by age, occupation, taste, type of purchase previously made in your store, etc. and create groups in your WhatsApp Business profile. With this in mind, you can give away coupons on WhatsApp to people who might be interested in a particular product or service from your catalogue. It’s quite likely that the message will be converted into a sale. In addition, the segmentation will ensure that users don’t see you as just another spammer: you’ll be sending them information that is of genuine interest to them.

Wish your contacts happy birthday

You’ll have the date of birth of your customers in your database. Be attentive and give away discount coupons via WhatsApp to people on their birthday. Your customers will start looking forward to getting their exclusive codes each year. Personalization is always the key to well-segmented advertising.

Take advantage of essential communications

When you send a message to confirm an order or inform a customer about a delivery date you could include a reference to the promotion. Customers are especially receptive at moments like these and will welcome a message with a coupon or discount code.


Get the most out of distributing WhatsApp coupons with Easypromos

Our promo code app provides a wide variety of dynamics to help you upload, create, distribute, exchange and validate promotional codes and discount coupons to incentivize the purchase of your products and boost the income of your business. But as you know, you can also use codes and coupons to expand your database and obtain information. How about sending a survey via WhatsApp to your database of users? If you’d like to find out more about your customers’ preferences or buying habits, you could send them a link to a survey, offering a discount coupon as a reward for completing the form. You could carry out this strategy with a specific profile of user or viralize it by asking everyone who receives the survey to share it. You’ll soon obtain invaluable information for preparing new marketing campaigns.

whatsapp-coupon-example

These types of actions can be carried out with a variety of applications, not just surveys. You can also reward participation in sweepstakes, photo contests, multiple-choice tests and betting pools with discount coupons.

Use the Digital Coupon Book app to distribute several coupons at once, or to promote several shops in a single promotion.

Transmit reliability when giving away discount coupons on WhatsApp

In the news you often hear about WhatsApp users being scammed with fake discount coupon offers. In these scams, individuals usually receive a message with a link offering big discounts in an online store, despite the individual never having provided their number to the company. The intention behind these scams is to steal the personal data of users, gain access to their bank details or infect their device with a virus. However, it’s comparatively easy to reassure recipients so that they feel confident enough to redeem the code:

  • Only send the codes to contacts in your database. If you want to viralize the promotion, ask your contacts to share the discount codes with family and friends. This will ensure that the majority of users receive the message from a trusted source.
  • Clearly indicate, both on your website and on your social network profiles, the telephone number with which customers can communicate with your brand on WhatsApp. This should be the same number you send the coupons from.
  • Display the name of your brand in your WhatsApp account. Upload your logo as the profile picture and indicate in your WhatsApp status your customer service schedule.
  • Always use the same style of communication so that users learn to identify your brand immediately: the same typeface, the same graphic style, the same tone and language, etc.
  • Make sure you send WhatsApp offers to your most active customers. They will be the ones most likely to recognize your brand without falling into the clutches of scammers.
  • Attach your discount codes to the messages you send confirming orders or receipts of purchase. This will ensure users feel safe when opening your messages.

With all these ideas and tips, it will be easy for you to successfully give away discount coupons on WhatsApp and get closer to your customers. So are you ready to launch your WhatsApp campaign yet?